Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - September - 2007 Issue

A Summer Miscellany from Bauman Rare Books

A Summer Miscellany from Bauman Rare Books.

A Summer Miscellany from Bauman Rare Books.

By Michael Stillman

Bauman Rare Books
of New York and Philadelphia, has issued a catalogue of Summer Miscellany. A catalogue of miscellany is hard to describe, as it may contain just about anything, which this one does. It includes over 800 works of fiction and nonfiction, art, science, history, politics, poetry, photography, humor, and just about anything else you can imagine. These are all significant items and highly collectible, although they will suit a wide range of collections. Here are a few items to be found, but with the caution that they are just miscellaneous, as it is impossible to provide a representative sample when so many types of books are represented.

Item 144 is a first edition of what has to be one of the greatest speeches ever given. It is from Winston Churchill, A Speech by the Prime Minister....in the House of Commons, August 20th, 1940. England stood alone at the time, most of its allies in Western Europe overrun by the Germans, America still well over a year from entering the fray. To anyone else it might have seemed hopeless, but to Churchill, it was Britain's finest hour. Despite the enormous bombardments inflicted by Germany's superior forces, now entrenched just across the channel, Churchill was defiant, inspiring his people while reassuring them that the Royal Air Force would eventually inflict a crippling blow to Germany's internal infrastructure, making its capture of foreign lands irrelevant. It was his tribute to the work of that Air Force which resulted in the speech's most famous line, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." Not only were the British people indebted to these flyers, but so was the whole world, Americans included, though most of us may not have recognized this fact at the time. This first edition is priced at $1,450.

Here is an item from a signal event it American history -- it is a typed, signed dissenting opinion in the case of Bush v. Gore by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The majority would cut off any further vote counting, assuring victory to George W. Bush. Whatever your politics, it is undeniable that America, and the world, would be a far different place if Gore, the winner of the greatest number of popular votes, had become president instead. Item 341. $975. Item 731 is a signed dissent by another of the dissenters, Justice John Paul Stevens. Item 731. $1,500.

Now for something a bit lighter: I Love Her, That's Why! by George Burns with Cynthia Lindsay. This is a first edition of George Burns' 1955 autobiography, with the "her," naturally, being his wife and partner in comedy, Gracie Allen. Ms. Allen was noted for her strange logic, with Burns playing the straight man. They had already been on the radio for almost two decades when they broke into television in 1950, and by 1955, when this autobiography was published, they were at the height of their career. Allen would retire a few years later, while Burns would continue performing until the 1990s. Say ‘Goodnight,' Gracie. This copy is inscribed by Burns and signed by Allen. Item 111. $500.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Sotheby’s
    10 September 2024
    The Shem Tov Bible
  • Koller Auctions
    Books & Autographs
    18 September 2024
    Koller, Sep. 18: Cowper, William. Anatomia corporum humanorum ab excellentissimis… Utrecht, 1750. CHF 25,000 to 40,000
    Koller, Sep. 18: Bell, Thomas. A Monograph of the Testudinata. London [1836-1842]. CHF 20,000 to 30,000.
    Koller, Sep. 18: Gould, John. A monograph of the Trochilidae, or family of humming-birds [and] Supplement completed after the authors death…, London [1849-]1861 and [1880-]1887. CHF 50,000 to 80,000.
    Koller Auctions
    Books & Autographs
    18 September 2024
    Koller, Sep. 18: Gould, John. The birds of New Guinea and the adjacent Papuan Islands, including many new species recently discovered in Australia. CHF 50,000 to 80,000.
    Koller, Sep. 18: Levaillant, François. Histoire naturelle des oiseaux de paradis et des rolliers, suivie de celle des toucans et des barbus. Paris [1801-]1806. CHF 40,000 to 60,000.
    Koller, Sep. 18: Pfinzing, Melchior. Die geverlicheiten und einsteils der geschichten des loblichen streytparen…, Nürnberg, 1517. CHF 40,000 to 60,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    26th September 2024
    Forum, 26 Sep: Bible, Arabic & Latin. Biblia Sacra Arabica, 3 vol., Rome, Tipografia della Congregazione di Propaganda Fide, 1671. £15,000 to £20,000.
    Forum, 26 Sep: Shepard (Ernest). "Wind in the Willows" Toad Escapes from Prison, original pencil drawing with watercolour, 1931. £15,000 to £20,000.
    Forum, 26 Sep: Economics.- Smith (Adam). An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, 2 vol., second edition, Printed for W. Strahan; and T. Cadell, 1778. £12,000 to £18,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    26th September 2024
    Forum, 26 Sep: Burma.- Burmese School (1870s). Folding manuscript, or parabaik, of festivities and processions, probably from the Court Workshop at the Royal Court at Manadaly, Burma, [c. 1870]. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, 26 Sep: More (Sir Thomas). La Description de l'Isle d'Utopie ou est comprins le Miroer des republiques du monde, first French edition, Paris, Charles l'Angelier, 1550. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum, 26 Sep: Botany.- Dioscorides (Pedanius). De medicinali materia libri sex, hand-coloured throughout, Frankfurt-am-Main, Chr. Egenolff, 1543. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    26th September 2024
    Forum, 26 Sep: World.- Blaeu (Johannes). Nova et Accuratissima Totius Terrarum Orbis Tabula Auctore Joanne Blaeu, engraved map, [c.1662]. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum, 26 Sep: Shelley (Mary). Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus, 2 vol., [second edition], Printed for G. and W.B. Whittaker, 1823. £7,000 to £10,000.
    Forum, 26 Sep: [Evans (Marian)] 'George Eliot'. A complete set of first editions of her works, uniformly bound in red morocco, 1858-1885 (30). £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    26th September 2024
    Forum, 26 Sep: Lewis (C.S.) [The Chronicles of Narnia], 7 vol., first editions, 1950-56. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, 26 Sep: Albertolli (Ferdinando). Porte di Città e Fortezze...di Michele Sammicheli, Milan, 1815. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, 26 Sep: Gregynog Press.- Euripides. The Plays, one of 25 specially-bound copies, this by George Fisher at the Gregynog Bindery, 1931. £4,000 to £6,000.
  • Il Ponte, Sep. 24-25: HAMILTON, Sir William - Campi Phlegraei. Napoli: 1779. € 50,000 - 80,000
    Il Ponte, Sep. 24-25: KIRCHER, Athanasius - Turris Babel. Amsterdam: 1679. € 3,000 - 5,000
    Il Ponte, Sep. 24-25: EDWARDS, George.London - Gleanings of Natural History. Londra: 1758-1764. € 7,000 - 10,000
    Il Ponte, Sep. 24-25: HEVELIUS, Johannes - Cometographia. Danzica: 1668. € 20,000 - 30,000
    Il Ponte, Sep. 24-25: KUPKA, Frantisek - Quatre histoires de blanc et noir. Parigi: 1926. € 10,000 - 15,000

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