Rare Book Monthly

Articles - July - 2016 Issue

My Once-a-Year Fix

Once a year I get a heads up from Peter Luke that he has assembled a stack of ephemera for me.  He’s an antique, book and paper dealer in the upper Hudson Valley of New York State who, about once a year, sends me material relevant to my New York State collection.  He’s a fan of oversized Priority Mail boxes.  I know this because his offers arrive in them, taped at the corners, and encased in indestructible film that experience has taught me will require industrial grade clippers to penetrate.  This year he sent me two boxes, in other years three.  I never know what to expect and am rarely disappointed.

 

I collect books and of course maps, manuscripts, ephemera and paintings.  Ephemera is interesting but so random it’s difficult to set boundaries that define what is in and what is out.  So he tries to set them for me and is forever coaxing me to consider material well beyond my geographical focus. 

 

This year the shipment was a bit on the small side; 38 items.  In past years I recall there have been 70 or 80.  But such material appears randomly and there will be both thin and abundant years.  This was a slim year.

 

My focus is the mid-Hudson Valley, a seven county area that mostly borders the Hudson River; Ulster, Dutchess, Orange, Sullivan, Greene and Columbia counties.  I have convinced myself that library science will someday reconstruct local day-to-day history to create a fresh and very different perspective on local life, social attitudes, political motivations and economic reality.  So I’m committed and random pieces regularly arrive as I’m constantly looking to acquire such material.

 

I mainly buy ephemera on eBay and occasionally more significant items at auction.  A single menu or the account records of a 19th century paper-making factory don’t often make it into traditional auctions so I have to slum a bit, slogging through the mud of the utterly random but occasionally exceptionally rewarding.  In this way I have acquired about 5,000 items,

 

Peter’s material this year runs the range from very appealing to barely of interest but it is difficult not to buy it all because of how he prices his material.  A $100 item, if bought by it self will cost $80.  However, if you buy all the items offered the price is $70.  Over the years I have always bought all the material for the best discount.  This year’s packages were priced at $2,295 and if purchased complete $1,640.

 

The prices bear only a mild relationship to value.  Not many people actually know [and I’m not one of them that doesn’t] what such miscellaneous material is worth.  You can go years and not see a category of material and then be besieged for months as a single institution or collector floods the market.  Through it all you learn to identify with the collector or dealer who says “In forty years I’ve never see it before.”  With ephemera that is regularly the case.

 

Here is a list of the material I recently purchased.  Please note that the 10 images accompanying this article are what I found most interesting.

 

1   The Dr. C. O. Sahler Sanitarium     Kingston-0n-Hudson, N. Y. 20 pgs + printed covers. $75
2   Rifton Mills Ulster County     A coupon, printed on one side $30
3   Mountain House, Catskill Mtns       $85
4   West Point Fall Hops 1926 1926 1926 A dance list $35
5 Willis, Zephaniah A copy book 1783 1783 Kingston [New York] $65
6   Orange County Agricultural Institute 1846 1846    
7   Eight Photographs of Mohonk [actually Minnewaska]       $175
8   Apricultural Fair. Farmers' Club of the Town of Lumberland 1913 1913 36 pg. + printed wrap. $30
9   Supplement to the "Index to American Genealogies," issued in 1886 1888 1888   $20
10   Guide to the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains 1893 1893 261 pp. with maps and printed wrap $100
11   Vassar College. A College for Women, in Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 1873 1873 A sketch of its foundation, aims, and resources, and of the development of its scheme of instruction to the present time. New-York: S. W. Green $15
12   Annual Report of the Inspector and Board of Visitors of the United States Military Academy … 1870 1870   $20
13   Ninth Annual Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 1873-74 1874 1874 31pp. Disbound. $15
14 Langthorn, J. S. Brooklyn Engineer's Club nd   Methods used in Preliminary Work on a Catskill Resevoirs … $35
15   Hudson River by Daylight 1907 1907 32 pg. pamphlet $15
16   A Sermon preached by the author in Lincoln's Inn, London, Nov. 19, 1971 1873 1873 16 pg. Albany" Joel Munsell $70
17 By a Counsellor at Law Review of the Testimony given before the General Court Martial, upon the trial of Brig, General George Talcott, … 1851 1851 112 pg. + printed wraps. $175
18   Hudson-Fulton Celebration 1909 1909   $40
19   One Hundredth Anniversary of the building of the Hopewell Church, … 186[7] 186[7]   $15
20 Berkey, Charles P. Quality of Bluestone in the Vicinity of the Ashokan Dam       $20
21 Todd, John A. The Death of Washington Irving: A Discourse delivered in the Second Reformed Dutch Church, … 1859 1859 16 pg. + printed wrap.  
22   1806 Manuscript notes on Sunday School classes     36 pg. disbound. Relating in part to Poughkeepsie and Fishkill $75
23   Minutes of the Warwick Baptist Association 1810 1810   $185
24 Tator, Henry H, Esq. An[sp] Eulogy commerative of the character of Hon. Henry Clay 1852 1852 22 pg. + printed wrap. Albany: Joel Munsell $50
25 de Peyster, J. Watts The Eclaireur, A Military Journal 1854 1855 Volume II. Platt & Schram, Printers, Poughkeepsie $250
26   Summer Price List of Strawberry Plants 1878 1878   $55
27   View from Plazza of the Mountain Top 1899 1899   $100
28   Mountain House, Catskill Mts. 1899 1899   $100
29 Vail, R. W. G. The Ulster County Gazette and its Illegitimate Offspring 1951 1951   $20
30   List of Prints, Books, Manuscripts, Etc. relating to Henry Hudson, The Hudson River, Robert Fulton and Steam Navagation 1909 1909 86 pp. A bibliography of material relating to the Hudson River $25
31   Mountin House Letter 1888 1888   $65
32   Souvenir - Wallkill Valley Farmer's Association 1898 1898   $30
33   Elizabeth Wright to Edwin Williamson Quit Claim Deed 1845 1845 Transfer upon death $25
34   Journal of the Second Esopus War       $20
35   Hubbard Gleaner & Binder nd nd John H. Duxbury, Pine Plains, agent for Dutchess County $125
36   Office of the Washington Iron Works 1860 1860 Letter. $50
37 Owen, Gerge W. The Leech Club; or, the Mysteries of the Catskills 1874 1874 Boston: Lee & Shepard, Publishers $65
38 Best, Gerald M. Minisink Valley Express 1956 1956 A history of the Port Jervis, Monticello & New York Railroad $20
  $2,295
                                             71% $1,640

 

With books you can acquire them one-by-one but for ephemera you have to hope there are a few Peter Luke’s looking out for you.

 

Peter Luke Antiques, Ephemera, Old & Rare Books

P. O. Box 282

New Baltimore, New York 12124

518.756.6492

oldluke50@hotmail.com

 

Rare Book Monthly

  • Potter & Potter Auctions
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    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
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    April 18, 2024
    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
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
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    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HIGHLY IMPORTANT MORMON ARCHIVE. ALLEY, George. Archive of 23 Autograph Letters Signed by Mormon Convert George Alley to His Brother Joseph Alley. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [AVIATION]. [ARMSTRONG, Neil A.] Aviation Hall of Fame Gold Medal MS64 NGC, Awarded to Neil Armstrong in 1979. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
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    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.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: A VERY RARE ACCOUNT OF BLACKBEARD’S DEATH AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PIRATE ITEMS EXTANT. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
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    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.
  • Forum Auctions
    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.
    Forum Mar. 28: Bible, Czech Biblia Bohemica, first complete Bible printed in the Czech vernacular, Prague, August 1488. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    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.
    Forum Mar. 28: Leaf from the Beauvais Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [Northern France (perhaps Beauvais or Amiens)], [fourteenth century (c.1310)]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Aubrey (John). [Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme], manuscript in English, Latin and Greek, [c. 1693]. £30,000 to £50,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    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.
    Forum Mar. 28: Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression with dust-jacket, 1937 [but 1938]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Blake (William).- Thornton (Robert John). The Pastorals of Virgil, 2 vol., engraved plates by William Blake, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    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.
    Forum Mar. 28: Oldfield (Henry Ambrose), Rajman Singh Chitrakar & others. An album of 160 photographs and 13 original artworks, (1833-1919), [c. 1850s-1880s]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    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.
  • 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
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    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
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD
  • Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG BEADED JUDICIAL COLLAR. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A COMPLETE RUN OF VISIONAIRE MAGAZINE THROUGH 2010. $6,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: LAW REVIEW OFFPRINT SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: META REBNER'S WORKING SCRIPT OF THE LOVED ONE. $1,500 - $2,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A KATHY GROVE PORTRAIT OF CYNDI LAUPER FOR THE FEBRUARY 1989 DETAILS COVER. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A PLASTIC COAT BY MILLIE DAVID FEATURED IN SOHO NEWS STYLE SECTION, FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANNIE FLANDERS. $500 - $700
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG JEWELRY BOX. $600 - $900
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A SET OF JONI MITCHELL LYRICS FOR "IF I HAD A HEART." $2,000 - $3,000
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    Catalogue 198 just published
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