Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - December - 2021 Issue

An Autumn Catalogue from Susanne Schulz-Falster Rare Books

An autumn catalogue.

Susanne Schulz-Falster Rare Books has published a catalogue for Autumn 2021. It offers a collection of varied material, some pieces in English, others in European languages. As for the subjects, they have provided a list of them, and here they are: Almanacs & Calendars, Cards, Games & Lotteries, Censorship & Libraries, Economics, Trade & Business, Illustrated, Juveniles & ABC, Manuscripts & Annotated Books, Religion & Popular Piety, Science & Technology, Travel – Inland & Abroad, Typography & Printing, and Women. Here are a few selections.

 

The first book illustrates a tradition that has been going on in Venice for eight, maybe nine centuries. There have been many stops and starts along the way, but it most recently reappeared in 1979 and is now more popular than ever. This is Carnivale, the Venetian Carnival. It is sort of Venice's Mardi Gras, but it goes on for many weeks prior to Lent. Carnivale is noted for its masks and costumes, as people dress up in various costumes, some of commonly used figures, others of average people. When masked everyone gets to become someone else, and all are equal, rich and poor, noble and peasant, when their identity is hidden. The book is Il Carnevale Italiano Mascherato... by Francesco Bertelli, published in 1642. The illustrations depict costumed Venetians in various poses appropriate to their depicted roles. The freedom of anonymity also led to behavior often frowned upon by authorities, licentiousness and such, which explains why there were so many stops of the celebration along the way. Priced at £15,000 (British pounds, or approximately $20,170 in U.S. dollars).

 

Here is a book you will want if you have children who sit around playing video games and social networking all day (providing they speak French). Schulz-Falster describes this as a “first edition of the first French book on gymnastics and physical exercise for the young.” The title is La Gymnastique de la Jeunesse, by Jean A. Amar DuRivier and Louis F. Jauffret, published in 1803. It stresses the importance of physical exercise for the development of children and then describes all sorts of games they can play. There's hide and seek, high jumping and pole vaulting, hopscotch, tag, wrestling, swimming, archery, shuffleboard, ten-pin bowling, billiards, kite flying, rope climbing and swinging, balance bars, stilt-walking, swings, skating, skipping rope, tumbling, horse riding, dancing, fencing, the list goes on, including many no longer played. This will certainly keep the young in good shape. £1,500 (US $2,017).

 

This next item is a measure of the Holy Length, something I admit I had never heard of before, but apparently was quite popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was said to protect the possessor from all sorts of calamities, though it probably wasn't all that effective or we would still be using it today. It is called Nach dem wahren und Gerechten Original abge messene wahrafte Lange unsers Herrn Jesu Christi... (true length of our Lord Jesus Christ measured according to the true and righteous original). Its narrow and folded length was that of the height of Jesus Christ, though I don't know how they determined that. The sections are 175 mm in length. That would make Jesus about 7 inches tall, which seems shorter than I would have expected. However, it contains many folding sections, judging by the image ten of them. That would make Jesus a more believable 5' 9”. This Holy Length was created in 1755. £1,500 (US $2,017).

 

Here is another first – the first coloring book! The book is Original Fables by the Reverend John Kidgell, published in 1763. Schulz-Falster describes this as a “first edition of Kidgell's charming Original Fables, the first book to have illustrations designed to be coloured-in by children.” The book is uncommon as it was printed for private circulation. Clergyman Kidgell led a good life under the patronage of Lord March, but when he became involved in an affair over pornography of politician John Wilkes, he was forced to flee the country. His damaged reputation may explain the scarcity of this book. He never returned and is believed to have died in poverty in Flanders. £2,500 (US $3,360).

 

Would you like to know how the world is going to end? Maybe not, but curiosity gets the better of us. Here is the answer. The title is Die Welt in Feuer, Oder das Wahre Vergehen und Ende der Welt durch den letzten Sund-Brand (The world on fire, Or the true perishing and the end of the world by the last sound-fire). Author Jodocus Leopold Frisch saw an apocalyptic ending when he published his book in 1746. Schulz-Falster explains, “the Earth is depicted as an erupting geological mess, in a sea of fire and blaster volcanoes, lightning striking from above.” Frisch was a theologian and naturalist, which explains this odd combination of science and apocalyptic theology. He was knowledgeable in geology, which enabled him to describe geological events, but his interpretation of the Bible led to some frightening conclusions. £7000 (US $9,410).

 

Susanne Schulz-Falster Rare Books may be reached at +44 (0) 1993 811 100 or susanne@schulz-falster.com. Their website is www.schulz-falster.com

Rare Book Monthly

  • 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
  • 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.

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