Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - October - 2013 Issue

The Sea, with and without Cannibals, from Ten Pound Island

Maritime cannibals.

Maritime cannibals.

We've seen some unusual titles for catalogues, but perhaps not quite like Ten Pound Island Book Company's Maritime List 218 – Captured by Man Eaters! Is this an entire catalogue devoted to cannibalism? Is that a collectible category? It turns out that this, like Ten Pound's other catalogues, is devoted to works about the sea, not cuisine. The “Captured by Man Eaters” refers to one specific item about an unfortunate journey, though we cannot vouch for whether it was quite as extreme as the broadside implies. Either way, this is another great catalogue for those who like their books water stained, but in a different way.

 

We will start with the story of cannibalism. It is an undated broadside proclaiming the appearance of Ex-King of the Cannibals, Capt. A Tuttle. The Wonder of the World! We don't know where or when he was appearing, other than “To-Night at Grand Army Hall.” There are a lot of Grand Army Halls, but presuming it was one for the Grand Army of the Republic, that Civil War veterans' organization was formed in 1866. Records indicate that a Captain A. Tuttle was sailing from the west coast in the 1850s and commanded a ship that went down in 1859. The broadside states that Tuttle's ship was “sunk by a sperm whale.” It goes on to say he was “Captured by the Man Eaters on the Feji Islands. His boat's crew all devoured by them. The Captain providentially spared and crowned King, and ruled them three years.” It goes on to call Tuttle “A Hero of many battles on land and sea,” concluding, “You will never regret the time and 25 cents spent.” Is this seemingly otherwise unrecorded incredible story true? As noted before, we cannot say. We did find an 1867 copy of a Masonic newsletter which says a Capt. A. Tuttle had appeared there proclaiming himself destitute and obtaining personal contributions, along with a 15-day $15 loan from the Plymouth, Indiana, lodge. The lodge could not locate Capt. Tuttle when the time was up, and when it inquired of the New London, Connecticut, lodge was told he had been expelled two years ago and since “he has been traveling around swindling Masons.” Does this shed any light on the veracity of this story? Again, we cannot say. Item 5. Priced at $1,250.

 

Item 15 is what Ten Pound describes as “the primary American navigational guide, the first such book to be compiled and printed in the United States.” It is The American Coast Pilot, compiled by Capt. Lawrence Furlong and published in the seafaring town of Newburyport, Massachusetts, in 1796. This rare book provides detailed directions, distances from Boston, and information about ports all the way from Maine to Virginia. Distances and directions are also provided from Virginia to the mouth of the Mississippi. Tide tables are included. This copy was owned by Lemuel Moody, who operated the Portland observatory and prepared some early maps of coastal Maine. Moody's signature, along with many manuscript notes, including his sailing instructions from Cape Cod to Antigua, are found in this copy. $85,000.

 

Item 1 is an anonymous account of an American seaman gone wrong. Charles Delano was the Captain of the brig William, sailing out of Liverpool. Rather than obtaining their own cargo, Delano and his mates decided to confiscate that of another brig, the Helen. They boarded the Helen, locked up the crew below decks, stole the cargo, and sunk the ship, crew and all. At least they attempted to sink her, but the Helen floated up on the Spanish shore, the crew was saved, and the cargo located in Malta. The William was then tracked to Turkey, the pirates seized, and returned to Malta. This book tells of what happened next: Trial of Charles Christopher Delano, and Others, the Crew of the Brig William, of Liverpool, for Piracy... Delano and several others were convicted and hung for their crime. As a warning to others, their bodies were hung for an extended time from a gallows by the harbor. $2,000.

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    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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  • 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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