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Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - May - 2011 Issue

Not From the Fair from the Ten Pound Island Book Company

Not for a fair.

Not for a fair.

The Ten Pound Island Book Company has issued an unusual book list. We have seen lots of listings prepared specifically for a book fair. This one is prepared not for a fair. Ten Pound Island did not exhibit at the recent New York Fair, but decided to prepare the type of list they would have had they attended. So here it is. It is filled with nautical works, as is their specialty, with a concentration on antiquarian works. This makes sense, as it was an antiquarian book fair they did not attend. Here are some selections from their Maritime List 200.

 

Item 14 is an account of an early voyage to the Pacific Rim, including Hawaii. You can always tell an early Hawaiian visit if it is referred to as the "Sandwich Islands." Archibald Campbell was a young man of limited means when he signed on as an apprentice to go to sea. He made several voyages from 1800-1806, returning to Portsmouth in that latter year. It was then that he began a six-year journey covered in this book. According to a contemporary account in Gentleman's Magazine, Campbell returned home in 1812, his hands and feet badly frostbitten. Doctors were able to save all but two fingers from his hands, but his feet had to be amputated. He was reduced to being an organ grinder on the streets of Edinburgh. However, Campbell battled back, learned to play violin, and played on steamships for steerage passengers. It was there that an editor took notice of him, was intrigued by his stories, and eventually led him to publishing this book - A Voyage Round the World, from 1806 to 1812; in which Japan, Kamschatka, the Aleutian Islands, and the Sandwich Islands were Visited… Campbell particularly focused on Hawaii as he believed their location midway between America and Asia, and their favorable climate, would make them the most important Pacific islands. He describes the islands and their people in detail. Offered is the American edition, dated 1817. Priced at $200.

 

It was one of the most significant steamship tragedies in American history, though it is little remembered today. It took the life of the Secretary of State and Secretary of the Navy. The USS Princeton was a modern ship when launched in 1843, possessing two very long guns, one named the "Peacemaker." A cruise down the Potomac was held for many of the nation's most notable dignitaries to honor the new ship. Among those on board was President John Tyler and 77-year-old former First Lady Dolley Madison. It was decided to fire off one the big guns to demonstrate its power to the visitors. Instead of firing, the Peacemaker exploded. Six people were killed, including Secretary of State Abel Upshur and Secretary of the Navy Thomas Gilmer. Also killed in the accident was David Gardner, father of President Tyler's fiancée. His Accidency himself avoided becoming the second straight President to die in office when he was waylaid by another guest on his way to the deck. In the 19th century, poetry was more commonly used to recount tragic events. Item 21 is George Ellis' A Poem on the Awful Catastrophe on Board the U.S. Steam Frigate Princeton, published in 1844. $200.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Geek Week
    2-17 July | New York
    Sotheby’s, July 15: Buzz Aldrin's FLOWN Apollo 11 Crew-Signed NASA Manned Spacecraft Center Cover. $15,000 to $20,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 15: Lunar Surface Flown Mission Emblem Presented to Tom Stafford by John Young. $8,000 to $12,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 17: Albert Einstein. Typed Letter Signed ("A. Einstein."), to Ann Morrisett, Affirming a Pacifist's Right to Self-Defense, March 21, 1952. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Geek Week
    2-17 July | New York
    Sotheby’s, July 17: Operating and Maintenance Manual for the BINAC Binary Automatic Computer Built for Northrop Aircraft Corporation. Philadelphia, 1949. $30,000 to $50,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 17: Steve Jobs Apple Computer Business Card, c. 1977. $5,000 to $8,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 15: Extensive Chronology of Spacecraft From Apollo to Skylab, Signed by a Member of Every Crewed Apollo Flight and the Commanders of Each Skylab Mission. $5,000 to $8,000.
  • Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!
  • DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE, July 23: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
    DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
    DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
    DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
    DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800

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