Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - May - 2008 Issue

Colonial Americana from the William Reese Co.

Reese260

Colonial Americana from the William Reese Company.



By Michael Stillman

Americana bookseller the William Reese Company goes back to America's earliest days with their 260th catalogue, Colonial Americana. A few items even go back to the pre-Pilgrim days, such as accounts of Champlain's explorations. From there we go to the Jesuit Relations of life in the west, while the Mathers (father, son, and grandfather) make numerous appearances in late 17th, early 18th century New England. Explorations continue along the Atlantic colonies as we move further into the 1700s, and then mid-century, war breaks out, British colonists versus the French and Indians. That conflict won, relations quickly break down between the colonists and the mother country, and the later works bring us up to the brink of revolution. For those who collect America before the revolution, Reese offers a catalogue of 200 plus 1 items for your consideration.

Item 100 is the very rare second, and first obtainable, Jesuit Relation. These were the reports from Jesuit missionaries in the field of what was then the North American far west. This Relation, prepared by Paul Le Jeune, was published in Paris in 1634. The Relations were published from 1632-1680, and gave the earliest looks at the American interior at a time when it was still known as New France, and native customs were still mostly unaffected by western influences. Priced at $75,000.

Preachers attributing natural and unnatural calamities upon the American nation to the sinfulness of its people is nothing new. In 1755, Massachusetts Governor William Shirley saw the outbreak of the French and Indian War as America's punishment for its misbehavior. To repent, and hopefully avert the coming "calamity" of war, he issued this broadside: By His Excellency William Shirley, Esq....A Proclamation for a Publick Fast. Shirley hoped that if the colonists asked for God's forgiveness of their sins and participated in a fast, their "French neighbors" and "Indian savages," who had "unjustly and perfidiously invaded" their land, might withdraw. Evidently, the colonists did not respond with sufficient humility, for the war went on another seven years, but on the bright side, the British and their American colonists won the war and expelled the French from North America. Item 63. $4,500.

Item 180 is a copy of the document which ended that war, The Definitive Treaty of Peace and Friendship... The removal of the French would open the door to British expansion as far west as the Mississippi, where the Spanish were granted control. The celebrating British could not have imagined that rather than permanent victory, this was the beginning of the end to their American colonies. $10,000.

The ink was hardly dry on the treaty before the initial stirrings of discontent began to arise in America. The French and Indian War had cost the mother country plenty of money, and not unreasonably, the British Parliament felt the colonists should partake in those expenses since they had enjoyed the benefits. This view was not entirely shared by the colonists, especially the idea of taxes being imposed upon them without their consent. When a stamp tax, which would tax entirely internal transactions within the colonies, rather than foreign trade, was proposed in 1764, Connecticut Governor Thomas Finch wrote this pamphlet: Reasons Why the British Colonies in America, Should Not be Charged with Internal Taxes, by Authority of Parliament; Humbly Offered... This was a polite argument against taxing internal transactions, and against taxation without representation. Parliament ignored Finch and passed the Stamp Act the following year, which resulted in a much less "humble" response from the colonists, and a breakdown in relations between the two sides that would only be resolved through revolution. Item 55. $1,000.

Rare Book Monthly

  • <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>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>Sotheby’s<br>Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library<br>Magnificent Books and Bindings<br>11 October 2023</b>
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 11:</b> Francesco Colonna, Hypnerotomachie, Paris, 1546, Parisian calf by Wotton Binder C for Marcus Fugger. $300,000 to $400,000.
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 11:</b> Leonardo da Vinci, Trattato della pittura, manuscript on paper, [Rome, ca. 1638–1641], a very fine pre-publication manuscript. $250,000 to $300,000.
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 11:</b> Paradis, Ung petit traicte de Alkimie, [Paris, before 1540], contemporary morocco by the Pecking Crow binder for Anne de Montmorency. $300,000 to $350,000.
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 11:</b> Capocaccia, Giovanni Battista, A wax relief portrait of Pius V, in a red morocco book-form box by the Vatican bindery, Rome, 1566–1568. $250,000 to $300,000.
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 11:</b> Serlio, Il terzo libro; Regole generali, Venice, 1540, both printed on blue paper and bound together by the Cupid's Bow Binder. $400,000 to $500,000.
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 11:</b> Tiraboschi, Carmina, manuscript on vellum, [Padua, c. 1471], the earliest surviving plaquette binding. $280,000 to $350,000.
    <b><center>Sotheby’s<br>Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library<br>The Aldine Collection A–C<br>12 October 2023</b>
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 12:</b> Anthologia graeca, Venice, Aldus, 1503, printed on vellum, Masterman Sykes-Syston Park copy. $150,000 to $200,000.
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 12:</b> Castiglione, Il libro del cortegiano, Venice, Aldus, 1528, contemporary Italian morocco gilt, Accolti-Landau copy. $200,000 to $300,000.
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 12:</b> Castiglione, Il libro del cortegiano, Venice, Aldus, 1545, contemporary morocco for Thomas Mahieu, Chatsworth copy. $200,000 to $300,000.
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 12:</b> Cicero, Epistolae familiares, Venice, Aldus, 1502, printed on vellum, illuminated, Renouard-Vernon-Uzielli copy. $200,000 to $300,000.
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 12:</b> Colonna, Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, Venice, Aldus, 1499, Gomar Estienne binding for Jean Grolier, Spencer copy. $400,000 to $600,000.
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 12:</b> Crinito, Libri de poetis Latinis, Florence, Giunta, 1505, Cupid's Bow Binder for Grolier, Paris d'Illins-Wodhull copy. $250,000 to $300,000.

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