Letters, Travels, Politics and More <br>from Michael Brown Rare Books
Congressional Pugilists: Fight on the House floor.
In 1797, Alexander Hamilton was forced to publish a pamphlet entitled Observations on Certain Documents... It must have been terribly embarrassing for the great statesman. In it, he admits to carrying on an affair with Maria Reynolds, wife of James Reynolds, who must have been a sleazy individual. On discovering the relationship between Hamilton and his wife, Reynolds used the affair to extract money from Hamilton. When word of these payments got out, charges were made that Hamilton was speculating through Reynolds with public money for personal gain. To explain why he was giving this money to Reynolds, Hamilton was forced to lay bare his personal life. "My real crime, " he writes, "is an enormous connection with his wife for a considerable time, with his privity and connivance." While the 1797 printing was done at Hamilton's behest (and most copies later destroyed by his family), this is an 1800 reprint. In 1800, the printing was no longer for the purpose of salvaging Hamilton's reputation. It was published by his enemies to further embarrass him. Item 74. $275.
Here's another writer's two cents worth from this era. The pamphlet is Truth Will Out! The Foul Charges of the Tories Against the Editor of the Aurora Repelled by Positive Truth and Plain Truth and His Base Calumniators Put to Shame. Price - Two Cents. I'm not sure whether it is necessary to read this pamphlet. The title says it all. It's a defense of publisher Benjamin Franklin Bache, possibly written by him, though this isn't clear. Bache was a newspaper publisher who regularly attacked the administrations of Washington and Adams. Here, Bache is defended against attacks of French influence. From 1798. Item 18. $300.
This wasn't the worst political dispute of 1798. Democratic-Republican Congressman Matthew Lyon of Vermont had evidently said some nasty things about his Federalist colleague from Connecticut, Roger Griswold. At one point, he even spat in Griswold's face. Unable to gather the two-thirds majority necessary to expel Lyon, Griswold felt honor bound to take matters into his own hands. On the morning of February 15, Griswold, cane in hand, approached Lyon and proceeded to beat him with the stick. The surprised Lyon was able to back away from his desk and grab a fireplace tongs. Griswold dropped his cane to seize the tongs, and the two fell to the floor grappling for the weapon. Bystanders momentarily separated them, but Lyon was able to grab the tongs a second time and attack Griswold before the fight was finally broken up. The altercation led to a cartoon broadside called Congressional Pugilists, displaying the embarrassing fracas along with a mocking poem. Item 144 is a third strike (believed to be an 1860 re-strike) of this classic broadside. $650.
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 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’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.