Rare Book Monthly

Articles - May - 2022 Issue

The Reese Americana Collection Appears

The quality of the material is no surprise considering the source

The life of Bill Reese ended 3 years ago, but his discernment, judgment and collecting acumen continue to be admired. His name will soon be illuminated on the marquees at Christie’s in New York.  On May 25th and 26th, his personal library of travel and exploration books, printed Americana from the 17th to 20th centuries, American paintings and drawings, natural history books, and important literature will be sold in a three-session live auction.  Reese Collection sales will continue into June with both an Online auction (19 May – 2 June) and a suite of important paintings by Agostino Brunias selling on 10 June in the Old Masters Evening Sale. This spring, about 600 books and artworks will be dispersed to clients, friends, fellow dealers and competitors.

 

Bill’s depth of enthusiasm was legendary, but the extent of his knowledge even more rare. His understanding conveyed confidence to collectors and collecting institutions who wanted to possess great Americana and wanted certainty.  He understood the material, be it from the discovery of the New World, to the founding of the American nation, to America’s development politically and socially.  To understand America’s history through its documents, books, maps and ephemera became his life’s work. Many of the important collections of Americana today reflect his influence.

 

Soon the public will have the opportunity to compare what he offered over his 300+ catalogues with what he collected.  Not surprisingly, he was as discerning a collector as he was a dealer.

 

During his career, when meeting with a new collector he invariably asked about their preferences and could—off the top of his head—suggest a list of material from his inventory that would further their collecting ambitions.  Many collections, born of nebulous curiosity, grew with his first guidance into lavish manifestations of history. In time, many of those collections themselves became spectacular events at auction or prized gifts to the greatest collecting libraries.  He knew the material and the market’s confidence in his judgment will soon be reflected in the auction outcomes of his storied collection. 

 

Having built his business and collections over forty years, Bill saw prices rise and fall, and was ever mindful that unusual copies had to be pursued when they were offered, even if the outside world was in turmoil.  One and only examples do not often reappear.  So it is an odd circumstance that the Reese Collection of Americana will be sold at one of those times, when foreign war and American political uncertainty may shake a collector’s confidence and step aside.

 

About such times, I remember Bill saying, when it’s hardest to feel assured, the purchases will be remembered fondly.  It was good advice and I pass it along as a whisper in the room, reach for the prize.  His material is exceptional, you are in the presence of an event.

 

The catalogues for Part One and Part Two of the Private Collection of William S. Reese are online now.  The preview exhibition is open to the public from May 20-25 at Christie’s Rockefeller Center.

 

As to what to consider – here are a few of the high spots to get you started:

 

Lot 2 Oviedo https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-6368237?ldp_breadcrumb=back&intObjectID=6368237&from=salessummary&lid=1

Lot 8 John Smith https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-6368243?ldp_breadcrumb=back&intObjectID=6368243&from=salessummary&lid=1

Lot 15 Massachusett Bible https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-6368250?ldp_breadcrumb=back&intObjectID=6368250&from=salessummary&lid=1

Lot 30 Evans Map https://www.christies.com/en/auction/the-private-collection-of-william-s-reese-part-one-20528-nyr/?filters=&page=1&searchphrase=&sortby=highestimate_desc&themes=

Lot 42 Franklin’s Dickinson https://www.christies.com/en/auction/the-private-collection-of-william-s-reese-part-one-20528-nyr/?filters=&page=1&searchphrase=&sortby=highestimate_desc&themes=

Lot 50 Declaration of Independence https://www.christies.com/en/auction/the-private-collection-of-william-s-reese-part-one-20528-nyr/?filters=&page=1&searchphrase=&sortby=highestimate_desc&themes=

Lot 61 Federalist https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-6368296?ldp_breadcrumb=back&intObjectID=6368296&from=salessummary&lid=1

Lot 90 Lewis & Clark https://www.christies.com/en/auction/the-private-collection-of-william-s-reese-part-one-20528-nyr/?filters=&page=1&searchphrase=&sortby=highestimate_desc&themes=

Lot 127 Quadrupeds https://www.christies.com/en/auction/the-private-collection-of-william-s-reese-part-two-20529-nyr/?filters=&page=1&searchphrase=&sortby=highestimate_desc&themes=

Lot 297, Charles Bird King portrait https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-6368867?ldp_breadcrumb=back&intObjectID=6368867&from=salessummary&lid=1

Yale https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-6368292?ldp_breadcrumb=back&intObjectID=6368292&from=salessummary&lid=1

Millard https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-6368986?ldp_breadcrumb=back&intObjectID=6368986&from=salessummary&lid=1

Shakespeare https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-6369045?ldp_breadcrumb=back&intObjectID=6369045&from=salessummary&lid=1

Sassoon https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-6369068?ldp_breadcrumb=back&intObjectID=6369068&from=salessummary&lid=1

Rare Book Monthly

  • 19th Century Shop
    Catalogue 198 just published
    19th Century Shop. Darwin and Wallace, first printing of the first paper on natural selection
    19th Century Shop. Shakespeare’s Poems, first collected edition
    19th Century Shop. Walt Whitman portrait inscribed with a Leaves of Grass poem
    19th Century Shop. Major Elizabeth Barrett Browning manuscript notebook
    19th Century Shop. Spock's Baby Book, original MS
    19th Century Shop. Cellarius, Harmonia Macrocosmica, the great celestial atlas
  • Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HARRISON, Benjamin. Document signed (“Benj Harrison”) as governor of Virginia, certifying the service of Daniel Cumbo, a Black Revolutionary soldier. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HIGHLY IMPORTANT MORMON ARCHIVE. ALLEY, George. Archive of 23 Autograph Letters Signed by Mormon Convert George Alley to His Brother Joseph Alley. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [AVIATION]. [ARMSTRONG, Neil A.] Aviation Hall of Fame Gold Medal MS64 NGC, Awarded to Neil Armstrong in 1979. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: NEWLY DISCOVERED FIRST PRINTING OF "WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE... " FROM THE ONLY NEWSPAPER ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL PROCESSION. $4,000 to $8,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: A VERY RARE ACCOUNT OF BLACKBEARD’S DEATH AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PIRATE ITEMS EXTANT. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [VIETNAM WAR]. The original pen used by Secretary of State William P. Rogers to sign the Vietnam Peace Agreement, Paris, 27 January 1973. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: SONS OF LIBERTY FOUNDER COLONEL BARRÉ ANNOTATED TITLE-PAGE, “WHICH OUGHT TO ROUSE UP BRITISH ATTENTION”. $4,000 to $6,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: [Shakespeare (William)]. [Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies], second folio edition, [by Tho.Cotes, for Robert Allot], [1632]. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Bible, Czech Biblia Bohemica, first complete Bible printed in the Czech vernacular, Prague, August 1488. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Shabthai Tzvi.- Collection of four printed and illustrated broadsides detailing the appearance, rise and fall of the false messiah, Shabthai Tzvi, Augsburg, 1666-67. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Leaf from the Beauvais Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [Northern France (perhaps Beauvais or Amiens)], [fourteenth century (c.1310)]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Aubrey (John). [Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme], manuscript in English, Latin and Greek, [c. 1693]. £30,000 to £50,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Poems on Various Occasions, first edition, Harriet Maltby's copy, Newark, Printed by S. & J. Ridge, 1807. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression with dust-jacket, 1937 [but 1938]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Blake (William).- Thornton (Robert John). The Pastorals of Virgil, 2 vol., engraved plates by William Blake, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: America.- Mount (William J.) & Thomas Page. The English Pilot…, [bound with] The Fourth Book, describing The West Indies Navigation from Hudson's-Bay to the River Amazones, 1721. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Oldfield (Henry Ambrose), Rajman Singh Chitrakar & others. An album of 160 photographs and 13 original artworks, (1833-1919), [c. 1850s-1880s]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD
  • Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG BEADED JUDICIAL COLLAR. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A COMPLETE RUN OF VISIONAIRE MAGAZINE THROUGH 2010. $6,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: LAW REVIEW OFFPRINT SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: META REBNER'S WORKING SCRIPT OF THE LOVED ONE. $1,500 - $2,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A KATHY GROVE PORTRAIT OF CYNDI LAUPER FOR THE FEBRUARY 1989 DETAILS COVER. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A PLASTIC COAT BY MILLIE DAVID FEATURED IN SOHO NEWS STYLE SECTION, FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANNIE FLANDERS. $500 - $700
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG JEWELRY BOX. $600 - $900
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A SET OF JONI MITCHELL LYRICS FOR "IF I HAD A HEART." $2,000 - $3,000

Article Search

Archived Articles

Ask Questions