And then there’s item #8, a letter from Charles Langdon, a former Alabama state legislator and Secretary of State, who also had a brother up North. On the eve of the Civil War, Langdon has a solution to the burning issue of slavery. Essentially, his message to the North is M.Y.O.B. – mind your own business, and everything will be fine. Just stop agitating, he advises. “There is no occasion for the people of the North troubling themselves about it, and they have no business with it. The South feels fully competent to manage the matter for itself…” He goes on to say there are people more worthy of their concern than the slaves. “If all the published accounts are true, the poor white shoemakers of Massachusetts are more oppressed, endure more suffering, and are more slaves than the well-fed, well cared for, contented and happy black slaves of the South, and are more the objects of commiseration. No, my dear brother there is no suffering among the slaves of the South, and if the people of the north would cease talking about it, disband their Abolition societies, and simply mind their own business, and not interfere with the business of others, the question would be settled at once.” As we now know, Langdon’s fantasyland advice was not taken and the rest is history. Price: $650.
In a more humorous vein is item #26, an 1865 letter from the Dakota Territory, explaining how “we barbarians” live. Seems that the author, C.B. Davis, was living just as well as his friend back in civilized Maine to whom the letter was sent. Davis’ home, furniture, and food was as good as back East, and there were fewer mosquitoes. “All we lack is society & the wind blows hard enough to make up for that.” Davis speaks of a friendly dinner visit paid by six Indians, hardly the image created by the typical Hollywood movie, nor even the Dakota-set “Dances with Wolves.” Price: $500.
Item #36 is an interesting historical item. It’s a recently discovered 16-page manuscript by Samuel Gregg, an account of his travels through then present-day Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri in 1816. The Brown catalogue quotes at length from this document. Price: $12,500.
Item #61 is another historical gem, an 1832 letter from James Thornton to his buddy and recent nominee for Congress, the future President Franklin Pierce. Thornton has some choice words for his hometown, Washington. “…Washington is a miserable God-forgotten city; and were it not for the love of filthy lucre which I stand much in need of…I would be off.” Thornton has more such pleasantries for our capitol, sounding much like a modern “outsider” politician, badmouthing the nation’s capitol city while desperately trying to get elected to a job in, where else, Washington. Price: $450.
A few items of local interest are available in this catalogue. Item #38 is a letter from Darius Blake Holbrook, a founder of Cairo, Illinois, describing plans for the city. Price: $350. Item #39 is a letter from William Woodruff concerning lots being sold in the newly developed town of Clinton, Iowa. Price: $250. And then there’s item #65, a diary by one Henry Mahew from 1913-1918, covering his life from 9th grade in school through a difficult courtship and his eventual marriage in rural Texas. Price $500.
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Rare Book Monthly
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![<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/8caddaea-4c1f-47a7-9455-62f53af36e3f.jpg "<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.")
Heritage Auctions
Rare Books Signature Auction
December 15, 2025Heritage, Dec. 15: John Donne. Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death. London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.Heritage, Dec. 15: Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.Heritage, Dec. 15: F. Scott Fitzgerald. Tender is the Night. A Romance.Heritage, Dec. 15: Bram Stoker. Dracula. Westminster: Archibald Constable & Co., 1897.Heritage, Dec. 15: Jerry Thomas. How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion, Containing Clear and Reliable Directions for Mixing All the Beverages Used in the United States… -
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Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("Martinus Luther") to His Friend the Theologian Gerhard Wiskamp ("Gerardo Xantho Lampadario"). $100,000 - $150,000.Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: An Exceptionally Fine Copy of Austenís Emma: A Novel in Three Volumes. $40,000 - $60,000.Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Presentation Copy of Ernest Hemmingwayís A Farewell to Arms for Edward Titus of the Black Mankin Press. $30,000 - $50,000.Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript Signed Integrally for "The Songs of Pooh," by Alan Alexander. $30,000 - $50,000.Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript of "Three Fragments from Gˆtterd‰mmerung" by Richard Wagner. $30,000 - $50,000.Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Preliminary Artwork, for the First Edition of Snow Crash. $20,000 - $30,000.Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("T.R. Malthus") to Economist Nassau Senior on Wealth, Labor and Adam Smith. $20,000 - $30,000.Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Finely Bound by Michael Wilcox. $20,000 - $30,000.Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: First Edition of Lewis and Clark: Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean. $8,000 - $12,000.Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Artwork for the First Edition of Neal Stephenson's Groundbreaking Novel Snow Crash. $100,000 - $150,000.Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: A Complete Set Signed Deluxe Editions of King's The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. $8,000 - $12,000.Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("John Adams") to James Le Ray de Chaumont During the Crucial Years of the Revolutionary War. $8,000 - $12,000. -
![<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 16:</b> [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of <i>Sense and Sensibility,</i> the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/9a74d9ff-42dd-46a1-8bb2-b636c4cec796.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 16:</b> [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of <i>Sense and Sensibility,</i> the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.")
Sotheby’s
Book Week
December 9-17, 2025Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Francesco Colonna. Hypnerotomachie, Paris, 1546, Parisian calf by Wotton Binder C for Marcus Fugger. €200,000 to €300,000.Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Nausea. De principiis dialectices Gorgias, and other works, Venice, 1523, morocco gilt for Cardinal Campeggio. €3,000 to €4,000.Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Billon. Le fort inexpugnable de l'honneur, Paris, 1555, Parisian calf gilt for Peter Ernst, Graf von Mansfeld. €120,000 to €180,000.Sotheby’s
Book Week
December 9-17, 2025Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Salinger, J.D. The Graham Family archive, including autographed letters, an inscribed Catcher, a rare studio photograph of the author, and more. $120,000 to $180,000.Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of Sense and Sensibility, the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Massachusetts General Court. A powerful precursor to the Declaration of Independence: "every Act of Government … without the Consent of the People, is … Tyranny." $40,000 to $60,000.