Rare Book Monthly

Articles - November - 2023 Issue

Doyle is offering the interesting and obscure on November 7th: Be mindful!

Salem Witch Trials + very early New England

 

·       Auction of Rare Books, Autographs & Maps on Tuesday, November 7, 2023 at 10am
·       Including the Esmond Bradley Martin Collection of Africana and Travel
·       100 years before the Revolution: from Plymouth Colony to the Salem Witch Trials – The Victor Gulotta Collection


NEW YORK, NY -- Doyle's auction of Rare Books, Autographs & Maps on Tuesday, November 7, 2023 at 10am presents material ranging from early illuminated manuscripts to modern literary first editions.

Lots 1 to 48 comprise 100 years before the Revolution: from Plymouth Colony to the Salem Witch Trials - The Victor Gulotta Collection, a curated collection of 17th and 18th century manuscripts documenting life in colonial New England. Handwritten material originating from first- and second-generation settlers at Plymouth and the nearby Massachusetts Bay Colonies is naturally scarce; now, 400 years after the 1620 landing at Plymouth, fire, water, and other ravages of time have destroyed many a paper record. The documents within the Collection offer interesting, inspiring, and unusual episodes of 17th-century New England using the 1692 Salem Witch Trials as its lens (view lots). Read a fascinating essay by Specialist Peter Costanzo profiling this Collection. Click here.

Lots 50 -67 are general Americana, including a copy of the Alecto edition of Bodmer's plates (lot 50). The following sequence, 68-109 consists of maps. The first group of these are maps of American interest, including several of the Revolutionary war era. Of New York appeal, there are a group of survey maps, 18th and 19th century, showing the growth and development of the city. The section of maps concludes with a number of maps of general interest, and a few interesting atlases. The theme of Americana concludes with a small group of American autographs, including a George Washington letter (lot 120). General autographs end with lots 121-128.

Lots 129-219 are all from The Esmond Bradley Martin Collection of Africana and Travel. This includes an extraordinary trove of letters by David Livingstone, General Gordon, and other major figures from the era of British exploration and conquest in Africa. These include one of Livingstone's final letters, addressed to Sir Henry Rawlinson (lot 180), a presentation map prepared in Cape Town for Livingstone in 1852, showing the areas that he had preliminarily explored (lot 178), and a charming letter from Charles George Gordon claiming his discovery of the site of the Garden of Eden (lot 157). The Bradley Martin collection also includes a copy of the first Latin edition of the earliest published collection of voyages, including those of Columbus and Vespucci: the 1508 Milan Fracanzo da Montalboddo (lot 188). This is an exceptional collection, fresh to market and in its category containing some truly noteworthy material (view lots). Lots 217-221 are travel books from other consignors.

Literature starts off with a Pickwick in parts (lot 222) and concludes with a presentation Whitman Leaves of Grass (lot 232). A small general antiquarian collection begins with a Darwin Origin of Species in first edition (lot 233), and includes a fascinating manuscript from the Dering and Phillipps collection (lot 238). Lots 240-250 are fine bindings, highlighted by a splendid Legrain binding on the Schmied Daphne (lot 241). A small group of private press and illustration takes up lots 251-263, and then a substantial collection of artist books and documentary material occupies lots 264-325, much of it Property from the Collection of Rosa and Aaron Esman, of which the extraordinary Surrealist masterpiece, the Magritte and Jouffroy Aube à l'antipode, with its seven signed and lettered etchings, is the undisputed highlight. The sale concludes with a small group of illustration art, lots 326-332, with a charming Rackham drawing for The Compleat Angler (lot 330).

SALE NOTICE
This sale will be presented as a live auction event conducted by an auctioneer. Place your bids conveniently using the following convenient methods:

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Rare Book Monthly

  • Fonsie Mealy’s
    Rare Books & Collectors’ Sale
    April 30th & May 1st
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Taylor (Geo.) & Skinner (A.) Maps of the Roads of Ireland, Surveyed 1777. Lond. & Dublin 1778. €500 to €750.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Messingham (Thos.) Florilegium Insulae Sanctorum seu Vitae et Acta Sanctorum Hibernia, Paris 1624. €350 to €500.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Heaney (Seamus). The Haw Lantern, L. (Faber & Faber) 1987, First Edn., Signed and dated. €225 to €350.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Valencey (Lt. Col. Chas.) Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis, Vols. I-IV, 4 vols. Dublin 1786. €400 to €600.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Powerscourt (Viscount). A Description and History of Powerscourt, Lond. 1903. €350 to €500.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Moryson (Fynes). An Itinerary ... Containing His Ten Yeeres Travel Through the Twelve Dominions of Germany, Bohermerland, Sweitzerland…, Lond. (John Beale) 1617. €700 to €1,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: After Buffon, Birds of Europe, c. 1820. Approx. 120 fine hd. cold. plts., mor. backed boards. €125 to €250.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Dunlevy (Andrew). An Teagasg Criosduidhe De Reir Ceasda agus Freagartha... The Catechism or Christian Doctrine by Way of Question and Answer, Paris (James Guerin) 1742. €400 to €700.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: The Georgian Society Records of Eighteen-Century Domestic Architecture in Dublin, 5 vols. Complete, Dublin 1909-1913. €500 to €750.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Scale (Bernard). An Hibernian Atlas or General Description of the Kingdom of Ireland, L. (Robert Sayer & John Bennet) 1776. €625 to €850.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: [Johnson (Rev. Samuel)]. Julian the Apostate Being a Short Account of his Life, together with a Comparison of Popery and Paganism,L. (Langley Curtis) 1682. €300 to €400.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Nichlson (Wm.) Illustrator. An Almanac of Twelve Sports, Lond. 1898. €300 to €400.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Heaney (Seamus) trans. The Light of the Leaves, 2 vols., Mexico (Imprenta de los Tropicos/Bunholt) 1999. €1,500 to €2,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Fleming (Ian). Moonraker, L. (Jonathan Cape) 1955. €1,500 to €2,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Heaney (Seamus) & Egan (Felim) artist. Squarings, Twelve Poems, D. (Hieroglyph Editions Ltd.) 1991. €1,750 to €2,250.
  • Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: ANDERSEN'S EXTREMELY RARE FIRST APPEARANCE IN PRINT. "Scene af: Røverne i Vissenberg i Fyen." in Harpen, 1822.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: FIRST ISSUE OF THE FIRST THREE FAIRY TALE PAMPHLETS, WITH ALL INDICES AND TITLE PAGES. Eventyr, fortalte for Børn. 1835-1837.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: THE FIRST FAIRY TALES WITH A SIGNED CARTE DE VISITE OF ANDERSEN AS FRONTIS. Eventyr, fortalte for Børn. 1835-1837.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: KARL LAGERFELD. Original pastel and ink drawing in gold, red and black for Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes (1992), "La cassette de l'Empereur."
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: PRESENTATION COPY OF THE SIXTH PAMPHLET FOR PETER KOCH. Eventyr, Fortalte For Børn, Second Series, Third Pamphlet. 1841. Publisher's wrappers, complete with all pre- and post-matter.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN RARE AUTOGRAPH QUOTATION SIGNED IN ENGLISH from "The Ugly Duckling," c.1860s.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: HEINRICH LEFLER, ORIGINAL WATERCOLOR FOR ANDERSEN'S SNOW QUEEN, "Die Schneekönigin," 1910.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: FIRST EDITION OF ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES IN ENGLISH. Wonderful Stories for Children. London, 1846.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: ANDERSEN ON MEETING CHARLES DICKENS. Autograph Letter Signed ("H.C. Andersen") in English to William Jerdan, July 20, 1847.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: PRESENTATION COPY FOR EDGAR COLLIN. Nye Eventyr og Historier. Anden Raekke. 1861.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: DOLL HOUSE FURNITURE BY HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON, DECORATED WITH FANTASTICAL CUT-OUTS, for the children of Jonna Stampe (née Drewsen), his godchildren.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: PRESENTATION COPY FOR GEORG BRANDES. Dryaden. Et Eventyr fra Udstillingstiden i Paris 1867. 1868.
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  • 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

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