Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - March - 2003 Issue

Sold! Auctions Review

Title page of Atherton’s Splendid Idle Forties, Zamorano #1.


By Everett Wilkie

Of the Americana auctions that took place during the period 20 January 2003-20 February 2003, no doubt the Dorothy Sloan—Rare Books sale on February 5 of Daniel G. Volkmann Jr.’s complete collection of first editions of all titles listed in The Zamorano 80 was the most important. The sale, her #12, marked the second time in a decade that Sloan has sold a complete set of The Zamorano 80. (Although comparisons between the Volkmann Sale and her 1994 Clifford sale would probably be invidious, they will be made anyway.) Also on February 5 immediately preceding the Volkmann sale, Sloan held sale #13, “A Few Good Maps & Manuscripts Touching upon the History of Texas, California, the Southwest, Mexico & The Borderlands.” All prices quoted include the buyer’s premium.

In the Volkmann sale, with few exceptions, the prices for materials written by women remained fairly steady. Among such authors were the first two lots in the sale. Lot #1, estimated at $100-200, was Gertrude Atherton’s The Splendid Idle Forties. This copy contained a manuscript note by Volkmann’s mother noting that she had purchased it at a rummage sale. It fetched $115. The Clifford copy, which was an author’s presentation copy to G. W. Lyman, who ironically helped guide Volkmann’s mother in her collecting and reading, fetched $143.75. Lot #2, Mary Austin’s popular The Land of Little Rain, estimated at $250-500, brought $287.50. The Clifford copy fetched, on the other hand, $1035, probably because it had a letter and photograph concerning the author with it. Ella Sterling Cummins’ The Story of the Files, here lot #24, estimated at $100-200, brought $287.50, a slight increase over the $173 it brought in the Clifford sale. The same is true of Helen Jackson’s Ramona, here in lot 46, estimated at $300-600, which brought $402.50 here and $345 in the Clifford sale. Ina Coolbrith’s Songs from the Golden Gate, the only poetry in the entire sale, was lot 21, estimated at $50-100. Here the copy brought $80.50. In the Clifford sale, the lot was knocked down for $316, but in that case the lot included an author’s presentation copy of the second edition with an Autograph Letter Signed by her to the recipient. On the other hand, here lot 21A, a copy of the fourth impression with an author’s presentation to artist Maynard Dixon and his wife, fetched $373.75 on an estimate of $75-150. The most spectacular but yet most explainable price swing in this category was Louise Clapp’s “California” series, here in lot 69, estimated at $2000-3000. These articles, all of which were printed in The Pioneer; or, California Monthly Magazine, have long been recognized as important descriptions of California life during the Gold Rush. The 24 issues of the magazine had been bound into two volumes but still brought a respectable $10,350, which may well reflect the value in which people hold this author and the vehicle. In the Clifford sale, however, the lot fetched $32,200, primarily, one suspects, due to the fact that the issues were all separates in their original wrappers and perhaps because two bidders may have gotten into a shouting match. In any case, none of these titles were so uncommon that Volkmann had to buy any of the Clifford copies.

Rare Book Monthly

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  • Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG BEADED JUDICIAL COLLAR. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A COMPLETE RUN OF VISIONAIRE MAGAZINE THROUGH 2010. $6,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: LAW REVIEW OFFPRINT SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: META REBNER'S WORKING SCRIPT OF THE LOVED ONE. $1,500 - $2,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A KATHY GROVE PORTRAIT OF CYNDI LAUPER FOR THE FEBRUARY 1989 DETAILS COVER. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A PLASTIC COAT BY MILLIE DAVID FEATURED IN SOHO NEWS STYLE SECTION, FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANNIE FLANDERS. $500 - $700
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG JEWELRY BOX. $600 - $900
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A SET OF JONI MITCHELL LYRICS FOR "IF I HAD A HEART." $2,000 - $3,000
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    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
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    Potter & Potter Auctions
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    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HIGHLY IMPORTANT MORMON ARCHIVE. ALLEY, George. Archive of 23 Autograph Letters Signed by Mormon Convert George Alley to His Brother Joseph Alley. $10,000 to $20,000.
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    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: NEWLY DISCOVERED FIRST PRINTING OF "WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE... " FROM THE ONLY NEWSPAPER ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL PROCESSION. $4,000 to $8,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
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    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [VIETNAM WAR]. The original pen used by Secretary of State William P. Rogers to sign the Vietnam Peace Agreement, Paris, 27 January 1973. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: SONS OF LIBERTY FOUNDER COLONEL BARRÉ ANNOTATED TITLE-PAGE, “WHICH OUGHT TO ROUSE UP BRITISH ATTENTION”. $4,000 to $6,000.
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    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: [Shakespeare (William)]. [Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies], second folio edition, [by Tho.Cotes, for Robert Allot], [1632]. £30,000 to £40,000.
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    Forum Mar. 28: Shabthai Tzvi.- Collection of four printed and illustrated broadsides detailing the appearance, rise and fall of the false messiah, Shabthai Tzvi, Augsburg, 1666-67. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Leaf from the Beauvais Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [Northern France (perhaps Beauvais or Amiens)], [fourteenth century (c.1310)]. £4,000 to £6,000.
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    Forum Auctions
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    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Poems on Various Occasions, first edition, Harriet Maltby's copy, Newark, Printed by S. & J. Ridge, 1807. £30,000 to £40,000.
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    Forum Mar. 28: Blake (William).- Thornton (Robert John). The Pastorals of Virgil, 2 vol., engraved plates by William Blake, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
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    Forum Mar. 28: America.- Mount (William J.) & Thomas Page. The English Pilot…, [bound with] The Fourth Book, describing The West Indies Navigation from Hudson's-Bay to the River Amazones, 1721. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Oldfield (Henry Ambrose), Rajman Singh Chitrakar & others. An album of 160 photographs and 13 original artworks, (1833-1919), [c. 1850s-1880s]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.

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