Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - January - 2014 Issue

Antiquarian Works from Antiquates Fine and Rare Books

Antiquates Catalogue 6.

Antiquates Fine & Rare Books, the Corfe Castle, Dorset, UK based bookseller, recently issued Catalogue 6 – Antiquarian Books from the Sixteenth – Twentieth Centuries. Offered is a variety of material, most of it at least multiple centuries old, predominantly English material, both in publishing location and language, but with a very large selection of European works as well. The major subjects, as often for works of this age, are theology, government, politics, travel, and military. These are a few of the books and other works on paper you will find.

 

Much of the theological material is not very friendly toward the Catholic Church, as one might expect from English writings several centuries old. Henry VIII's wish to divorce his wife had a major impact on British theological thinking for centuries. Item 99 is A Present for a Papist: Or, the History of the Life of Pope Joan, From Her Birth to her Death, a second edition published in 1740. This supposed biography is little more than a not very thinly disguised attack on the Catholic Church. The author claims that not only was there once a Pope Joan, but that “Being hardly warm in her Papal seat, her piety gave place to her Leachery” as she gave birth to a child which caused her death. Deeper research into history has shown that Pope Joan never existed, let alone was a lecherous lady, but this book was meant more for propaganda purposes than serious scholarship. Priced at £350 (British pounds, or about $572 in U.S. dollars).

 

Here is some more religious material, but it is the provenance that is likely more interesting than the text. Item 92 is Seventeen Sermons, on Practical Subjects, by Joshua Parry, published in 1783. Presbyterian minister Parry, naturally enough, was around to give these sermons, though not to see them published, his having died in 1776. Then again, he really had no need to read them. The provenance for this copy is that it belonged to his grandson, Sir William Parry. His grandson was one of the great Arctic explorers, coming as close as anyone until many years later to finding the long-sought Northwest Passage, and his attempt to reach the North Pole in 1827, while unsuccessful, was the farthest north ever reached at the time, a record that stood for nearly half a century. £450 (US $735).

 

This next piece is slightly theological, though more political and practical. This is His Majesties Declaration to All His Loving Subjects. Of the 12 of August, 1642. The problem was that not quite enough of His Majesty's subjects were loving. This was an argument by King Charles I for his right to rule England. It could not stop the brewing civil war, which would continue through most of that decade. In this piece, Charles states the religious argument – the divine right of kings – as well as constitutional and historical reasons why he had the right to rule. It proved to no avail, and eventually Charles was defeated, tried, and beheaded. However, he would make these same arguments as to his right to rule as a last statement shortly before he was executed. Item 19. £250 (US $408).

 

Item 52 is Substance of the Speech of the Right Honourable Lord Grenville, In the House of Lords, on Monday, June 27, 1814, In Moving for Certain Papers Relative to the Revival of the Slave Trade. William Lord Grenville was serving in the House of Lords at this time, but had previously served many years in Commons, rising to a brief (one-year) term as Prime Minister in 1806-07. He headed a coalition that fell after its inability to get royal approval for Catholic emancipation. However, Grenville's government had one major accomplishment – passing two bills that outlawed the slave trade, first prohibiting the importation of slaves into British colonies by British subjects, and then outlawing the slave trade. Grenville's opposition to the slave trade is reaffirmed in this 1814 speech at a time when he feared it might be reintroduced. £200 (US $326).

 

While religious tolerance was not always a common trait in old England, one man who was a very strong proponent was William Penn. Of course Penn, as a leader of the Quakers, felt the sting of intolerance repeatedly. Such can be the case when you are part of a small sect of believers. However, Penn's beliefs would be very influential in America where he formed the colony known as Pennsylvania. Item 93 is Penn's The Reasonableness of Toleration and the Unreasonableness of Penal Laws and Tests. Published anonymously in 1687, the views expressed here are consistent with those of Penn, who pushed the Crown to a more tolerant viewpoint. £300 (US $490).

 

Antiquates Fine and Rare Books may be reached at 07921 151496 or tom@lintern-mole.com. Their website is found at www.antiquates.co.uk.

Rare Book Monthly

  • 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
  • Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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.
  • 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.
  • 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
  • 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

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