Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - August - 2006 Issue
The Latest from Bauman Rare Books
Paper signed by all four of the Beatles.
Item 8 is one of only eight known copies of a major Civil War proclamation, the large broadside printing of Virginia's ordinance of secession. Virginia was the largest and most significant of the states that formed the Confederacy, and its position next to the nation's capital made it particularly threatening. It was also the state that gave the Union much of its early leadership, including four of the first five presidents. What's more, it provided the Confederacy with some of its most important leaders, including Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. Without it, the Confederate cause would not likely have been able to sustain itself for long. However, while one of the later states to join the cause, it did, the ultimate result being a long and brutal war, and the loss of her western land to the new state of West Virginia. This ordinance was signed by many of the future leaders of the Confederacy, and one past leader of the Union, former President John Tyler. $60,000.
Almost a century after it was first published, this song is still sung daily across the stadiums of America every summer night. Item 25 is the first printing of the words and music to Take Me Out to the Ball-Game. The composer was Albert Von Tilzer, while the lyrics were written by Jack Norworth. This copy includes an inscription from Norworth. Neither composer nor lyricist had ever been to a ballgame, and the song was said to have been written during a 15-minute subway ride. $2,500.
Item 27 is The Beatles: The authorized Biography, by Hunter Davies. This biography was published in 1968, two years before the group officially broke up. Inserted within the book is a sheet of notebook paper containing the signatures of all four of the "Fab Four." $11,000.
The website for Bauman Rare Books may be found at www.baumanrarebooks.com, or they may be reached by phone at 1-800-972-2862.
