Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - October - 2024 Issue

Americana from Michael D. Heaston Rare Books & Manuscripts

Americana.

Americana.

Michael D. Heaston Rare Books & Manuscripts has published their Catalogue Fifty-Six of Americana - A Fine Selection of Books, Pamphlets, Manuscripts, Broadsides & Maps Pertaining to the United States. The selection (over 200 items) is wide, with the connection being the overriding subject of Americana and that most items are over a century old. As the cover says, these items cover a lot of Whys and Wherefores, and many other questions about the USA. These are a few selections you will find.

 

While America contemplates whether the time has finally come to elect a woman President, it's worth noting that for the majority of our history, women weren't even allowed to vote at all. It wasn't until 1920 that the passing of the 19th Amendment that women were finally given the franchise throughout the United States. However, a few states granted that right sooner, with the first being Wyoming. Actually, when the bill was passed in 1869, Wyoming was still a territory, but it would also be the first state granting that right when it was admitted to the Union in 1890. The constitution of the newly admitted state provides, “The rights of citizens of the state of Wyoming to vote and hold office shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex. Both male and female citizens of this state shall equally enjoy all civil, political and religious rights and privileges.” At the time the territorial legislature adopted the right, the population of Wyoming was overwhelmingly male, and the all-male legislature wanted to attract more women to Wyoming, and with them, the possibility of children and a new generation. Item 197 is an 1893 Cheyenne printing of the Constitution State of Wyoming. Item 197. Priced at $1,250.

 

Next is a Special Message of Governor Samuel J. Kirkland, in Reply to a Resolution of Inquiry, passed by the House of Representatives, March 2d 1860, in Relation to the Requisition of the Gov. of Virginia, for one Barclay Coppic. Barclay Coppic was an abolitionist living in Iowa, where Kirkland was Governor. He had participated along with his brother in John Brown's raid at Harper's Ferry, though he was not present at the raid itself. His brother was captured and hanged in Virginia. The same most likely awaited Barclay if Gov. Kirkland sent him back as required by law to do. The abolitionist Governor balked. He said that the requisition failed to provide sufficient evidence of a crime. Virginia rewrote the requisition and sent it again. However, by that time, Coppic had wisely skipped town so Kirkland could not have fulfilled the demand if he had wanted to. In this printed message by Kirkland, he denies “the insinuations of my sympathy with the crimes lately committed in Virginia,” and accused them of seeking to create sectional prejudice “to destroy the Union if they cannot control it.” Barclay Coppic eventually served the Union in the Civil War and died in action. Item 77. $500.”

 

After the Civil War, much of the nation's attention shifted to the West, and if it followed the righteous cause during that war, it was not so righteous in its treatment of the people native to those lands. The U.S. signed numerous treaties with the Indians in those years, and ultimately, broke them when it wanted more land. Item 66 is a Treaty Between the United States of America and the Comanche and Kiowa Tribes of Indians, signed in late 1865, proclaimed by President Johnson in 1866. This official publication was printed in a very small edition. According to Eberstadt, “In this treaty, made at the Council Ground on the Little Arkansas River, Kit Carson provides for the possession of the Comanche and Kiowa of a vast Texas Reservation, with reservations. Ostensibly the treaty gave the Indians the Panhandle.” It lasted less than two years. After that, a new treaty reduced the Indian land by about 90%. $2,000.

 

The Overland or Butterfield Express had a short lifespan, similar to the Pony Express. Butterfield delivered mail to California, but unlike the ponies, also carried passengers in its coaches. It was not quite as fast, but more efficient. Butterfield lasted a bit longer, from 1858-1861. The Civil War broke up its route. After the war, the first transcontinental telegraph and transcontinental railroad eliminated the need for it to arise again. Butterfield carried its load from two eastern points, St. Louis and Memphis, the two joining at Fort Smith, Arkansas, to San Francisco. It followed a southern route, close to the border, so as to avoid winter snow. Item 19 is Tract No. V, Published by the Republican Association of Washington, Under the Direction of the Congressional Republican Executive Committee. Overland Routes to the Pacific. The Butterfield Contract. It was published in 1859. Despite its short, long ago life, remnants of numerous Butterfield stations and its trail can still be found today. $600.

 

Here is an invitation it would be quite exciting to accept, but unfortunately it was made out to someone else. You would be a bit late to attend anyway as the event occurred 136 years ago. The invitation came from Alexander Graham Bell. It was not the most personal of invitations. It was more like a form with a place to enter the name of the recipient. Still any kind of invitation from Bell was an honor. It reads, “Mr. & Mrs. Alexander Graham Bell request the pleasure of [Postmaster General & Mrs. Dickerson's] company on Thursday evening, April 19th at nine o'clock, to meet at the National Academy of Sciences. Scott Circle.” The year was 1888. Item 9. $200.

 

Michael D. Heaston Rare Books & Manuscripts can be reached at 512-417-8045 or mdheaston@cox.net. Their website is located at MDHRareBooks.com.

 

Rare Book Monthly

  • Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: CATESBY, MARK. 1683-1749. The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands. $100,000 - $150,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: AUDUBON, JOHN JAMES. 1785-1851. The Birds of America, from Drawings Made in the United States and their Territories. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: ADAMS ON HIS PEAR TREES AND A LOST PORTRAIT BY SALEM ARTIST HANNAH CROWNINSHIELD. ADAMS, JOHN. 1735-1826. $10,000 - $15,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: EARLIEST MAP DEVOTED TO NORTH AMERICA. FORLANI, PAULO. fl.1560-1571. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: HAMILTON DEFENDS THE CONSTITUTION. HAMILTON, ALEXANDER. 1757-1804. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION BROADSIDE. Boston, September 14, 1768. $5,000 - $8,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: ONE OF THE EARLIEST ILLUSTRATIONS OF A SURGICAL PROCEDURE. BARTHOLOMAEUS ANGLICUS. $10,000 - $15,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: RICHARD FEYNMAN'S ANNOTATED COPY, WITH TWO EARLY FEYNMAN AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPTS. $15,000 - $25,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: THE FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN COMPUTING. TURING, ALAN MATHISON. 1912-1954. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: FINE OIL PORTRAIT OF ALBERT EINSTEIN BY EUGEN SPIRO. $40,000 - $60,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: PENICILLIN MOLD MEDALLION INSCRIBED BY ALEXANDER FLEMING. FLEMING, ALEXANDER. 1881-1955. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: APPLE "TWIGGY" MACINTOSH PROTOTYPE USED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF DEMONSTRATION SOFTWARE. $80,000 - $120,000
  • One of a Kind Collectibles Auctions
    Rare Autograph and Book Auction
    October 17th, 2024
    One of a Kind Collectibles, Oct. 17: Abraham Lincoln Signed Letter on Executive Mansion Stationary To Secretary of The Navy re: Appointment for Naval Academy!
    One of a Kind Collectibles, Oct. 17: Extremely Rare Ben Franklin Printed: Considerations on Keeping Negroes...Part Second. 1762.
    One of a Kind Collectibles, Oct. 17: An impressively extra-illustrated copy; Including an Original leaf from Shakespeare’s 1623 First Folio!
    One of a Kind Collectibles Auctions
    Rare Autograph and Book Auction
    October 17th, 2024
    One of a Kind Collectibles, Oct. 17: Rarest Naval Autograph James Lawrence “Don’t give up the ship On " U.S. Ship Hornet June 19th 1812.
    One of a Kind Collectibles, Oct. 17: Oversize Ernest Hemingway Signed Photo with long Inscription about Drinking Wine to his dear friend and Secretary Roberto Herrera.
    One of a Kind Collectibles, Oct. 17: VOLTAIRE Signed Receipt about a partial payment of debt for the Duke of Wuerttemberg.
    One of a Kind Collectibles Auctions
    Rare Autograph and Book Auction
    October 17th, 2024
    One of a Kind Collectibles, Oct. 17: [Maps] Gio. Ant. Magnini, Italia, 1620.
    One of a Kind Collectibles, Oct. 17: LAWMAN SALOON JUDGE ROY BEAN Signed Legal Document 1895-RARE!
    One of a Kind Collectibles, Oct. 17: Autograph Album with James Garfield as President, Chester A. Aurthur as VP, William T. Sherman, Burnside, P.T. Barnum and many more!
    One of a Kind Collectibles Auctions
    Rare Autograph and Book Auction
    October 17th, 2024
    One of a Kind Collectibles, Oct. 17: Thomas Jefferson and James Madison Signed Four Language Ship's Paper.
    One of a Kind Collectibles, Oct. 17: Hector Berlioz Autograph Musical Quotation Signed.
    One of a Kind Collectibles, Oct. 17: Important Memorandum the Day after Gettysburg July 5th, 1863 where Lincoln asks all Department Heads of the cabinet to meet him at the Executive Mansion.
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    Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
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    Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
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  • Sotheby’s
    Bibliotheca Brookeriana:
    A Renaissance Library. The Aldine Collection D-M
    18 October 2024
    Sotheby’s, Oct. 18: Herodianus Syrus, Herodiani Historiarum, Venice, Heirs of Aldo & Torresano, 1524, Parisian binding for Jean Grolier by Jean Picard, ca. 1540
    Sotheby’s, Oct. 18: Musaeus, Opusculum de Herone et Leandro, Venice, Aldo, 1495 (Greek text), interleaved with 1497–1498 (Latin text), English olive morocco by Charles Lewis, the Botfield copy
    Sotheby’s, Oct. 18: Horatius Flaccus, Horatius, Venice, Aldo, 1501, Bolognese brown goatskin (between 1501 and 1503), arms of Mino Rossi and illuminated initials throughout
    Sotheby’s, Oct. 18: Lucretius, De rerum natura, Venice, Aldo, 1500, English early eighteenth-century red morocco, the Fletcher copy
    Sotheby’s, Oct. 18: Dante, Le terze rime, Venice, Aldo, 1502, illuminated, contemporary Bolognese morocco binding

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