Catalogue Review: Color-Plate<br>Books from Heritage Book Shop
Henry Monnier's illustration of government bureaucrats at work.
By Mike Stillman
It’s not very often that a catalogue comes along about which very little can be said. After all, books are themselves filled with words. So, here’s a catalogue that leaves me speechless. It comes from the Heritage Book Shop in Los Angeles, and the title is “A Selection of Fine Color-Plate Books.” And that’s why it is so hard to write about. It is their images, not words, that make them noteworthy.
Color-plate books are, naturally, those distinguished by their color plates. Color images may not be very special today, but back in the days before photography and modern printing methods, color images were special indeed. Often, hand-coloring was needed to reproduce the images in color. This, obviously, was a costly process, and these books are quite valuable today. Heritage is offering a small (18 items in all) collection of fine color-plate books from the first half of the 19th century.
An example of what is available here is item 2, Involuntary Thoughts, illustrated by Henry Alken. Alken was a sportsman and hunter, and his illustrations of these scenes are very well-known. Posters of his drawings of horse racing and hunting are still popular today. Involuntary Thoughts includes eight hand-colored plates containing twenty-nine humorous scenes. Priced at $1,500.
Henry Monnier was a popular French illustrator of the 19th century. Heritage offers two of his works. Item 11, Moeurs Adminstratives, from 1828, remains timely today. In it, Monnier, once an employee of the Ministry of Justice, shows government officials hard at work on an hour-by-hour basis. As Heritage describes these drawings, “His principle themes are the inactivity of the staff, their lack of individual character, and their entire submission to superior authority.” Fortunately, such behavior no longer exists today. $2,250. Item 12 is another Monnier work. Entitled Recreations, from 1826, it depicts scenes from his visits to England. $2,750.
The Theatric Tourist will attract the attention of anyone interested in British theater at the beginning of the 19th century. This is a collection of 24 hand-colored plates of various English theaters of the time. The illustrator is James Winston. Item 18. $8,500.
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.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000.
![<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.")
