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Forum Auctions
Online Sale
Books and Works on Paper
Ending 13th December 2023Forum, Dec. 13: Ackermann (Rudolph) [Views of Country Seats...], 146 hand-coloured aquatints from 'Repository of Arts’. £1,000 to £1,500.Forum, Dec. 13: Campbell (Colen) & others. Vitruvius Britannicus, or The British Architect..., 5 vol., [1751-1819]. £7,000 to £10,000.Forum, Dec. 13: Austen (Jane). The Novels, 12 vol., Edinburgh, John Grant, 1911. £1,500 to £2,000.Forum, Dec. 13: Murder broadside.- Horrid and barbarous murder of a female by cutting off her head, arms, and legs,… £200 to £300. -
CHRISTIE’S
Valuable Books and Manuscripts
London auction
13 December
Find out moreChristie’s, Explore now
TREW, Christoph Jacob (1695–1769). Plantae Selectae quarum imagines ad exemplaria naturalia Londini in hortus curiosorum. [Nuremberg: 1750–1773]. £30,000–40,000Christie’s, Explore now
VERBIEST, Ferdinand (1623–88). Liber Organicus Astronomiae Europaeae apud Sinas restituate. [Beijing: Board of Astronomy, 1674]. £250,000–350,000Christie’s, Explore now
PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF ALICE & NIKOLAUS HARNONCOURT. Master of Jean Rolin (active 1445–65). Book of Hours, use of Paris, in Latin and French, [Paris, c.1450–1460]. £120,000–180,000Christie’s, Explore now
A SILVER MICROSCOPE. Probably by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723), c.1700. £150,000–250,000Christie’s, Explore now
AN ENGLISH HORARY QUADRANT
C.1311. £100,000–150,000 -
Sotheby’s
Important Modern Literature from the Library of an American Filmmaker
8 December 2023Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Kerouac, Jack. Typescript scroll of The Dharma Bums. Typed by Kerouac in Orlando, Florida, 1957, published by Viking in 1958. 300,000 - 500,000 USDSotheby’s, Dec. 8: Hemingway, Ernest. The autograph manuscript of "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber." [Key West, finished April 1936]. 300,000 - 500,000 USDSotheby’s, Dec. 8: Miller, Henry. Typescript of The Last Book, a working title for Tropic of Cancer, written circa 1931–1932. 100,000 - 150,000 USDSotheby’s, Dec. 8: Ruscha, Ed. Twentysix Gasoline Stations, with a lengthy inscription to Joe Goode. 40,000 - 60,000 USDSotheby’s, Dec. 8: Hemingway, Ernest. in our time, first edition of Hemingway’s second book. 30,000 - 50,000 USD -
Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 2:
John Ford Clymer, U.S. Troops' Triumphant Return to New York Harbor, oil on canvas, circa 1944.Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 44:
Edward Gorey, Illustration of cover and spine for Fonthill, a Comedy by Aubrey Menen, pen and ink, 1973.Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 50:
Harrison Cady, frontispiece for Buster Bear's Twins by Thornton W. Burgess, watercolor and ink, 1921.Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 54:
Ludwig Bemelmans, Pepito, portrait of Pepito from the Madeline book series, mixed media.Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 79:
Gluyas Williams, Fellow Citizens Observation Platform, pen and ink, cartoon published in The New Yorker, March 11, 1933.Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 86:
Thomas Nast, Victory, – for the moment, political cartoon, pen and ink, 1884.Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 91:
Mischa Richter, Lot of 10 cartoons for Field Publications, ink and pencil, circa 1940.Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 111:
Arthur Getz, Sledding In Central Park, casein tempera on canvas, cover of The New Yorker, February 26, 1955.Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 124:
Richard Erdoes, Map of Boston, illustration for unknown children's magazine, gouache on board, circa 1960.Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 155:
Robert Fawcett, The old man looked him over carefully, gouache on board, published in The Saturday Evening Post, June 9, 1945.Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 170:
Violet Oakley, Portrait of Woodrow Wilson, charcoal and pastel, circa 1918.Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 188:
Robert J. Wildhack, Scribner's for March, 1907, mixed media.
Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - June - 2008 Issue
Intriguing Americana From Kaaterskill Books
Americana from Kaaterskill Books.
By Michael Stillman
Kaaterskill Books has issued their Catalogue 6 - Americana. This is a collection of truly fascinating old works, but most come with the kind of prices you find on eBay, maybe better. These are not, for the most part, famous works, but they represent a real slice of life in America in the late 18th and 19th centuries. There are books, printed speeches, legal pleadings, official documents, travelogues and more, covering the issues of the day. Sermons frequently stray from the theological to the political, particularly where slavery is concerned. Among the items offered is a group of 35 July 4th speeches. Don't assume these just represent a lot of standard flag waving, as many of these speeches touch on the burning issues of the day. They provide insight into America at the time. And, most are priced in the $10-$35 range. Like we said, eBay pricing. This is a great catalogue. Now, here are a few of the items offered.
In 1831, Samuel Prince and others petitioned the Boston School Committee to open a high school for girls. The Committee's response is presented in the Report of the Common Council, on the Subject of a High School for Girls. The answer was "no." The committee reasoned that the cost would be too great because, while most boys dropped out of school by the age of 14 to become apprentices, the girls would probably hang around running up expenses much longer. Besides, girls do not give back as much to the community as boys, so a primary school education is sufficient for them. Item 21. Priced at $95.
Item 59 is a large volume filled with photographs taken over a century ago along America's southwestern border. It is the Report of the Boundary Commission upon the Survey and Re-marking of the Boundary between the United States and Mexico west of the Rio Grande, 1891-1896. It includes photographs of the views at each of the 258 boundary markers, with captions in English and Spanish. This copy contains an inscription from L. Seward Terry, Secretary of the U.S. Commission. $2,500.
State militias are something of an afterthought in the U.S. today, but their one-time role may shed some light on whether the Second Amendment's right to bear arms was meant as an individual or public right. In the 1828 Militia Report of William H. Sumner, Adjutant General...to his Excellency Levi Lincoln, Governor...of Massachusetts, Sumner writes, "Under the Constitution, the Militia must ever be estimated the bulwark of civil and individual liberty. Directed by public sentiment, it will guard us from the oppression of power...it will secure us from anarchy...and properly armed and disciplined, it forms an impenetrable barrier to the invader." In the early days of the republic, there was great fear of federal power and a standing army, which might force its will on the states. The state militia was seen as the people's best defense against such a power. Item 132. $75.
