The Black Orchid of Ohio

As is often the case, good material sells quickly. In this case, within a week he invited Joseph Dush, a Willard, Ohio lawyer, book collector and local historian to consider buying it for $2,500. Mr. Dush, an old-time collector who bought content and was as apt to own a reprint as a first edition, did not shy away from buying a great copy at a full price when offered the opportunity. And so he bought it.

In November 1967, less than a month after the Thomas W. Streeter copy was sold at Parke-Bernet for $10,000, Wessen wrote to Yeatman Anderson III, head of the rare book Department of the Cincinnati Public Library, about the Dush copy:

It is "the finest in existence...a copy which for all time will remain a standard for comparison... It explodes the old yarns about Madam Maxwell wearing her poor fingers to the bone while binding these in leather. THIS IS THE ORIGINAL BOARD BINDINGS. It has the dated signature of the first recipient...[Jefferson County, Sheriff?], and so on through the next four [actually three] official owners., Of course it is untrimmed. It is in the possession of a great collector and fine gentleman...Joseph F. Dush..."

Over the years Dush made his prize feel comfortable by surrounding it with a gathering accumulation of all things "Ohio history" that would, after his death, translate into five auctions. Along the way into his sedentary years he wrote a history of Willard, served "of counsel" on an Ohio zoning case argued before the Supreme Court and was General Counsel to the Lakeside Press. In 1982 his collection survived a house fire with only minimal damage. We know this from references to water damage in the item descriptions in the 1997 auction dispersals and from a recent comment from his attorney, Harold J. Freeman. His "Laws of the Territory" must have been on a higher shelf or in a safer place because this copy was unaffected.

He died in 1997 and his collections were dispersed at auction under the direction of Mr. Freeman who, ten years later, continues to remember him with admiration. "He was a very good lawyer, always affable, tall with a shock of white hair, a determined man, someone I was very glad to know." From the attic alone, more than 4,000 pounds of books were brought down. The man was a collector.

A half dozen paintings and his collectible antiques were dispatched to Garth's Auctions in Delaware, Ohio. His household possessions were dispersed at a house sale. The books, manuscripts and ephemera were dispersed in three sales beginning in December. The first was a sale in Columbus of Ohio local history heavy on ephemera, today roaring flames in the collecting world but then, banked coals waiting for the market to ignite. Wes Cowan, the same Wes Cowan who is conducting the upcoming sale, organized the sale of Dush's Ohio history and ephemera collection with the help of old time friend and bookman, Ed Hoffman. The general ephemera were so extensive that bidders were encouraged to organize groups of personal interest and seventy-five lots were set aside for this purpose. Dush's collection of William Henry Harrison ephemera was dispersed at a separate Cowan auction.

Rare Book Monthly

The Black Orchid of Ohio

Rare Book Monthly

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The Black Orchid of Ohio

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