The latest Latin American titles from Plaza Books.
By Michael Stillman
Plaza Books of Santa Rosa, California, has issued its latest list, number 16, of books and associated material relating to Latin America. Most works are in either Spanish or English, with a few written in French. Included is a wide variety of titles that will be of interest to those who collect the lands south of the U.S. border. Here are a few.
Item 5 is an interesting report on rebellion in 1930s Cuba that may help us to understand the anti-American tone of the later revolution under Castro. The book is The Crime of Cuba, written by Carleton Beals, an American journalist, who wrote about life under dictatorships in Latin America. At the time this book was written, Cuba was overthrowing the dictatorial and authoritarian regime of Gerardo Machado. Machado was elected in 1925 as a moderate and reformer, but as economic conditions deteriorated during the Great Depression, and the price of sugar collapsed, Machado turned to dictatorial and brutal measures to maintain control. America, as often was the case, inserted itself into the dispute, trying to form a government both acceptable to the Cuban people and the interests of American business. Machado was removed, but his successor lasted only a few weeks. General Fulgencio Batista moved into the void, and he would preside over a corrupt dictatorship until ousted from power on January 1, 1959, by Fidel Castro. Priced at $675.
Item 31 is a description of Ecaudor in the 1860s by Friedrich Haussarek, who was the American minister to that country. Haussarek was born in Austria, and participated with the student legion in the German revolution of 1848, but after twice being wounded, immigrated to America, where he settled in Cincinnati. He served as U.S. minister to Ecuador from 1861-1865, and as any student of American history will quickly grasp, that was a good time to be out of the country. This is a third edition of his book, Four Years among the Spanish-Americans, published in 1881. $200.
Item 44 is a 1740 English edition of Frenchman Jean de Pointis' A Genuine and Particular Account of the Taking of Carthagena by the French and Buccaniers, in the year 1697. Admiral de Pointis led a fleet whose aim was to plunder the Spanish colony at Carthagena. Along the way, he picked up a couple of ships of buccaneers, who wished to join in the looting. Despite strong resistance, the "allies" were successful, although de Pointis attempted to keep the buccaneers from entering the city. Eventually they did, but not until the French sailors had made off with the bulk of the loot, fighting off English raiders on their way home to France. Included with the book are two manuscript documents, at least one of which appears to relate to this raid. $2,950.
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, 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.
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