Navigation and Travel Manuscripts from the William Reese Co.
Not all of these travels were quite so difficult and unpleasant. Arthur W. Morrell was a clerk for British Admiral Baird, Commander in Chief of the Pacific Station. He was assigned to the Pacific Station in 1884, but first he had to get there. Evidently no ships were headed that way at the time, as Morrell was placed on a Cunard ocean liner to make the trip from Liverpool to Boston. From there, he traveled by rail across America to San Francisco. Then he was finally able to hook up with his ship. Morrell recounts these journeys in a manuscript he kept from 1884-86, along with adding 27 pen or pencil sketches and one watercolor illustration. It all seems like a pleasant trip. Morrell was quite pleased with the cuisine offered by Cunard, and by how much more comfortable the American sleeper cars were than those provided by British railways. Much of his narrative, both on the trip there and on his ship which sailed the coasts of North and South America, are focused on social interactions. There seems to have been much socializing on his trip, and in the ports of call, such as a dinner, dance, cricket match and carnival he attended in Chile. Item 24. $2,500.
Item 30 is a pair of mid-17th century letters from Spanish King Philip IV concerning explorer Don Pedro Porter Casanate. Casanate conducted several explorations in the Gulf of California between 1635 and 1653, all of which was quite remarkable since he received little funding from the Crown. However, the King did give him free reign to explore the area on his own. In one of these letters, King Philip instructs the Viceroy of New Spain to provide him with detailed reports on the progress and costs of Casanate's mission, and to provide assistance if the latter found anything of value, such as pearls. In the second letter, written the same day (August 6, 1650), the King writes Casanate, denying his request for a judgeship of Sinaloa, but encouraging his explorations and demanding a full report when he finishes. Denying the judgeship must have been a disappointment for Casanate as it would have provided a backdoor means for Spain to provide him with financial support. Nonetheless, Reese points out, the King was well prepared to partake of any spoils Casanate might find in his explorations. $35,000.
The William Reese Company may be reached at 203-789-8081 or coreese@reeseco.com. Their website is located at www.reeseco.com.
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
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.