Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - March - 2012 Issue

Pocket Maps from Donald Heald Rare Books

Oregon and Washington were settled only near the coast in 1854.

Oregon and Washington were settled only near the coast in 1854.

Item 70 is the Whitman and Searl Map of Eastern Kansas, and though unstated, it represents a contentious moment in American history. It was published in 1856, when Kansas was commonly known as “Bleeding Kansas.” The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 had opened the territory to popular sovereignty on the issue of slavery, the result being that both abolitionists and slaveholders were settling the land in an attempt to create a majority. The publishers of this map were abolitionists, and its purpose was to assist fellow antislavery easterners settle the land. Though this is not mentioned, the map does show the free soil stronghold of Topeka as the “temporary state capital,” and another free soil center, Lawrence, is shown with a red dot and an American flag. $3,250.

Item 64 is an interesting map from 1877, one which would not stay this way too much longer: Rand, McNally & Co.'s Indexed Maps of Texas and Indian Territory... Texas is still Texas, but Indian Territory is now Oklahoma. Texas is broken down by county, but Indian Territory is divided by tribe. The map shows the various railroads, along with rivers, towns, and post offices. $1,200.

Item 51 is an early map of The Territories of Washington and Oregon. It was published in 1854 by J.H. Cotton. What is most noticeable is that while the map shows counties, there are very few of them. Oregon has ten counties, Washington but three, and all are located along the western edge of the territories. $3,500.

Donald Heald Rare Books may be reached at 212-744-3505 or info@donaldheald.com. Their website is found at www.donaldheald.com.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Sotheby's
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    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
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    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
  • Leland Little, Jan. 22: The First Issue of Robert Frost's A Boy's Will, In Extremely Scarce Binding.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: Knight's An Account of the Remains of the Worship of Priapus.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: First Edition of Locke's Important Treatise Some Thoughts Concerning Education.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: The Richly Illustrated First French Edition of Voyages de Corneille Le Brun par la Moscovie, en Perse, et aux Indes Orientales.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: Scarce First Issue of An Account of the Province of Carolina in America, Finely Bound and With Celebrated John Speed Map.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: Humphrey's An Historical Account, Complete with Scarce Folding Maps.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: First Edition of Chamberlain's Scarce Civil War Memoir The Passing of the Armies.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: A Rare Photograph of David Bruce Brown and #48 Fiat.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: George Cruikshank (England, 1792-1878), Archive of Sketches, Notes, and Letters.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: Extremely Scarce Copy of Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode), Signed by Max Pechstein.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: Andy Warhol's The Thirteen Most Wanted Men Exhibition Catalogue.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: Edward Ruscha (American, b. 1937), Every Building on the Sunset Strip.
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