Upcoming auction highlights
Fine Books & Manuscripts online May 31–June 8, 2018
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www.skinnerinc.com
The Rudolf Spoor Collection of NASA Photographs & Ephemera
2264 NASA Safety Helmet Signed by Twenty-six American Astronauts and Six NASA Scientists. White Superglas fiberglass safety helmet manufactured by Fibre-Metal Products Company of Chester, Pennsylvania, with NASA logo decal above the brim, most signatures in black permanent marker (two originally in red now quite faded), small images of Apollo 11 astronauts pasted on the brim next to their signatures; the helmet acquired by Spoor from NASA in November of 1968. $20,000-30,000
2012 Miss Baker, Squirrel Monkey Launched into Space, Photograph with Original Pawprint, Sample of Fur, and Additional Material. $2,000-2,500
2029 Project Mercury 7, John Glenn, Signed Photograph, October 9, 1965. Color 8 x 10 in. photograph of Glenn in a suit and bow tie, wearing a Project Mercury lapel pin, signed and inscribed to Spoor, congratulating him on his “fine collection,� [together with] a black-and-white photograph of Glenn signing the photograph at hand with Spoor at his side. $500-700
We came all this way to explore the moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the earth. —William Anders
Rudolf Spoor will be at the Marlborough Gallery on the evening of June 6th to talk about his life experiences with NASA and collecting. Details on back cover, please visit our website for more information and to RSVP.
2119 Apollo 11, Buzz Aldrin at Tranquility Base, July 11, 1969, Large-Format Photograph Signed by Aldrin. 23 1/2 x 19 1/2 in. color photograph printed on “A Kodak Paper” photograph AS11-40-5948; a view of Buzz Aldrin with Armstrong reflected in his helmet, taken July 20, 1969, inscribed to Rudolf Spoor, “A proud human stands erect at Tranquility Base, Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11” in black permanent marker. The Apollo 11 Crew landed in Amsterdam in October of 1969 as part of their European tour following the Moon landing. Spoor was present at the airport in Amsterdam when the astronauts departed Holland for the next stop on their European tour, at that time, Aldrin signed the two large photographs offered in the sale, and the Apollo 11 astronauts added their signatures to Spoor’s NASA helmet. $4,000-6,000
2066 Apollo 8, Kapton Foil from the Access Hatch of the Landing Capsule, Two Flown Fragments. Two pieces of foil each measuring approximately 5 1/2 x 2 1/2 in.; [together with] NASA color photograph S-68-56307, red lettering on recto, purple caption, round logo, and “A Kodak Paper” on verso, together with a typed statement from Spoor attesting to the origin of the samples, and a smaller color photograph of the access hatch with pieces of the foil removed. $200-300
2311 Apollo Lunar Module Model, Grumman and NASA, Photographs and Related Material, 19661969. $5,000-7,000
I left Earth three times and found no other place to go. Please take care of Spaceship Earth. —Wally Schirra, 1998 2309 & 2031 Gemini Spacecraft Model Signed by Wally Schirra, mid-1960s. Scale model with many pieces, signed by Schirra on the bottom of the capsule, ht. 9 1/2 in. $600-800 Project Mercury 7, Walter Schirra, Two Signed Photographs and Two Mission Photographs. $300-500
1298 American Band Leaders, Jazz Musicians, and Other Performers, 1930s-60s, Large Collection of Photographs from the Roseland Ballroom, Many Signed. Collection formed by Joe Belford, longtime manager of the Roseland Ballroom in Manhattan, approximately 136 black-and-white 8 x 10 in. photographs, approximately 114 signed by the performers and musicians, including Cab Calloway, Fletcher Henderson, the Andrews Sisters, Mary Martin, Count Basie, Jimmy Dorsey, Harry James, Jack Teegarden, Glenn Miller, Tex Beneke, Mel Allen, Woody Herman, Gene Krupa, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Durante, Perry Como, Stan Kenton, Guy Lombardo, Jack Dempsey, Max Kaminsky, and many others, including candid, interior, and other unsigned shots; [and] several letters of appreciation addressed to Belford from Police departments. $800-1,200
I decided that I would be one of the biggest new names, and I had some little
“Count Basie. Beware, the Count is Here.” —Count Basie
fancy business cards printed up to announce it,
The shorter and the plainer the better.
—Beatrix Potter
The sale includes twelve lots of Beatrix Potter’s works, mostly first American editions. See detailed descriptions of each title online at www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/3103T
1073
1002
1147
1086
She is too fond of Books, and it has turned her brain.
1073 Wilder, Laura Ingalls (1867-
1957) These Happy Golden Years, and Two Autograph Letters Signed. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1943. Stated first edition, octavo; [together with] autograph letters addressed to Mary Phraner and her mother of Brooklyn, New York, signed November 12, 1942 and May 10, 1943, each with holograph envelope. “My dear Mary, I am glad that you and your sisters like my books. I have written the ‘one more book’ you want to finish the story... I hope you will read some of Rose’s books. She is a better writer than I am though our style of writing is very similar... With kindest regards, Sincerely yours, Laura Ingalls Wilder.” $600-800
1086 Austen, Jane (1775-
1817) Pride and Prejudice. London: Egerton [printed by C. Roworth], 1817. Third edition, two octavo volumes, half-titles present in each volume, final blanks not present, bound in half tan calf, marbled paper boards, bookplates of Fulke Southwell Greville pasted inside front boards, 6 3/4 x 4 in. It is unclear whether this edition was published before or after Austen’s death. $2,500-3,500
—Louisa May Alcott 1147 Dodge, Mary Elizabeth
Mapes (1831-1905) Hans Brinker; or, the Silver Skates. A Story of Life in Holland. New York: James O’Kane, 1866. First edition, octavo, title printed in red and black, frontispiece by F.O.C. Darley and three additional full-page plates by Thomas Nast (not at the locations indicated on the table of contents, as usual) no publisher’s advertisements, bound in contemporary half leather, marbled paper boards, 7 1/8 x 4 3/4 in. $600-800
1002 Alcott, Louisa May (1832-1888)
Autograph Note on Verso of Original Frank T. Merrill (1848-1923) Illustration for Little Women. Signed pen-and-ink drawing captioned in pencil on verso in an unknown hand, “Laurie heroically shut his eyes while something was put into his arms,” with a note in Alcott hand’s beneath, “Laurie is rather homely, but the girls may like him. Don’t see but one baby, tho uncovered two when he shut his eyes. Two little bald heads would be funny,” another small sketch on verso, in addition to other notes, 7 1/4 x 5 in. No sales of original Merrill illustrations from Little Women could be found in auction records. $3,000-5,000
1045
1320
1267
Manuscript Day Book and Documents, Including Clockmaking Diagrams and Other Material, Dartmouth, Massachusetts, Mid-18th Century. Quarto format book inscribed mainly by William Wood (1706-1788), bound in full contemporary paneled and speckled sheepskin, with Wood’s signature dated 1748 on ffep, containing family notes of births and deaths; a recipe for beer; medical receipts for dropsy, gout, and other ailments; formulas for soap; drawings of buckles and straps; concoctions for changing the color of wood, bones, ivory, and horn; a cement for broken glasses; a recipe for sealing wax; many different varnish recipes; gold leafing instructions; instructions to purify and refine sugar; dimensions of a sloop; how to draw a sun dial (with drawing); drawings of chair straps; notes on livestock and farming; two folding diagrams in black and red with detailed clock works; and others; [together with] four other William Wood documents, including his will, an agreement, and others. $400-600
Fitchburg Railroad 100, Original Illustration, 1883. Large pen, ink, and watercolor illustration with highlight colors and gold, shiny black areas heightened in gum arabic, depicting Fitchburg Railroad Engine 100, designed by William Mason (1808-1883) of Taunton, Massachusetts, G.F. Smith engineer, with ornate rustic lettering incorporating naturalistic flourishes and letterforms created from wood and stick forms, with a stylized tunnel at the bottom, containing what may be the artist’s initials: JRH, 28 1/2 x 20 in. $300-500
Sketchbook, American, Early 19th Century with Watercolors on Paper of American East Coast Cities, Ports, and Ships. Landscape folio album, wove paper, containing seventeen watercolors (eight done in monochromatic washes and nine in color) of the following subjects: Quebec; South View of Boston; Natural Bridge Virginia; City Hall, New York; View of the Battery at New York from the North River; View of the Battery at New York from the East River; the Pilot Boat T.H. Smith; Falls of Niagara from Table Rock; a Schooner; View of New York from Long Island; Steamboat Chancellor Livingston; View of Hurl Gate from the Rock in the East River; Boston Post Coach; Courtland Street Ferry; View of the Bridge across Schuykill near Philadelphia; View of the Narrows of New York from Powlas Hook; and View of New York from Powlas Hook, 14 3/4 x 10 1/4 in. $800-1,200
June’s online book sale previews in Marlborough on June 5th, 6th, and 7th. We will offer more than 700 lots including Audubon prints, historic and literary manuscripts, early printed books, color plate books, maps, and more. Register to bid and download the pdf of full catalog listings at www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/3103T.
1014 & 1025 Declaration of Independence Facsimile After Benjamin Owen Tyler. New York: Printed by Lang & Lang, Published by Horace Thayer, Engraved by Peter Maverick, 1818. Large rolled engraving consisting of a reproduction of John Trumbull’s painting, Declaration of Independence at the top, Tyler’s pen facsimile of the text with reproductions of the signatures, flanked by a grape border tinted in green; the whole presented on the original wooden scroll and molding, 29 1/4 x 44 in. $2,500-3,500
Franklin, Benjamin (1706-1790) Pennsylvania Gazette, May 9, 1754; First Publication of the Severed Snake Political Cartoon: Join, or Die. Philadelphia: Benjamin Franklin, 1754. Folio-format joined bifolium, laid paper, printed over four pages (without advertising), featuring the first use of Franklin’s political cartoon inspired by the inability of the thirteen colonies to unite against the French during the French and Indian War, accompanied by an editorial written by Franklin; 15 x 9 3/4 in. Franklin’s editorial was inspired by a letter received from Major George Washington regarding the French capture of Pennsylvania frontier Fort Prince George, at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers in Allegheny County. Ensign Edward Ward was left without command and forced to surrender the fort on April 18, 1754. Taking this news as a starting point, Franklin then lays out the formidable nature of the French invasion. “The confidence of the French in this undertaking seems well-grounded on the present disunited state of the British Colonies, and the extreme difficulty of bringing so many different governments and assemblies to agree in any speedy and effectual measures for our common defence and security; while our enemies have the very great advantage of being under one direction, with one council, and one purse.” Franklin’s commentary and cartoon presage the as-yet uncontemplated revolution to come. Join, or Die is the first graphic conception of separate colonies compelled to unite as a group. When the British imposed the Stamp Act in the 1760s, Franklin’s image persisted as a sturdy representation of colonial unity. The enduring theme of state unity served the country during the American Revolution and more than one hundred years later during the Civil War. $50,000-70,000
1323
1353
Havell, Robert Jr. (1793-1878) View of the City of Boston from the Dorchester Heights. Sing Sing, New York: by W.A. Coleman, 205 Broadway [Printed by W. Neale], for Robt. Havell, [c. 1841]. Aquatint engraving, printed in color and finished by hand (some touch-up in white surrounding the title), matted and framed, 18 3/4 x 14 in. sight. $6,000-8,000
Abraham Ortelius (1527-1598) Chinae, olim Sinarum regionis, nova descriptio auctore Ludovico Georgio. Antwerp: Ortelius, 1584. First edition, first state, double-page folio map, matted and framed, 19 1/4 x 15 1/4 in. This first issue, published in 1584, was the first western map of China drawn directly from reports, in this case collected by the Portuguese map-maker Ludovicus Georgius. It is also the earliest printed map to include the Great Wall of China, and the first to have China as its main focus. $2,000-2,500
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1136 Children’s Books, Seven Volumes, including: La Civilite Puerile et Honnete, Expliquee par L’Oncle Eugene, illustrated by Monvel, Plon-Nourrit & Cie., [c. 1900] and six others. $200-300
1192 Les Français Peints par Eux-Mêmes. Encyclopédie Morale du XIXe Siècle. Paris: L. Curmer, 1840-1842. First edition, five large octavo volumes, illustrated throughout with full-page hand-colored lithographs and uncolored wood engraved vignettes, bound in full uniform contemporary full red morocco by Bedford, gilt tooled spines, a.e.g., 10 1/8 x 7 in. The text includes literary contributions of Balzac, Janin, Karr, Méry, Soulié, Petrus Borel, Monnier, Nodier; with illustrations by Daumier, Gavarni, Grandville, Monnier, Meissonier, and Paquet. The work conveys a wonderfully playful contemporary portrait of French characters and “types,” lovingly and mockingly described and portrayed. $300-500
1102 Bisch, Louisa C.C. Dedie aux Chers Enfants de mon Neveu le Dr. en Med. L.E. Bisch par leur Tante, Hand-painted Manuscript. [Paris?], 1924. Folio format manuscript on gessoed canvas leaves, hand-lettered and painted throughout, fifteen leaves, each decorated on rectos only, featuring instructive text and images regarding the behavior of children, in addition to the portraits of children going about everyday activities at home and committing acts of mischief, other images of note include children building a snowman, and several precise vignettes of insects and birds; 15 3/4 x 11 1/2 in. $300-500
1182 Iribe, Paul (1883-1935) Blanc et Rouge, Rose et Noir [and] Bleu Blanc Rouge. Paris: Plaquette, 1930-1932. Complete set of limited first editions, comprising three promotional albums for the wine merchant Nicolas, each one of 500 deluxe copies printed, illustrated by Paul Iribe with nine full-page tinted photographic prints and folding pochoir illustrations, each in its original glassine dust jacket, including menus and wine survey cards from Nicolas’s wine dinner events; [together with] Iribe’s Parlons Français, Paris: Floury, 1934. $300-500
z e l ? r s a u P Vo
1161
“God gave
1039 Lee, Robert E. (1807-1870) Photograph Signed by Matthew Brady, Gen. R.E. Lee and Staff. Washington, DC: Brady & Co., 1865. Taken at his Richmond home on Franklin Street in April 1865, not long after Appomattox, flanked by his son, General George Washington Custis Lee, and Colonel Walter Taylor; inscribed at the bottom to Colonel Robert Alexander, "Compliments of his friend, M.B. Brady," the photo 8 3/4 x 6 3/4 in. $4,000-6,000
1041 Lincoln, Abraham (1809-1865) Signed Carte-de-visite. Alexander Gardner’s portrait taken August 9, 1863, the bust only from the full-length standing pose with Gardner’s stamp on the verso, signed “A. Lincoln” in brown ink on the mount beneath the photographic image, 4 x 2 3/8 in., with a note signed by Morgan Dix (1827-1908): “President Lincoln, during an interview with my father General [John Adams] Dix at the White House, signed this photograph, and told him to take it to me with his kind regards.” General Dix (1798-1879) was Secretary of the Treasury, Governor of New York and major general in the Union Army during the Civil War. Dix was the author of an important rallying cry for the cause of the North. At the outbreak of hostilities, Dix sent a telegram to his Treasury agents in New Orleans with the following order: “If any one attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot.” Although the message was intercepted by Confederate soldiers and never reached its intended audience, the slogan did find its way onto many pro-Union tokens and other propaganda during the war. $15,000-25,000
us Lincoln and Liberty, let us fight for both.”
—Ulysses S. Grant
1280
1043
The Life, Campaigns, and Public Services of General McClellan, Jonathan V. Nicolay’s Copy. Philadelphia: Peterson & Brothers, 1864. First edition, octavo, signed on ffep by Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln’s personal secretary, with the note, “Executive Mansion, March 10, 1864,” with contemporary book ticket of the Metropolitan Book Store, Philip & Solomon’s in Washington, DC, 7 1/4 x 5 in.
Longstreet, James (1821-1904) Autograph Letter Signed, 2 October 1885. Single sheet of lined paper, inscribed on both pages, old folds, discolored stripe across top, stamped by the U.S. Pension Office, Court of Pensions note on verso; Longstreet asks to write for a federal pension, based on injuries received during the Mexican-American War in 1847, but asks that his plea stays out of the newspapers, 9 x 5 3/4 in. “I beg your indulgence to inquire if I am entitled to a pension for a severe wound received in storming Chapultepec in Mexico, on the 13th of September 1847. At the same time I will ask that the matter be so investigated that it shall not reach the newspapers, unless the decision should be favorable, as an adverse decision will put me in position not very pleasant. I have frequently been told by surgeons who examine applicants that my claim is a just one, but the fact of being in the Confederate Army since the war casts a doubt in my mind, as to the law in the case.” $2,000-3,000
This relic of the Lincoln White House dates from the presidential campaign of 1864, when the two old rivals from the war, Lincoln and McClellan, ran against each other for President. $200-300
1026 Grant, Ulysses S. (1822-1885) Signed Photograph. Oval albumen image of Grant with a grizzled beard, turned slightly to his right, in a jacket and tie, signed in black ink at the bottom of the image, matted, in a finely carved oak frame, the image 5 1/4 x 4 in., the frame 15 x 12 1/2 in. overall. $2,000-3,000
Fine Books & Manuscripts online Sale 3103T preview June 5, 12–5PM, June 6, 10AM–7PM & June 7, 10AM–5PM 274 Cedar Hill Street, Marlborough, MA
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Join us for a Marlborough Gallery Lecture
Rudolf Spoor: “Space Pioneers” Spoor’s story of passionate collecting began with a disastrous backyard model rocket detonation and led to a lifelong career in the Dutch media. Come hear him speak on his close connection to the American space program as a journalist, his collection, and his enthusiasm for the spirit that moved the immense team of rocket scientists, mathematicians, test pilots, and astronauts and made modern space exploration possible.
Wednesday, June 6, 2018
274 Cedar Hill Street, Marlborough, MA
Devon Eastland books@skinnerinc.com | 508.970.3293
Reception 5PM | Lecture 6PM
MA LIC. 2304
Cover Lot 1358 Marie Adrien Persac (1823-1873) Norman’s Chart of the Lower Mississippi River. New Orleans, Louisiana: Published by B.M. Norman, 1858. Oversized cadastral map of the lower Mississippi, printed by lithography on joined sheets of wove paper, with hundreds of long lots delineated, identified by owner, and picked out in blue along the river, the map printed within an elaborate border of twining morning glory vines, featuring four illustrated vignettes of Baton Rouge, a river scene, featuring the steamboat Julia; a port scene of New Orleans; a view of a cotton plantation; and another of a sugar plantation; rare, 62 x 30 1/4 in. $50,000-70,000
RSVP events@skinnerinc.com reservations are requested
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Upcoming featured Auction: July 20, 2018 | Boston, MA An Important California Collection of Early English Books Including approximately 200 lots of English imprints, many from before 1600, including rare titles in literature, theology, politics, and government, and many high spots of the period. A copy of Shakespeare’s Fourth Folio will be offered, along with other Elizabethan-period source material. Andrea Mays, author of The Millionaire and the Bard: Henry Folger’s Obsessive Hunt for Shakespeare’s First Folio, will speak about her book, early printing, collecting, and the upcoming auction. Please join us to preview the collection in Boston and to hear Mays speak on July 19th—Reception at 5:30PM, lecture to begin at 6PM.