Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - April - 2009 Issue

New Acquisitions at The Veatchs Arts of the Book

Catalogue 62 from the Veatchs Arts of the Book.

Catalogue 62 from the Veatchs Arts of the Book.


By Michael Stillman

The Veatchs Arts of the Book has issued their Catalogue 62: Recent Acquisitions. While "recent acquisitions" could mean anything, The Veatchs catalogues are targeted on items related to the book arts. You will find books that feature outstanding illustrations, colors, and typefaces, fine bindings, high quality papers, along with works whose topics are related to printing and producing books.

Item 4 is a major work in an obscure printing field - nature printing. This was a process where natural items, such as flowers, were pressed between metallic plates to create an image from nature, which could be colored and printed. The opportunity for exact likeness is obvious, but the process was difficult and expensive. While there had been early attempts at direct transfer, the process was at least somewhat perfected in 1853 by Austrian printer Alois Auer. His explanation of the process was published in 1854: Die Entdeckung Des Naturselbstdruckes Oder Die Erfindungen... This translates to "The Discovery of the Natural Printing Process." Among the items displayed through natural printing in this book are flowering plants, fossil fish, a bat wing, snakeskin, leaves, ferns, laces, wood grains, etc. This process reached its zenith a few years later with the printings of ferns by Henry Bradbury. However, Bradbury, who studied Auer's process, but then designed his own version, became involved in a controversy with Auer over who invented it, and committed suicide a few years later. Evidently, Auer took the dispute a little better. Priced at $5,500.

Another person to use a form of nature printing was Sherman Foote Denton. Denton was a naturalist, who created a superior method of mounting and preserving fish specimens, such that his work was found in many great museums. He also was handy at mounting butterflies, and used a direct contact method to print the images of butterflies. His work can be seen in As Nature Shows Them: Moths and Butterflies of the United States East of the Rocky Mountains. Item 24. $4,500.

Item 64 includes samples of the three issues of James Longacre and James Herring's The National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans. This extensive work of biographies of notable men in early America was published in four volumes from 1834-1839. It is filled with detailed information on many people you know, and other distinguished citizens now mostly forgotten. This notable work was published in three versions: Royal Quarto, Imperial Octavo, and regular octavo. Offered is the complete Royal Quarto set, along with three volumes of the Imperial Octavo and one of the regular octavo for comparison. $3,800.

Here is an interesting book, published in 1908: Modern Power Generators. Steam, Electric, and Internal-Combustion. This book is filled with information about the latest engines of the day, including those used in that new device, the automobile. Author James Weir French provides many illustrations, including composite sectional models that allowed readers to look inside these engines. At the time, it wasn't easy to find repair shops, particularly if your car or other device broke down somewhere in the country, so people needed to understand these engines so they could make the necessary repairs by themselves. Item 39. $400.

Now here's your chance to learn a new vocabulary word: Poikilographia, Or Various Specimens of Ornamental Penmanship. The rest of that title defines the meaning of "pokilographia," though I have suspicions about this word. I have not seen it used by anyone other than the author of this 1812 book, Samuel Coate. Nevertheless, Coate provides many examples of decorative alphabets in several languages, including Greek and Hebrew. Item 18. $2,350.

You may reach The Veatchs Arts of the Book at 413-584-1867 or veatchs@veatchs.com. Their website is www.veatchs.com.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    APRES DE MANNEVILLETTE
    Le Neptune Oriental
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    CASSAS
    Eaux fortes de la Sicile et quelques vues d’Espagne
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    CASSINI DE THURY
    Carte générale et particulière de la France.
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    JOUY; GARNERAY
    Vues des côtes de France dans l'Océan et dans la Méditerranée
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    LA PÉROUSE
    Voyage autour du monde
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    LE GENTIL DE LA GALAISIERE
    Voyage dans les Mers de l’Inde
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    LICENT
    Hoang Ho, Pai Ho, Loan Ho, Leao Ho. Itinéraires suivis dans le bassin du golfe du Pei Tcheuly
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    FRENCH SCHOOL FROM THE 19th CENTURY
    Panorama d’Athènes
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    PEETERS
    Description des principales villes, havres et isles du golfe de Venise
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    PÉRON; FREYCINET
    Voyage de découverte aux terres australes
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    STACKELBERG
    La Grèce : vues pittoresques et topographiques.
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    VALENTINER
    Atlas des Sonnensystems.
  • Forum Auctions
    Online Sale:
    The Detective Fiction Collection of John Cooper
    Ending 7th November, 2024
    Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). The Thirteen Problems, first edition, The Crime Club, 1932. £15,000 to £20,000.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Dumb Witness, first edition, 1937. £3,000 to £4,000.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Cards on the Table, first edition, The Crime Club, 1936. £2,000 to £3,000.
    Forum, Nov. 7: [Carr (John Dickson)], "Carter Dickson" and John Rhode. Drop to his Death, first edition, Heinemann, [1939]. £600 to £800.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Berkeley (Anthony). Jumping Jenny, first edition, Hodder and Stoughton, 1933. £800 to £1,200.
    Forum Auctions
    Online Sale:
    The Detective Fiction Collection of John Cooper
    Ending 7th November, 2024
    Forum, Nov. 7: Marsh (Ngaio). Overture to Death, first edition, The Crime Club, 1939. £600 to £800.
    Forum, Nov. 7: [Day-Lewis (Cecil)] "Nicholas Blake". The Beast Must Die, first edition, 1938. £750 to £1,000.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Brand (Christianna). Green for Danger, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, John Lane the Bodley Head, 1945. £600 to £800.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Murder is Easy, first edition, signed by the author, 1939. £3,000 to £4,000.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Sayers (Dorothy L.) Lord Peter Views the Body, first edition, Gollancz, 1928. £6,000 to £8,000.
  • Doyle
    Stage & Screen
    November 14 & 15
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: A studio-sanctioned Darth Vader Touring Costume from The Empire Strikes Back. $50,000 to $100,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: An original Al Hirschfeld's illustration of the cast of On Golden Pond. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: The largest trove of personal Grace Kelly letters to come to market. $60,000 to $80,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: An Important Archive of Musical Manuscripts of Truman Capote and Harold Arlen's House of Flowers. $40,000 to $60,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: The archive of an original Merrily We Roll Along Broadway cast member. $5,000 to $10,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: Jerry Herman's Yamaha Model C7 Ebonized Grand Piano. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: A large group of Jerry Herman musical posters. $300 to $500.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: Group of awards presented to Jerry Herman. $300 to $400.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: Six pages of original art for "The MAD Game of Basebrawl," a complete story published in MAD #167, pages 31-36, June 1974. $3,000 to $4,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: A MAD book made for Al Jaffee, containing original art and writings from many MAD contributors. 2011. $1,200 to $1,800.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: A Jaffee-themed MAD Fold-In - "What honor should the creator of the MAD Fold-Ins be given?" $800 to $1,200.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: MAD Fold-In - "What developing news story has many Americans totally transfixed?" $800 to $1,200.
  • Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. 11,135 USD
    Sotheby’s: Edgar Allan Poe. The Raven and Other Poems, 1845. 33,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Leo Tolstoy, Clara Bow. War and Peace, 1886. 22,500 USD
    Sotheby’s: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1902. 7,500 USD
    Sotheby’s: F. Scott Fitzgerald. This Side of Paradise, The Great Gatsby, and Others, 1920-1941. 24,180 USD
  • Freeman’s | Hindman
    Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana
    November 14
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: LEROUX, Gaston. The Phantom of the Opera. FIRST AM. ED, FIRST ISSUE IN THE VERY RARE DUST JACKET. 1911. $6,000 – 8,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: GOULD, John. A Monograph of the Trochilidae...Humming-Birds. L., [1849-] 1861. $60,000 – 80,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: A COMPLETE RUN of Limited Editions Club publications, v.p. [mostly New York], 1929-2010. $50,000 – 60,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: ORWELL, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. Lon., 1949. FIRST EDITION IN A VERY FINE DUST JACKET. $6,000 – 8,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: GOULD. A Monograph of the Ramphastidae...Toucans. L., [1852-] 54. SECOND ED. $35,000 – 45,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: The Federalist. NY, 1788. FIRST EDITION, THICK PAPER COPY. $60,000 – 80,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: SELBY. Plates to Selby’s Illustrations of British Ornithology. Edin., [1833-] 34. $20,000 – 30,000.

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