Rare Book Monthly

Articles - August - 2017 Issue

Aug. 5: Baseball, Almanacs, Historical Documents and more at Case Antiques

Highlights from Case Antiques' Historic Summer Auction on August 5th

Highlights from Case Antiques' Historic Summer Auction on August 5th

Case Antiques, the Knoxville, Tennessee based auction house has since 2015 included their relevant auction records in Rare Book Hub’s Transaction History database. The category of collectible works on paper, including historical documents, books, and maps, is becoming an increasingly significant portion of their business, and this month, as part of their Historic Summer Auction, a high-quality and varied selection of material will come to the rooms on August 5th.

 

Many Americans love the game of baseball, and there are undoubtedly many collectors of its history. Two rare books will definitely appeal: a signed first edition of Albert Goodwill Spalding’s America’s National Game and A History of the Boston Base Ball Club 1871-1897, compiled by George V. Tuohey. Spalding’s work is particularly attractive, with cartoons, illustrations, and photographs; it’s estimated $3,000 to $4,000 as lot 459. Tuohey’s History, as lot lot 458, is estimated $800 to $1,200.

 

Revolutionary War era and pre-Revolution almanacs are also a strong category in the sale. Samuel Stearns’ The North-American’s Almanack, and Gentleman’s and Lady’s Diary, For the Year of Our Lord Christ 1776, features “An Account of the Commencement of Ho[s]tilities between Great Britain and America, in the Province of Massachusetts Bay,” written by Rev. William Gordon who wrote his account based off interviews with people present at the Battle of Lexington. Nathanael Low’s An Astronomical Diary; or, Almanack for the Year of Christian Aera 1775 includes an interesting argument by the author against the tyranny of the British government. Sandwiched between Stearn’s and Low’s almanacs are two group lots, one being eleven Revolutionary War era almanacs spanning the years 1777 to 1784, and the other being fourteen pre-Revolution almanacs, from the years 1752-1774. All four almanac lots, nos. 441 to 444, top out in estimates at $1,500 or less.

 

With Case Antiques being based in Tennessee, they are naturally strong in material of Southern nature. Andrew Jackson, born in the Carolinas, a Senator and member of the House of Representatives for the State of Tennessee, and Military Governor of Florida, was a true Southerner. The man enjoys a strong representation in the sale, starting with lot 421, with several lots of portraits, engravings, images, and portraits. Major Arsene Lacarriere’s Historical Memoir of the War in West Florida and Louisiana in 1814-1815, published in Philadelphia in 1816, is a translation of the original French and covers much of Jackson’s actions in the southern theater of the War of 1812. Lacarriere’s Memoir features a detailed atlas and is estimated $1,200 to $1,500. One last interesting Jackson lot is an early signed letter from 1821 pre-dating his appointment as Military Governor of Florida and election as President. Within the letter, Jackson expresses approval of John C. Calhoun’s proposal for what became the Reduction Act as well as his opinions on the Missouri Compromise. Jackson’s letter is estimated $5,000 to $7,000 as lot 424.

 

Collectors of the Civil War will find an important Vidette camp newspaper broadsidesigned by “The Thunderbolt of the Confederacy,” General John Hunt Morgan (lot 203, est. $1,200 to $1,400), ambrotype and tintype images of Civil War soldiers (lots 196 to 199), as well as a Mississippi Runaway Slave Broadside from 1844 (lot 200, est. $1,400 to $1,800).

 

Other historical documents in the sale include military appointments signed by Presidents Abraham Lincoln (lot 210, est. $4,000 to $4,500) and Andrew Johnson (lot 229, est. $900 to $1,000) and a lot containing a signed letter by Sam Houston and James Buchanan as well as two prints.

 

Case Antiques’ Historic Summer Auction will take place at 9 AM eastern time at their Knoxville gallery. It is a sale of 897 lots that also includes art, antiques, jewelry, coins, paintings and folk art, and furniture. The entire catalog can be browsed online, with material most likely of interest to Rare Book Monthly readers beginning at lot 196.

 

Bidding is available live, over the phone, by absentee bid, and online through LiveAuctioneers and Invaluable. Please note: Phone/absentee bid requests must be submitted by 12 PM eastern time on August 4th.

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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