Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - June - 2012 Issue

Antiquarian Material from Samuel Gedge Ltd.

Catalogue XII from Samuel Gedge Ltd.

Catalogue XII from Samuel Gedge Ltd.

Samuel Gedge Ltd. Rare Books has now published their Catalogue XII. Gedge's catalogue is hardly limited to books. It is filled primarily with manuscripts and ephemeral items. What is common to the material is age. This is antiquarian material, often very old. It ranges from the 19th century all the way back to before printing. This is definitely a catalogue for the antiquarian. Here are a few of the items offered.

Being an indentured apprentice was not quite the same as slavery. At least it had a time limit, and there were a few more standards of care due from the master. Still, for however many years the young person was placed under control, freedom was very limited. Item 38 is the indenture document for William Harrison, a young man made apprentice to John Sarran of London, a distiller, in 1707. Hopefully, the young man at least got some free drinks, as he didn't get much else. Harrison was bound to Sarran for seven years, “during which term the said apprentice his said master shall faithfully serve, his secrets keep, his lawful commandments every where gladly do...he shall not commit fornication, nor contract matrimony within the said term. He shall not play at cards, dice, tables, or any other unlawful games, whereby his said master may have any losse...he shall not haunt taverns or playhouses...” In return, the master was obligated to provide food, lodging, and instruction in the trade. Priced at £350 (approximately $552 in U.S. currency).

Item 62 is related to 19 people who were far worse off than young Master Harrison. This is a letter from Malcolm Laing, attorney, to wealthy plantation owner William Philip Perrin. Laing advises Perrin that he has purchased 19 slaves on his behalf for his Jamaican plantation. He provides a list of the value of each slave, with the total coming to £1,395. The transaction was completed in the year 1780. £450 (US $710).

Here, now, is a document of freedom. It is a deed of manumission for a “villein,” a tenant farmer legally bound to the land during medieval times. The man was one John de Newdyke, and he received his freedom on December 28, 1409, during the Feast of the Holy Innocents. De Newdyke was now free to become a rent-paying farmer. He, and his descendants, would have to pay 13s 4d to their landlord, the Convent at Revesby, Lincolnshire, but would no longer have to serve it. Item 79. £1,250 (US $1,970).


Item 47 is a funeral invitation, typical of its time (1798). It includes a woodcut illustration on a sheet, with a blank center, wherein is written the specific instructions for the funeral. In this case, it states, “You are desired to accompany the corps of Mrs Susan Barrow from her late dwelling house in Little Marlborough Street to the parish church of St. James's Westminster...” It all seems a little ghoulish today, but was standard in the 18th century. We would not invite someone to accompany a corpse anymore, nor would we have a funeral invitation depicting a skull and crossbones, the Grim Reaper (not so grim here – he is smiling), a skeleton, an emptied hourglass, several more skulls, and the wording “Remember to Die.” Could we forget, even if we wanted? Was this message added by the funeral director, fearful of losing business? £850 (US $1,340).

Rare Book Monthly

  • Forum AuctionsFine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper  17th July 2025 Forum AuctionsFine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper  17th July 2025
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    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’sGeek Week2-17 July | New York Sotheby’sGeek Week2-17 July | New York
    Sotheby’s
    Geek Week
    2-17 July | New York
    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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  • DOYLERare Books, Autographs & MapsJuly 23, 2025 DOYLERare Books, Autographs & MapsJuly 23, 2025
    DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    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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