A Spring Miscellany from Austin's Antiquarian Books
Man Ray photograph of Theodore Miller's daughter Lee.
Horace Greeley was not exactly a young man when he went west in 1859, now pushing 50 years of age. The publisher of the New York Tribune was by then one of the most powerful newspapermen, arguing for liberal causes and vehemently against the "slave power." However, despite his enthusiastic advocacy of causes, and his unsuccessful presidential run in 1872, most people probably remember him for his admonition, "Go West, young man." The inspiration for this advice was surely, in part, the journey he described in this 1860 book: An Overland Journey from New York to San Francisco in the Summer of 1859. It consists of letters he wrote back to the Tribune. Greeley has inscribed this copy. Item 99. $250.
Item 61 ties together two major generations of American leaders. It is An Address Delivered at Charlestown, August 1, 1826, in Commemoration of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. In an eerie coincidence, America's second and third presidents both died on July 4, 1826, exactly 50 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. A few weeks later, a young first term Congressman named Edward Everett gave this address at a town outside of Boston. Everett would go on to have a long and distinguished political career, serving as a congressman, senator, and governor of Massachusetts, ambassador to England and Secretary of State, along with a stop as President of Harvard College. However, his influence faded as his enormous dedication to preserving the Union left him a bit too compromising for northern tastes in the 1850s. In 1860, he ran for vice-president on the compromise-oriented Constitutional Union Party, opposing Lincoln. However, once war broke out, Everett became a strong Lincoln supporter and friend. It was Everett who gave the lengthy, keynote address at the dedication of the Gettysburg battlefield, though it is Lincoln's brief remarks which followed that became some of the best-known words ever spoken. Nevertheless, Lincoln wrote Everett, perhaps the most noted speaker of the day, his congratulations for the speech. Everett died in 1865, after tirelessly campaigning for Lincoln in 1864. $85.
Austin's Antiquarian Books may be reached at 802-464-8438 or mail@austinsbooks.com. Their website is found at www.austinsbooks.com.
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.")
