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<center><b>Potter & Potter Auctions<br>Nobu Shirase and the Japanese Antarctic Expedition: the Collection of Chet Ross<br>October 12, 2023</b><b>Potter & Potter, Oct. 12:</b> [BYRD]. VEER, Willard Van der and Joseph T. RUCKER, cinematographers. The 35mm motion picture Akeley camera that filmed the Academy Award-winning documentary “With Byrd at the South Pole”. $30,000 to $50,000.<b>Potter & Potter, Oct. 12:</b> [SHIRASE, Nobu, his copy]. RYUKEI, Yano. <i>Young Politicians of Thebes: Illustrious Tales of Statesmanship.</i> Tokyo(?), 1881-84. $15,000 to $20,000.<b>Potter & Potter, Oct. 12:</b> SHACKLETON, Ernest H. <i>The Antarctic Book.</i> Winter Quarters 1907-1909 [dummy copy of the supplement to: <i>The Heart of the Antarctic</i>]. London, 1909. $10,000 to $15,000.<b>Potter & Potter, Oct. 12:</b> [USS BEAR]. The original auxiliary deck wheel from the famed USS Bear, 1874-1933. “PROBABLY THE MOST FAMOUS SHIP IN THE HISTORY OF THE COAST GUARD” (USCG). $10,000 to $15,000.<b>Potter & Potter, Oct. 12:</b> HENSON, Matthew. <i>A Negro Explorer at the North Pole.</i> With a forward by Robert Peary. Introduction by Booker T. Washington. New York, [1912]. $3,000 to $4,000. -
<center><b>Gonnelli: Auction 46 Books<br>Autographs & Manuscripts<br>Oct 3rd-5th 2023</b><b>Gonnelli:</b> Tilson - Zanotto, Il vero tema. 2011. Starting price 150 €<b>Gonnelli:</b> Munari, Storia di un filo. Starting price 400 €<b>Gonnelli:</b> Debord, Contre le cinéma. 1964. Starting price 150 €<b>Gonnelli:</b> Futurism books and ephemera<b>Gonnelli:</b> Travel books<b>Gonnelli:</b> Medicine books<b>Gonnelli:</b> Levaillant, Histoire naturelle des perroquets. 1801-1805. Starting price 52.000 €<b>Gonnelli:</b> Carrera, Il gioco de gli scacchi. 1617. Starting price 3200 €<b>Gonnelli:</b> Vergilius, Opera. 1515. Starting price 800 € -
<center><b>Swann Auction Galleries View Our Record Breaking Results</b><b>Swann:</b> Charles Monroe Schulz, <i>The Peanuts gang,</i> complete set of 13 drawings, ink, 1971. Sold June 15 — $50,000.<b>Swann:</b> Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Family Archive of Photographs & Letters. Sold June 1 — $60,000.<b>Swann:</b> Victor H. Green, <i>The Negro Motorist Green Book,</i> New York, 1949. Sold March 30 — $50,000.<b>Swann:</b> William Shakespeare, <i>King Lear; Othello;</i> [and] <i>Anthony & Cleopatra;</i> Extracted from the First Folio, London, 1623. Sold May 4— $185,000.<center><b>Swann Auction Galleries View Our Record Breaking Results</b><b>Swann:</b> William Samuel Schwartz, <i>A Bridge in Baraboo, Wisconsin,</i> oil on canvas, circa 1938. Sold February 16 — $32,500.<b>Swann:</b> Lena Scott Harris, <i>Group of approximately 65 hand-colored botanical studies, all apparently California native plants,</i> hand-colored silver prints, circa 1930s. Sold February 23 — $37,500.<b>Swann:</b> Suzanne Jackson, <i>Always Something To Look For,</i> acrylic & pencil on linen canvas, circa 1974. Sold April 6 — $87,500.<b>Swann:</b> Gustav Klimt, <i>Das Werk von Gustav Klimt,</i> complete with 50 printed collotype plates, Vienna & Leipzig, 1918. Sold June 15 — $68,750. -
<b><center>Case Auctions<br>Fall Fine Art & Antiques Auction<br>October 6-7, 2023</b><b>Case Auctions, Oct. 7:</b> John Speed 1676 Map of Virginia, Maryland, and Chesapeake Bay. $1,000 to $1,200.<b>Case Auctions, Oct. 7:</b> Andrew Jackson Coffin Handbill and Political Cartoon. $800 to $900.<b>Case Auctions, Oct. 7:</b> Three Andrew Jackson Bank War Cartoons, incl. Way to Arabay. $800 to $900.<b>Case Auctions, Oct. 7:</b> Three Andrew Jackson period Political Cartoons inc. Petticoat Affair. $500 to $600.<b>Case Auctions, Oct. 7:</b> Cdre. Jesse D. Elliott ALS and Sarcophagus Print, Andrew Jackson & USS Constitution elated. $500 to $600.<b><center>Case Auctions<br>Fall Fine Art & Antiques Auction<br>October 6-7, 2023</b><b>Case Auctions, Oct. 7:</b> Presidential Autographs & Portrait Prints incl. Eisenhower Photo, 18 items. $400 to $500.<b>Case Auctions, Oct. 7:</b> Group of three Robert E. Lee Cabinet Card Photographs, Miley Studio. $400 to $500.<b>Case Auctions, Oct. 7:</b> Eight Fugitive Writer related books incl. Andrew Lytle, R.P. Warren, J.C. Ransom, Allen Tate. $400 to $500.<b>Case Auctions, Oct. 7:</b> Group Early Southern and Civil War Era Sheet Music. $300 to $350.<b>Case Auctions, Oct. 7:</b> Henry Miller, <i>Insomnia or the Devil at Large;</i> Signed; Loujon Press 1970. $500 to $600.
Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - November - 2006 Issue
Leaf Books And More From Oak Knoll Books
Leaf books and more from Oak Knoll.
By Michael Stillman
The latest catalogue from Oak Knoll Books features An Extraordinary Selection of Leaf Books. Leaf books are those which include a leaf from another book, presumably a classic of some sort. Some leaves may come from very early printed works, possibly incunables, others old but not ancient works, and a few include leaves from less than antiquarian works, but very attractive items which came from specialty presses. That said, there are also many other typical Oak Knoll "books about books," such as bibliographies, offered in this catalogue. Approximately one-third are leaf books, though others are about similarly classic old books and specialty presses that provided the inspiration for leaf books.
Leaf books are not without controversy, and Oak Knoll addresses the issue squarely from the start in an introductory note. Obtaining leaves for a leaf book necessitates the permanent destruction of the original. Generally, these are defective and incomplete copies, already missing some leaves. Oak Knoll concludes that the value to the individual collector in being able to actually touch and see a leaf from a classic book outweighs the negatives of losing a copy already of limited research value because it is incomplete, and locked away in some rare book room to remain virtually unused. We would agree that makes sense as long as the original is not rare, there being sufficient number of complete copies still available for research. However, we do worry that as the value of leaves goes up, the value of a complete book may no longer be as great as the sum of its parts. At this point, it may become financially advantageous to tear apart even good, complete copies. We are reminded of the bookseller from Arizona offering leaves from an original, complete Book of Mormon, her sum prices (asked) for the leaves far outweighing the going price of a complete volume. This is the terrible downside of leaf books, and yet ultimately, the marketplace is likely to determine what happens to old books, not history and scholarship, regardless of what any of us think.
Item 1 in this catalogue addresses these issues. It is last year's publication by the Caxton Club of Chicago of Disbound and Dispersed: The Leaf Book Considered, by John Chalmers, Daniel Mosser, and Michael Thompson. The Caxton Club published one of the earliest leaf books, a 1905 edition featuring a leaf from the "Canterbury Tales." This book considers the ethical issues involved with leaf books, along with providing a bibliography of those which have been published. Priced at $45.
If the Gutenberg Bible is the most important of all books, and if financial value is the measurement then it certainly is, then this must be the most important leaf book: A Noble Fragment. Being a Leaf of the Gutenberg Bible, 1450-1455. This folio leaf book includes an essay from A. Edward Newton, but that is not what makes the 1921 publication so valuable. Any leaf from the Gutenberg is enormously valuable today, whether part of a leaf book or alone, which gives you an idea what a complete Bible would be worth, considering there are some 600+ leaves per book. This one-leaf book is priced at $60,000.
