• 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: [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:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    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
    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.
    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
    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.
  • 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.
  • Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Alken (Henry). Sporting Notions, first edition, T.McLean, 1832-33. £800 to £1,200.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Bardi (Lorenzo). Nuova Raccolta delle piu interessanti Vedute della Citta di Firenze…, Florence, Lorenzo Bardi, [c.1840]. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Crawfurd (John). Journal of an Embassy from the Governor-General of India to the Court of Ava..., first edition, 1829. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Dawe (George, engraver). The Life of a Nobleman, first edition, Geo. Henderson, [c.1825]. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: [Doyle (John)], "H.B.". Political Sketches &c., 10 vol. including The Descriptive Key to H.B., Thomas McLean, [1829-51]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Eben (Adolphus Christian Frederick, Baron von) and Nicolaus Heideloff. Modèles de l'Uniforme Militaire Adopté dans l'Armée Royale de Suède, Rudolph Ackerman, 1808. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Geissler (J.G.G.) and Friedrich Hempel. Mahlerische Darstellungen der Sitten, Gebrauche und Lustbarkeiten bey den Russischen, Tartarischen…, 4 parts in 1, Leipzig and Paris, [1804]. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Hunt (Charles). Portraits of Winning Horses...of the Derby, Oaks, & St. Leger, from the Year 1842 to 1849…, Rock Brothers & Payne, 1849. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Kunike (Adolf Friedrich). Zwey hundert und sechzig Donau-Ansichten nach dem Laufe des Donaustromes…, Vienna, Leopold Grund, 1826. £3,000 to £5,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Lasinio (Carlo). [Matrimony], Florence, 1790. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Reinhardt (Joseph). A Collection of Swiss Costumes, in Miniature, second English edition, James Goodwin, [1828]. £800 to £1,200.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Wengen (Gottfried Durst von). Die Öffentliche Maskerade Bamberg am Fastnachts-Montage 1833…, Bamberg, [1833]. £2,000 to £3,000.
  • 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

Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - April - 2017 Issue

Voyages and Travel from Maggs Bros.

Voyages & Travel from Maggs Bros.

Maggs Bros. Ltd. has published their Catalogue 1485 Voyages & Travel. The catalogue of "fifty or so travel items" (52 to be exact) was issued to celebrate their own move to new premises in London. You can be sure that their move is the shortest among those described in this catalogue. Undoubtedly, it was the easiest too, considering the primitive ships, far off lands, diseases, sometimes restless natives, and other times extreme climatic conditions these travelers endured. The travels are presented in chronological order, ranging from around 1350 to 1922. Naturally, the first account is in manuscript form. The trips described emanated from Europe, but traveled around the globe, as far east as Asia, as far west as the Americas, as far south as Antarctica and north as the Arctic. Have a nice trip! Here we go.

 

We begin with the first, which is to say the oldest item in the catalogue. It is one of the most famous travels of all. Item 1 consists of two manuscript leaves, circa 1350, from the account of Marco Polo's journey to China. Polo's father and uncle, merchants as was Marco, had already visited China when the three left together in 1269. They returned 24 years later. Other westerners had preceded the Polos to China, but Marco's was the first detailed account of the land by a westerner. The two leaves offered include Polo's description of Tibet. They have some glue residue on the recto of each leaf as they were used as pastedowns in another (unidentified) book. That sounds like a terrible thing to do and yet, had they not been so used, the leaves would not have survived at all. They are written in the Franco-Italic language rather than Latin as most often seen. That is the language in which Polo wrote, indicating it is a very early, and likely most accurate, copy. Polo's original manuscript has been lost. The timing of these leaves, based on expert appraisal, appears to be within a generation of Marco Polo's death. Priced at £200,000 (British pounds, or about $249,629 U.S. dollars).

 

Marco Polo went east, but Hernan Cortes went west. Less than three decades after Columbus discovered America, Cortes set out to conquer it. Specifically, Cortes, the quintessential Spanish Conquistador, sought to conquer the area he called "New Spain," better known today as Mexico. With an army of about 500 men, he had to conquer an entire empire, plus fend off attacks from his rival, Cuban Governor Velazquez. He succeeded in gaining assistance from some natives unfriendly to the Aztecs, and tore through their territory, capturing the capital city. A great empire quickly fell. Cortes wrote Holy Roman Emperor Charles V describing events in his first letter, now lost. Item 2 is a copy of his surviving Second Letter, a first Latin edition of 1524 (the letter was written in 1520). The Cortes letter is bound together with Peter Martyr's De Rebus... as is usually the case. Item 2. £30,000 (US $37,444).

 

Henry Morgan is probably the best known pirate ever, which makes this manuscript letter to the Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy all the more amusing and ironic. Morgan's attacks on Spanish shipping made him more of a hero than villain back home in England. In fact, much of his activity was sanctioned by the British government, making him a "privateer" rather than a pirate, though the behavior was similar. Morgan was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica, and on occasion, such as when this letter was written, he served as Acting Governor. As such, he was called on to deal with... pirates! On July 14, 1681, he writes, "Wee have taken the Sloop of one of Jacob Evertson, a most notorious Pyrate and make use of her to accompany the Norwich in crewsing after the many villainous Pyrates that now infest these coastes." Morgan continues, "I have lately had some Pyrates brought in, whereof one was according to his demerits executed, and one Thoms, a most famous villain, who lately took a Vessell of this island of considerable value, is taken and now under Tryall." Morgan did not enjoy executing pirates and often sought reprieves, perhaps because he had a spark of humanity, or because he could relate to their situation. However, it should be noted that Morgan did not consider himself a pirate but a privateer attacking Spanish shipping on behalf of the British government, which authorized him to do so. Item 8. £40,000 (US $49,926).

 

Next we have a scarce account of the French and Indian War, one which Howes described as the "best contemporary chronicle of this war": The History of the Late War in North-America and the Islands of the West-Indies, published in 1772. The author was Thomas Mante, who served in the war, though not until its very end and in Cuba. Nonetheless, he evidently had access to many contemporary sources, enabling him to provide detailed accounts of the various actions. Of particular note, he provides a description of Washington's intelligence gathering activities on the frontier in 1753 and his escape from an assassination attempt by his Indian guide. This copy contains all of the 18 maps. Over a century ago in his American bibliography, Sabin wrote, "Copies with all the maps are scarce. It is probable that but few were printed, though the large and beautiful plans and military maps (which gave it so great a value), must have made its production a work of much expense." Item 18. £70,000 (US $87,349).

 

Here is a personal letter which, like that of Morgan, has a bit of irony. It was written by the noted British Antarctic explorer, Ernest Shackleton, in December of 1909. He notes the dispute between two Americans as to which of them, Robert Peary or Frederick Cook, reached the North Pole first. Today, Cook's claim is dismissed but Peary's is sort of accepted. Writes Shackleton to a Mr. Gwatken, "It may interest you to know that Captain Scott is announcing on Monday that he will lead a new Expedition to the Antarctic next year I am daily in touch with him now. We cannot let America get this South Pole as well." Shackleton and Scott had their issues, but they were united in Britain beating the Americans to the South Pole. And they did. Scott reached it in 1912, before any American. However, it was a pyrrhic victory for Scott, who froze to death on the way back to his ship. And in the ultimate irony, though he beat the Americans, Scott did not achieve the real goal of being first to the South Pole. Norwegian Roald Amundsen beat him there by five weeks. Item 49. £5,000 (US $6,239).

 

Maggs Bros. Ltd. may be reached at ++44 (0)20 7493 7160 or enquiries@maggs.com. Their website is www.maggs.com.

Rare Book Monthly

  • 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
  • 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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