Rare Book Monthly

Articles - November - 2003 Issue

Second Part of H.P. Kraus <br>Auction This Month

William Gilbert focuses on magnetism and electricity in lot 276. Courtsey of Sotheby“s.

William Gilbert focuses on magnetism and electricity in lot 276. Courtsey of Sotheby“s.


Lot 121 is a Papal Bull from Pope Calixtus III, the first Borgia pope, who served from 1455-1458. Calixtus was already 77-years of age when elected Pope, and his relatively brief papacy was consumed by unsuccessful attempts to unite the various Christian European nations in a crusade against the threatening Turks. He is also remembered for tendencies toward nepotism, which would later bring power to his family and difficulties to the Church. This Papal Bull, written less than three months after his elevation, grants an indulgence to Venetian nobleman Filippo Badoer and his family for their sins provided they meet such conditions as fasting every Friday for a year. $2,000-$3,000.

Lot 183 is David Abudarham’s Jewish liturgy printed in Lisbon in 1489. It is a first edition of only the second book to be printed in Lisbon. $65,000-$85,000.

A relatively “recent” religious tract is found in lot 428. It is the Massachuset Psalter, one of the most important testaments of the Massachusett language. This book went through the hands of James the Printer, the first North American Indian known as a printer. $50,500-$75,800.

The Kraus auction includes many titles of a scientific interest. For example, lot 276 is William Gilbert’s De magnete, magneticisque corporibus… printed in 1600. This is a first edition of what is described as the first major English scientific work on magnetism and electrical science. It includes the first use of the term “electricity.” In it Gilbert introduces his theory that the earth is a giant magnet. $15,000-$18,000.

Lot 59 is Pierre Belon’s L'histoire naturelle des estranges poissons marins…, a natural history of marine “fishes.” This is a 1551 first edition of the earliest modern work in comparative anatomy. Belon describes such animals as the dolphin, porpoise and hippopotamus. $10,000-$15,000.

An odd scientific work is found in lot 55, William Beaumont’s Experiments and Observations on the Gastric Juice, and the Physiology of Digestion. Beaumont was an army sergeant in Michigan in 1822 when a French-Canadian guide was injured in a shooting accident. The wound left an opening from which Beaumont was able to observe the digestive system and gastric juices of a living person for ten years. $1,500-$2,500.

This is certainly not an Americana auction, but a few lots do have an American connection. Lot 85 is a series of treatises by Thomas Blundeville, a friend of the aforementioned William Gilbert, who shared his interest in magnetism. Most of these are mathematical works, but the final treatise deals with maps and contains several references to America. Printed in 1622. $500-$700.

Rare Book Monthly

  • DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE, July 23: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
    DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
    DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
    DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
    DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
  • Freeman’s | Hindman
    Western Manuscripts and Miniatures
    July 8, 2025
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.
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