Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - May - 2004 Issue

Rare and Unusual Americana <br>From David M. Lesser

“Slavery” and “Marriage” debate to determine which is more oppressive.


Item 38 is How to Escape the Coin Monopoly. Price 5 Cents. Does anyone else see irony in this title? Anyway, this rare 1895 pamphlet on reforming currency is a bit more costly today. $250.

Slavery and its associated issues were undoubtedly the major American story of the 19th century, so you will find many related items. The issues of the day, February 17, 1860, are discussed in a Speech of Col. Curtis M. Jacobs, on the Free Colored Population of Maryland, Delivered in the House of Delegates… Jacobs starts out saying that “No country under the sun presents the rainbow of hope to the oppressed millions of earth, like our own…” Touching sentiments. How does Jacobs propose to make Maryland a “rainbow of hope to the oppressed?” Here are some examples: “Free-Negroism throughout this State must be abolished. A universal pass system must be adopted. Emancipation by will and testament, or by any other means, must be prohibited. Negro worship, except in the assembly of the white congregation, and at the stated place and hours for the same, must not be allowed. Free negroes going out of the state must not be allowed to return on pain of being sold into slavery for life.” Thanks for your thoughts on providing hope to the oppressed. Of course Jacobs is a kind-hearted man, explaining that emancipation will only lead to a race war in the South which Blacks will lose and claiming that slaves were well-cared for and, of course, oh so happy when they were slaves. He also presents us with the claim that the real aim of the North is to create a monarchical aristocracy subjugating poor white workers when there are no more black slaves to provide labor. The full text of this hideous yet informative piece is available at http://ecpclio.net/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5300/sc5339/000060/000000/000001/restricted/megafile/ecp/4/03452/html/jacobs-01.html Item 65. $350.

Lest you think that all was evil in those days, item 7 is Roger Baldwin’s argument before the Supreme Court in the case of the Amistad. Baldwin had teamed up with former President John Quincy Adams to argue, successfully, for the freedom of slaves aboard a Spanish ship who had mutinied off the coast of Cuba. This story was made into the well-known movie. $2,500.

Here’s another form of “slavery:” John Humphrey Noyes’ Slavery and Marriage…. I can just hear all of you men out there snickering about this, but it’s not what you think. Noyes’ point in this 1850 publication from the Oneida (New York) utopian community is that women are the ones who become “slaves” in marriage. “The truth is Marriage gives man the power of ownership over woman, and such power is as wrong and prolific of wrong in the case of Marriage, as in that of Slavery.” I think times have changed, but then again I can only speak from my own experience. Item 88. $650.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
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    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
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    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS. $8,000 - $12,000
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    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A SET OF JONI MITCHELL LYRICS FOR "IF I HAD A HEART." $2,000 - $3,000
  • 19th Century Shop
    Catalogue 198 just published
    19th Century Shop. Darwin and Wallace, first printing of the first paper on natural selection
    19th Century Shop. Shakespeare’s Poems, first collected edition
    19th Century Shop. Walt Whitman portrait inscribed with a Leaves of Grass poem
    19th Century Shop. Major Elizabeth Barrett Browning manuscript notebook
    19th Century Shop. Spock's Baby Book, original MS
    19th Century Shop. Cellarius, Harmonia Macrocosmica, the great celestial atlas
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    How History Unfolds on Paper:
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    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HARRISON, Benjamin. Document signed (“Benj Harrison”) as governor of Virginia, certifying the service of Daniel Cumbo, a Black Revolutionary soldier. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
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    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
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    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: NEWLY DISCOVERED FIRST PRINTING OF "WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE... " FROM THE ONLY NEWSPAPER ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL PROCESSION. $4,000 to $8,000.
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    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [VIETNAM WAR]. The original pen used by Secretary of State William P. Rogers to sign the Vietnam Peace Agreement, Paris, 27 January 1973. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: SONS OF LIBERTY FOUNDER COLONEL BARRÉ ANNOTATED TITLE-PAGE, “WHICH OUGHT TO ROUSE UP BRITISH ATTENTION”. $4,000 to $6,000.
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    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: [Shakespeare (William)]. [Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies], second folio edition, [by Tho.Cotes, for Robert Allot], [1632]. £30,000 to £40,000.
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    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
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    Forum Mar. 28: Shabthai Tzvi.- Collection of four printed and illustrated broadsides detailing the appearance, rise and fall of the false messiah, Shabthai Tzvi, Augsburg, 1666-67. £40,000 to £60,000.
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    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
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    Forum Mar. 28: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Poems on Various Occasions, first edition, Harriet Maltby's copy, Newark, Printed by S. & J. Ridge, 1807. £30,000 to £40,000.
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    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
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    Forum Mar. 28: America.- Mount (William J.) & Thomas Page. The English Pilot…, [bound with] The Fourth Book, describing The West Indies Navigation from Hudson's-Bay to the River Amazones, 1721. £20,000 to £30,000.
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    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.

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