![Forum, June 19: Euclid. The Elements of Geometrie, first edition in English of the first complete translation, [1570]. £20,000 to £30,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/dbc5286a-4210-44e3-bbf0-6031c1c49801.png "<b>Forum, June 19:</b> Euclid. <i>The Elements of Geometrie,</i> first edition in English of the first complete translation, [1570]. £20,000 to £30,000.")
![Forum, June 19: Shakespeare (William). The Tempest [&] The Two Gentlemen of Verona, from the Second Folio, [Printed by Thomas Cotes], 1632. £4,000 to £6,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/655b361c-71c7-48ba-9455-09c14e8c7494.png "<b>Forum, June 19:</b> Shakespeare (William). <i>The Tempest</i> [&] <i>The Two Gentlemen of Verona,</i> from the <i>Second Folio,</i> [Printed by Thomas Cotes], 1632. £4,000 to £6,000.")
![Finarte, June 24-25: ALIGHIERI, DANTE. La Commedia [Commento di Christophorus Landinus]. Aggiunta: Marsilius Ficinus, Ad Dantem gratulatio [in latino e Italiano], 1487. €40,000 to €60,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/4ee20109-25f3-42e8-93ab-bd4c8e17093a.png "<b>Finarte, June 24-25:</b> ALIGHIERI, DANTE. <i>La Commedia [Commento di Christophorus Landinus]. Aggiunta: Marsilius Ficinus, Ad Dantem gratulatio [in latino e Italiano],</i> 1487. €40,000 to €60,000.")
![Finarte, June 24-25: BANDELLO, MATTEO. La prima [-quarta] parte de le nouelle del Bandello, 1554. €7,000 to €9,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/5adfdf34-8a9a-47e5-9288-5e65dac5ce79.png "<b>Finarte, June 24-25:</b> BANDELLO, MATTEO. <i>La prima [-quarta] parte de le nouelle del Bandello,</i> 1554. €7,000 to €9,000.")
![Finarte, June 24-25: FESTE - COPPOLA, GIOVANNI CARLO. Le nozze degli Dei, favola [...] rappresentata in musica in Firenze…, 1637. €6,000 to €8,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/9a1b8605-a566-4fb7-8a4c-5fb72ac539bc.png "<b>Finarte, June 24-25:</b> FESTE - COPPOLA, GIOVANNI CARLO. <i>Le nozze degli Dei, favola [...] rappresentata in musica in Firenze…,</i> 1637. €6,000 to €8,000.")
Eric Caren, the ephemera master-collector has done many unusual things in his life. He was collecting ephemera long before most institutions, dealers and collectors were paying attention to it. And newspapers. He built a collection that later was sold to the Newseum in Washington as the cornerstone of its holdings. In more recent times he has been pioneering ephemera sales at Swann and later Bonhams and today he is at it again; marketing two archives of, to quote him, “amazing, amazing” material.
So what is he selling now? Two archives - One as Exclusive Agent to highest offer and the other as Owner to the first acceptable offer.
#1 is an estimated million photographs and negatives from the Brown Brothers archives. Brown Brothers was the first stock photos agency and they were in business from the turn of the 20th century (established in NYC in 1904!) to mid-century. As well they bought older images – going back another thirty years – to make their inventory more complete. So what kind of images is there? For starters there are 7,000 boxes of images.
There are, in no particular order, immigrant images, African American and minorities are well represented, the history of transportation, the history of the Industrial Revolution and The Tech Age; Architecture and the growth of sky scrapers, night scenes of the Wrigley Gum factories, Marilyn Monroe, early images of the New York Yankees when they were the Highlanders [1905], images of the Polo Grounds with people sitting in trees to watch the New York Giants [baseball]. There are boxes of immigrant images at Ellis Island and the entire history of the New York Theatre from highbrow to Vaudeville, movies, nickelodeons and opera. There are also photos from the Carpathia relating to the sinking of the Titanic. Of course the wealthy and famous have their own boxes – the Vanderbilts, Morgans, Carnegies and Rockefellers who were all wealthy and the singularly accomplished – Harry Houdini and Mark Twain just two examples. On the other end of the luck spectrum there are multiple boxes marked poor children. Hindenburg explosion images are not that hard to find. Ones with the coffins draped with both Nazi and American flags are. Charred body images didn’t make it into the newspapers but they are here. Most wars are thoroughly covered from the late 1800’s through the Korean War.
So what is the price? Every photo and negative goes along with whatever legal protections can be conveyed by the sellers that are descendants of the Brown Brothers families: offers start at a modest reserve of $5,000,000 and Caren has already had a number of appointment viewings!
And then there is another archive; this one has been assembled over decades by Mr. Caren. It includes over 200,000 items including newspapers, broadsides, manuscripts and documents, posters, letters, photography, sheet music, New York City checks from the 1790s to the Civil War, sheet music and patents and of course postcards. For this one Mr. Caren will listen to offers but has a whisper number that begins with a ten. Mr Caren struggles to describe it and then recently offered “Ephemera, from Columbus to the Counter Culture and Computer Age.” Every event in the last 5 centuries can be found here in at least one format. Some things like the Titanic can be found in everything from a letter from a millionairess survivor blaming Ismay to newspapers and photos, etc.
HIGHLIGHTS ARE TOO NUMEROUS TO MENTION HERE but include such gems as a Bible carried and annotated with news of the first major battle of The American Revolution- Bunker Hill and a manuscript dedication to God for keeping him alive throughout the day. In original boards, this thick two testament bible was as important to the Patriot as the gun he carried and wrote about on the day of the Battle of Bunker Hill (June 17, 1775). The first Treaty between The United States and China signed by President Polk in ink, an early printing of The Bill of Rights and an early unrecorded printing of The Emancipation Proclamation, thousands of rare newspapers not owned by even The American Antiquarian Society. Western, federal period, Union and Confederate issues abound, broadsides dating back to the Defeat of The Spanish Armada in 1588 (illustrated) and The Great Fire of London 1666 (also illustrated), pioneer material on transportation and communication, Native American photos, newspapers and ephemera, thousands of cherry picked news photographs are included too.
Caren hopes that the material can be kept intact and that he will not have to sell it overseas. “There is a lot of money here in the US and someone can step up and for a fraction of the price of an Andy Warhol, donate this collection for education to a major University or National museum. Caren has some who desperately want but cannot afford it and he cannot afford to donate it himself. “If I make the money it will be poured back into buying up our history and heritage and when I am no longer around to buy and sell; everything will be liquidated and almost all of the funds will go to St. Jude’s Hospital to help children with cancer.” Caren adds “I am proud of my collecting legacy including The Newseum, a dozen books, hundreds of thousands of reprint compilations, etc but I am proudest of how I will exit this world!”
Caren is not known to mince words or pull punches. “Surely there is someone amongst the 1% who cares about what I have done who wants to present it to the country or build on it themself!”
Here are some links to further information
Email: eccaren@prodigy.net
Phone 914-772-8212
The Brown Brothers Archive has been subject to a final date to bid and that date has been December 31st. Recently this deadline was extended to January 14th to permit institutions and investors to further study the material. Certainly collectors will be interested and commercial agencies too have already expressed interest. Institutions are also natural owners and representatives of this category are considering a purchase.
As to news and making a splash an AP piece about these items went International to as far away places as both Chinas and New Zealand.
Eric Caren insisted on adding the following "I have supported AE since Bruce came up with this monumental task and I am always honored when AE covers my activities. I am proud to be a member of the Grolier Club and a former Director of The Ephemera Society of America, a former member of AAS and ABAA and a current nominee to the National Press Club and of course a consultant to The Newseum, but I am at 55 prouder to be associated with people who have devoted their time and passion to this field and Bruce and AE are high on my list of proud associations!" "And damn it Bruce do not edit this out as I do not patronize anyone … my thoughts, actions and words are always heartfelt...leave this in or I will outbid you on the next Hudson Valley (shared passion) item that comes up in the rooms.”
A Few Exemplars Literally off the Top of the Stacks
Chesapeake Shannon illustrated Broadside
US Macedonian engraving
Salvador Dali Signed Television Mock Cover
Our Union Defenders - colored woodcut civil war broadside
Virginia City Ghost Town 1863 letter
Stock Trade slips from Crash of 1929
1684 London newspaper about Increase Mather
1685 newspaper report on Virginia mourning death of King Charles II
Eulogy on death of Washington dated 5800 as Masonic date
Massachusetts Magazine with full printing of Washington's 1st Inaugural Speech
1775 British Rev War Cartoon dealing with America
Manuscript daybook records deaths of Adams and Jefferson on same day July 4th 1826
Pershing AEF Congratulatory Message from France 1919
1st printing of The Boston Port Bill 1774
Sioux Indian War letter and cover Minnesota1862
Manuscript General Orders Fort Bridger 1858
1877 Congressional Bill re Incorporated Cheyenne Wyoming Territory
Confederate Broadside recognizing Beginning of Naval War with Union May 1861
Virginia City Nevada Sutra Tunnel broadside 1869
1786 NY Treasury Certificates manuscript
1830.Hawaii Naval document
1790s South West Territory Printed form
1850 Journalist letter about Fugitive Slave Act and the potential break in the Union
Circa 1878 photo of Central City Dakota Territory
American Apollo with account of Mutiny on The Bounty
Gold and Blue printed prospectus for The Federal Union Gold Mining Company in Colorado 1866
1899 issue in wraps of The Independent with Marconi article on wireless telegraphy
1644 German tract with title page woodcut of Postman
James Gordon Bennett Printed Circular asks ships for news for famed NY Herald
Lee de Forest inventor of Radio does typescript response to The Scholastic journal "If I had my teens to live over" 1930
Sierra Leone 1813 Slave receipt
Phonetic Newspaper 1848
Circa.1900 folk art made up of hundreds of cigar bands on glass
1767 Pennsylvania Chronicle Front page on Colonial Currency
Presentation Copy on Telescopic search for Neptunian planet 1885
Presentation copy pamphlet on Boer War 1900
1950s Original color artwork of gas station and family around TV set with Western on screen
1911 Aviation real photo postcard
1842 Supplement with article on Daguerreotype Portraits
1875.Periodical with woodcut of Eton and Harrow cricket match at Lord's
1812 Concord Gazette with start of War of 1812
Charleston Mercury 1822 with Vessy Slave Rebellion
1882 NY Graphic front-page execution of Guineau
1861 Columbus Georgia Confederate newspaper
One Shot Pictorial on murder of Tycoon James Fisk Jr.
Charlotte Observer with front page Custer’s Last Stand
1972 Chisholm Campaign placard
1861 newspaper with long account of Abner Doubleday
1865 Weekly Herald with front-page map of Texas
NY American Banner Headline on Titanic Sinking
Volume 1 #3 San Francisco Prices Current 1852
Massachusetts Spy printing of Monroe Doctrine 1823
Boston Post with Lizzy Borden Trial 1893
NY Sun with Fort Sumter Civil War Begun 1861
Greensboro North State with Front Page Jack the Ripper
NY Times with front page printing of Lincoln famed 2nd Inaugural Speech
Harper's Weekly displays birth of Cinema Kinescope
Fort Leavenworth Kansas Territory Fort Riley document 1860
H.C. Lodge Typed letter signed
Albany Argus front page April 15 1865 Lincoln Assassination report
1784 NY broadsheet with Advertisement for type foundry
Oversize News photographic broadside Elizabeth I I Crowned
1789 London magazine with lengthy piece on the slave trade
Gold and Blue printed prospectus for The Federal Union Gold Mining Company in Colorado 1866
1899 issue in wraps of The Independent with Marconi article on wireless telegraphy
1644 German tract with title page woodcut of Postman
James Gordon Bennett Printed Circular asks ships for news for famed NY Herald
Lee de Forest inventor of Radio does typescript response to The Scholastic journal "If I had my teens to live over" 1930
Sierra Leone 1813 Slave receipt
Phonetic Newspaper 1848
Circa.1900 folk art made up of hundreds of cigar bands on glass
1767 Pennsylvania Chronicle Front page on Colonial Currency
Presentation Copy on Telescopic search for Neptunian planet 1885
Presentation copy pamphlet on Boer War 1900
1950s Original color artwork of gas station and family around tv set with Western on screen
1911 Aviation real photo postcard
1842 Supplement with article on Daguerreotype Portraits
Original artwork Archie and Veronica Comics
1875.Periodical with woodcut of Eton and Harrow cricket match at Lord's
1812 Concord Gazette with start of War of 1812
Charleston Mercury 1822 with Vessy Slave Rebellion
1882 NY Graphic front page execution of Guineau
1861 Columbus Georgia Confederate newspaper
One Shot Pictorial on murder of Tycoon James Fisk Jr.
Charlotte Observer with front page Custer’s Last Stand
1972 Chisholm Campaign placard
1861 newspaper with long account of Abner Doubleday
1865 Weekly Herald with front page map of Texas
NY. American Banner Headline on Titanic Sinking
Volume 1 #3 San Francisco Prices Current 1853
Massachusetts Spy printing of Monroe Doctrine 1823
Boston Post with Lizzy Borden Trial 1893
NY Sun with Fort Sumter Civil War Begun 1861
Greensboro North State with Front Page Jack the Ripper
NY Times with front page printing of Lincoln famed 2nd Inaugural Speech
Harper's Weekly displays birth of Cinema Kinescope
Fort Leavenworth Kansas Territory Fort Riley document 1860
H.C. Lodge Typed letter signed
Albany Argus front page April 15 1865 Lincoln Assassination report
1784 NY broadsheet with Advertisement for type foundry
Oversize News photographic broadside Elizabeth II Crowned
1789 London magazine with lengthy piece on the slave trade
1759 Scottish newspaper on Battle of Quebec
1963 Internal NASA memo on Assignments for Apollo Mission
1775.London Chronicle Front Page Eyewitness Accts of Lexington and Concord Battles
Inscribed Bret Harte photo
Original Advertising Art Deco Pen and Ink for Tiffany and Co. Circa 1930
Privately Printed Titanic Survivors Tract 1912
Ali vs Frazier Poster 1974 closed circuit television viewing in Hartford
Jim Morrison photo signed by photographer Jason Laure
Black owned Stores in Philadelphia 1968 Buyers Guide
1953 Issue of One first openly Gay Magazine in America
1793 illustrated broadside Guillotine of Louis XVI
Appleton’s Journal "Will She Vote?" 1869 woodcut cover showing Mother with baby girl in her arms
1831 Periodical with long account of Daniel Boon
Photo of Black American WW1 recipient of Croix de Guerre award
Tinted Cabinet photo of Fur Covered Alaskan Merchant Circa 1890's
Susan B. Anthony at Comstock Opera House handbill
Eastern Indians Circular letter dated 1863...they ask for their land back
Winchester rifles advertising Circular dated 1879
Original artwork Archie and Veronica Comics
