Fifty Favourites from Bernard J. Shapero Rare Books
Fifty favourites from Bernard J. Shapero Rare Books.
By Michael Stillman
Bernard J. Shapero Rare Books has issued a catalogue of 50 Favourites 2008, subtitled Books, Photographs & Atlases. These works are favorites for good reason. They are all top-level items, classic first editions, wonderfully illustrated books, large antiquarian atlases, unique early photographs, and other very special items. Here are some of Shapero's fifty favourites.
Where better to start than with a book of beginnings? Item 3 is Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, a book controversial not only in its time, but still today. By touching on the momentous question of where we come from, Darwin challenged literalist Biblical beliefs, though all he was doing was explaining phenomena he observed in nature. Priced at £95,000 (approximately $186,475 in US dollars).
Johann Gmelin may not have reached any such momentous conclusions from the plants he observed, but he did provide the most important early work on Russian flora. He participated in the Great Northern Expedition, sanctioned by Emperor Peter The Great, from 1733-1743. It provided the first systematic exploration of Siberia and the Arctic coast. Gmelin's Flora Sibirica sive historia planetarum Sibiriae was published in four volumes from 1747-1769. Shapero notes that complete copies of this work are a "great rarity." Item 32. £12,500 (US $24,544).
Here is another Russian book on plants: Opisanie Kartofelya. For those not up on Russian, this translates to "Description of the Potato." This book by Karl Putsche was first published in German, this first Russian of 1821 coming two years after the German edition. It contains all you could ever want to know about the potato, and undoubtedly, much more. It describes its history, species, cultivation and storage, and its use in making vinegar, coffee, wine, syrup, and beer. Potato coffee? Not covered are potato chips and French fries. The book is too early for those. It is a good book to be translated into Russian as there is a chapter on the quintessential Russian product - vodka. Item 33. £4,500 (US $8,839).
Let's take one more trip to Russia. Item 35 is Ostrov Sakhalin (Sakhalim Island) by Anton Chekov. Chekov is best known for his novels, but this work is more of a travelogue from his journey to the Russian Far East in 1893-94. Chekov reports on convicts and exiles held in these far reaches of the nation and the difficult conditions under which they lived. Published in 1895. £2,750 (US $5,400).
Item 17 is the first edition, first issue of the first letter of the alphabet. This is the 1850 edition of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, and that letter was, of course, an "A." That is "A" as in apple, though that is not what it stood for. This issue contains the misprint "reduplicate" for "repudiate." £2,750 (US $5,400).
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: APRES DE MANNEVILLETTE Le Neptune Oriental
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: CASSAS Eaux fortes de la Sicile et quelques vues d’Espagne
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: CASSINI DE THURY Carte générale et particulière de la France.
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: JOUY; GARNERAY Vues des côtes de France dans l'Océan et dans la Méditerranée
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: LA PÉROUSE Voyage autour du monde
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: LE GENTIL DE LA GALAISIERE Voyage dans les Mers de l’Inde
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: LICENT Hoang Ho, Pai Ho, Loan Ho, Leao Ho. Itinéraires suivis dans le bassin du golfe du Pei Tcheuly
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: FRENCH SCHOOL FROM THE 19th CENTURY Panorama d’Athènes
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: PEETERS Description des principales villes, havres et isles du golfe de Venise
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: PÉRON; FREYCINET Voyage de découverte aux terres australes
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: STACKELBERG La Grèce : vues pittoresques et topographiques.
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: VALENTINER Atlas des Sonnensystems.
Forum Auctions Online Sale: The Detective Fiction Collection of John Cooper Ending 7th November, 2024
Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). The Thirteen Problems, first edition, The Crime Club, 1932. £15,000 to £20,000.
Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Dumb Witness, first edition, 1937. £3,000 to £4,000.
Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Cards on the Table, first edition, The Crime Club, 1936. £2,000 to £3,000.
Forum, Nov. 7: [Carr (John Dickson)], "Carter Dickson" and John Rhode. Drop to his Death, first edition, Heinemann, [1939]. £600 to £800.
Forum, Nov. 7: Berkeley (Anthony). Jumping Jenny, first edition, Hodder and Stoughton, 1933. £800 to £1,200.
Forum Auctions Online Sale: The Detective Fiction Collection of John Cooper Ending 7th November, 2024
Forum, Nov. 7: Marsh (Ngaio). Overture to Death, first edition, The Crime Club, 1939. £600 to £800.
Forum, Nov. 7: [Day-Lewis (Cecil)] "Nicholas Blake". The Beast Must Die, first edition, 1938. £750 to £1,000.
Forum, Nov. 7: Brand (Christianna). Green for Danger, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, John Lane the Bodley Head, 1945. £600 to £800.
Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Murder is Easy, first edition, signed by the author, 1939. £3,000 to £4,000.
Forum, Nov. 7: Sayers (Dorothy L.) Lord Peter Views the Body, first edition, Gollancz, 1928. £6,000 to £8,000.
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Sotheby's Fine Books, Manuscripts & More Available for Immediate Purchase
Sotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. 11,135 USD
Sotheby’s: Edgar Allan Poe. The Raven and Other Poems, 1845. 33,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Leo Tolstoy, Clara Bow. War and Peace, 1886. 22,500 USD
Sotheby’s: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1902. 7,500 USD
Sotheby’s: F. Scott Fitzgerald. This Side of Paradise, The Great Gatsby, and Others, 1920-1941. 24,180 USD
Freeman’s | Hindman Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana November 14
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: LEROUX, Gaston. The Phantom of the Opera. FIRST AM. ED, FIRST ISSUE IN THE VERY RARE DUST JACKET. 1911. $6,000 – 8,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: GOULD, John. A Monograph of the Trochilidae...Humming-Birds. L., [1849-] 1861. $60,000 – 80,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: A COMPLETE RUN of Limited Editions Club publications, v.p. [mostly New York], 1929-2010. $50,000 – 60,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: ORWELL, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. Lon., 1949. FIRST EDITION IN A VERY FINE DUST JACKET. $6,000 – 8,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: GOULD. A Monograph of the Ramphastidae...Toucans. L., [1852-] 54. SECOND ED. $35,000 – 45,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14:The Federalist. NY, 1788. FIRST EDITION, THICK PAPER COPY. $60,000 – 80,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: SELBY. Plates to Selby’s Illustrations of British Ornithology. Edin., [1833-] 34. $20,000 – 30,000.