Early map shows a small piece of the New World in the left corner.
By Michael Stillman
Some surprising, interesting, and historically important material regularly finds its way to the auction rooms. There is much to be found and learned if you keep your eyes open. Here are a few items that caught our eye as they passed through the rooms recently.
This one has to be included among the surprises, at least for the auction house's estimator. Its significance must have escaped that individual's notice, but it did not slip past the notice of bidders. On February 2, French auction house ALDE held an auction of antiquarian and modern books. All told, there were 477 lots, anticipated to take in something between €224,000 and €291,000 (US $307,000 and 398,000). Among them was an unassuming 14-page pamphlet published anonymously in Strassburg in 1509, with the Latin title, Globus Mundi Declaratio sive descriptio mundi...
It must not have appeared all that significant, but to those who collect Americana, or European Americana, this is a major piece. It contains one of the first maps to display America, albeit a very tiny piece, and it is the first book to unreservedly give this new land the name "America." This is of major significance as it helps define how the New World came to be known as "America," for Amerigo Vespucci, when it really should have been named "Columbia" for Christopher Columbus. He was the "discoverer," preceding Vespucci.
On the lower left edge of the globe-shaped map, west of Africa, is a tiny edge of a continent, labeled as the "new world." Then, in the text, the unknown author compares the world to the human body, writing, "The head is the East or Asia; feet the West and America, newly discovered, fourth part of the globe." Africa and Europe constituted the arms. Just two years earlier, Martin Waldseemuller, in his 1507 map, had made reference to the land as "America," though he may have simply been confused as to its discoverer. When he republished his map a few years later, he removed all reference to "America." However, these early notations determined how we would label the world. So, once a year we honor Columbus by celebrating his day, but every day, millions of times all over the world, we remember Vespucci by uttering his name.
While the significance of this item may have been overlooked at first by the cataloguer, the bidders did not miss it. It was estimated at €4,000-5,000 (US $5,500-6,850), but when the hammer came down, the price all-in was €600,000 (US $821,000). That was 120 to 150 times the estimate, and in fact, was more than double the high estimate for the entire 477-lot auction. Sometimes pleasant surprises do come in small packages.
An auction containing some spectacular manuscript material took place in late January at Sprink Shreve Galleries in New York, a house more often associated with stamps. We write more about this $8 million auction elsewhere in this issue of AE Monthly, but here we will focus on a couple of the items, rather than the auction itself. The collection came from the estate of Floyd E. Risvold, of Edina, Minnesota. Risvold, who traveled the American West in the 1930s and 40s and developed a love for all things Western and American, died last year at the age of 97. He returned to Minnesota where he operated the family clothing distribution business while building his collection. He sold the business when he reached the age of 72, but kept and increased the collection for the remaining 25 years of his life. His collection contained items relating to the early days of the United States, the Civil War, western expansion, Indian treaties, the Pony Express, railroads, Mormons, the fur trade, California Gold Rush, and the Minnesota Territory. His varied collection was driven by a desire to find one or a few key documents on a subject, rather than a wide array of material focused on a small niche.
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: APRES DE MANNEVILLETTE Le Neptune Oriental
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: CASSAS Eaux fortes de la Sicile et quelques vues d’Espagne
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: CASSINI DE THURY Carte générale et particulière de la France.
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: JOUY; GARNERAY Vues des côtes de France dans l'Océan et dans la Méditerranée
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: LA PÉROUSE Voyage autour du monde
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: LE GENTIL DE LA GALAISIERE Voyage dans les Mers de l’Inde
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: LICENT Hoang Ho, Pai Ho, Loan Ho, Leao Ho. Itinéraires suivis dans le bassin du golfe du Pei Tcheuly
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: FRENCH SCHOOL FROM THE 19th CENTURY Panorama d’Athènes
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: PEETERS Description des principales villes, havres et isles du golfe de Venise
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: PÉRON; FREYCINET Voyage de découverte aux terres australes
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: STACKELBERG La Grèce : vues pittoresques et topographiques.
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: VALENTINER Atlas des Sonnensystems.
Forum Auctions Online Sale: The Detective Fiction Collection of John Cooper Ending 7th November, 2024
Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). The Thirteen Problems, first edition, The Crime Club, 1932. £15,000 to £20,000.
Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Dumb Witness, first edition, 1937. £3,000 to £4,000.
Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Cards on the Table, first edition, The Crime Club, 1936. £2,000 to £3,000.
Forum, Nov. 7: [Carr (John Dickson)], "Carter Dickson" and John Rhode. Drop to his Death, first edition, Heinemann, [1939]. £600 to £800.
Forum, Nov. 7: Berkeley (Anthony). Jumping Jenny, first edition, Hodder and Stoughton, 1933. £800 to £1,200.
Forum Auctions Online Sale: The Detective Fiction Collection of John Cooper Ending 7th November, 2024
Forum, Nov. 7: Marsh (Ngaio). Overture to Death, first edition, The Crime Club, 1939. £600 to £800.
Forum, Nov. 7: [Day-Lewis (Cecil)] "Nicholas Blake". The Beast Must Die, first edition, 1938. £750 to £1,000.
Forum, Nov. 7: Brand (Christianna). Green for Danger, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, John Lane the Bodley Head, 1945. £600 to £800.
Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Murder is Easy, first edition, signed by the author, 1939. £3,000 to £4,000.
Forum, Nov. 7: Sayers (Dorothy L.) Lord Peter Views the Body, first edition, Gollancz, 1928. £6,000 to £8,000.
RareBookBuyer.com We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide ABAA Dealer
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RareBookBuyer.com We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide ABAA Dealer
RareBookBuyer.com Specialized in Purchasing Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
RareBookBuyer.com We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide ABAA Dealer
RareBookBuyer.com Specialized in Purchasing Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
RareBookBuyer.com We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide ABAA Dealer
RareBookBuyer.com Specialized in Purchasing Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
RareBookBuyer.com We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide ABAA Dealer
Sotheby's Fine Books, Manuscripts & More Available for Immediate Purchase
Sotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. 11,135 USD
Sotheby’s: Edgar Allan Poe. The Raven and Other Poems, 1845. 33,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Leo Tolstoy, Clara Bow. War and Peace, 1886. 22,500 USD
Sotheby’s: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1902. 7,500 USD
Sotheby’s: F. Scott Fitzgerald. This Side of Paradise, The Great Gatsby, and Others, 1920-1941. 24,180 USD
Freeman’s | Hindman Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana November 14
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: LEROUX, Gaston. The Phantom of the Opera. FIRST AM. ED, FIRST ISSUE IN THE VERY RARE DUST JACKET. 1911. $6,000 – 8,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: GOULD, John. A Monograph of the Trochilidae...Humming-Birds. L., [1849-] 1861. $60,000 – 80,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: A COMPLETE RUN of Limited Editions Club publications, v.p. [mostly New York], 1929-2010. $50,000 – 60,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: ORWELL, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. Lon., 1949. FIRST EDITION IN A VERY FINE DUST JACKET. $6,000 – 8,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: GOULD. A Monograph of the Ramphastidae...Toucans. L., [1852-] 54. SECOND ED. $35,000 – 45,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14:The Federalist. NY, 1788. FIRST EDITION, THICK PAPER COPY. $60,000 – 80,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: SELBY. Plates to Selby’s Illustrations of British Ornithology. Edin., [1833-] 34. $20,000 – 30,000.