Miscellaneous New Acquisitions from John Michael Lang Fine Books
Recent Acquisitions from John Michael Lang.
By Michael Stillman
John Michael Lang Fine Books has issued its List 22 of Recent Acquisitions. This includes 32 new items without a particular underlying theme, but probably including something for almost anyone. There are several offerings pertaining to Lang's home territory, the Pacific Northwest, but there are also items which discuss cooking, world's fairs, travel, wooden coins, Hoover dam, New Mexico, Spain, San Francisco, and book decorations, as well as autographed books from Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, actress Katherine Hepburn, and French Chef Julia Child, children's books, a Tennyson set and Hamlet's soliloquy. That's a start. Here are a few samples.
We start with the oldest book in this collection, The Truth Exalted in the Writing of That Eminent and Faithful Servant of Christ, by John Burnyeat, published in 1691. Burnyeat was a Quaker who traveled around the colonies in the 17th century, spending much time in Maryland and Virginia. He was closely associated with Quaker founder George Fox and coauthored a book with him. He also found himself, with Fox, in a spirited and less than warm debate with Rhode Island founder Roger Williams. It is perhaps odd that two leaders, among the most tolerant of the time, could not get along with each other. This book tells of Burnyeat's journeys and the antagonism he endured for his faith. Item 6. Priced at $750.
Item 17 is an unpublished circa 1958 mimeographed typescript of Harry Day and the Hercules by Charles R. Stark, Jr. It is marked "final revision" of this book intended for Caxton Printers of Caldwell, Idaho, that for whatever reason, never came to be (Caxton did print another Stark work, "The Bering Sea Eagle"). The unpublished work is a biography of the Idaho mining and smelting magnate of the first four decades of the 20th century. Day and a partner staked their claim to the Hercules mine in 1889, but it was not until 1901 that a strong vein of silver and lead was discovered, eventually making Day, his family, and various investors wealthy. The Hercules shut down in the 1920s, but by then Day had obtained other mines, and interests in smelting plants, real estate, the Wallace, Idaho, newspaper and other investments. He died in 1942. $650.
Forum Auctions 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’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.
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