Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - February - 2005 Issue

Recent Acquisitions From the William Reese Co.

Original printing of the hated Stamp Act.

Original printing of the hated Stamp Act.


There was probably no greater grievance against the British by the colonists than the passage of the Stamp Act. That act placed a tax on the sale of various papers, requiring a tax stamp be placed on each. To the British, it was a means of forcing the colonists to pay for the Crown's expenses in America, but to the colonists, it was taxation without representation. The reaction was so venomous that the British repealed the act just a year later, but the resentment was so deep that it remained a primary justification for the revolution which would occur a decade later. Item 175 is the official British folio printing of this hated act from 1765. $20,000.

Item 156 is an 1803 Philadelphia broadside urging the city's citizens to be inoculated against smallpox. The vaccine, generated from cowpox, was not readily accepted, as many feared being subjected to any type of pox. In the broadside, signed by 49 of the city's top physicians, the argument is made that while one out of six people who contract smallpox will die, no one will die from cowpox. Reese points out that the latter wasn't entirely true, but it was undoubtedly worth the risk. $6,000.

Item 207 is an interesting threat to the people of West Virginia during the Civil War. West Virginia had recently split from secessionist Virginia, remaining in the Union. This is a broadside issued by Confederate Major General William Loring, stating that his army would "rescue the people from the despotism of the counterfeit State Government." He goes on to warn, "those who persist in adhering to the cause of the public enemy, and the pretended State Government in Wheeling, will be dealt with as their obstinate treachery deserves." Loring never got the chance. This broadside was probably printed in Charleston during the Confederate troops' brief control of that city in 1862, but they were soon driven out. $1,000.

Item 172 is a manuscript copy of a speech given by William Shepard to members of the Seneca Nation of New York. Shepard, a Revolutionary War veteran and Congressman, spoke to the Senecas on behalf of Robert Morris, who wished to purchase large tracts of their land. Morris purchased huge amounts of land on speculation in the late 18th century, only to have his empire collapse and be imprisoned for debt. Shepard had made such speeches on behalf of others and was evidently quite adept at it. To show his solidarity with the Senecas, he began every sentence with the word "brothers." His argument was that most of the land was of little benefit to the Senecas, but if they sold, they would be able to buy the things needed to live a good life off the interest they collected on their money. Reese describes the speech as, "An eloquent and masterful example of how the eastern Indians of the early United States were duped into selling their patrimony." While that's certainly true, Shepard was probably giving them good advice, for if they hadn't sold, in time the white man undoubtedly would have simply taken their land and paid nothing in return. $1,750.

The William Reese Company can be located online at www.reeseco.com and by phone at 203-789-8081.

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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