Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - July - 2011 Issue

The Founding of America - 1773-1777 - from the William Reese Company

The first thorough account of Lexington and Concord.

The first thorough account of Lexington and Concord.

Item 12 is a copy of A Narrative of the Excursion and Ravages of the King's Troops Under the Command of General Gage, On the nineteenth of April, 1775. This is an account of the Battle of Lexington and Concord, one of those armed confrontations well before the colonies declared independence. It was to warn of the advance of British troops seeking to capture the colonists' inland ammunition storage as well as their leaders that sent Paul Revere out on his "midnight ride" mission to warn the militiamen of the advancing enemy. Adequately forewarned, the Massachusetts "Minutemen" were able to pick off advancing British soldiers and force them back to Boston, mission unaccomplished. This account is the first detailed report of the famed battle, published by noted Massachusetts printer Isaiah Thomas within in a week of the battle. $125,000.

 

The Massachusetts colonists and British soldiers would mix it up again later that year at Bunker Hill, an official British "victory" that did more to enhance the colonists' confidence than help the British subdue them. Once again, King George misread their determination. Item 19 is a London broadside printed in August 1775, headed By the King A Proclamation For Suppressing Rebellion and Sedition. In it George requires all colonists to help the British by disclosing who the rebels are and assist in bringing them to punishment, at pain of their own punishment for failure to comply. Like all other attempts to intimidate the colonists, this one, too, only made them more determined. $75,000.

 

The rebellion would now spread to other colonies, and the British would confront a wall of opposition in America. In turn that would lead to the momentous declaration of July 4, 1776, when all of the colonies would vote to declare their independence from Great Britain. Item 30 is Volume II of the Journals of Congress, Containing the Proceedings in the Year 1776… published in 1777. This includes the first printing in the Journals of Congress of the Declaration of Independence. This copy belonged to Richard Bland Lee, brother of famed revolutionary "Light-Horse Harry" Lee, and uncle of the leader of America's next enormous crisis, Confederate General Robert E. Lee. $25,000.

 

In 1777, the now self-declared, though unrecognized 13 independent states would come together in a union. Item 34 is the 1777 Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union Between the States… That Union would be tried in the years ahead, but has endured conflict, crisis, and ignorance to this day. $75,000.

 

The William Reese Company may be reached at 203-789-8081 or amorder@reeseco.com. Their website is www.reeseco.com.

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.
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  • 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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