Autographs and Signed Documents from David Schulson
A new collection of signatures from David Schulson Autographs.
By Michael Stillman
David Schulson Autographs has issued a new collection of autographs and autographed manuscripts, Catalog 139. As always, Schulson provides a wide selection of personalities, from politics, music, science, medicine, writing, art, stage and screen, and other notable professions. There is a healthy mix of American and European names to be found, with dates ranging from the 18th through the 20th century. Here are a few samples of what we found.
Item 68 is a wartime letter from Napoleon concerning food for his soldiers in Poland as they prepared for an attack on Russia. Writes the French Emperor on June 4, 1812, "My son, having learned that many of your camps are lacking in meat stores, I have just ordered 300 steer and 30,000 bales of oats be sent to you... On that note, my son, I pray that God has you in his keep." Since Napoleon's only son was one-year-old at the time, we are guessing that this letter either went to his stepson, or someone with which he was very familiar. Whoever he was, he was obviously special as he rated the lengthened signature "Napol." rather than the standard "Nap."
Here is an item that will make the flesh crawl on those who love America's second generation of great leaders and orators. Henry Clay was one of the giants of the senate in the first half of the 19th century. Along with his soaring rhetoric, he was famous as the "Great Compromiser." He tried to bring the sides together during the rancorous debate over slavery, helping to engineer the Compromise of 1850, thought at the time to resolve the issue, but in reality only making it worse, and the Civil War inevitable. Nevertheless, he tried. Along the way, he made several runs for the presidency, coming closest in 1844 as the candidate of the Whig Party (which won the elections both before and after 1844). However, Clay sounds too much like someone who compromised some of the basic principles of humanity in this 1827 letter. In it, he seeks to recoup $117 he spent on buying a slave. Saying he was led to believe the slave woman, though older, was healthy, he writes, "[I] have discovered that the said slave is entirely unsound and diseased, so much so as to be worthless..." Not much respect for human dignity in that comment. Item 22. $3,500.
Jeremy Bentham was one of the foremost proponents of utilitarianism, the philosophy that holds that the worth of something is determined by how much good it produces. It can be distinguished from beliefs that there is some inherent moral worth in actions regardless of whether they benefit anyone. Item 8 is a letter concerning practical matters by this practical philosopher. Bentham writes in 1824 that he has been "...flattering myself with the hope of having the two vacuums in my upper jaw filled up by section action..." In other words, Bentham had some serious dental problems, and he is concerned that if work is not begun soon, the "fragments" of his teeth on which he hopes repairs can be made will "share the fate of their predecessors." The letter is to James Cartwright, whom Bentham hopes has some students who can help him. $1,750.
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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RareBookBuyer.com Specialized in Purchasing Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
RareBookBuyer.com We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide ABAA Dealer
RareBookBuyer.com Specialized in Purchasing Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
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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.