• Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HARRISON, Benjamin. Document signed (“Benj Harrison”) as governor of Virginia, certifying the service of Daniel Cumbo, a Black Revolutionary soldier. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HIGHLY IMPORTANT MORMON ARCHIVE. ALLEY, George. Archive of 23 Autograph Letters Signed by Mormon Convert George Alley to His Brother Joseph Alley. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [AVIATION]. [ARMSTRONG, Neil A.] Aviation Hall of Fame Gold Medal MS64 NGC, Awarded to Neil Armstrong in 1979. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: NEWLY DISCOVERED FIRST PRINTING OF "WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE... " FROM THE ONLY NEWSPAPER ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL PROCESSION. $4,000 to $8,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: A VERY RARE ACCOUNT OF BLACKBEARD’S DEATH AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PIRATE ITEMS EXTANT. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [VIETNAM WAR]. The original pen used by Secretary of State William P. Rogers to sign the Vietnam Peace Agreement, Paris, 27 January 1973. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: SONS OF LIBERTY FOUNDER COLONEL BARRÉ ANNOTATED TITLE-PAGE, “WHICH OUGHT TO ROUSE UP BRITISH ATTENTION”. $4,000 to $6,000.
  • Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG BEADED JUDICIAL COLLAR. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A COMPLETE RUN OF VISIONAIRE MAGAZINE THROUGH 2010. $6,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: LAW REVIEW OFFPRINT SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: META REBNER'S WORKING SCRIPT OF THE LOVED ONE. $1,500 - $2,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A KATHY GROVE PORTRAIT OF CYNDI LAUPER FOR THE FEBRUARY 1989 DETAILS COVER. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A PLASTIC COAT BY MILLIE DAVID FEATURED IN SOHO NEWS STYLE SECTION, FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANNIE FLANDERS. $500 - $700
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG JEWELRY BOX. $600 - $900
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A SET OF JONI MITCHELL LYRICS FOR "IF I HAD A HEART." $2,000 - $3,000
  • Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: [Shakespeare (William)]. [Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies], second folio edition, [by Tho.Cotes, for Robert Allot], [1632]. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Bible, Czech Biblia Bohemica, first complete Bible printed in the Czech vernacular, Prague, August 1488. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Shabthai Tzvi.- Collection of four printed and illustrated broadsides detailing the appearance, rise and fall of the false messiah, Shabthai Tzvi, Augsburg, 1666-67. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Leaf from the Beauvais Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [Northern France (perhaps Beauvais or Amiens)], [fourteenth century (c.1310)]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Aubrey (John). [Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme], manuscript in English, Latin and Greek, [c. 1693]. £30,000 to £50,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Poems on Various Occasions, first edition, Harriet Maltby's copy, Newark, Printed by S. & J. Ridge, 1807. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression with dust-jacket, 1937 [but 1938]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Blake (William).- Thornton (Robert John). The Pastorals of Virgil, 2 vol., engraved plates by William Blake, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: America.- Mount (William J.) & Thomas Page. The English Pilot…, [bound with] The Fourth Book, describing The West Indies Navigation from Hudson's-Bay to the River Amazones, 1721. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Oldfield (Henry Ambrose), Rajman Singh Chitrakar & others. An album of 160 photographs and 13 original artworks, (1833-1919), [c. 1850s-1880s]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.
  • 19th Century Shop
    Catalogue 198 just published
    19th Century Shop. Darwin and Wallace, first printing of the first paper on natural selection
    19th Century Shop. Shakespeare’s Poems, first collected edition
    19th Century Shop. Walt Whitman portrait inscribed with a Leaves of Grass poem
    19th Century Shop. Major Elizabeth Barrett Browning manuscript notebook
    19th Century Shop. Spock's Baby Book, original MS
    19th Century Shop. Cellarius, Harmonia Macrocosmica, the great celestial atlas

Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - September - 2020 Issue

Americana from Michael D. Heaston Rare Books & Manuscripts

Americana from Michael D. Heaston.

Michael D. Heaston Rare Books & Manuscripts has released their Catalogue Fifty-Two Americana. The subtitle is A Selection of Rare Books, Pamphlets & Broadsides Including a Fine Selection of Works Concerning the American West. The fine selection concerning the American West is something of an understatement. There is much western material that is uncommon or rare. You may not know most of these items but they are a fascinating group and I promise you will want a lot of them. Railroad collectors will be excited by the broad range of related material, mostly from railroads west of the Mississippi. There is also some great Civil War material, including personal accounts by people who gave so much for their cause. War truly is Hell. Here are a few of the selections offered, but it barely touches the surface of what is contained among the over 300 items presented.

 

We begin with an archive of material from one of the most famous and controversial lawmen of the Old West – Pat Garrett. Pat Garrett was elected Sheriff of Lincoln County, New Mexico, and soon burnished his reputation with his pursuit of the fugitive William Bonney, better known as Billy the Kid. The Kid had killed some people, including a couple of deputies during an escape from jail while awaiting execution. Garrett eventually caught up with Billy and shot him while unarmed and unaware the unknown figure in the dark was a threat. The nature of the killing did not make Garrett the hero he expected, and the remainder of his life would be up and down. Garrett moved on in 1882 to the Pecos Valley and then Texas and participated in some failed business ventures. In 1896, he returned to New Mexico, where he was appointed Sheriff of Dona Ana County. He was hired to find the killer(s) of Albert Fountain, an attorney who investigated corruption and earned his share of enemies (he also unsuccessfully defended Billy the Kid years earlier). Fountain and his eight-year-old son were ambushed and killed. Garrett arrested a couple of suspects, but eventually they were acquitted. No one was ever convicted of the murders. This archive contains material from his time as Sheriff of both counties, but the most interesting piece is a letter he wrote to his wife dated March 22, 1896. Garrett writes, “Everything so far has gone as well as I could wish, the Sheriff's office of this county was turned over to me this morning, so I have decided we would locate here for a while at least...” He sends her $40 so she can move the family from Texas to Dona Ana County. He then inquires about his new son, whom he has not yet seen (Garrett had eight children). He concludes, “I will leave here on the 24th to go to the plane east of here to make another [search] for Col. Fountain's body.” That was most likely the area that is now White Sands National Monument, but Garrett's search was unsuccessful as the Fountains' bodies were never found. Item 86. Priced at $25,000.

 

Monroe Edwards was a character and criminal both in the then Republic of Texas and the United States. He even tried swindling money for a while in Britain. He was noted for smuggling slaves into Texas and for various forgeries. Eventually, the law caught up with him and he was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1842. He never got out because he died in five. Item 277 is a notice of a Sheriff's Sale by Sheriff John W. Brooks of Brazoria, Texas, from 1846 while Edwards was still living, “to satisfy a judgment of Edwin Mullin (?).” Perhaps appropriately, the property being sold off was a slave, “One Negro Boy named Jeff about eight years old.” If this doesn't bring home the horrors of slavery, I don't know what does. Eight years old? Where was his mother, father, family? An eight year-old boy, separated from all family, being sold off alone? Man's inhumanity to boy. Item 277. $1,000.

 

Here is another sales offer, weird, but not in the horrible way of the last item. This is a 12-page prospectus for The Clover Valley Ranch, Humboldt and Elko Counties, Nevada, from 1913. It's easy to understand why the owner wanted to get rid of it, but not why someone would want to buy it. The Clover Valley Land & Stock Company describes their property as “The tract is almost barren today...The buildings and corrals are old and practically worthless...The range land is valuable for grazing purposes and has no agricultural purposes.” At least there was a lot of land – 48,000 acres. The limited uses and isolation of northeastern Nevada make this one of the most sparsely populated parts of the country even today, though its mountain vistas and stark landscape make it interesting for people looking to get away from it all. Item 181. $500.

 

President Andrew Johnson was considered to be very soft on the South after the Civil War. He rose to the office after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, so Reconstruction was largely in his hands. Like Lincoln, he wanted to bring the South back into the fold with minimal disruption, but in the process showed very little concern for the future of the former slaves in a hostile South. The result is he found himself at loggerheads with the Radical Republicans, who sought more demands on the southern states. He was impeached by the House and survived removal from office in the senate by a single vote. However, in this address, he sounds more forceful in his condemnation of the South. Only 8 months after his rise to the presidency, in this December 17, 1865, supplement to the San Antonio Herald, Johnson is quoted as saying, “It is manifest that treason, most flagrant in character, has been committed. Persons who are charged with its commission should have fair and impartial trials in the high and civil tribunals of the country, in order that the Constitution and the laws may be fully vindicated, the truth clearly established and affirmed that treason is a crime, traitors should be punished, and the offense made infamous at the same time that question may be judiciously settled finally and forever that no state, of its own will, has the right to renounce its place in the Union.” Johnson's loyalty to the Union, despite being from a border state, was based more on his antipathy for the plantation owners than sympathy for the slaves. Despite his moderation toward the South for his day, his emphatic use of the word “treason” sounds radical today when the word is seldom used to describe the leaders of the Confederacy, who are now widely honored. Item 1. $3,000.

 

This is an unusual railroad item. The title is Voltagal, Genius of Electricity; or, Ned Benson's Adventures and Talk with one of the Genii. It is attributed to "'A Man' of the 'Great Rock Island Route'." It then notes that the book is “Respectfully Dedicated to the Boys and Girls of America, by the General Ticket and Passenger Agent of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway.” That agent, and evidently the “Man” who wrote this book, was Everitte St. John, who worked in Chicago. This book was given out to young passengers of that Mighty Fine Road for Christmas 1885. It is designed to teach young people about electricity, its development and uses. While the author says it is not a scientific work, young people, even older people could have learned a lot about this force that was just starting to come into its own at this time. The story is about young Ned Benson, who meets the mysterious genius Voltagal while riding on, naturally, a Rock Island Line train. Voltagal tells him all about electricity until the ending when Ned opens his eyes and his mother informs him he has been dreaming. Item 305. $500.

 

Michael D. Heaston Rare Books & Manuscripts can be reached at 512-417-8045 or mdheaston@cox.net.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Alken (Henry). Sporting Notions, first edition, T.McLean, 1832-33. £800 to £1,200.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Bardi (Lorenzo). Nuova Raccolta delle piu interessanti Vedute della Citta di Firenze…, Florence, Lorenzo Bardi, [c.1840]. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Crawfurd (John). Journal of an Embassy from the Governor-General of India to the Court of Ava..., first edition, 1829. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Dawe (George, engraver). The Life of a Nobleman, first edition, Geo. Henderson, [c.1825]. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: [Doyle (John)], "H.B.". Political Sketches &c., 10 vol. including The Descriptive Key to H.B., Thomas McLean, [1829-51]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Eben (Adolphus Christian Frederick, Baron von) and Nicolaus Heideloff. Modèles de l'Uniforme Militaire Adopté dans l'Armée Royale de Suède, Rudolph Ackerman, 1808. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Geissler (J.G.G.) and Friedrich Hempel. Mahlerische Darstellungen der Sitten, Gebrauche und Lustbarkeiten bey den Russischen, Tartarischen…, 4 parts in 1, Leipzig and Paris, [1804]. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Hunt (Charles). Portraits of Winning Horses...of the Derby, Oaks, & St. Leger, from the Year 1842 to 1849…, Rock Brothers & Payne, 1849. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Kunike (Adolf Friedrich). Zwey hundert und sechzig Donau-Ansichten nach dem Laufe des Donaustromes…, Vienna, Leopold Grund, 1826. £3,000 to £5,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Lasinio (Carlo). [Matrimony], Florence, 1790. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Reinhardt (Joseph). A Collection of Swiss Costumes, in Miniature, second English edition, James Goodwin, [1828]. £800 to £1,200.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Wengen (Gottfried Durst von). Die Öffentliche Maskerade Bamberg am Fastnachts-Montage 1833…, Bamberg, [1833]. £2,000 to £3,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD

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