Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - December - 2009 Issue

New Acquisitions in Americana from the William Reese Company

New acquisitions at the William Reese Company.

New acquisitions at the William Reese Company.


By Michael Stillman

The William Reese Company has issued its 272nd catalogue, New Acquisitions in Americana. These are all works pertaining to North America that Reese has not offered in any previous catalogues. They are all significant works, some qualifying as very important to American history. While Reese publishes catalogues on other types of books, Americana is their specialty, and they are preeminent booksellers in the field. Here are a few of the new titles being offered.

Item 55 is a copy of the fourth and best edition of Benjamin Franklin's Experiments and Observations on Electricity, Made at Philadelphia in America... To describe Franklin as multitalented would be an understatement. He is most noted as one of America's most influential diplomats, essential to bringing France in on the Americans' side during the Revolution. His other notable careers included printer, almanac publisher, and perhaps most important, scientist. His research with electricity has led to his recognition as America's leading scientist of the 18th century. This fourth edition of his experiments with electricity was the first containing his complete notes and correspondence on the subject. Priced at $13,500.

Here is a story that would have dominated cable news had it happened today. Alexander Hamilton, America's first Secretary of the Treasury, had been caught making payments to one James Reynolds. The expose implied that he was personally speculating with government funds, forcing Hamilton to reveal the truth. It wasn't pretty. Item 63 is his response to the charges: Observations on Certain Documents...in which the Charge of Speculation Against Alexander Hamilton...is Fully Refuted. The fact was that Hamilton was having an affair with Reynolds' wife, and had paid him off to keep quiet. The revelation refuted the charges of corruption, but the embarrassing details effectively destroyed his political career. The first edition of this item, published by Hamilton himself, was mostly bought up and destroyed by his family. This copy is from the 1800 second edition, published by his enemies to keep the scandal in the public eye during the election of 1800. $1,250.

Item 35 is a book that was hardly worth the effort. It is A Digest of the Military and Naval Laws of the Confederate States... compiled by W.W. Lester and William J. Bromwell. Published in 1864, it sets forth details on military regulations, salaries, rations, employment of Blacks, and so on. However, the publication date hints at the futility of the enterprise, as it would be just a matter of months before the Confederate government would be no more. $1,000.

Item 75 is a rare and unusual work, The American Woods, Exhibited by Actual Specimens and with Copious Explanatory Text, by Romeyn Beck Hough. Reese calls this rarity a "labor of love." It contains 14 volumes, the first 13 published between 1893-1913, the last volume in 1928 by his daughter after Hough's death. The volumes are arranged by region, and they contain samples of the various types of wood, sliced so thin as to be translucent. The relatively high price of the work ($5 per volume) and the long period over which it was published make complete sets of this unusual work very rare. $32,500.

Rare Book Monthly

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    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
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    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
  • Leland Little, Jan. 22: The First Issue of Robert Frost's A Boy's Will, In Extremely Scarce Binding.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: Knight's An Account of the Remains of the Worship of Priapus.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: First Edition of Locke's Important Treatise Some Thoughts Concerning Education.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: The Richly Illustrated First French Edition of Voyages de Corneille Le Brun par la Moscovie, en Perse, et aux Indes Orientales.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: Scarce First Issue of An Account of the Province of Carolina in America, Finely Bound and With Celebrated John Speed Map.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: Humphrey's An Historical Account, Complete with Scarce Folding Maps.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: First Edition of Chamberlain's Scarce Civil War Memoir The Passing of the Armies.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: A Rare Photograph of David Bruce Brown and #48 Fiat.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: George Cruikshank (England, 1792-1878), Archive of Sketches, Notes, and Letters.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: Extremely Scarce Copy of Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode), Signed by Max Pechstein.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: Andy Warhol's The Thirteen Most Wanted Men Exhibition Catalogue.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: Edward Ruscha (American, b. 1937), Every Building on the Sunset Strip.
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