Rare Book Monthly

Articles - April - 2009 Issue

Seth Kaller Displays Lincoln Artifacts in New York

Seth Kaller (right of "Abe Lincoln") helps ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

Seth Kaller (right of "Abe Lincoln") helps ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange.


By Michael Stillman

Seth Kaller, of Seth Kaller Historic Documents, recently joined in for the traditional ringing of the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange. This did not represent a sudden career change for the New York dealer in major historical documents, but a logical connection to a specialty - Abraham Lincoln. Kaller has handled some of the most spectacular Lincoln items, and on February 12, the Stock Exchange was celebrating the 16th President's 200th birthday. In the photo (click the thumbnail to the left), that's Kaller in front and to the right of "Lincoln," who looks quite sprightly for a man of 200.

This leads us to an exhibition in which Kaller is participating, across the street from the New York Stock Exchange at Federal Hall. Federal Hall is the place where George Washington took his oath of office, a most appropriate place for an exhibit featuring the other of America's two most notable presidents. You may think New York an odd place for a Lincoln exhibition, he being a Kentucky-born, Indiana raised, Illinois lawyer, who made his fame in Washington. However, it was in New York that Lincoln gave his famous Cooper Union Speech - "right makes might" - which many believe was the moment he, in effect, captured the Republican nomination, and with it, the presidency.

Featured at Federal Hall are numerous items Kaller, clients and friends have lent for the exhibit. Among them is a copy of Lincoln's most famous document, a signed Emancipation Proclamation. The Lincoln-Grimsley trunk, in which then President-Elect Lincoln placed many of his most prized possessions, to be held by Mary Todd Lincoln's cousin Elizabeth Grimsley in Springfield until their return from Washington, is on display. You will also see Lincoln's calipers, or "dividers," which he used to determine distances on maps for troop movements during the Civil War. These and many more Lincoln artifacts will be on display at Federal Hall through April 30.

Rare Book Monthly

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    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'sSell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts Sotheby'sSell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
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    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
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    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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    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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    Gonnelli Goya y Lucientes Francisco, Los Proverbios.1877. Starting price 1000 €
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    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€
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    Antique prints, paintings and maps
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    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
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    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: A. Ortelius, Theatrum orbis terrarum, 1574. Est: €50,000
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    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
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