Rare Book Monthly

Articles - May - 2020 Issue

Peter Luke: a resourceful dealer

Material sent to me by Peter Luke

Material sent to me by Peter Luke

There are many ways for dealers and customers to connect.  For dealers, shows have been for years important, even vital.  This category of sales however is being battered by limitations based on health concerns.  So what can a dealer do?

 

Here is an example of how a resourceful dealer, Peter Luke, is addressing this challenge.

 

By scouring his shop he found and organized an assortment of material related to the seven counties of the New York mid-Hudson Valley I collect.  Then he converted this material into 39 lots and offered to send them for inspection with the understanding that all lots would be individually priced and purchased at a 20% discount, as well, if all material is purchased, then the entire group would be subject to a 30% discount.

 

I will say the pricing is random but such lot groupings that have been posted to me over the past 10 years have often been sufficiently appealing to buy everything.  Hence when Peter wondered if he should put together a package I said certainly.  They are always interesting.

 

Altogether there are about 250 items that break out into 7 categories:

 

  1.  Transportation including material relating to the Delaware Plank Road
    1. Letters and documents and one image

 

  1.  Poughkeepsie and Dutchess County:  5 lots

 

  1. Image of the Old Dutch Church, Fishkill.
  2. The Poughkeepsie National Union.  An Announcement.  2nd of Jan. 1878.  Announcing a school of the highest order.
  3. New Discoveries of the Millennium.  There were speculation that the calendar should/would be recalibrated because of the impending New Millennium.  Others nearby wore out their nibs writing on this subject.
  4. The Boston & Albany Railroad Company.  Albany Division:  From Hudson to Kinderhook.  Schedule for June 15, 1890.
  5. Regimental Orders.  Poughkeepsie, August 5th, 1844. Printed in 2 point.  “Officers and musicians of the 84th Regiment to rendezvous for the purpose of training, disciplining and improving in Martial Exercise.”

 

  1. The Hudson River including Hudson, New York:  9 lots

 

  1. Hudson Directory 1851-2 by Parmenter & Van Antwerp:  Hudson, 1851.  This is actually a Munsell imprint, one of the rarer ones, identified by the J. Munsell advertisements on the last printed page.  In Munselliana this is Muns-567.
  2. An advertising card:  42nd  Season of the People’s Evening Line.  With an image of the Drew.
  3. Firemen’s Home of the State of New York.  1912.  30 pages, many images.
  4. The Hudson River published by the Hudson River Day Line.  Nicely engraved on 24 sheets. 10” x 8”
  5. The Confession of Faith and Covenant of the First Presbyterian Church, Hudson, N. Y.  8 pages with printed covers.  J. Wilbur, Printer, Hudson. [n.d], I assume circa 1834
  6. City of Hudson-N-Y.  1785 Sesquicentennial 1935.  A lush celebration. 6.75” x 10”.  36pp.
  7. Sermon delivered at the Ordination of the Rev. Benjamin Franklin Stanton, in the City of Hudson, January 9, 1817.  31pg. Disbound.

 

  1. Business Records within the 7 county area are useful because business details often provide a sense of the struggle to build or maintain viable enterprises:  5 lots

 

  1. Records for Hudson, N.Y. firms; many nicely illustrated. 27 examples.
  2. Illustrated Catalogue of Machines and Parts manufactured by the American Raveller Co:  Sewing Machines
  3. Gifford-Wood Co.  Elevating and Conveying Machinery Ice Tools.  At Rondout, N.Y., ice was a major export to New York City in the later 1900th century.
  4. Detachable Umbrella Covers for sale by Luckey, Platt & Co, Poughkeepsie.
  5. E. P. H. Capron’s Improved Turbine Water Wheel, Hudson, N.Y.  Illustrated.

 

  1. The Catskill Mountains:  5

 

  1. The Scenery of the Catskill Mountains as described by various luminaries.  1876 including appealing woodcut illustrations.
  2. Hotel Reed, Liberty, Sullivan Co.  4 pages and cover.  Severe:  $7.00-$10.00 with references.
  3. The Catskill of “The Yesterdays”.  18 pages illustrated with a focus on history.
  4. Views of the Laurel House and Kauterskill Falls.  Internally perfect:  12 panels.

 

  1. Greene and Columbia County:  8

 

  1. The Journal of Materia Medica devoted to Materia Medica, Pharmacy and Chemistry.  Vol. XV, April 1876.  No. 4.  The field of natural solutions found many adherents no doubt  because of the list of diseases this publication affirms to resolve.  Such publications were given when concoctions were ordered.
  2. R. F. Livingston, at Lake Copake, would provide a brief property survey in this printed form to which he would diagram and describe a property in an efficient way.  This is an example.  Dated September, 1844.
  3. An 1817 deed signed by John King, Sheriff of Columbia County, later a Congressman.  A foreclosure document.
  4. A handwritten statement of a Constable at Catskill on February 9th, 1835, who brought to jail various parties and provided a detailed invoice for meals provided to the incarcerated.  The jail appears to have been busy.
  5. Columbia County Circuit Court and Supreme Court Calendar.  Listing 156 cases for October 1855.  It appears about half the population were lawyers or crooks and a few to be in both categories.
  6. A Sketch of Lebanon Springs including a wonderful image of Columbia Hall.
  7. 19 letters of/about the Harden family during the period 1840-1860.  Involving Union College and various businesses they conducted.
  8. Columbia County legal documents.  15 examples of the quick and the dead, some left wondering who was better off.

 

  1. Ulster County:  6

 

  1. 1896.  Summer Resorts among the Catskills, via Saugerties & New York Steamboat Company [illustrated].  Including a wealth of information.
  2. Soldiers’ Reunion at Maxwell Hall for various addresses.  Saugerties, April 27th, 1881.  Broadside.
  3. To-Night!  The Ideal Entertainers at The Hall, Palenville.  Aug. 11.  Eight Acts, prices 15 & 25 cents.  Broadside
  4. The Delaware-Hudson Canal, lot of papers 1850-1851.  Relating to construction, improvements and a petition for funding.  An unsigned copy.  12 sheets.
  5. An account book of a person or persons extending terms for necessities, some that would have been shipped on the D & H Canal during the period 1839-1842.  On laid paper with a leather wrapper.  One reference to Mohonk.
  6. Ulster County, New York.  Lot of 74 legal documents, 1845-1853 that relate to land and property transfers, dam construction relating to the D & H Canal and other misc. matters.  Included with a photograph postcard of an old gate on one of the local plank roads.

 

  1. Misc:
    1. Stereoscopic Image of West Point from Phillipstown.

 

The price:  $2,450.

 

In this way the 7 counties database will in time possibly include 100,000 items.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Leland Little, May 21: Signed Artist Proof of the Monumental G.O.A.T.: A Tribute to Muhammad Ali.
    Leland Little, May 21: Assorted Rare Publications Related to H.P. Lovecraft, Including The Recluse Signed by Vincent Starrett.
    Leland Little, May 21: Two Issues of The Vagrant, Including the First Appearance of H.P. Lovecraft's "Dagon" in Number Eleven.
    Leland Little, May 21: Rare First Printing of Anne of Green Gables, With ALS from the Author.
    Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, In First Issue Jacket.
    Leland Little, May 21: The Limited Paumanok Edition of The Complete Writings of Walt Whitman.
    Leland Little, May 21: Beautifully Bound Limited Flaubert Edition of The Works of Guy de Maupassant.
    Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Bonaparte's Celebrated American Ornithology, With Spectacular Hand-Colored Plates.
    Leland Little, May 21: A Rare Complete Set of Jardine's The Naturalist's Library, With Hand-Colored Plates.
    Leland Little, May 21: Invitation to the Lincoln-Johnson National Inaugural Ball, March 4th, 1865.
    Leland Little, May 21: A Scarce Inscribed First Edition of James Baldwin's Nobody Knows My Name.
    Leland Little, May 21: Picasso's Le Goût du Bonheur, Limited Edition.
  • 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
  • Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Pietro Aquila, Psyche and Proserpina,1690. Starting price 140€
    Gonnelli: Jacques Gamelin, Memento homo quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris, 1779. Starting price 300€
    Gonnelli: Giorgio Ghisi, The final Judgement, 1680. Starting price 480€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli Goya y Lucientes Francisco, Los Proverbios.1877. Starting price 1000 €
    Gonnelli: Domenico Peruzzini, Long bearded old man, 1660. Starting price 2200€
    Gonnelli: Enea Vico, Leda and the Swan,1542. Starting price 140€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Andrea Del Sarto [school of], San Giovanni Battista, 1570. Starting price 25000€
    Gonnelli: Carlo Maratta, Virgin Mary and Jesus, 1660. Starting Price 1200€
    Gonnelli: Louis Brion de La Tour, Sphére de Copernic Sphere de Ptolemée / Le Systême de Ptolemée. Le Systême de Ticho-Brahe…, 1766. Starting price 180€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Marc’Antonio Dal Re, Ville di Delizia o Siano Palaggi Camparecci nello Stato di Milano Divise in Sei Tomi Con espressevi le Piante…, Tomo Primo, 1726. Starting price 7000€
    Gonnelli: Katsushika Hokusai, Bird on a branch, 1843. Starting price 100€
  • Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Th. McKenney & J. Hall, History of the Indian tribes of North America, 1836-1844. Est: €50,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Biblia latina vulgata, manuscript on thin parchment, around 1250. Est: €70,000
    Ketterer, May 26: M. Beckmann, Fanferlieschen Schönefüßchen, 1924. Est: €10,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: A. Ortelius, Theatrum orbis terrarum, 1574. Est: €50,000
    Ketterer, May 26: M. S. Merian, Eurcarum ortus, alimentum et paradoxa metamorphosis, 1717-18. Est: €6,000
    Ketterer, May 26: PAN, 9 volumes, 1895-1900. Est: €12,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Breviarium Romanum, Latin manuscript, 1474. Est: €15,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Quran manuscript from the Saadian period, Maghreb, 16th century. Est: €10,000
    Ketterer, May 26: E. Hemingway, The old man and the sea, 1952. First edition in first issue jacket. Presentation copy. Est: €3,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Flavius Vegetius Renatus, De re militari libri quatuor, 1553. Est: €3,000
    Ketterer, May 26: K. Marx, Das Kapital, 1867. Est: €30,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Brassaï, Transmutations, 1967. Est: €6,000

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