Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - February - 2007 Issue
Books from Northern North America from Helen R. Kahn
Canadian rebel leader Louis Riel.
Item 23 touches on an unfortunate incident in Canadian history. It is Reponse a une adresse de la Chambres des Commons...de s'enquerir de l'etat mental de Louis Riel...published in 1886. Louis Riel was a leader of the Metis people of western Canada, who twice found himself leading a rebellion in Canada. The Metis are a polyglot people, a mixture of descendants of various Indian tribes who married French and English settlers. Many, like Riel, had a notable French background, making him a sympathetic figure in French Canada (Quebec). Riel came to the forefront as a leader of the Red River Rebellion of 1869 in Manitoba, where the Metis clashed with authorities of the new Canadian government. He would escape to the United States, go to Quebec after being pardoned, and then on to Montana. Along the way, he suffered serious mental problems and delusions. However, he would recover enough to lead a second rebellion in Saskatchewan in 1885, and this time rather than being pardoned he was tried and sentenced to death. This book concerns the mental health of Riel, the official investigation launched after he was condemned to death. Riel's conviction was finally revoked by Parliament in 1992. Unfortunately, Riel was hanged in 1885. Too little, too late. $450.
Item 58 is A Journey from Prince of Wales's Fort in Hudson Bay, to the Northern Ocean...for the Discovery of Copper Mines, a North-West Passage etc. in the Years 1769...1772 by Samuel Hearne. This is a first edition, though not published until 1795. Hearn was the first European to travel by land from Hudson Bay to the mouth of the Coppermine River at the Arctic Ocean. That is a long, cold trek. The book was published from Hearne's notes, three years after his death. It describes local natives, natural history, the discovery of Great Slave Lake, and the impossibility of finding a northwest passage through Hudson Bay. $6,950.
You may reach Helen R. Kahn online at www.hrkahnbooks.com, or by phone at 514-844-5344.
Rare Book Monthly
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Sotheby’s Geek Week
14-15 JulySotheby’s, July 14: Henry De La Beche. "Awful Changes," 1830. $6,000 to $9,000.Sotheby’s, July 15: [Apollo 11]. Flight Plan, Complete Original Printing Signed by Buzz Aldrin. $5,000 to $8,000.Sotheby’s, July 15: Thomas Alva Edison. Documents Establishing and Ending the Edison Electric Railway Company. $20,000 to $30,000.Sotheby’s, July 15: Richard P. Feynman. Feynman's Lectures on Gravitation 1-16, Including the Original Transcriptions of Lectures 12-16 by Morinigo and Wagner, With Richard Feynman's Manuscript Notations, 1971. $12,000 to $18,000.Sotheby’s, July 15: [Apollo 9]. A Group of Manuals and Mission Documents used by Stuart Roosa as a member of the Astronaut Support Crew. $5,000 to $8,000.Sotheby’s, July 15: [BYTE: The Small Systems Journal]. A collection of early foundational issues of Byte: The Small Systems Journal, with rare hardcover editions. $5,000 to $8,000. -
Forum Auctions
The 10th Anniversary Sale
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
July 16, 2026Forum, July 16: Inundation papyrus. P.Michael 4, the ‘Inundation papyrus’, a geographical account of the Nile near Canopus, in Greek, remains of two columns from a manuscript scroll on papyrus, Egypt, second century CE. £12,000-18,000Forum, July 16: Book of Hours, use of Sarum, manuscript on vellum, 6 full-page miniatures, with famous Middle English inscriptions, Southern Netherlands for the English market, [c.1430]. £30,000-50,000Forum, July 16: Qu'ran, Arabic manuscript on burnished, stencilled, and gold-flecked paper, 447ff., Sultanate Gujarat, Ahmadabad, [after 1411 but no later than 1442]. £15,000-20,000Forum Auctions
The 10th Anniversary Sale
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
July 16, 2026Forum, July 16: Turner (William). A New boke of the natures and properties of all wines that are commonly vsed here in England, rare first edition of the first English book on wine, By William Seres, 1568. £20,000-£30,000Forum, July 16: Spenser (Edmund). The Faerie Queene. first edition, Printed [by John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, 1590. £30,000-40,000Forum, July 16: Shakespeare (William). The Comedie of Errors, extracted from the first folio, Isaac Jaggard and Edward Blount, 1623. £15,000-20,000Forum Auctions
The 10th Anniversary Sale
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
July 16, 2026Forum, July 16: Fleming (Ian). Casino Royale, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1953. £40,000-60,000Forum, July 16: d'Agoty (Jacques-Fabien Gautier). Anatomie de la Tête, first edition, Paris, chez le Sieur Gautier, 1748. £10,000-15,000Forum, July 16: Martial Arts.- Lee (Bruce). 'Praying Mantis style' Kung Fu book, containing numerous annotations, diagrams and graphs in Bruce Lee's hand, c. 1960. £50,000-70,000Forum Auctions
The 10th Anniversary Sale
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
July 16, 2026Forum, July 16: Warre (Capt. Henry James). Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory, first edition, rare hand-coloured issue, 1848. £30,000-40,000Forum, July 16: Norie (John William). The Marine Atlas, or Seaman's Complete Pilot for all the principal places in the known world..., 1826. £30,000-50,000Forum, July 16: Mao Tse-tung.- Kim Il-sung.-[Note book for visitors from China to Korea], signed by Mao and Kim, [Beijing, 1954]. £10,000-15,000