Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - December - 2017 Issue

A Variety of Material from Raptis Rare Books

Raptis Rare Books has issued an untitled catalogue, but we know what is in it from the table of contents. Here it is: Religious & Philosophical Thought, History & Geography, Americana, Heroes & Leaders, Scientific Thought, Economics & Finance, Literature, From Book to Film, Music & Lyrics, Photography, and Children's Literature. With that, we will proceed inside to take a look at a few of the items offered.

 

We begin with what might seem an odd choice – the seven-volume set of Herbert Hoover's Addresses Upon the American Road. Surely there must be more important books here than the extensive thoughts of the leader of one of the most disastrous presidencies in American history. However, this set is inscribed, all seven volumes, to his friend Lewis Stevens. Who knew Hoover had such a sense of humor? In volume 1 Hoover writes, "To my good friend Lewis Stevens from Herbert Hoover." In volume 2, "Same as volume 1 with affection Herbert Hoover." In volume 3, "Same as first and second volumes plus more affection Herbert Hoover." In volume 4 he writes, "What more do you want? Herbert Hoover." For volume 5, "This one marks the last of the least but has the spirit of the other four volumes H.H." In volume 6, "This is the next to the last. You would never read this far." For volume 7, "This is the last volume so far published. These could be more any adult education." That last inscription makes it sound like Hoover was considering another volume, but this was the last. They were published from 1938-1955. Item 48016. Priced at $3,800.

 

Next we have a book from another disastrous presidency, though for a very different reason, with a most amazing inscription/provenance. The book is The Memoirs of Richard Nixon, with no need to further list the name of its author. It was published in 1978, four years after Nixon resigned as a result of the Watergate scandal, impeached by the House and with certain conviction by the Senate looming. Nixon inscribed this copy to his first vice-president, Spiro Agnew. Agnew also resigned. While in Nixon's case his resignation came about because of his participation in the cover up of others' crimes, for Agnew it was good old corruption. Agnew had taken bribes for contracts during his term as a county executive and later as Governor of Maryland, and was still receiving payments while Vice-President. Naturally, Agnew proclaimed his innocence – don't they all – but pressure mounted in the White House for him to resign. Nixon was already deep in the Watergate crisis and didn't need this concurrent awful publicity. Agnew resigned and took a generous deal. He pleaded no contest to one charge and got a small fine and probation. However, Agnew resented the White House pressure for him to resign, believing a sitting vice-president could not be prosecuted, and resented the role of his running mate as well. Nixon periodically attempted to reconcile with his former vice-president. This inscription is a small attempt. Nixon writes, "To Ted and Judy Agnew, With deep appreciation for their years of dedicated service to the nation. From Dick Nixon, 5-12-78." It didn't work. They did not reconcile and Raptis tells us they never spoke again. Item 58052. $4,800.

 

Fitzgerald is one of the most highly regarded names in twentieth century American literature, but not so much for Zelda. F. Scott was a great writer, but Zelda was more a subject for novels than a writer of one. The Fitzgeralds had an over-the-top, rocky relationship, but it deteriorated as Zelda sank deeper into mental illness. She was first admitted to an institution for help in 1930, emerged to return home, but by 1932 was in a clinic at Johns Hopkins Hospital. It was here that she was encouraged by her doctor to write. In six weeks' time, she whipped off this novel, Save Me The Waltz. It was semi-autobiographical. Scott was not pleased. His issue was not that it revealed too much about them personally. It was that it used some of the same material he planned to use in his next novel. He forced her to make revisions. Zelda's book was released later that year. It was not a best-seller. Zelda continued to drift further into insanity and never wrote another novel. Item 56050. $4,800.

 

There is no more famous name in mountaineering than that of Sir Edmund Hillary. He was the first to reach the peak of Mt. Everest, after a century of unsuccessful attempts. That may sound surprising as now hundreds make it to the top every year. Since Hillary, it has been climbed by a blind man, a 13-year-old, a man with no legs, another with no arms. Two people have reached the summit 21 times. Still, the first successful climb in 1953 remains a historic event. Item 48004 is The Conquest of Everest, by mission leader Sir John Hunt, with a chapter by Hillary. This copy is inscribed by Hillary to an unlikely recipient – Burl Ives. Burl Ives was, logically, a burly man, an actor though more notably a folk singer. He was a favorite for children's songs in the 1950s and its unimaginable growing up in that era and not hearing his rendition of Big Rock Candy Mountain or some such classic. But, what was his connection to a British mountain climber? The answer is the two were honored at a New York Public Library's Books and Authors Luncheon in 1954. Hillary has inscribed the book, "To Burl Ives In memory of many pleasant melodies." It is also signed by two other members of the mission. $2,000.

 

This is a 1908 letter from President Theodore Roosevelt which reads, "The head of Lincoln grows upon me more and more. I think it is one of the finest things I have ever seen. I especially like it when seen from the right front. Theodore Roosevelt." All right. That is really creepy. Sounds like it comes from a horror story, this alien head growing out of Roosevelt's body. Actually, there is a much more reasonable explanation. The letter was written to sculptor Gutzon Borglum, who created a bust of Lincoln for Roosevelt. He didn't literally mean growing upon him, but in the sense he came to appreciate it more with time. Borglum was still sculpting normal size works at this time, but a couple of decades later, he would become famous for sculpting the heads on Mt. Rushmore. There you will find the four gigantic presidential heads carved out of the mountain, including Lincoln, and next to him, Theodore Roosevelt. Item 52025. $6,000.

 

Raptis Rare Books may be reached at 800-727-3266 or mail@raptisrarebooks.com. Their website is found at www.raptisrarebooks.com.

Rare Book Monthly

  • 19th Century Shop
    Catalogue 198 just published
    19th Century Shop. Darwin and Wallace, first printing of the first paper on natural selection
    19th Century Shop. Shakespeare’s Poems, first collected edition
    19th Century Shop. Walt Whitman portrait inscribed with a Leaves of Grass poem
    19th Century Shop. Major Elizabeth Barrett Browning manuscript notebook
    19th Century Shop. Spock's Baby Book, original MS
    19th Century Shop. Cellarius, Harmonia Macrocosmica, the great celestial atlas
  • Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HARRISON, Benjamin. Document signed (“Benj Harrison”) as governor of Virginia, certifying the service of Daniel Cumbo, a Black Revolutionary soldier. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HIGHLY IMPORTANT MORMON ARCHIVE. ALLEY, George. Archive of 23 Autograph Letters Signed by Mormon Convert George Alley to His Brother Joseph Alley. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [AVIATION]. [ARMSTRONG, Neil A.] Aviation Hall of Fame Gold Medal MS64 NGC, Awarded to Neil Armstrong in 1979. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: NEWLY DISCOVERED FIRST PRINTING OF "WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE... " FROM THE ONLY NEWSPAPER ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL PROCESSION. $4,000 to $8,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: A VERY RARE ACCOUNT OF BLACKBEARD’S DEATH AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PIRATE ITEMS EXTANT. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [VIETNAM WAR]. The original pen used by Secretary of State William P. Rogers to sign the Vietnam Peace Agreement, Paris, 27 January 1973. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: SONS OF LIBERTY FOUNDER COLONEL BARRÉ ANNOTATED TITLE-PAGE, “WHICH OUGHT TO ROUSE UP BRITISH ATTENTION”. $4,000 to $6,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: [Shakespeare (William)]. [Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies], second folio edition, [by Tho.Cotes, for Robert Allot], [1632]. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Bible, Czech Biblia Bohemica, first complete Bible printed in the Czech vernacular, Prague, August 1488. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Shabthai Tzvi.- Collection of four printed and illustrated broadsides detailing the appearance, rise and fall of the false messiah, Shabthai Tzvi, Augsburg, 1666-67. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Leaf from the Beauvais Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [Northern France (perhaps Beauvais or Amiens)], [fourteenth century (c.1310)]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Aubrey (John). [Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme], manuscript in English, Latin and Greek, [c. 1693]. £30,000 to £50,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Poems on Various Occasions, first edition, Harriet Maltby's copy, Newark, Printed by S. & J. Ridge, 1807. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression with dust-jacket, 1937 [but 1938]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Blake (William).- Thornton (Robert John). The Pastorals of Virgil, 2 vol., engraved plates by William Blake, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: America.- Mount (William J.) & Thomas Page. The English Pilot…, [bound with] The Fourth Book, describing The West Indies Navigation from Hudson's-Bay to the River Amazones, 1721. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Oldfield (Henry Ambrose), Rajman Singh Chitrakar & others. An album of 160 photographs and 13 original artworks, (1833-1919), [c. 1850s-1880s]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD
  • Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG BEADED JUDICIAL COLLAR. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A COMPLETE RUN OF VISIONAIRE MAGAZINE THROUGH 2010. $6,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: LAW REVIEW OFFPRINT SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: META REBNER'S WORKING SCRIPT OF THE LOVED ONE. $1,500 - $2,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A KATHY GROVE PORTRAIT OF CYNDI LAUPER FOR THE FEBRUARY 1989 DETAILS COVER. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A PLASTIC COAT BY MILLIE DAVID FEATURED IN SOHO NEWS STYLE SECTION, FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANNIE FLANDERS. $500 - $700
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG JEWELRY BOX. $600 - $900
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A SET OF JONI MITCHELL LYRICS FOR "IF I HAD A HEART." $2,000 - $3,000

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