• Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 75. The Second Printed Map of the North American Continent - Full Contemporary Color (1593) Est. $35,000 - $40,000
    Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 37. Schedel's Ancient World Map with Fantastic Humanoid Creatures (1493) Est. $16,000 - $18,000
    Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 104. Important Revolutionary War Plan of Battle of Quebec in Contemporary Color (1776) Est. $4,000 - $4,750
    Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 43. Mercator's Map of the North Pole - the First Printed Map Devoted to the Arctic (1606) Est. $2,750 - $3,500
    Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 237. Rare and Striking Bird's-Eye View of Lawrence, Kansas (1880) Est. $2,000 - $2,500
    Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 10. Rare Map from Atlas Maior with Representations of the Seasons in Contemporary Color (1662) Est. $14,000 - $17,000
    Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 374. Bunting's Map of Europe Depicted as the Queen of the World (1589) Est. $2,000 - $2,400
    Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 590. Willem Blaeu's Magnificent Carte-a-Figures Map of Asia (1634) Est. $2,750 - $3,500
    Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 647. The Earliest and Most Decorative Map of the East Coast of Africa (1596) Est. $3,000 - $3,750
    Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 710. Ruscelli's Complete, Third Edition Atlas with 65 Maps (1574) Est. $9,500 - $11,000
    Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 696. Superb Hand-Colored Image of the Adoration of the Shepherds (1502) Est. $800 - $950
  • University Archives
    Rare Autographs, Manuscripts & Books
    Now through Nov. 19
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 308 - Bob Dylan Handwritten & Signed Lyrics to "Just Like a Woman" With Jeff Rosen & JSA Authentication
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 455 - Isaac Newton Admiration For Judaism & Moral Continuity With Christianity! 350+ Words in his Hand - Extraordinary Content!
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 219 - 371g Moon Meteorite, Incredible Find - Laâyoune 002
    University Archives
    Rare Autographs, Manuscripts & Books
    Now through Nov. 19
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 448 - Scarce Einstein AM on Unified Field Theory, 180+ Words & 11 Equations in His Hand! From His Published Article, "A Generalization of the Relativistic Theory of Gravitation"
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 159 - Woodrow Wilson Baseball Signed for WWI Red Cross Fundraiser, Ex. Forbes & PSA Authentic - Finest Known!
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 84 - Lee Harvey Oswald ALS to Brother, Trying Desperately to Get out of Russia! Highly Important
    University Archives
    Rare Autographs, Manuscripts & Books
    Now through Nov. 19
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 152 - George Washington Signed Discharge for MA Soldier Whose Regiment Was at Bunker Hill!
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 88 - Abraham Lincoln Fully Signed Military Appointment for Mexican War Vet & Respected Cavalryman
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 188 - Apollo XI Astronauts & Their Wives Signed Photo, Plus Crew Signed Cover, From Apollo XI Presidential Goodwill Tour Era, Pre-Cert Zarelli
    University Archives
    Rare Autographs, Manuscripts & Books
    Now through Nov. 19
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 265 - Martin Luther King, Jr. TLS Re: "Stride Toward Freedom" Film Rights To Literary Agent Marie Rodell
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 324 - John Lennon Signed Apple Records Check, PSA GEM MT 10! Possibly Finest Known
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 79 - John & Jacqueline Kennedy Signed WH 1963 Christmas Gift Inscribed to Close Friend Joan Braden, PSA Authentic
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Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - April - 2008 Issue

The Latest Unusual Americana from David Lesser Antiquarian Books

The latest from David Lesser Antiquarian Books.

The latest from David Lesser Antiquarian Books.


By Michael Stillman

David M. Lesser Fine Antiquarian Books has issued a new catalogue of Rare Americana, this one number 103. Lesser specializes in the obscure, often strange, pamphlets and broadsides of early America, almost all of this group ranging from colonial times to Reconstruction. These catalogues are always fascinating as they give a look at America from the eyes of the pamphleteers, who were generally more in touch with the feelings of the average citizens than were the highest leaders. Of course, some of these writers, like some ordinary citizens, were rather oddball characters, but that just adds to the fun of reading their works, from the safety of being centuries away. Here are a few.

A major battle over segregated schools occurred in Boston over a century before the landmark Supreme Court case outlawed the practice. That battle is recounted in item 12, Report to the Primary School Committee, June 15, 1846, on the Petition of Sundry Colored Persons, for the Abolition of the Schools for Colored Children, coupled with the Report of the Minority, published in 1846. The petitioners had argued that "all experience teaches that where a small and despised class are shut out from the common benefit of any public institutions of learning and confined to separate schools...neglect ensues." The School Committee ruled against this claim under Massachusetts' "Free and Equal Clause." They ruled that separate schools did not create an "inferior" or "degraded caste." They stated that the schools for colored children were in fact created "at the urgent and repeated requests of the colored people themselves" (ignoring that at that time the black children had no access to public education at all). The Minority Report agreed with the petitioners, stating, "Race or color is an unlawful and inhuman reason for restraining his right of choice." It was essentially this same argument that would finally prevail in 1954 when segregated schools were outlawed nationally. Priced at $2,500.

Item 80 is a less momentous, though still fascinating legal case. It concerns America's first bank robbery. Isaac Smith robbed $162,000 from the Bank of Pennsylvania, a very substantial sum in 1798. The lack of signs of forced entry led the bankers to conclude that the locksmith who had installed the locks must have been in on the crime. Ignoring the fact that the locksmith, Robert Lyon, had warned them that the materials they used were inferior, the Bank charged him as being Smith's accomplice. Lyon countered with a suit for defamation, and won a $12,000 verdict from the Bank, which resulted in "an universal clamor of exultation...among the audience..." The item, published in 1808, is entitled, Robbery of the Bank of Pennsylvania in 1798. $450.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: Presentation Copy of a Whitman "Holy Grail." Whitman, Walt. $10,000-$15,000.
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: Endymion in Original Boards. Keats, John. $8,000-
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: Association Copy of the Privately Printed Edition of The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Potter, Beatrix. $8,000-$12,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: Christina Rossetti's Own Copy of Her First Book. Rossetti, Christina G. $8,000-$12,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: The Borden Copy of The Life of Merlin in an Elaborate Binding by Riviere. Heywood, Thomas, Translator. $6,000-$8,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: Arion Press. Whitman, Walt, Leaves of Grass. $4,000-$6,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: Call It Sleep in the First State Jacket. Roth, Henry. $2,000-$3,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: Steinbeck's Best-Known Work. Steinbeck, John. $2,000-$3,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: A Fine Jewelled Binding Signed by Sangorski & Sutcliffe. Sangorski, Francis. $40,000-$60,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter: A Complete Set of First Editions. Potter, Beatrix. $2,000-$3,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: Kelmscott Shelley. Shelley, Percy Bysshe. The Poetical Works. $3,000-$5,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: Inscribed by Martin Luther King Jr. King, Martin Luther, Jr. $3,000-$5,000
  • Sotheby’s
    Book Week
    November & December
    Sotheby’s, Nov. 6-20: Tory, Geoffroy. L'Art et science de la vraye proportion des Lettres. Paris 1549. Seconde édition. In-8. Reliure de P.L. Martin. €7,000 to €9,000.
    Sotheby’s, Nov. 6-20: Gauguin, Paul. Lettre autographe signée à son ami Émile Bernard. [Le Pouldu août 1889]. Illustrée d'un croquis original. €10,000 to €15,000.
    Sotheby’s, Nov. 6-20: [Portulan — Joan Martines, attribué à]. Carte portulan de la côte atlantique de l'Amérique du Sud. [Messine, vers 1570-1591.] €15,000 to €20,000.
    Sotheby’s, Nov. 6-20: Zamora, Alonso de. Historia de la provincia de San Antonio del nuevo reyno de Granada... Barcelone, 1701. €10,000 to €15,000.
    Sotheby’s, Nov. 6-20: [Chastenet de Puységur, Antoine]. Détail sur la navigation aux côtes de Saint-Domingue... Paris, 1787. €5,000 to €7,000.
  • Freeman’s, Nov. 13: HEMINGWAY, Ernest. Three Stories and Ten Poems. First edition, inscribed to his cousin, Ruth White Lowry. $60,000-80,000
    Freeman’s, Nov. 13: CURTIS, Edward S. The North American Indian... Portfolio and two text volumes. $20,000-30,000
    Freeman’s, Nov. 13: A Superb Illuminated Manuscript of Tennyson’s Le Morte d'Arthur, ca. 1910, by Alberto Sangorksi and in an exceptional Riviere binding. $40,000-50,000
    Freeman’s, Nov. 13: A Remarkable Epistle from Robert Burns to Frances Dunlop, containing all lines of the first version of "Written in Friars Carse Hermitage" and 12 lines of the first version of "First Epistle to Robert Graham Esq." $20,000-30,000
    Freeman’s, Nov. 13: FAULKNER, William. Go Down, Moses. First edition, limited issue, one of 100 copies signed by Faulkner. $10,000-15,000
    Freeman’s, Nov. 13: MAUGHAM, W. Somerset. Of Human Bondage. First English edition, presentation copy, inscribed by Maugham, in the rare suppressed dust-jacket. $40,000-50,000
    Freeman’s, Nov. 13: An Excessively Rare First Issue and Previously Unrecorded Copy of Shakespeare’s Third Folio. $40,000-60,000
    Freeman’s, Nov. 13: AUDUBON, John James. Louisiana Heron, Ardea Ludoviciana. (Plate CCXVII). $30,000-40,000
    Freeman’s, Nov. 13: HERBERT, Frank. Dune, 1965. First edition, inscribed by Herbert. $8,000-12,000

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