• University Archives
    Rare Autographs, Books & Photos; Abraham Lincoln Collection
    April 23, 2025
    University Archives, Apr. 23: Best Image of Abraham Lincoln: "Closest… to ‘seeing' Lincoln… A National Treasure" Original Hesler/Ayres Interpositive. $800,000 to $1,000,000.
    University Archives, Apr. 23: Einstein, 3pp of Unified Field Theory Equations: “I want to try to show that a truly natural choice for field equations exists.” Formalizing His Final Approach, Association to Theory of Relativity. $80,000 to $120,000.
    University Archives, Apr. 23: Marilyn Monroe's Best Personally Owned & Annotated Script for Unfinished Last Film, "Something's Got to Give" (1962). $75,000 to $100,000.
    University Archives
    Rare Autographs, Books & Photos; Abraham Lincoln Collection
    April 23, 2025
    University Archives, Apr. 23: David Ben-Gurion ALS: "The Jewish people have attained the epitome...the State of Israel is born," 1 Day After Signing Israeli Declaration of Independence, Best Ben-Gurion Ever! $80,000 to $100,000.
    University Archives, Apr. 23: Lincoln ALS to Youth: "A young man, before the enemy has learned to watch him...votes... shall redeem the county" Evocative of Famous "Work" Letter. $70,000 to $100,000.
    University Archives, Apr. 23: Lincoln Appointment for Cabinet Member With Largest, Boldest, Full Signature! Important Content: Detente with England. $10,000 to $15,000.
    University Archives
    Rare Autographs, Books & Photos; Abraham Lincoln Collection
    April 23, 2025
    University Archives, Apr. 23: Abraham Lincoln Rare Signed Check To Law Partner W.H. Herndon, Perhaps Unique as Such! $20,000 to $25,000
    University Archives, Apr. 23: Tokyo War Crimes Files of Prosecuting Attorney For POW Camp Atrocities, 500+ Pages, Unpublished Court Documents, Photos and More. $25,000 to $35,000.
    University Archives, Apr. 23: 1698 South Carolina Slavery Archive Huguenot Planters Earliest Rare Plat Maps for Plantations 41 Docs 107 pp. Most Colonial. $25,000 to $35,000.
    University Archives
    Rare Autographs, Books & Photos; Abraham Lincoln Collection
    April 23, 2025
    University Archives, Apr. 23: Adam Smith ALS While Revising “The Wealth of Nations” - A New Discovery Documenting Meeting with Influential Editor. $18,000 to $24,000.
    University Archives, Apr. 23: Margaret Mitchell Rare ALS to Her Editor as Epic Film "Gone With the Wind" Gains Heat "Forgive this scrawl. I haven't written a letter in long hand in years and I've almost forgotten how it's done." $3,000 to $4,000.
    University Archives, Apr. 23: Einstein 1935 TLS, Hopes to Warn Non-Jews of "The true nature of the Hitler regime.” $8,500 to $10,000.
  • Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: ANDERSEN'S EXTREMELY RARE FIRST APPEARANCE IN PRINT. "Scene af: Røverne i Vissenberg i Fyen." in Harpen, 1822.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: FIRST ISSUE OF THE FIRST THREE FAIRY TALE PAMPHLETS, WITH ALL INDICES AND TITLE PAGES. Eventyr, fortalte for Børn. 1835-1837.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: THE FIRST FAIRY TALES WITH A SIGNED CARTE DE VISITE OF ANDERSEN AS FRONTIS. Eventyr, fortalte for Børn. 1835-1837.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: KARL LAGERFELD. Original pastel and ink drawing in gold, red and black for Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes (1992), "La cassette de l'Empereur."
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: PRESENTATION COPY OF THE SIXTH PAMPHLET FOR PETER KOCH. Eventyr, Fortalte For Børn, Second Series, Third Pamphlet. 1841. Publisher's wrappers, complete with all pre- and post-matter.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN RARE AUTOGRAPH QUOTATION SIGNED IN ENGLISH from "The Ugly Duckling," c.1860s.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: HEINRICH LEFLER, ORIGINAL WATERCOLOR FOR ANDERSEN'S SNOW QUEEN, "Die Schneekönigin," 1910.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: FIRST EDITION OF ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES IN ENGLISH. Wonderful Stories for Children. London, 1846.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: ANDERSEN ON MEETING CHARLES DICKENS. Autograph Letter Signed ("H.C. Andersen") in English to William Jerdan, July 20, 1847.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: PRESENTATION COPY FOR EDGAR COLLIN. Nye Eventyr og Historier. Anden Raekke. 1861.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: DOLL HOUSE FURNITURE BY HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON, DECORATED WITH FANTASTICAL CUT-OUTS, for the children of Jonna Stampe (née Drewsen), his godchildren.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: PRESENTATION COPY FOR GEORG BRANDES. Dryaden. Et Eventyr fra Udstillingstiden i Paris 1867. 1868.
  • Jeschke Jádi
    Rare Book Auction 155
    Saturday April 26, 2025
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 962. Baird. United States Exploring Expedition. Philadelphia 1858.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 772. Edith Holland Norton. Brazilian Flowers. Coombe Croft 1893.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 49. Petrarca. Das Gluecksbuch, Augsburg 1536.
    Jeschke Jádi
    Rare Book Auction 155
    Saturday April 26, 2025
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 1496. Jacob / Picasso. Chronique des Temps, 1956.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 8. Augustinus. De moribus ecclesie. Cologne 1480.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 17. Heures a lusaige de Noyon. Paris 1504.
    Jeschke Jádi
    Rare Book Auction 155
    Saturday April 26, 2025
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 13. Schedel. Buch der Chronicken. Nürnberg 1493.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 957. Donovan. Insects of China. London 1798.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 123. A holy martyr. Tuscany, Florence, mid-14th century.
    Jeschke Jádi
    Rare Book Auction 155
    Saturday April 26, 2025
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 438. Dante. La Divine Comédie. Paris 1963.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 602. Firdausi. Histoire de Minoutchehr. Paris 1919
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 994. Westwood. Oriental Entomology. London 1848.
  • Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 124: Henri Courvoisier-Voisin, et alia, [Recueil de Vues de Paris et ses Environs], depicting precursors of the modern roller coaster, Paris, [1814-1819?]. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 148: Pablo Picasso & Fernando de Rojas, La Célestine, First Edition, Paris, 1971. $30,000 to $40,000.
    Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 201: Omar Khayyam & Edward Fitzgerald, Rubaiyat, William Bell Scott's copy of the First Edition, London, 1859. $20,000 to $30,000.
    Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 223: Charles Dickens, Great Expectations, First Edition, extra-illustrated with hand-colored plates by Palinthorpe, London, 1861. $7,000 to $9,000.
    Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 248: L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, First Edition, inscribed by the illustrator, Chicago & New York, 1900. $20,000 to $30,000.
    Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 305: Tycho Brahe & Pierre Gassendi, Tychonis Brahei Vita, Paris, 1654. From the Collection of Owen Gingerich. $8,000 to $12,000.
    Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 338: Giovanni Battista Riccioli, Almagestum Novum, two folio volumes, Bologna, 1651. From the Collection of Owen Gingerich. $8,000 to $10,000.
    Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 350: Tobias Cohn, Ma'aseh Toviyyah, first edition, Venice, 1707-8. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 359: Alan Turing, Computing, Machinery, and Intelligence, first edition, Edinburgh, 1950. $3,000 to $5,000.

Rare Book Monthly

Articles - September - 2016 Issue

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

Sections of the old Bankhead Highway, America's first year-round coast-to-coast highway.

Sections of the old Bankhead Highway, America's first year-round coast-to-coast highway.

Perhaps the second most popular item in the books and paper field is maps. There are classic maps that go for hundreds of thousands of dollars I'd love to own, but are a bit out of my price range. That's okay. My love of old maps is not so much a desire to display them. It's a wish to follow them, seek out routes long forgotten and trace the foot (or vehicle) steps of earlier travelers.

 

I spent most of my summer vacation hiking moderate level trails in the high mountains of Colorado and New Mexico, but a few days were devoted to my map obsession. I crossed Coronado's 16th century route through the American Southwest in New Mexico, though no one knows precisely where it is. If you drive from West Texas to Colorado, you must cross it. It would have been exciting to find and follow it, but Coronado did not leave enough details for anyone to locate his route with any degree of certainty, and since 500-year-old footsteps are long erased in the sand, there are no markers left that say he was here. I follow something for which there are still markers – old road maps. In the East, it is unlikely there are many old roads that have not been reused, or otherwise developed. In the West, there are still roads long ago abandoned that remain unused today, slowly being worn to oblivion by the ravages of weather and time.

 

There were a few long distance roads of sorts in the West during the 19th century, though they were very rough at best. There was the Pony Express Trail and the Butterfield Overland Stage Route that traveled to the west coast, but even they were abandoned before the turn of the century when the automobile made its debut. No one was going to suffer a three-week ride in a bumpy stage coach over rough dirt roads once the railroads came along to provide fast, comfortable service. The first automobiles in the West were mostly limited to driving around their communities, or perhaps as far as an out-of-town farm if the roads were adequate.

 

By the 1910's, hundreds of thousands of cars now in private hands, citizens groups were formed to promote long distance travel. At that time, there were no federal highways. Roads were maintained, if they were, by counties and states. Most were only for local use, and with the exception of some streets in larger cities, all were dirt. They were filled with potholes and other obstructions, and rain turned them to impassible mud. When snows came, they were shut down entirely.

 

The private citizens groups who "built" the first interstate roads had no budgets beyond the contributions they received. In reality, they built nothing. What they did was send out explorers who would travel roads in various communities, and look for where they connected with a road from the next town. They would then map out the best long distance route by following the most direct, or best conditioned roads that linked one community to the next. They would publish maps of their findings and then post route signs along the way to guide travelers on their journey.

 

My own adventures this summer were in West Texas, seeking out portions of the old Bankhead Highway. The first recorded journey from Dallas to El Paso was in 1910 (it's possible someone did it earlier without publicizing it). It took several days and must have been a nightmare. And yet, by 1916, the Bankhead Highway Association was formed to define a road that would go from sea to sea, or more specifically, from Washington to San Diego. The Bankhead was named after Alabama Senator John Hollis Bankhead, who in 1916 spearheaded the Federal Aid Road Act of 1916. It provided a limited amount of matching funds for state highway projects, the first such participation by the federal government.

 

The Bankhead was not the first coast-to-coast highway. The Lincoln Highway was laid out by 1913. However, the Lincoln followed a more northerly route, which meant it was shut down in the winter. There were no snow plows in the teens. The Bankhead went through Texas for a reason. Running mostly through the South, Texas, and southern New Mexico, Arizona, and California, it was the first cross country highway open year round.

 

By 1920, the West was covered with such interstate roads, all with names. Some states had begun using route numbers, but there was no federal numbering system yet. So along with the Lincoln Highway and Bankhead Highway, there were roads in the Southwest with names like the National Old Trails Road, Indian Trails Road, Santa Fe Trail Road, Victory Highway (for World War I victory), Dixie Overland Highway, Southern National Highway, and Jefferson Davis Highway. The last of these was created by the Daughters of the Confederacy to balance the aforementioned Lincoln Highway. Nationally, there were over 200 in all.

 

These names did not last long. The jumble of names made it confusing to travelers, especially since many of the routes followed the same roadways for great distances. In 1926, the federal government set out the highway numbering system in use today. The Bankhead in West Texas became US Route 80. For awhile, names and route numbers coexisted, but soon the names were forgotten, the roads identified by the more convenient numbering system.

 

By the time the Depression came around, the government became more involved in public works projects. Roads were upgraded, usually converted to "stone roads" (paved highways). In many cases, parts of the patchwork quilt of local roads were replaced with rerouted direct highways, which reduced travel times enormously. Sections of the original routes were abandoned, left to fade away unused.

 

To locate these old roads you need a few things. Naturally, old maps that show older routes are necessary. Roads are constantly rerouted, but there was particularly heavy activity in the 1930's with the Depression, and 1950's-1960's with the development of the Interstate Highway system. Maps from the 1920's, and 1940's-1950's are good for finding routes abandoned during these eras.

 

While it is great to have the paper maps themselves, such as those produced by atlas makers, automobile clubs, and my favorite, the ubiquitous oil company road maps long given to travelers free at gas stations, you can easily find old maps online. Many libraries display maps from their collections, fellow highway historians post them, and David Rumsey's wonderful map site is filled with them, though it will take a little trial and error to figure out how best to find the ones you seek.

 

Along with searching online for maps themselves, you will find many privately run sites that give information about old routes, named ones, state routes, federal routes. Occasionally, you may find an old county map which provides greater detail of a road's location. Finally, a critical tool is Google Maps, and its capacity to be quickly switched to Google Earth, giving you a satellite view of the territory. Sometimes, an old route may be displayed on Google Maps, but if it is long abandoned, it probably won't be. However, long abandoned roads, even dirt ones, will often leave their traces visible from above even a century later. Indeed, roads that may be next to impossible to see from the ground can often readily be deciphered from above. A few years back, ancient Indian trails in the vicinity of Hovenweep National Monument, never noticed from the ground, were spotted on photographs from the sky. These dirt trails had not been traversed in over 500 years and yet their presence was still visible from above. Google Earth is an essential tool.

 

Now, here is a caution. You cannot assume because the roads were once owned by the federal or state governments, they still are. The land may have been sold off after the road was abandoned, making it private property. In many states, it is okay to walk private property so long as it has not been posted with no trespassing signs. In others, at least Texas, there is no such requirement. You have to figure out whether the property is private or public or just assume it is private. It is a sad state of affairs, especially since the West was once wide open spaces, but while it is unlikely that most large landowners would object to an amateur historian trying to trace his country's roads, no one is going to post a welcome sign on their property. No trespassing is the default. I was so informed, gently, on my search through Texas and will limit further explorations to states with different rules, or better yet, areas with vast amounts of federal land remaining. Beware of those who want to sell off public land to local, private interests. It is your heritage, and freedom to experience what is still part of "this land is your land, this land is my land." Hold onto what is still left.

 

For the section of the Bankhead Highway I visited, a small portion was still so labeled by Google Maps, though it was a long abandoned dirt road with no real access by anything other than feet or an off-road vehicle. It then disappeared from the map, but traces were still visible from Google Earth. Those traces perfectly matched a strange jog in the original road I found on an old county map. I had located a portion of the original Bankhead Highway. Based on maps I found online, it must have been abandoned around 1930. It was never paved, save for an occasional cement lining covering a wash. Those would have turned to impassible mud during a storm, so the bottom was paved with cement to make it passable, though the rest of the route never progressed beyond dirt.

 

I parked my car and began a trek of about a mile, with thoughts of what it must have been like for some of the first automobile cross-country travelers of the day. There were no rest areas, public bathrooms, convenience stores, not even gas stations outside of scattered towns along the way. If cars broke down or had flat tires, and those were common occurrences, you better know how to fix them yourself. You might not see a fellow traveler for hours, and if it was late, you would have to sleep under the stars. This was not Oregon Trail, covered wagon difficult, and you were not likely to be accosted by hostile Indians or road robbers in the 1920's. Still, it would have been a great challenge by today's standards.

 

The road was easy to follow most of the way, with the exception of a few spots where it became overgrown with trees and brush. Finally, I was able to reach my destination, spotted by Google Earth from above – an old wooden bridge. You would not want to drive a car over this 100-year-old bridge that has not felt such a weight in many years, but it was still amazingly sturdy. The surface boards were seriously rotted and not inviting, even for walking, but the wooden support beams underneath were still strong. They built them well in that day.

 

In the past, I have traveled more recent roads, 1950's vintage in Colorado and Utah. Some are still in use, providing access to ranch land not accessible from an interstate highway. Other sections were totally abandoned, and washed away with gullies so deep not even an all-terrain vehicle could pass. I have stopped at old forts and other structures maintained by the government and historical societies. Their work at preserving our history is fantastic, a wonderful gift to future generations. Still, there is something very special about being able to rediscover a forgotten piece of history yourself, to travel the remnants of the highways used by generations past, one more time before they forever fade away.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 748. Second volume of Blaeu's atlas featuring 89 maps of the Americas and Asia (1642) Est. $12,000 - $15,000
    Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 12. A world map with popular cartographic myths and unique embellishments (1788) Est. $3,000 - $3,750
    Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 30. One of the most sought-after charts from Cellarius' work (1708) Est. $1,200 - $1,500
    Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 38. Anti-Vietnam War persuasive cartography on a velvet poster (1971) Est. $350 - $425
    Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 43. Ortelius' influential map of the New World - second plate (1584) Est. $4,750 - $6,000
    Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 95. Scarce German map illustrating the French & Indian War (1755) Est. $8,000 - $9,500
    Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 149. Bachmann's dramatic view of the Mid-Atlantic region (1864) Est. $1,200 - $1,500
    Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 373. De Jode's very rare map of Europe with costumed figures (1593) Est. $6,000 - $7,500
    Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 674. De Bry's Petits Voyages, Part VII with all plates and map of Sri Lanka (1606) Est. $1,400 - $1,700
    Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 704. The first printed map devoted to the Pacific in full contemporary color (1589) Est. $7,500 - $9,000
    Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 734. Superb hand-colored image of the Tree of Jesse (1502) Est. $700 - $850
  • Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
  • Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: BELLEFOREST (François de). La cosmographie universelle de tout le monde. €12,000 to €15,000.
    Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: DESNOS (Louis Charles). Mappe-monde, ou Carte Generale de la Terre. €5,000 to €6,000.
    Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: BLAEU (Willem Janszoon & Joan). Theatrum Sabaudiae. €18,000 to €20,000.
    Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: LINASSI. Ferdinando Ie Maria Anna Carolina nel Litorale in Settembre 1844. €4,000 to €5,000.
    Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: AMBROSOLI (Francesco). Monumento a Francesco Primo in Vienna. €3,000 to €4,000.
    Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: Plano de la plaza de Mesina y de su ciudadel y castiglios. €5,000 to €6,000.
    Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: ROCKSTUHL (Alois Gustav), GILLE (Florent A.). 78 Lithographies du Musée de Tzarskoe-Selo. €1,000 to €1,500.
    Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: Chtchedrovski, Ignatiy Stepanovitch. €2,000 to €3,000.
    Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: DE BRUYN (Cornelis). Voyage au Levant. €3,000 to €5,000.
    Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: ABI ISHAQ AHMAD B. IBRAHIM AL-THAʿLABI (M. 1035) : TROISIÈME VOLUME DU KASHF WA-L-BAYAN ʻAN TAFSIRI AL-QURʼAN. €3,000 to €5,000.
    Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: DESNOS (Louis Charles). L’Afrique. €3,000 to €4,000.
    Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: DE BRUYN (Cornelis). Voyages de Corneille Le Brun par la Moscovie, en Perse, et aux Indes orientales. €1,500 to €2,000.
    Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: DESNOS. (Louis Charles). Amérique septentrionale et Méridionale. €4,000 to €5,000.
    Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: ÉLIOT (J.B.) ; MONDHARE (Louis Joseph). Carte du théatre de la guerre actuel entre les anglais et les treize Colonies Unies de l'Amérique Septentrionale. €5,000 to €6,000.

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