Ephemera, the random debris of history, has long been considered insufficiently important and too difficult to identify to sell. Books almost always have a known author, title, place and date printed. They may be in demand or not, their subjects currently relevant or not, they usually have a history of transactions to guide buyers and sellers. For ephemera, not so much.
But the Internet has happened and one of the outcomes of the explosion of information on line has been to clarify ephemera that often used to be consigned to debris boxes. That’s changing.
When first collecting material related to Ulster County 65 years ago, the list of related books was brief, many of them close to impossible to acquire. Fortunately, Poughkeepsie had a busy auction house, Cal Smith’s, where you could paw through upcoming lots and try your luck. Known titles would be hawked and change hands for a few dollars. As for the ephemera, in Cal’s world, it was “Here’s a couple of boxes of junk! Oh pardon hysterians!! Let’s start the bidding at a dollar.”
When the old paper was appealing, Cal ever the enterprising auctioneer, would encourage you to dream your dream and hope you’ll find something worthwhile in the pile. The auctions were great entertainment and occasionally you found value. And if you bought the stuff you also bought yourself a demanding job.
Over the past 65 years I bought quite a bit of ephemera, a significant portion relating to the Hudson Valley. And now, I’m at the point that I need to dispose that which I have pursued those many years, now face the challenge to organize and explain this type of material to be quite different from books. In my case, it seems likely I’ll have to organize, lot and describe what will be, for most people, deeply arcane collectible paper.
I recently spent a month documenting my collection of Munselliana, that is material related to Joel Munsell, the 19th century Albany, New York printer. In his classic account of his printing career, he lists print jobs he produced during the period 1834-1871. Two thousand two hundred and sixty-eight jobs were identified and their print quantities given for 990 of them – making it possible for me to develop the theory of probability of reappearance.
As to how much of that stuff I have, about 500 items and I’ve created three databases relating to Joel’s books, pamphlets and almanacs. When my collection of Hudson River material is sold Munselliana will be one of the 400 lots in the sale.
Other categories will be letters, photographs, maps, ledgers, stock certificates, coins and paper money, postcards, objects, broadsides and company records. Some of those lots will be very complex.
Net net, consider my experience as a heads up about how to handle ephemera if you get seriously into the weeds. Expect you’ll be doing at least the preliminary cataloguing whether you send it into the rooms or to gift it to an institution. By building a collection of this arcane material you are also becoming its expert. Plan for it.
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.
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.