Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - February - 2013 Issue

Joe Rubinfine Offers Signed Documents from America's Greatest Leaders

American documents.

American documents.

Joe Rubinefine has released his List 172 of American Historical Documents. It features many of America's most important leaders, political and military in particular, from the 17th through the 20th century. They range from William Penn settling his colony during the 17th century, to Franklin Roosevelt pulling a nation out of its Great Depression. Along the way, the most notable of names, including Washington and Lincoln, make their appearances. Here are a few samples of signed documents from some of America's greatest leaders.

Item 17 is a letter between a pair of presidents during the American Revolution. It was written by Samuel Huntington, President of the Continental Congress at the time (June 1, 1781) to Caesar Rodney, then President of Delaware (who knew Delaware once had a President?). Huntington sent out letters to the various colonies notifying them of an offer by Austria and Russia to negotiate a peace between the Americans and the British. The Americans were interested, but not if it allowed Britain to retain part of the land within the colonies. Huntington notes the importance of the Americans seizing control of as much land occupied by the British as possible prior to any negotiations. Ultimately, Huntington reveals the bottom line - “Congress will...be prepared to accept of Peace upon no other Terms than the Independence of the Thirteen United States of America in all their parts...” The Americans victory at Yorktown a few months later would obviate the need for a compromise settlement. Priced at $15,000.

America's treatment of the Cherokee Indians was one of the darkest moments in the nation's history. In response to settlers wanting their land, President Andrew Jackson would side with the settlers, eventually leading to the Cherokees forced removal from their lands through the deathly “Trail of Tears” to Oklahoma. Several decades earlier, President Washington dealt with issues the Cherokee confronted, and if his attitude might seem a bit paternalistic today, he was far more concerned with the welfare of the Indians than was Jackson. Item 49 is Secretary of State Timothy Pickering's manuscript writing of Washington's Talk to the Cherokee Nation, which would be printed as a broadside to be distributed to Cherokee settlements. In it Washington notes the changing reality brought about by years of European settlement in the area. He points to the depletion of game, meaning the Cherokee are likely to confront growing hunger, while the absence of skins will afford them fewer goods to trade for essentials such as clothing to protect them from the cold. Washington's solution is to encourage the Cherokee to adopt the white man's ways. He asks them to try raising cattle, hogs, and sheep, which can both feed and clothe them, plus provide items they can sell to the whites. He also encourages the adoption of modern agricultural practices and the planting of corn and wheat. He says that his Indian agent will provide them with some plows and animals to raise. Washington also encourages the Cherokee to have their women learn the art of spinning and weaving. “I am inclined to hope that you are prepared to take this path...it may seem a little difficult to enter, but if you make the attempt, you will find every obstacle easy to be removed...” The President goes on to say that he will soon be returning to his farm (his term in office was to expire in less than a year) where he would be employing the same practices himself. Finally, Washington says that he has directed Secretary of War to prepare some medals which are to be given to Cherokees who follow his advice and work diligently. $12,500.

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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
  • Forum AuctionsFine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper  17th July 2025 Forum AuctionsFine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper  17th July 2025
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    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
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    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.
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    2-17 July | New York
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    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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