Rare Book Monthly

Articles - October - 2003 Issue

The Doctrine of Caiaphas by Rev. David Murdoch D.D.

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Another paper was circulated among the members of the congregation, and is in the handwriting of the Hon. Francis Hall, then Mayor of our city.

The undersigned, members of the congregation attending the Presbyterian church in Elmira, desire to express their satisfaction with the relation now existing between that society and the Rev. Dr. Murdoch, as the Pastor. We believe that the Rev. Dr. Murdoch has a strong and permanent hold upon the love and esteem of his people seldom gained – one which enables him to minister to their great welfare. So far as we may be permitted to judge, we believe that he discharges the duties of his office conscientiously and faithfully to his high calling, and profitably to the congregation committed to his care. We earnestly deplore, therefore, any means calculated to break up the connection between our present Pastor and people, or to interfere with his useful labors in our midst, as fraught with incalculable evil to the harmony, prosperity, and spiritual welfare of the church and congregation.

This is signed by sixty-four male members of the congregation, including such men as hold a standing in this community, and such as no man of the Fourteen would venture to despise. When an answer to this appears, as was said, saying, “these were the common rabble,” these names will be forthcoming. In the mean time, I value them more than the nameless paper sent to me by the hand of Mr. Benjamin, already referred to.

These documents were supposed to be as complete, that my friends congratulated me upon the final settlement of the question. In some one of Mr. O. Robinson’s pigeon-holes will be found an article written and addressed to Tracy Beadle, Solomon L. Gillett, and Nathan Reynolds, calling upon them to desist from all further annoyance of the Pastor or people, at the peril of being dealt with. So severe are its terms, that Mr. Robinson was entreated to retain it a short time longer. So completely was the faction seemingly smothered, that it was generally said that St. Louis, or some other place might have its future labors. Certain it is, that overtures were made to the Congregational and Episcopal churches, for the removal of their Pastors, in such a way that another might be got satisfactory to those dissatisfied with me, in either of those pulpits, when a very profitable addition to either of those congregations was pledged. Some persons have a mission for effecting a general pulpit delivery. Our brethren of those two churches could not appreciate the offered privilege.

Assuredly, never were my prospects more favorable for peace. Not yet out of the effects of the revival – the morning prayer-meeting still going on – every pew in the house let – the Sabbath-school in fine condition – no debt upon the congregation – and with three hundred and fifty names on paper, pledged to sustain me; while all the names upon the secret paper, circulated with so much care, amounted to the extraordinary number of SEVENTEEN. So report says, uncontradicted. Was not I a sure man?

Rare Book Monthly

  • Bonhams, Apr. 8: First report outside of the colonies of the American Revolution, from American accounts. Printed broadsheet, The London Evening-Post, May 30, 1775. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: Joyce, James. The earliest typescript pages from Finnegans Wake ever to appear at auction, annotated by Joyce, 1923. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: Joyce's Ulysses, 1923, one of only seven copies known, printed to replace copies destroyed in customs. $10,000 - $15,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: ATHANASIUS KIRCHER'S COPY, INSCRIBED. Saggi di naturali esperienze fatte nell' Accademia del Cimento, 1667. $2,000 - $3,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: Bernoulli's Ars conjectandi, 1713. "... first significant book on probability theory." $15,000 - $25,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: Aristotle's Politica. Oeconomica. 1469. The first printed work on political economy. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: John Graunt's Natural and political observations...., 1662. The first printed work of epidemiology and demographics. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: William Playfair's Commercial and Political Atlas, 1786. The first work to pictorially represent information in graphics. $15,000 - $25,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: Anson's A Voyage Round the World, 1748. THE J.R. ABBEY-LORD WARDINGTON COPY, BOUND BY JOHN BRINDLEY. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: La Perouse's Voyage de La Perouse autour du monde..., 1797. LARGE FINE COPY IN ORIGINAL BOARDS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: Francesca Woodman's Some Disordered Interior Geometries, 1981. Untrimmed publisher's proof sheets. $4,000 - $6,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: Charles Schulz original 8-panel Peanuts Sunday comic strip, 1992, pen and ink over pencil, featuring Charlie Brown, Snoopy and Lucy as a psychiatrist. $20,000 - $30,000
  • Dominic Winter Auctioneers

    April 9
    Printed Books, English Bibles, Maps & Decorative Prints
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Johnson (C.). A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most Notorious Pyrates, 1724. £3,000-4,000
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Ordonez de Cevallos (Pedro). Viage del Mundo, 1st edition, Madrid: Luis Sanchez, 1614. £1,000-1,500
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: North America. Merian (Matthaus), Virginia..., 1627 or later. £1,500-2,500
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers

    April 9
    Printed Books, English Bibles, Maps & Decorative Prints
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: World. Waldseemuller (Martin), Tabula Nova Totius Orbis, Vienne: 1541. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Erasmus (Desiderius). The ... paraphrase of Erasmus... 2 volumes, 1st edition, 1549. £3,000-5,000
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Bible [English]. [The Bible and Holy Scriptures conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament, 1562]. £3,000-5,000
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers

    April 9
    Printed Books, English Bibles, Maps & Decorative Prints
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Smith (Lucy). Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet, 1st edition, 1853. £1,000-1,500
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Derain (Andre). Pantagruel, signed limited edition, Albert Skira, 1943. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Austen (Jane). Pride and Prejudice, illustrated by Hugh Thomson, Large Paper edition, 1894. £1,500-2,000
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers

    April 9
    Printed Books, English Bibles, Maps & Decorative Prints
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Ellison (Ralph). Invisible Man, 1st edition, New York: Random House, 1952. £200-300
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Taschen Collector's Edition. Annie Leibovitz, limited edition, 2014. £1,000-1,500
  • 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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