Rare Book Monthly

Articles - May - 2022 Issue

The Library of Henry Rogers Broughton, 2nd Baron Fairhaven to be Sold at Sotheby’s

There's a lot of visually appealing material in The Library of Henry Rogers Broughton

There's a lot of visually appealing material in The Library of Henry Rogers Broughton

May is going to be a busy month in the auction rooms at Sotheby’s as The Library of Henry Rogers Broughton, 2nd Baron Fairhaven, will be sold in London on 18 May, 2022.  Auctions are commonplace but old collections of exceptional material at auction are rare and this one features material bought early in the 20th century, between 1927 and 1960, when very fresh copies were emerging.  That Baron Fairhaven built a major collection of important books suggests exceptional judgment, and soon the market will be assessing his purchases.

 

The Fairhaven Sales will be held in two sessions, the first on 18th May and the second, in the fall.

 

Donald Heald, a respected dealer in such material, recently offered, “the Fairhaven sale of colored plate books should be understood to be one of the most important sales of botany, ornithology and natural history books, during the past half century.  Such quality is quite special.”  This said, pay some attention.

 

The Fairhaven sale, in two parts, will be completed in the fall.

 

Sotheby’s announcement explains the history of the collection.  It’s a remarkable story.

 

Sotheby’s is thrilled to present for sale an exceptional collection of natural history books from The Library of Henry Rogers Broughton, 2nd Baron Fairhaven. The collection includes exquisitely illustrated works on ornithology and botany, mammalogy and entomology, by authors including John James Audubon, Pierre-Joseph Redouté, John Gould and John Abbot.

Such remarkable collections rarely come to the market, instead remaining myths in the book world. The genesis of the Fairhaven Library is, in itself, the stuff of legends. The first Lord Fairhaven's grandfather, Henry Huttleston Rogers (1840 -1909), began his professional life by selling paraffin in the local market in Fairhaven, Massachusetts—an ocean away from Anglesey Abbey. In 1861, Rogers turned his attention from paraffin to Pennsylvania, where oil had been discovered two years before. In 1874, Rogers sold his operation to John D. Rockefeller, and it became a part of Standard Oil. Rogers stayed on as a director, and eventually became vice president in 1890. By his death in 1909, he had amassed a staggering fortune of $100 million.

HENRY HUTTLESTON ROGERS

In 1895, Roger's recently widowed daughter, Cara, met Urban Broughton, a British civil engineer, who had been sent to the United States as a representative of the hydro-pneumatic sewerage system of Isaac Shone.  Urban and Cara quickly fell in love and were married in November of 1895.  Their first son, Huttleston, was born in 1896, and Henry in 1900. The Broughtons remained in the United States until 1912.  When they settled in England, Urban served as a Conservative MP for Preston from 1915 until 1928, and, in the same fashion as his father-in-law, used his wealth and influence for the public good. His philanthropy was recognized with a peerage.  Sadly, however, Urban died in 1929, before the title could be conferred.  Instead, it passed directly to his widow and to his eldest son.

URBAN HANLON BROUGHTON, HUTTLESTON ROGERS BROUGHTON AND HENRY ROGERS BROUGHTON

In 1926, Huttleston, 1st Baron Fairhaven, and Henry, 2nd Baron Fairhaven, purchased the Anglesey Abbey estate, primarily for shooting. They agreed that whoever married first should sell his share in the estate to the other. Thus, when Henry wed Diana Fellowes in 1932, the 1st Lord Fairhaven became the sole owner of Anglesey Abbey, and set about cultivating the impressive gardens and other facets of the estate.  Not to be outdone by his brother, Henry amassed one of the most important collections of botanical art in the world. He bought Bakeham House, near Windsor, and later South Walsham Hall, Norfolk. The Abbey was left to the National Trust upon Huttleston’s death in 1966, and Henry’s renowned collection of art was donated to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, collection to the Museum upon his death in 1973.

HENRY ROGERS BROUGHTON AND DIANA BROUGHTON (NÉE FELLOWES)

The magnificent present collection of natural history books was acquired between the years of 1927 and 1960. It is a testament to Henry Rogers Broughton, 2nd Baron Fairhaven’s connoisseurship, and many of the titles, such as Mark Catesby’s The natural history of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands... and John James Audubon’s The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, also offer a nod to his American roots.

Whichever side of the puddle you find yourself, if your interests are in plate books, you’ll find reason to follow these two sales.

 

Here is a link to the sale

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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