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Freeman’s | Hindman, June 25: [Keats, John] Spenser, Edmund: The Works of that Famous English Poet, Mr. Edmond Spenser. $50,000 - $80,000.Freeman’s | Hindman, June 25: (Walton, Izaak): The Compleat Angler or the Contemplative man's Recreation. Being a Discourse of Fish and Fishing. $30,000 - $50,000.Freeman’s | Hindman, June 25: Thomas, Gabriel: An Historical and Geographical Account of the Province and Country of Pensilvania; and of West-New-Jersey in America. $25,000 - $35,000.Freeman’s | Hindman, June 25: [Carroll, Lewis]: The Game of Alice in Wonderland. $2,000 - $3,000.Freeman’s | Hindman, June 25: Athias, Joseph, et al.: Biblia Hebraica. $7,000 - $10,000.Freeman’s | Hindman, June 25: [Warhol, Andy, and Jens Quistgaard] Dansk Designs Salesman's Presentation Catalogue. $2,500 - $3,500.
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Sotheby’s, June 26: Poe, Edgar Allan. Tamerlane — the most poignant rarity in American literature. 400,000 - 600,000 USDSotheby’s, June 26: The Declaration of Independence. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." 2,500,000 - 5,000,000 USDSotheby’s, June 26: William Blake. “Poems with very wild and interesting pictures” 1,200,000 - 1,800,000 USDSotheby’s, June 26: Thomas Taylor [artist]. The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. 400,000 - 600,000 USD
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Old World Auctions (Jun 5-19):
Lot 4. Blaeu's Magnificent Carte-a-Figures World Map in Full Contemporary Color (1642) Est. $12,000 - $15,000Old World Auctions (Jun 5-19):
Lot 125. 1775 Edition of the Landmark Fry-Jefferson Map of Virginia and Maryland (1775) Est. $15,000 - $18,000Old World Auctions (Jun 5-19):
Lot 673. Rare Frontispiece in Full Contemporary Color with Gilt Highlights (1662) Est. $4,000 - $4,750Old World Auctions (Jun 5-19):
Lot 717. Complete Tanner Atlas with Important Maps of Texas & Iowa (1845) Est. $4,000 - $4,750Old World Auctions (Jun 5-19):
Lot 3. Henricus Hondius' Baroque-Style World Map (1641) Est. $9,500 - $11,000Old World Auctions (Jun 5-19):
Lot 258. Complete Set of De Bry's Native Virginians & Picts from Part I of Grands Voyages (1608) Est. $2,750 - $3,500Old World Auctions (Jun 5-19):
Lot 608. Superb Work on 18th Century Russia with over 100 Maps and Plates (1788) Est. $3,500 - $4,250Old World Auctions (Jun 5-19):
Lot 49. One of the Most Important 16th Century Maps of the New World (1556) Est. $5,000 - $6,000Old World Auctions (Jun 5-19):
Lot 706. Superb Image of the Annunciation in Contemporary Hand Color (1518) Est. $900 - $1,100Old World Auctions (Jun 5-19):
Lot 123. One of the Earliest Maps to Show Philadelphia (1695) Est. $4,000 - $4,750Old World Auctions (Jun 5-19):
Lot 631. One of the Earliest Printed Maps of Afghanistan & Pakistan (1482) Est. $1,900 - $2,200Old World Auctions (Jun 5-19):
Lot 689. Proof Copy Engraving of the Senate Floor During the Compromise of 1850 (1855) Est. $1,500 - $1,800 -
Bonhams, June 15-25: 18th Century American Sea Captain's Journals of Voyages to Hawaii, China, and South America. $35,000 - $45,000Bonhams, June 15-25: Admiral Richard E. Byrd's Autograph Diary from Bolling Advance Base, Winter 1934. $40,000 - $60,000Bonhams, June 15-25: Thoreau, Henry David. Walden; Or, Life in the Woods. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854. $4,000 - $6,000Bonhams, June 15-25: Cellarius, Andreas. Harmonia macrocosmica seu atlas universalis et novus, totius universi creati cosmographiam generalem, et novam exhibens. $20,000 - $30,000Bonhams, June 15-25: Nobelist George Stigler's Copy of Ricardo's Classic on the Science of Economics. $20,000 - $30,000Bonhams, June 15-25: Histoire charmante de l'adolescente sucre d'amour. Paris: F. L. Schmied, 1927. $15,000 - $20,000Bonhams, June 15-25: Fine Copy of Walras's Classic on the Theory of Marginal Utility. $12,000 - $18,000Bonhams, June 15-25: Arion Press Moby Dick. Melville, Herman. $8,000 - $12,000Bonhams, June 15-25: Venegas, Miguel. Noticia de la California, y desu conquista temporal, y espiritual hasta el tiempo presente. $7,000 - $9,000Bonhams, June 15-25: Carelton Watkins, Yosemite and the West. Portfolio of 21 imperial albumen prints. $6,000 - $9,000Bonhams, June 15-25: An Unpublished Archive of Thornton Wilder Correspondence to F.J. O'Neil. $6,000 - $9,000Bonhams, June 15-25: Vesalius, Andreas. 1514-1564. Suorum de humani corporis fabrica librorum epitome. $100,000 - $150,000
Rare Book Monthly
Articles - September - 2006 Issue
<i>The Fate of Their Country</i>. A Look Forward and Back
Next came Stephen Douglas' Kansas-Nebraska Act, which allowed for popular sovereignty in territories previously barred from having slavery by the 1820 Missouri Compromise. Bleeding Kansas, which resulted from Kansas-Nebraska, where northern and southern sympathizers battled for control, became one of the most immediate causes of the war. Once Lincoln was elected, the southern states proceeded to secede, not because the new president wanted to terminate slavery in their own states, but because he was adamantly opposed to its extension to new territories. Holt is right on concerning this point.
However, the author goes one more step where I have difficulty following along. He lays much of the blame on politicians. Politicians then, like politicians today, had no problem dividing the nation's people when they saw it as benefiting themselves. Us against them is a wonderful tool for getting votes. Retaliation for political slights is human nature. Holt saw these as motivating factors in politicians' behavior during the two decades leading up to war, and it is hard to argue the point. The question is whether more attempts to resolve the differences, rather than make political hay out of them, could have prevented the Civil War. My own suspicion is that the divide was so great, the importance of these principles so crucial, that better behavior by politicians could have done no more than put off the inevitable a bit longer.
Holt makes his case as early as the annexation of Texas. Newly elected Democratic President James Polk unexpectedly upholds his predecessor's policies toward Texas, to the chagrin of many in his own party. It opens the door for a larger than expected slave state. Polk is interested only in expansion, not slavery, but the result is that political divisions, previously based more on party lines, start to become regional. Northerners seethe under Polk's slight and never forget. A few years later, they gather the strength to respond with the Wilmot Proviso, banning slavery in the territories soon to be taken from Mexico. Southerners angrily respond, and the Proviso, though passing the House does not make it through the Senate. Still, it remains the center of a growing factional dispute.
Holt makes us stop at this point. Politicians are stirring up anger over the issue of expansion, but Holt tells us it is really not an issue at all. He cites politicians on both sides as recognizing this is a non-issue. Maintaining free choice on the issue of slavery, as demanded by the South, is of no real consequence as these territories were not about to choose slavery anyway. Beyond East Texas, the arid climate is not suitable for plantations and slaves, and the land's past history is free, Mexico having outlawed slavery years ago. Huge fights are generated, and resentments developed among the populace, over the issue of extending slavery when everyone knows this will not happen. The battles are all for political show, but the divisions they cause are real.