Rare Book Monthly

Articles - February - 2004 Issue

One Hundred Plus One<br>Rare Books from Charles Wood

Dubois de Chemant’s teeth form an almost Picasso style face.

Dubois de Chemant’s teeth form an almost Picasso style face.


By Michael Stillman

From Charles Wood Bookseller comes his latest catalogue, and we can already see that, years from now, people will be collecting variants of this item. On the cover it is called “One Hundred Rare Books,” but on the title page, it is “101 Rare Books.” This is an instant collectible. Those who order the catalogue based on the cover will be pleased to discover they have received a bonus, for there are 101 listings in all.

Among the topics covered in the catalogue are art, architecture, trade catalogues, printing and coloring, as well as numerous other subjects. The greatest concentration of works is from the 19th century.

Among the unusual trade catalogues is one from the Paris firm A. Biloret & C. Mora. It is filled with various electronic and manual gadgets, some with hand-colored illustrations. Among the items sold are batteries, magnets, electric clocks, electric powered model water pumps and locomotives, ear trumpets and more. All of this in 1880. Item 5. Priced at $4,000. Item 5 is a catalogue from the Atchison Furniture Company of Atchison, Kansas. It includes styles of furniture that were popular in 1880. $1,100. Item 76 is a catalogue of druggists labels. For those druggists who prepared their own potions, rather than relying on branded medicines, they could order up a bunch of professional looking labels that could compete in stature with Lydia Pinkham. $1,400. If you had a horse, and who didn’t in 1895, you would have appreciated Moseman’s illustrated guide for purchasers of horse furnishing goods, novelties and stable appointments, imported and domestic. It had saddles, muzzles, halters, boots, bits, whips, even polo goods. Everything necessary for the well-furnished horse. Item 59. $1,350.

Item 26 is A dissertation on artificial teeth in general, exposing the defects and injurious consequences of all teeth made of animal substances… This catalogue was published by Nicolas Dubois de Chemant, a French dentist who had moved to London to promote his process for producing porcelain artificial teeth. Charles Wood describes the appliances as “very sophisticated, if terrifying.” This was 1797, so it’s hard to imagine the dentistry being anything but terrifying. However, while Dubois de Chemant’s false teeth are not remembered, he ought to get credit for his artistry. If you look at the image from his catalogue to the left, you will see he was the inventor of the artistic style adopted over a century later by Pablo Picasso. $2,500.

Rare Book Monthly

  • 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.
  • Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!
  • 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.

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