Printed and Manuscript Americana at Christies on May 19th
- by Bruce E. McKinney
First edition of the earliest separate publication of New Netherland. Lot 70
Christie’s has put together an appealing sale of Americana that’s to be sold on May 19th in New York. The sale includes 204 lots of which 53 relate to Benjamin Franklin, 34 to the French and Indian War, 25 to California as an island and 16 to Abraham Lincoln. Fifty-nine lots are in the letters, manuscripts and signatures category, eighty are books and pamphlets; twenty-four are broadsides, and forty-one maps and ephemera. The emphasis is on the highly collectible.
It’s a catalogue of serious if sometimes obscure material. The estimates are generally appealing, the prospects of bargains evident. Christie’s tends to estimate low to encourage interest and sometimes you can actually steal something. But to do so of course you have to bid and once bidding... The high estimates of the first ten lots altogether are $33,300. You can buy things in this sale.
Four consignors are identified, the Brooklyn Historical Society [17 lots], The New Jersey Historical Society [9], the Historical Society of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania [1], and material from the Collection of John W. Whitely, Jr, [XX]. Two other categories, material relating to Franklin and 25 items offered under the heading California as an Island, are consigned as the property of private collectors. When the identity of sellers are known the sales are always more interesting. In this sale the majority of the lots are identified.
This is a sale that ten years ago would have contained four hundred lots. To maintain the same standards the volume of material has declined, reflecting that the market for important material has thinned and consignors grown wary.
An interesting test of market enthusiasm will be lot 70: [New York] Breeden-Raedtaende Vereenichde Nederlandsche Provintien. Antwerp: Francoysvan Duynen, 1649. This is the first edition of the earliest separate publication relating to New Netherland. For serious collectors of New York history it’s significant and according to the AED exceptionally rare.
High Bids Win Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines and Machine Manuals December 24 to January 9
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Ellis Smith Prints unsigned. 20” by 16”.
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: United typothetae of America presidents. Pictures of 37 UTA presidents 46th annual convention United typothetae of America Cincinnati 1932.
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec signed Paper Impressionism Art Prints. MayMilton 9 1/2” by 13” Reine de Joie 9 1/2” by 13”.
High Bids Win Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines and Machine Manuals December 24 to January 9
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Aberle’ Ballet editions. 108th triumph, American season spring and summer 1944.
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Puss ‘n Boots. 1994 Charles Perrult All four are signed by Andreas Deja
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Specimen book of type faces. Job composition department, Philadelphia gazette publishing company .
High Bids Win Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines and Machine Manuals December 24 to January 9
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: An exhibit of printed books, Bridwell library.
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur Court By Mark Twain 1889.
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: 1963 Philadelphia Eagles official program.
High Bids Win Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines and Machine Manuals December 24 to January 9
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: 8 - Esquire the magazine for men 1954.
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: The American printer, July 1910.
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Leaves of grass 1855 by Walt Whitman.
Sotheby's Fine Books, Manuscripts & More Available for Immediate Purchase
Sotheby’s: William Shakespeare. The Poems and Sonnets of William Shakespeare, 1960. 7,210 USD
Sotheby’s: Charles Dickens. A Christmas Carol, First Edition, 1843. 17,500 USD
Sotheby’s: William Golding. Lord of the Flies, First Edition, 1954. 5,400 USD
Sotheby's Fine Books, Manuscripts & More Available for Immediate Purchase
Sotheby’s: Lewis Carroll. Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, Inscribed First Edition, 1872. 25,000 USD
Sotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien. The Hobbit, First Edition, 1937. 12,000 USD
Sotheby’s: John Milton. Paradise Lost, 1759. 5,400 USD
