Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - February - 2003 Issue

New Review Announcement

The Arrowsmith Map of Texas, Maggs Bros., No. 49, Texas:  The Rise, Progress and Prospects...1841

The Arrowsmith Map of Texas, Maggs Bros., No. 49, Texas: The Rise, Progress and Prospects...1841

containing one of the earliest American printings of the treaty between the United States and Great Britain ending the Revolutionary War.

It isn’t until lot 73 that we arrive in the 19th century and with it the yet unresolved issues of states rights versus federal rights that would simmer under President Jefferson and remain unresolved into the 20th century. The book that brings us there is “Proceedings of the Virginia Assembly,...” Lot 90 moves us along to 1816 with the Statutes of the Mississippi Territory..., a Natchez imprint. The AED finds only four Natchez imprints for that year, one an Almanac that the Eberstadts offered for $150 in 1964, an eon ago in the world of book pricing. This is a great catalogue and very good material. Visit their web site at www.reeseco.com.

Maggs Bros. Ltd. has released their Catalogue 1332 for the Travel and Voyages field. The storied firm issues excellent catalogues. In this installment there are exactly 100 items spanning both the globe and five centuries. In the Americana field we find a dozen lots. Those who have been waiting for a 1533 Zumarraga have their prayers answered. This book won’t be seen often. Juan de Zumarraga “was the first Bishop of Mexico and the second part of this book contains one of the first letters from the New World by a churchman.” For those wishing to stay north of the Rio Grande there is John Smith’s “The General Historie of Virginia, New=England, and the Summer Isles...” with the first state of the title page (1624). Lot 49 is the first edition of William Kennedy’s Texas: The Rise, Progress, and Prospects of the Republic of Texas (1841). This volume contains 4 maps, one of which is the “highly important and rare” Arrowsmith map of Texas, coloured in outline.

These pieces are simply symptoms of an approach to book selling that Maggs Bros. has maintained since its founding in 1853. Enjoy this catalogue. Visit them online at www.maggs.com. Visit their shop when you get to London.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 9, 2025
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 156: Cornelis de Jode, Americae pars Borealis, double-page engraved map of North America, Antwerp, 1593.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 206: John and Alexander Walker, Map of the United States, London and Liverpool, 1827.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 223: Abraham Ortelius, Typus Orbis Terrarum, hand-colored double-page engraved world map, Antwerp, 1575.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 9, 2025
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 233: Aaron Arrowsmith, Chart of the World, oversize engraved map on 8 sheets, London, 1790 (circa 1800).
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 239: Fielding Lucas, A General Atlas, 81 engraved maps and diagrams, Baltimore, 1823.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 240: Anthony Finley, A New American Atlas, 15 maps engraved by james hamilton young on 14 double-page sheets, Philadelphia, 1826.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 9, 2025
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 263: John Bachmann, Panorama of the Seat of War, portfolio of 4 double-page chromolithographed panoramic maps, New York, 1861.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 265: Sebastian Münster, Cosmographei, Basel: Sebastian Henricpetri, 1558.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 271: Abraham Ortelius, Epitome Theatri Orteliani, Antwerp: Johann Baptist Vrients, 1601.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 9, 2025
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 283: Joris van Spilbergen, Speculum Orientalis Occidentalisque Indiae, Leiden: Nicolaus van Geelkercken for Jodocus Hondius, 1619.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 285: Levinus Hulsius, Achtzehender Theil der Newen Welt, 14 engraved folding maps, Frankfurt: Johann Frederick Weiss, 1623.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 341: John James Audubon, Carolina Parrot, Plate 26, London, 1827.
  • Sotheby’s
    Book Week
    December 9-17, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue, inscribed by the author pre-publication. £100,000 to £150,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Autograph sketchleaf including a probable draft for the E flat Piano Quartet, K.493, 1786. £150,000 to £200,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000.
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