Recent Acquisitions at the Veatchs Arts of the Book
New acquisitions in the arts of the book from the Veatchs.
By Michael Stillman
The Veatchs Arts of the Book has published their Catalogue 61: Recent Acquisitions. This is a catalogue for people who believe the title of one of the books offered within its pages: You Can Judge a Book By Its Cover. Perhaps not every book in this catalogue can be judged by its cover, though some certainly can, but if not its cover, than by other physical or artistic attributes. These are works that can stand without regard to the meaning of their printed words, though those words can certainly provide a worthy bonus. Here are a few of the works of the book arts being offered from these latest acquisitions at the Veatchs.
Item 44 is The Life Work of Dard Hunter. A Progressive Illustrated Assemblage of His Works as Artist, Craftsman, Author, Papermaker, and Printer. This limited edition (150 copies), two-volume comprehensive set of Hunter's career was published in 1981-83 by his son, Dard Hunter II. The senior Hunter began his career in 1901 at the Roycroft Studios, but by 1912, he purchased an old mill house in Marlborough, New York, where he built a paper mill. Hunter specialized in papermaking at this time, but in 1919, he purchased the "Mountain House" in Chillicothe, Ohio, where he expanded his interests to include printing and more. It was from this location that the younger Hunter published this retrospective of his father's work 15 years after the latter died. While Hunter's specialty remains papermaking, and he wrote several books on the subject, his wide range of interests led him to produce two books displayed at the Smithsonian with the notation, "In the entire history of printing these are the first books to have been made in their entirety by the labor of one man." He wrote, designed, typeset, printed and bound these books by himself, along with, of course, making the paper. In later years, Hunter also became involved in other artistic endeavors, such as pottery and furniture. Priced at $6,900.
Item 10 is one of the more extensive leaf books we have seen: The American Bible: Original Leaves from Rare and Historic Bibles printed in the Colonies and the United States during the Seventeenth, Eighteenth, and Nineteenth Centuries. This 1993 publication includes 38 leaves from historic American bibles. It begins with a leaf from the Eliot Indian Bible, the first bible printed in America (1663). It follows with several printed in indigenous languages. Since European language bibles were readily available from Europe, there was no need for bibles printed in America other than those in Indian languages. Other bibles represented in this book are the first American editions printed in English, French, Spanish and Hebrew, and the first New Testaments in Greek, Portuguese, Dutch and Swedish. $5,720.
Item 61 is John Brown's Body. No, not literally. This is an edition of Stephen Vincent Benet's epic poem concerning the American Civil War. This one was published in a run of 100 in 1980 by printmaker and artist Barry Moser, a limited run made from the original blocks prior to the printing of the trade edition. It contains eleven signed wood engravings. $400.
Sotheby’s Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library. The Aldine Collection D-M 18 October 2024
Sotheby’s, Oct. 18: Herodianus Syrus, Herodiani Historiarum, Venice, Heirs of Aldo & Torresano, 1524, Parisian binding for Jean Grolier by Jean Picard, ca. 1540
Sotheby’s, Oct. 18: Musaeus, Opusculum de Herone et Leandro, Venice, Aldo, 1495 (Greek text), interleaved with 1497–1498 (Latin text), English olive morocco by Charles Lewis, the Botfield copy
Sotheby’s, Oct. 18: Horatius Flaccus, Horatius, Venice, Aldo, 1501, Bolognese brown goatskin (between 1501 and 1503), arms of Mino Rossi and illuminated initials throughout
Sotheby’s, Oct. 18: Lucretius, De rerum natura, Venice, Aldo, 1500, English early eighteenth-century red morocco, the Fletcher copy
Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: CATESBY, MARK. 1683-1749. The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands. $100,000 - $150,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: AUDUBON, JOHN JAMES. 1785-1851. The Birds of America, from Drawings Made in the United States and their Territories. $30,000 - $50,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: ADAMS ON HIS PEAR TREES AND A LOST PORTRAIT BY SALEM ARTIST HANNAH CROWNINSHIELD. ADAMS, JOHN. 1735-1826. $10,000 - $15,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: EARLIEST MAP DEVOTED TO NORTH AMERICA. FORLANI, PAULO. fl.1560-1571. $20,000 - $30,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: HAMILTON DEFENDS THE CONSTITUTION. HAMILTON, ALEXANDER. 1757-1804. $20,000 - $30,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION BROADSIDE. Boston, September 14, 1768. $5,000 - $8,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: ONE OF THE EARLIEST ILLUSTRATIONS OF A SURGICAL PROCEDURE. BARTHOLOMAEUS ANGLICUS. $10,000 - $15,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: RICHARD FEYNMAN'S ANNOTATED COPY, WITH TWO EARLY FEYNMAN AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPTS. $15,000 - $25,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: THE FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN COMPUTING. TURING, ALAN MATHISON. 1912-1954. $30,000 - $50,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: FINE OIL PORTRAIT OF ALBERT EINSTEIN BY EUGEN SPIRO. $40,000 - $60,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: PENICILLIN MOLD MEDALLION INSCRIBED BY ALEXANDER FLEMING. FLEMING, ALEXANDER. 1881-1955. $30,000 - $50,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: APPLE "TWIGGY" MACINTOSH PROTOTYPE USED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF DEMONSTRATION SOFTWARE. $80,000 - $120,000
Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 24: A Superb Extra-illustrated Copy of Nicolay and Hay’s Work About Lincoln. $50,000 – 70,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 24: The First Volume of De Bry's Great Voyages, Thomas Hariot's Description of Virginia. $50,000 – 70,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 24: An autographed cabinet card of Custer as lieutenant colonel. From his last sitting. $800 – 1,200.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 24: The Congressional Committee, Lincoln's Funeral Springfield Illinois, 3 May 1865. $4,000 – 6,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 25: A remarkable ninth plate daguerreotype of an interracial couple. $30,000 – 50,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 25: What may be the earliest known images of an identified plantation and enslaved African Americans posed with their owner. $20,000 – 30,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 25: Through Tickets to All Principal Points West Via Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railroad For Sale at This Office. $500 – 700.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 25: 15th New York Infantry / Regiment of Engineers GAR regimental colors. Ca 1880. $1,500 – 2,500.
Jeschke Jádi Auction 153 Friday October 25 and Saturday October 26, 2024
Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1556. Senghor, Les Élégies Majeures. Geneve 1978.
Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1572. Lew Tolstoy. Anna Karenina. First Edition, Moscow, 1878.
Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 49. Petrarca. Das Gluecksbuch, Augsburg, 1536.
Jeschke Jádi Auction 153 Friday October 25 and Saturday October 26, 2024
Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1060. Immanuel Kant, Critik der reinen Vernunft. First Edition, Riga, 1781.
Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 585. Bonaparte, Iconografia della fauna Italica. Rome, 1832f.
Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 548. Robert Fludd. Utriusque cosmi maioris, Frankfurt, 1617f.
Jeschke Jádi Auction 153 Friday October 25 and Saturday October 26, 2024
Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1496. Jacob / Picasso. Chronique des Temps, 1956.
Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 571. Christian von Wolff. Works, Halle 1741f.
Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 969. Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Dekorationen innerer Raeume. Berlin 1874.
Jeschke Jádi Auction 153 Friday October 25 and Saturday October 26, 2024
Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1457. Goethe. Das Tagebuch. Print on Vellum. Berlin, Officina Serpentis. 1934.
