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Rare Book Monthly

Articles - April - 2009 Issue

A library of Hawaii and the South Pacific to be Sold

Hawaii, a specialist's collection

Hawaii, a specialist's collection


By Bruce McKinney

Bonhams & Butterfields recently posted an anonymous single owner sale of material on Hawaii and the South Pacific and scheduled it for April 6th. It will be conducted simultaneously in San Francisco and New York. For those with an interest in this area it warrants consideration. The consignor, with the subject in clear view, for twenty-five years let his gaze broaden to include an unusually tactile group of objects that connect the roughly 150 book lots with another 100 pamphlets, objects, framed and frame-able material. Among the materials offered are, by type: pamphlets, maps, engravings, books, coins & medals, globes, newspapers & magazines, autographed letters [ALS], art, ephemera, broadsides, photographs and a flag. There is an appealing obsessiveness to the collection and a sense it was fun to acquire.

Such collections today are increasingly easy, although never really easy, to build, but when this collection was under development it was certainly difficult. The collector, [whose name has been withheld and with whom I did not speak], according to Catherine Williamson, director of Fine Books and Manuscripts at Bonhams & Butterfield in Los Angeles, used all logical means by which to acquire: visiting book dealers, reading catalogues, attending shows, buying at auction and employing scouts. The outcome is a collection that both the collector and causal observer can appreciate. It helps of course that the subject is attractive and has been a collector focus for decades.

The presentation, befitting a collection that is strong on images and visually attractive material, has the look of a fine retail catalogue. Many auction houses convey information without transmitting enthusiasm. In this presentation enthusiasm is evident.

The books and sets, of which there are many, can be thoroughly compared with the historical and auction records in AE's primary database. The ephemera is more difficult to calculate. Unique material, sometimes even when less than perfect, tends to command substantial premiums. Unbound materials tend to be rarer than bound, single sheets [broadsides] more difficult to obtain than pamphlets. One of a kind objects are often worth a few more bids. You won't see them again except in your mind's eye on sleepless nights.

The miniature globes [lots 3026, 3148 and 3162], of which there are three, if you buy one or all, they are going to be endlessly examined. If you are thinking about displaying images bid for some of the loose examples rather than for a book or set of images. There is a special place in hell reserved for those who remove images from sets but if someone else had done it you are safe in the after-life [at least with respect to this issue]. Single images cost relatively more but you get to choose without guilt.

The flag of Hawaii, lot 3176, is a very appealing. Lot 3179 is "Archive of Letters, Maps, Sketches and Artifacts of the 19th Century" material collected by American Seaman Abel Huntington. It includes his observations, two sketches, a map and a canon ball. By the pound this may be the least expensive lot.

When I asked Ms. Williamson to point out material she brought my attention to lot 3079. It's listed as [Leverian Museum] and credited to George Shaw. It is a book containing selected specimens from the Museum of Sir Ashton Lever, an oh-so-serious collector. It contains 48 coloured plates. More were later published but this example is very attractive.

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
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    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
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    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€
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    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli Goya y Lucientes Francisco, Los Proverbios.1877. Starting price 1000 €
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    Gonnelli: Enea Vico, Leda and the Swan,1542. Starting price 140€
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    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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