This Month’s New Catalogues:<br>Travels, Americana, and More
- by Michael Stillman
Item 103 from Helen Kahn is LaSalle’s Discoveries in North America.
Item 27 is an unusual title, Account of the Russian Discoveries between Asia and America by William Coxe. It is the first account of various Russian discoveries, including not only Siberia but the Aleutian Islands and other Areas of western Alaska. $1,335.
Item 49 is John Hunt’s The Ascent of Everest. Hunt was the leader of the 1953 expedition in which Hillary and Norgay finally reached the summit of this peak. This first edition is signed by Hillary. $215. Item 88 is Hugh Ruttledge’s Everest 1933. This is the story of an earlier expedition which, obviously, failed. The price of failure is $550. You can read about Ruttledge’s next unsuccessful mission from 1937’s Everest: The Unfinished Adventure. Item 89. $350.
Several books are original books by authors whose names are now geographic locations. Item 58, from 1821, recounts Otto Von Kotzebue’s voyage around Cape Horn and all the way up the western coast of the Americas to Alaska. Kotzebue, Alaska, and Kotzebue Sound are among the most important locations in America on the other side of the Arctic Circle. $9,000.
Item 65 is Alexander MacKenzie’s Voyages from Montreal…He set out for the Arctic Sea via the river now known as the MacKenzie River. $7,865. No need to specify what was named after the author of item 113. A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean…recounts the late 18th century voyages along the Pacific coast of North America by Captain George Vancouver. $7,200.
Items 102 and 103 are Henri Tonti’s An Account of Monsieur de la Salle’s last Expedition and Discoveries in North America. It accounts La Salle’s last expeditions from 1678-1691 along the Gulf Coast, the mouth of the Mississippi, and describes an attempt to establish a colony in what is today Texas. The first French edition, from 1697, is priced at $27,900. The first English edition from 1698 is $14,200.
Item 104 is another major piece: Juan de Torquemada’s three-part work on Mexico. The first volume covers that country’s history, starting in the period prior to its discovery by Spain. This is a second edition from 1723. $18,000.
Helen R. Kahn and Associates can be found on the web at www.hrkahnbooks.com Phone number is 514-844-5344.
Bonhams, Dec. 18: A Very Fine Composite Atlas Magnificently Illuminated and Heightened with Gold in a Fine Contemporary Hand Throughout. $300,000 - $500,000
Bonhams, Dec. 18: Saint-Exupéry's Revised Ending for Wind, Sand and Stars. $40,000 - $60,000
Bonhams, Dec. 18: Edith Wharton's Gold Medal from the National Institute of Arts and Letters, 1924. $20,000 - $30,000
Bonhams, Dec. 18: Salinger on the Glass Family and on Detachment. $10,000 - $15,000
Bonhams, Dec. 18: Fanny Burney's Groundbreaking First Novel. Evelina, Or a Young Lady's Entrance into the World. $10,000 - $15,000
Bonhams, Dec. 18: Kafka's Earliest Extant Piece of Writing. Autograph Note Signed ("Franz Kafka"). $10,000 - $15,000
Bonhams, Dec. 18: Wagner Signed "Ride of the Valkries." $6,000 - $9,000
Bonhams, Dec. 18: Dickens on the Death of Little Nell. $5,000 - $8,000
Bonhams, Dec. 18: Sylvia Plath's Copy of Joy of Cooking. $4,000 - $6,000
Bonhams, Dec. 18: Walt Whitman and Friends: Whitman to James Russell Lowell. $8,000 - $12,000
Bonhams, Dec. 18: Walt Whitman and Friends: The Genesis of his Lincoln Lectures. $6,000 - $9,000
High Bids Win, Dec. 4 – 19: Lot 212. Kelsey Letterpress
High Bids Win, Dec. 4 – 19: Wood & Metal Type. Many fonts and faces.
High Bids Win, Dec. 4 – 19: Print Shop Miscellany including type, tools, and equipment.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 11-12: A Rare Complete Run of the Cuala Press Broadsides. €5,500 to €7,000.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 11-12: Rare First Edition of a Classic Work. [Stafford (Thos.)] Pacata Hibernia, Ireland Appeased and Reduced…, 1633. €1,500 to €2,000.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 11-12: Yeats (W.B.) The Poems of W.B. Yeats, 2 vols. Lond. (MacMillan & Co.) 1949. Signed by author, limited edition. €1,250 to €1,750.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 11-12: Fishing: Literal Translation into English of the Earliest Known Book on Fowling and Fishing, Written originally in Flemish and Printed at Antwerp in 1492. London (Chiswick Press) 1872. €1,500 to €2,000.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 11-12: Fishing: Blacker's - Art of Fly Making, etc., Comprising Angling & Dying of Colours..., Rewritten & Revised. Lond. 1855. €250 to €350.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 11-12: Joyce (James). Finnegans Wake,, London (Faber & Faber Ltd.) 1939, Lim. Edn. No. 269 (425) copies, Signed by the Author (in green pen). €3,000 to €4,000.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 11-12: Synge (J.M.) & Yeats (Jack B.) illus. The Aran Islands,, D. (Maunsel & Co. Ltd.) 1907, Signed Limited Edn. €4,000 to €5,000.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 11-12: Meyer (Dr. A.B.) Unser Auer -, Rackel-Und Birkwild und Seine Abarten, Wien (Verlag Von Adolph W. Kunast) 1887. €2,500 to €3,500.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 11-12: Carve (Thomas). Itinerarium R.D. Thomas Carve Tripperariensis, Sacellani Maioris in Fortisima iuxta…,, Moguntia (Mainz) impriemebat Nicolaus Heyll, 1639. €1,500 to €2,000.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 11-12: Grose (Francis). The Antiquities of Ireland, 2 vols. folio London (for S. Hooper) 1791. First Edition. €3,000 to €5,000.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 11-12: Heaney (Seamus) & Le Brocquy (Louis) artist. Ugolino, D. (Dolmen Press) 1979, Signed Limited Edition No. 87 (125) Copies. €3,500 to €4,500.
Sotheby's Fine Books, Manuscripts & More Discover Upcoming Auctions
Sotheby’s, Dec. 9: Coronelli, Vincenzo Maria. "Epitome Cosmografica." With the 6 circular celestial and terrestrial charts. 7,000 – 10,000 USD
Sotheby’s, Dec. 9: Hurley, Frank. Collection of 69 photographs taken during Ernest Shackleton's Endurance Expedition. 80,000 – 120,000 USD
Sotheby’s, Dec. 10: Sendak, Maurice. Original artwork for the inaugural "New York is Book Country" poster, 1979. 300,000 – 600,00 USD
Sotheby’s, Dec. 10: [Brontë, Emily, and Ann Brontë] — Ellis Bell and Acton Bell. An outstanding survival of the sisters' debut novels Estimate. 90,000 - 130,000 USD
![<b>Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 11-12:</b> Rare First Edition of a Classic Work. [Stafford (Thos.)] <i>Pacata Hibernia, Ireland Appeased and Reduced…,</i> 1633. €1,500 to €2,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/2bfa5105-2bf9-4a52-8ab5-45f3ef7b1eb4.jpg "<b>Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 11-12:</b> Rare First Edition of a Classic Work. [Stafford (Thos.)] <i>Pacata Hibernia, Ireland Appeased and Reduced…,</i> 1633. €1,500 to €2,000.")
![<b>Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 11-12:</b> Heaney (Seamus). <i>Eleven Poems,</i> Belfast (Festival publications - Queens University) [1965], First Edn., (First Issue) Signed. €2,500 to €3,500.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/d8cd5291-2e7d-4a24-8d22-f316554ec8f8.jpg "<b>Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 11-12:</b> Heaney (Seamus). <i>Eleven Poems,</i> Belfast (Festival publications - Queens University) [1965], First Edn., (First Issue) Signed. €2,500 to €3,500.")
![<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 10:</b> [Brontë, Emily, and Ann Brontë] — Ellis Bell and Acton Bell. An outstanding survival of the sisters' debut novels Estimate. 90,000 - 130,000 USD](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/b074d0c9-0c77-4e80-a457-f59c4262ea72.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 10:</b> [Brontë, Emily, and Ann Brontë] — Ellis Bell and Acton Bell. An outstanding survival of the sisters' debut novels Estimate. 90,000 - 130,000 USD")