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Exceptionally rare and spectacular 17th century editions of both volumes of Cervantes’ masterpiece Don Quixote; comprising one of the most desirable pairings of both volumes: Cervantes' final revised third edition of Part I and the scarce first edition of Part II
CERVANTES SAAVEDRA, MIGUEL DE.
El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Segunda Parte del Ingenioso Cavallero Don Quixote de la Mancha.
Madrid: Por Juan de La Cuesta, vendese en casa de Francisco de Robles, librero del Rey 1608-1615.
Exceedingly rare and spectacular 17th century editions of both volumes of Cervantes’ prized work, the remarkable Beilby Thompson-Maggs-Ortiz Linares copy with a shared provenance spanning over 320 years, this is among the oldest known sets of both parts paired and uniformly bound in the 18th century, comprising one of the most desirable pairings of the editions of each volume selected for the superior qualities of their respective printings: the third edition of Part I – printed in 1608 – being the last edition corrected and revised by Cervantes himself which remains its definitive form, and the scarce first edition of Part II – printed in 1615 – which is one of the rarest editions of any of Cervantes’ works obtainable.
Editions of Don Quixote printed during Cervantes’s lifetime are the crown jewel of Spanish book-collecting, as the four Folios of Shakespeare are to English book-collecting, a complete set in a uniform 18th century binding is of the utmost rarity; a once-in-a-lifetime acquisition.
Octavo, two volumes uniformly bound in full 18th century granite basane with burgundy morocco spine labels lettered in gilt, gilt ruling to the spine in six compartments within raised bands, double gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, speckled edges, wood engraved headpieces, initials and tailpieces, Juan de La Cuesta’s woodcut printer’s device of a hooded falcon with the motto Post Tenebras Spero Lucem to each title page.
Part I: El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Madrid: Por Juan de La Cuesta, vendese en casa de Francisco de Robles, librero del Rey, 1608. Third Madrid edition.
The rare third Madrid edition of the first part of Cervantes’ masterpiece was the last edition to be corrected and revised by Cervantes himself and the best, in terms of printing quality and artistry, of the editions printed by La Cuesta. Its text contains additions and alterations of fundamental importance for modern critical editions and has remained an authority for centuries.
Encouraged by the success of other fictional works, such as Mateo Alemán’s Guzmán de Alfarache (The life of Guzman de Alfarache), Francisco de Robles, printer to the king, bought the rights to publish Don Quixote in the summer of 1604 for 1,500 reales. On September 26, 1604, the privilege to print the work was granted and De Robles contracted Juan de la Cuesta, manager of the press of Pedro Madrigal in Madrid, to undertake the printing, which began in late September 1604 only days after the license to publish was granted. The printing was completed in December 1604 and Murcia de la Llana composed the errata.
The true editio princeps (first printed edition) of Don Quixote was riddled with typos and errors due to the low-quality typography that characterized Spanish printing at the time and the speed with which the book was produced. Its success, however, was instantaneous and demand for more copies was so high that as early as March 1605 (only months after the completion of its first printing), de Robles and La Cuesta were planning a second edition.
In June 1605, La Cuesta printed the second edition of Don Quixote which corrected many of the major errors of the first edition, but simultaneously created new ones.
It was not until the third edition, again printed by La Cuesta at the expense of Robles in 1608, however, that the text of the first part of Don Quixote found its definitive form, revised by the author, himself, who lived “two steps away from the printing shop” (Rico, p. xcii). This third edition contained Cervantes’ final revisions.
Title with the mark of Juan de La Cuesta, 2r: with the Tassa, dated Valladolid on December 20, 1604 (at 3 maravedis per sheet, the tax rises to 255 maravedis), and with an approval dated Madrid on June 25, 1608 signed by Francisco Murcia de la Llana, 2v: approval of Juan de Amezqueta dated Valladolid on September 26, 1604, 4r: dedication by Miguel de Cervantes to Alonso Diego López de Zúñiga, 6th Duke of Béjar (1578-1619), A1r: text (misplaced notebook), 1r: Prologue, 5r: poems and sonnets, B1r: continuation of the text, 2M6v: table of chapters
Part II: Segunda Parte del Ingenioso Cavallero Don Quixote de la Mancha. Por Juan de La Cuesta, vendese en casa de Francisco de Robles, librero del Rey, 1615. First edition.
The original and very rare first edition released in 1615 would become an even greater success for Cervantes and, because it was devoured by the public so quickly, remaining copies are scarce.
It is not certain when Cervantes began writing Part II of Don Quixote, but he had probably not proceeded much further than Chapter LIX by late July 1614. In September, however, a spurious Part II, entitled Second Volume of the Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha: by the Licenciado (doctorate) Alonso Fernández de Avellaneda, of Tordesillas, was published in Tarragona by an unidentified Aragonese who was an admirer of Lope de Vega, rival of Cervantes. Avellaneda’s identity has been the subject of many theories, but there is no consensus as to who he was.
Hastened to complete Part II in order to take revenge on Avellaneda, in January 1615, Cervantes finished the final chapters of Part II and it was published in November 1615, again by Juan de La Cuesta at the expense of Robles. The success was once again immediate and considerable. The book was devoured by the public to the point that, today, the first edition of Part II of 1615 is known to be rarer than that of Part I of 1605.
Like the first edition of Part I of Don Quixote, the first edition of Part II contained many errors. In 1998, thanks to his remarkable study on the typographical recomposition of three notebooks from the original edition of 1615, R.M. Flores was able to carry out an extrapolation on the number of errors in the original editions of 1605 and 1615. He estimated this number at eight thousand possible errors and concluded, “It is becoming more and more obvious that this is exactly what has happened in the case of Cervantes’ works. We perceive Cervantes’ style, vocabulary, and orthography only through the irregularities, imperfections, and impurities of the bottle-glass panels placed between us and Cervantes’s writings by the composers of the first editions of these works.”
Flores was able to detect two different states in three notebooks of this edition (A, G, Q) following their recomposition by three composers (out of ten) from the workshop of Juan de La Cuesta. The Ortiz Linares copy is in first condition similar to the Serís 12 listed copy of the Hispanic Society of America. These state distinctions for the 1615 were made, however, at the beginning of their history, Flores specified: “It has been tacitly accepted that all copies of the first edition of Don Quixote, Part II (Juan de la Cuesta, Madrid, 1615) were made up with sheets belonging to the same printing. This long held, though hitherto untested assumption is incorrect. A thorough collation of copies Seris 12 of the Hispanic Society of America and Arch.B.e 7/3 of the Bodeliain Library reveals a substantial number of textual and typographical variants between these two copies. No two copies of the first edition of Don Quixote, Part II, are identical” (R. M. Flores, “A Tale of Two printings: Don Quixote, Part II”, Studies in Bibliography, 39, 1986).
Title with the mark of Juan de La Cuesta, 2r: with the Tassa, dated Madrid on October 21, 1615 (at 4 maravedis per sheet, the tax rises to 292 maravedis), and with the Fee de erratas, also dated Madrid October 21, 1615, 2r: approvals given in Madrid, November 5, 1615, by Gutierre de Cetina, March 17, 1615, by Joseph de Valdivieslo, and February 26, 1615 , by Marquez Torres, 5r: privilege granted to Cervantes by the king, for twenty years, on March 30, 1615, 6r: Prólogo al lector, in which Cervantes complains about the publication of Fernandez de Avellaneda, 8r: epistle of dedication by Miguel de Cervantes to Pedro Fernández de Castro, 7th Count of Lemos (1576-1622), dated Madrid, October 31, 1615, A1r: text, 2N1r: Tabla de los capítulos, 2N4r: En Madrid, por Iuan de la Cuesta, Ano M.DC.XV
Provenance: Beilby Thompson (1742-1799), owner of the Escrick Park Estate, with his 18th century armorial bookplate to each pastedown – his sister Jane Thompson (1743-1816), wife of Sir Robert Lawley (died 1793) — Sir Paul Beilby Lawley Thompson (1784-1851), became 8th Baron Wenlock in 1839, then by descent — Maggs Brothers, London, sold to Jorge Ortiz Linares on 21 December 1936, for £850.
Beilby Thompson owned the Escrick Park estate in Yorkshire, which covered an area of over 10,000 hectares. “Having inherited the family estate at the age of seven or eight, Thompson went on to study at Cambridge, entering Christ’s College in November 1759. He was a fellow commoner (an affluent, usually aristocratic, student granted among other privileges that of sharing with the Fellows of a College the amenities of the high table) and seems – as was frequently the case for such students – not to have graduated. He served as a Yorkshire MP for nearly thirty years and was evidently a keen collector of books. Thirty of his books are recorded in the ESTC database of pre-1801 English imprints and hundreds of others probably lie unnotified on library shelves” (Cambridge University Library Special Collections). Thompson’s fine library at Escrick Parkin housed a classical collection and books on Italian topography. Because Thompaon had no direct heir, “Miss Irene Lawley in 1912, on the death of her father Lord Wenlock, inherited the Escrick Park estate in Yorkshire. Death duties amounted to £60,000, of which she raised £20,000 at once by sales, paying the rest at the rate of £5,000 a year for eight years. But since her net income was only £4,000 a year, she had no choice but to let the house, and ultimately to sanction its conversion to flats” (D. Cannadine, The Decline and fall of the British aristocracy, New York, 1999, p. 129). The current owner of Escrick, Sir Charles Forbes Adam, a distant descendant of Beilby Thompson, confirmed the departure of these Cervantes at the turn of the 1930s: “I cannot say exactly, but I know that when my grandparents left Escrick Park in 1930/31 there were sales of books, paintings etc.” Still, these two Cervantes arrived at Maggs in the early 1930s without any trace of an auction being found.
Bolivian diplomat and famed book collector Jorge Ortiz Linares (1894-1965) served as the Bolivian ambassador to Paris after World War II. He was the son in law of Simón I. Patiño, one of the world’s wealthiest men of the early 20th century, also known as “The Tin King” or “The Andean Rockefeller.” Jorge Ortiz Linares began as a Civil Attache to the Bolivian Legation in late 1925 and subsequently as Second Secretary, First Secretary and Advisor until 1941. He was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Bolivia to France from June 1947 to October 1948. He then held the same functions in Belgium and the Netherlands, while retaining his Parisian residence. The apartment Jorge Ortiz Linares shared with his wife Graciela Patiño on 34 Avenue Foch in Paris during his long ambassadorship became one of the centers of artistic and high-society life. He passionately collected rare books and manuscripts from early ages, focusing on two areas: his native Hispanic-American world and French literature, in time building one of the great libraries of the era. In 1951, he was appointed Special Advisor by the Bolivian Embassy in Paris and was decorated with the Legion of Honor.
Linares purchased Don Quixote from Maggs, bookseller to the Kings, in 1936. He visited the famed London bookshop for the first time in the early 1930s in search of great editions of Don Quixote, but left empty-handed and was placed on a waiting list. A few years later, the phone rang at Linares’ Parisian mansion on 34 Avenue Foch and he was told that Maggs had just secured a superior copy for him. He returned to London and purchased the books on December 21, 1936 for £850, along with a very rare original edition of Cervantes’ Novelas of 1613, and thus began one of the greatest book collections of the 20th century.
Condition:
Part I: Notebook A is incorrectly placed. Small rust hole in C5 with missing 3 letters, angular missing in I2 without any damage to the text, 2I6 poorly printed. Back of volume I restored by Maggs in the 1930s Inner margin of ff. P2 and PA with a paper break without any missing. Small tear without missing (approximately 3 cm) in the first white leaf of volume 1 (1608). Some restorations to the binding.
Part II: underlining in brown ink in 2M6.
Each volume housed in a custom folding silk chemise and full crushed levant morocco box by Zaehnsdorf.
The most important set of Don Quixote volumes to appear on the market in thirty years, four centuries after they were printed in Madrid, and almost a century after they were bought by Ortiz Linares, the books are the rarest and best example to have reached the market in decades.
The most important set of Don Quixote volumes to appear on the market in thirty years, editions of Don Quixote printed during Cervantes’s lifetime are the crown jewel of Spanish book-collecting, as the four Folios of Shakespeare are to English book-collecting, a complete set in a uniform binding circa 1750 is of the utmost rarity; a once-in-a-lifetime acquisition.
Price: $1,900,000.00 Item Number: 142820
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"Who is the most important person I've ever met in a signing queue & the first person ever to see merit in Harry Potter. With huge [underlined 4 times] thanks. J.K. Rowling": First Edition, First Printing of J.K. Rowling's Rare First Book Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone; Inscribed by Her to Bryony Evens and with a large original illustration by Thomas Taylor
ROWLING, J.K.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
London: Bloomsbury 1997.
First edition, first printing of the rarest book in the Harry Potter series, a cornerstone of young adult literature, and one of the best-selling books of all time. First printing with “First published in Great Britain in 1997”, the full number line “10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1”, “Joanne Rowling” for “J.K. Rowling”, and “Thomas Taylor1997” (lacking the space) on the copyright page and “1 wand” listed twice (as the first item and last item) on the “Other Equipment” list on page 53. Octavo, original laminated pictorial boards, without a dust jacket as issued. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the dedication page, “to Bryony – who is the most important person I’ve ever met in a signing queue & the first person ever to see merit in Harry Potter. With huge [underlined 4 times] thanks. J.K. Rowling.” Additionally signed and with a large original drawing by cover illustrator Thomas Taylor. The recipient, Bryony Evens was one of the first people to read the opening chapters of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the first to recognize the work’s inherent value, and perhaps the most instrumental figure in getting the book published. Working at the time at Christopher Little Literary Agency in Scotland, Evens was the first point of contact in receiving and sorting unsolicited manuscripts. Evens read Rowling’s submission of the first three chapters of the book and passed it along to Little, who approved that she obtain the full manuscript and promote it to suitable publishers. Given a small budget, Evens was only able to print three manuscripts to pitch to publishing houses and, after twelve months and twelve rejections, was finally given the green light by editor Barry Cunningham from Bloomsbury in London. Bloomsbury published the book on June 26, 1997. A year later, Bryony attended a Harry Potter book signing event where Rowling received her with open arms and warmly inscribed the present volume. Rowling was working as a researcher and bilingual secretary for Amnesty International in 1990 when she conceived the idea for the Harry Potter series while on a delayed train from Manchester to London. The seven-year period that followed saw the death of her mother, birth of her first child, divorce from her first husband, and relative poverty. A true “rags to riches” story, the publication of the present volume would bring her from living on benefits to billionaire status. She was named the world’s first billionaire author by Forbes in 2014 and the Harry Potter series has become the best-selling book series of all time. In near fine condition with a touch of rubbing to the extremities. At the time of the book’s publication in 1996, illustrator Thomas Taylor had just graduated from art school and was working at Heffers Children’s Bookshop in Cambridge. At Heffers, Taylor educated himself on the children’s book market and its major publishers and decided to submit a portfolio of his illustrations to the offices of Bloomsbury Publishing, including several drawings of dragons and wizards. Taylor heard back from Bloomsbury’s editor, Barry Cunningham (who had recently decided to take a chance on publishing Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone after it had been rejected by twelve other publishers) almost immediately. Cunningham phoned him at Heffers and asked if he could create a design for the cover of a relatively unknown author’s first book about a schoolboy wizard. He sent Taylor an incomplete manuscript of the book and, after two days, Taylor had a final product: a watercolor painting of a young Harry Potter with his lightning-bolt scar standing next to the Hogwarts Express on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Only 500 copies of the first printing were published, 300 of which were distributed directly to libraries. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box made by the Harcourt Bindery. An exceptional association copy linking the most important figure in the publication of Harry Potter and the creator of his iconic image.
Price: $975,000.00 Item Number: 115640
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THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON'S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS
THOMSON, CHARLES. [GEORGE WASHINGTON].
George Washington’s Commission as General and Commander in Chief of the Army of the United Colonies.
Philadelphia: June 19, 1775.
One of only two originals of George Washington’s Commission as General and Commander in Chief of the Army of the United Colonies; the Ahlstrom discovery, the only duplicate of Washington’s own document now in the Library of Congress. One-page, oblong folio on sheepskin vellum, autograph document signed, entirely in the hand of Charles Thomson Secretary of the Continental Congress (including the signature of John Hancock which Thomson copied from the original document), appointing George Washington as General and Commander in Chief of the army of the United Colonies, Philadelphia, 19 June 1775. The document reads in full, “In Congress The delegates of the United colonies of New hampshire, Massachusetts bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New Castle, Kent & Sussex on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina & South Carolina To George Washington Esquire We reposing especial trust and confidence in your patriotism conduct and fidelity Do by these presents constitute and appoint you to be General and Commander in Chief of the army of the United Colonies and of all the forces raised or to be raised by them and of all others who shall voluntarily offer their service and join the said army for the defence of American Liberty and for repelling every hostile invasion thereof. And you are hereby vested with the full power and authority to vet as you shall think for the good and welfare of the service. And we do hereby strictly charge and require all officers and soldiers under your command to be obedient to your orders and diligent in the exercise of their several duties. And we do also enjoin and require you to be careful in executing the great trust reposed in you by causing strict discipline and order to be observed in the army and that the soldiers are duly exercised and provided with all convenient necessaries. And you are to regulate your conduct in every respect by the rules and disciplines of war as herewith given you and punctually to observe and follow such orders and direction from time as you shall receive from this or a future Congress of the said United Colonies or a committee of Congress for that purpose appointed. This Commission to continue in force until revoked by this or a future Congress. Dated Philadelphia June 19th 1775. By the Order of Congress Attest. Cha Thomson Secy. John Hancock President.”
Referred to as “the Ahlstrom discovery,” this previously unrecorded original of Washington’s commission is the first to appear in over a century since the “Hancock original” was returned to the Library of Congress after being found in the transfer of Washington’s papers in 1904. The text and format are nearly identical to that of Washington’s own document now in the Library of Congress which is also on vellum.
Provenance: Dr. George Whitfield Avery (1835-1983), “we know that the framed document [at the time Ahlstrom purchased it] hung for many years in [his] office… a letter from his granddaughter, who still lives in Ohio, tells of David Avery, Dr. Avery’s grandfather, being acquainted with General Washington” (see, A Significant George Washington Discovery by Richard M. Ahlstrom, 1975). — Richard M. Ahlstrom, purchased the document in 1969, at an antique show in northeastern Ohio; includes scans of his published notes, as well as scans of letters and notes from leading authorities. — Lot 369, Important Americana, Sotheby Parke Bernet, 24 February 1976 (highlight of its bicentennial auction, however, withdrawn from sale pending further review).
On June 15, 1775, the Continental Congress, “Resolved, that a general be appointed to command all the continental forces, raised, or to be raised, for defence of American liberty… The Congress proceeded to the choice of a general, by ballot, when George Washington, Esq. was unanimously elected” (Journal of the Continental Congress for June, 1775). On the following day, President Hancock, “From the chair informed Geo. Washington, Esq. that he had the orders of Congress to acquaint him that the Congress had, by unanimous vote, made choice of him to be General and Commander in Chief, to take the supreme command of the Forces raised, and to be raised, in defence of American liberty, and desired his acceptance of it. To which, Colonel Washington, standing in his place…” gave his response. When Colonel Washington had completed his acceptance speech, it was, “Resolved, that a committee of three be appointed to draught a commission and instructions for the General” (ibid). On Saturday, June 17, the Congress, “Met according to adjournment,” and, “The committee appointed to draught a commission for the General, reported the same, which, being read by paragraphs and debated was agreed to” (ibid). It was then ordered that the commission be, “Dated, Phila. June 17, 1775, and, that the same be fairly transcribed, to be signed by the President, and attested by the Secretary and delivered to the General” (ibid). Timothy Matlack was chosen from among the congressional clerks to write out the commissions of both George Washington and Adjutant General Horatio Gates. General Washington’s Commission was prepared with a number of significant textual changes from the approved resolution, and dated June 17, to conform with the date of the resolution of the Congress. This date was altered by John Hancock when he was presented with the Commission for signature on Monday, June 19th, by his making a nine out of a seven. Shortly after receiving his commission, Washington departed for Massachusetts and took charge of the Continental Army in Cambridge on July 3, 1775. Following eight years of conflict, he stepped down from his role as Commander in Chief on December 23, 1783.
When the original commission was given back to Congress by Washington at the close of the War, it was in remarkably good physical condition, and speculation began about the existence of a second document. Charles Thomson (1729-1824), a Founding Father of the United States, served as the Secretary of the Continental Congress throughout its existence, from 1774 to 1789. He was responsible for maintaining the records of the Congress and played a significant role in the administrative affairs of the revolutionary government. Thomson’s meticulous record-keeping contributed to the historical documentation of the events and decisions made during the early years of the United States that was so vital to a Congress whose members were ever-changing. Along with Hancock, Thomson’s name appeared on the first published version of the Declaration of Independence in July 1776 – the only two names to appear on the document. Thomson is also known for co-designing the Great Seal of the United States that was first used in 1782, and later adopted by Congress as the national symbol. As his last official act as Secretary, Thomson would also be given the distinction of informing Washington of his election to the presidency. On March 23, 1789, Henry Knox informed George Washington, “At present it appears probable that Mr. Charles Thomson will have the honor of announcing to the President his appointment.” Then, on April 6, John Langdon wrote a letter to Washington, “to transmit to your Excellency the information of your unanimous election to the Office of President of the United States of America.” Thomson delivered this letter to Washington at Mount Vernon on April 14, 1789.
As Secretary of the Congress, Thomson oversaw the safe keeping all documents related to his post. “When the new federal government was established in 1789, Thomson transferred all of the papers of the Continental Congress to the Department of State. In a letter written July 24, 1789, Washington instructed Thomson ‘to deliver the Books, Records & Papers of the late Congress—the Great Seal of the Federal Union—and the Seal of the Admiralty, to Mr Roger Alden, the late Deputy Secretary of Congress; who is requested to take charge of them until further directions shall be given'” (Harvard University, Declaration Resources Project, Charles Thomson, 4 November 2017). It is known that Charles Thomson was in possession of the original commission that Washington handed to Congress at the end of the War and in a letter dated 22 January 1784, Washington wrote to Thomson requesting that his commission be deposited amongst his own papers for his future family legacy. On 7 February 1784, Thomson obliged and returned the commission with hope that it may “prove an incentive to them to emulate the virtues of their worthy great progenitor.” The present document is without a doubt, entirely in the hand of Thomson and the text and format are nearly identical to that of Washington’s own document now in the Library of Congress – which is also on vellum.
Previously, the document was submitted to the Documentary History of the First Federal Congress Project at The George Washington University, and on 15 January 1974, the handwriting expert, Helen E. Veits, wrote in a letter to Ahlstrom: “Based upon the manuscripts in our possession, I am quite confident that [this] document was written in the hand of Charles Thomson, Secretary to the Continental Congress”. Included with this lot, is Charles Thomson’s signature cut from a printed document that shows the exact similarities of the one he used for Washington’s commission.
“Charles Thomson’s attestation of the Declaration of Independence, in the Dunlap broadside and subsequent printings, was an affirmation of both the text and the act of declaring independence. But the Declaration was far from the only Congressional resolution to bear Thomson’s name. Almost any resolution pulled directly from the minutes of the Congress was also accompanied by Thomson’s name, confirming its authenticity” (Harvard University, Declaration Resources Project, Charles Thomson, 4 November 2017). Not only did Thomson sign the document in his capacity as Secretary of Congress, but he also affirmed the genuineness of such a document by attesting to it. Only Charles Thomson could apply his signature after the word “attest” as he did on numerous resolutions of the Continental Congress including the Declaration of Independence. According to a note from Gary D. Eyler of Old Colony Shop, there are three reasons this document could have been produced. The first is that the document originated to be used to show that Washington was in fact nominated for that position when he quickly proceeded up to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to take command of the troops. Secondly, that it could have been written as a backup for the secret files of Congress, in case of British invasion, capture, or destruction that was about to befall upon the Continental Congress. Or lastly, it was drawn up by Thomson at the request of Washington when he asked for his original to be sent back to him after the end of the War. In a letter to Ahlstrom from Dr. Paul G. Sifton at The Library of Congress on 8 August 1973, Sifton wrote that there is no other copy or draft of Washington’s commission, and in addition: “Commissions issued by the Second Continental Congress ordinarily consisted of one copy to the designated recipient. In rare instances, a duplicate would be issued upon the later application by the commission holder”. After an executive order that was issued requiring the transfer of Washington’s papers to the Library of Congress in 1904, the Library notes that “some of the many manuscripts that became separated over the years from the main body of Washington’s papers have already been noted. It may be well at this point to refer to others of the kind. There is evidence that certain private papers of Washington were distributed among members of the Washington family, who later gave them away or sold them.”
In very good condition, small hole affecting one word, small stain affecting one word, older repair with small hole at left margin from old seal, some marginal browning and old folds. Triple matted and framed. The document measures 15.5 inches by 12 inches. The entire piece measures 22.5 inches by 18.75 inches.
Undeniably one of the most important historical American documents still in private hands.
Price: $975,000.00 Item Number: 145372
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"This is what I gave voluntarily at the risk of my life to keep my promise to the Government": Exceptionally rare document containing the fingerprints of Mohandas K. Gandhi; signed and inscribed by him
GANDHI, MOHANDAS K.
Mohandas K. Gandhi Signed Document.
: 1909.
Early 20th century South African government document containing the fingerprints of Mohandas K. Gandhi, signed and inscribed by him, “This is what I gave voluntarily at the risk of my life to keep my promise to the Government. Phoenix, Natal, 15th February 1909, M.K. Gandhi.” In April 1893, Gandhi aged 23, set sail for South Africa to practice law in the colony of Natal, which, like India was part of the British Empire. The racial discrimination he experienced in his first year of residence inspired him to found the Natal Indian Congress which opposed several proposed discriminatory legislations and molded the Indian community of South Africa into a unified political force. One of the NIC’s notable efforts was organizing public resistance to the South African government’s mandatory fingerprinting of Indian South African residents in 1907 and 1908. Gandhi was repeatedly arrested and imprisoned for refusing to submit to fingerprinting, both of himself and other Indians. In October 1908, during a trip to the Transvaal, Gandhi refused to produce a registration certificate or other means of identity to officials at the Natal-Transvaal border, and was charged under section 9 of the Asiatic Registration Amendment Act, a law which had only been in force since September 21st 1908. Gandhi used his appearance in court to explain his reasons for leading resistance to the Asiatic Registration Act and the related Asiatic Registration Amendment Act. He was sentenced to two months in prison, but was released when he agreed to the voluntary registration recorded in the present document. Matted and framed. An exceptionally rare piece of history from Gandhi’s formative years as a nonviolent activist, the only known example of Mahatma Gandhi’s fingerprints.
Price: $650,000.00 Item Number: 132138
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“THE MOST IMPORTANT SERIES OF AMERICAN POLITICAL DEBATES”: Exceedingly rare first edition, first issue of The Lincoln-Douglas Debates; inscribed by Abraham Lincoln to long-time political supporter and friend Martin S. Morris and accompanied by the table from the Morris household that Lincoln signed the book on
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM .
Political Debates Between Hon. Abraham Lincoln and Hon. Stephen Douglas, In the Celebrated Campaign of 1858, in Illinois.
Columbus: Follett, Foster and Company 1860.
First edition, first issue of the most famous debates in American history which cemented Lincoln as a national presidential candidate; inscribed by Lincoln in pencil to close friend Martin S. Morris and accompanied by the table from the Morris household that Lincoln signed the book on. Octavo, original cloth stamped in blind. First issue, with no advertisements, no rule above the publisher’s imprint on the copyright page, and with numeral 2 at the bottom of page 17. Association copy, inscribed by Abraham Lincoln in pencil on the front free endpaper, “M. S. Morris Esq A. Lincoln.” The recipient, Martin S. Morris, was was a long-time political supporter and friend of Abraham Lincoln from Menard County, Illinois. In March 1843, Lincoln wrote to Morris, “It is truly gratifying to me to learn that while the people of Sangamon have cast me off, my friends of Menard who have known me longest and best of any, still retain their confidence in me.” Morris was selected as one of the delegates from Menard County to attend the Whig convention in Pekin in May 1843, but was detained by an illness and Francis Regnier attended in his place. The convention selected John J. Hardin rather than Lincoln as the Whig candidate for Congress from that district. In June 1852, Morris’s close friend Whig Congressman (and later Illinois governor) Richard Yates wrote to him from Washington regarding the 1852 presidential election. The Democratic National Convention was then underway in Baltimore, and after 32 ballots by the convention, Yates believed the chances of receiving the nomination were against U.S. Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois unless “his almost never failing good luck may avail him.” Ultimately on the 49th ballot, the Convention nominated Franklin Pierce, who had received no votes until the 35th ballot. Laid in is Yates’ letter to Morris which reads in part, “Washington June 4, 1852 Dear Morris, I thank you kindly… The Democratic Convention is now in session in Baltimore. The 32nd ballot has been had, and no nomination. Douglass does not appear to have as much strength as anticipated, and if we were to judge from present indications the chances are against him. How far his almost never failing good luck may avail him remains to be seen… The contest between Fillmore & Scott, it is now believed, will be very close. Some of the knowing ones, (who have not much to do but make calculations) say that the vote of Illinois will decide the question. We do not know how the Illinois delegation stands but we suppose nearly equal for Scott and for Fillmore.. Fillmore and his friends will, (if necessary to defeat Gen’l Scott), cast their vote for Mr. Webster… My opinion, and it is only an opinion is that Gen’l Scott will receive the nomination. Of one thing I feel pretty sure that either Scott or Fillmore will be supported most cheerfully by the Whigs, and what is better the Whigs here and throughout the Union have an abiding confidence that they will again gloriously triumph in November. Such was not the case at the beginning of the session. There was more or less of despondency then, but the skies are bright ahead now and (be the result what it may), the Whigs will march up to the work with unfaltering purpose and in the confident hope of victory… Your friend Richard Yates.” The Whig National Convention met a few weeks later, also in Baltimore, and the contest remained close between Winfield Scott and incumbent president Millard Fillmore, with Daniel Webster running a distant third, until Scott finally received the nomination on the 53rd ballot. In his letter to Morris, Yates was confident of a Whig victory in November, but Pierce went on to defeat Scott with 51 percent of the vote to Scott’s 44 percent, and an overwhelming 254-to-42 victory in the Electoral College. In May 1858, Morris wrote to Lincoln that he and other Republicans in Menard County “are up and doing” and “though we are in a minority, we nevertheless intend to give them [the Democrats] the best fight we can.” Four months later, he again wrote to “Friend Lincoln”: “If there is any reliance to be placed on the papers which I read, you are certainly making a very successful electioneering tour through the state, and whether you are elected to the senate or not, you certainly have reason to congratulate yourself and feel proud of the manifestations of confidence every where shown you by the people I have said and believed ever since Douglass repealed the MO. Com. That you would be his successor the first chance the people had to vote in matter, that was a most rascally thing and I believe would and know it ought to politically damn him and all who had anything to do with it, at least in the north…. But my object is not to write a dissertation on politicks knowing well that I could say nothing But which you already know, But merely to inform you by way of adding to the encouragement which I believe you are every where receiving, the good news, that you may calculate with a very great degree of certainty on a vote from Menard & Cass. We are glad that you have made an appointment to speak here and will endeavor to get you a large crowd.” Contrary to Morris’s assurances, in the race for state representative from Cass and Menard, Democrat William Engle defeated Republican James W. Judy for a seat in the legislature, where he dutifully voted for Stephen A. Douglas for the U.S. Senate. In September 1859, Morris was a delegate from Menard County to the Republican Congressional Convention for the Sixth Congressional District in Springfield. At the Convention, Morris was elected to the District Central Committee, which consisted of one delegate from each county. Among the resolutions passed by the Convention were, “Resolved, That the Territories of the United States are the common property of all the free white citizens of the whole Union, but that the institution of Slavery has no right or heritage therein…but at the same time, we strenuously oppose every attempt to interfere with slavery in the States where it now exists.” and “Resolved, That Freedom is universal and Slavery sectional, and cannot exist where it is not authorized by virtue of special local legislation; and that the Government of the United States, in the exercise of its powers, whether executive, legislative or judicial, is bound to adhere, in substance and in form, to the generous and noble spirit of these important maxims.” 6 Less than a month later, John Brown did “interfere with slavery in the States where it now exists” by seizing the federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. In 1862, Morris wrote to President Lincoln on behalf of his friend Henry Clay Denison, who was serving as a commissary clerk in the 14th Illinois Infantry regiment. Denison wanted a position as assistant quartermaster or assistant commissary in the army. Morris stressed that Denison was “a descendant of a good Whig family of the good old Whig state of Vermont his native place being Woodstock…. He is also as good a Republican as lives, and if he didn’t do as much he tried as hard as any one else to bring about your nomination &election.” President Lincoln dutifully forwarded the letter to the War Department. With Yates’ June 1852 letter to Morris laid in and with the ownership inscription of Morris’ great granddaughter beneath Lincoln’s inscription, “Property of Pauline Madgett Welton Lincoln’s signature (above).” Provenance: kept in the Morris family for over six generations (Martin S. Morris (1816-1884), husband of Elizabeth Waggoner Morris (1820-1901); Their daughter, Jane Eliza Morris Nance (1857-1927), wife of Benjamin Franklin Nance (1853-1914); Their daughter, Pauline E. Nance Madgett (1879-1971), wife of William P. Madgett (1875-1951); Their daughter, Pauline Helen Madgett Welton (1908-1978), wife of Claude R. Welton (1908-1978); Their son, William R. Welton (1939-2014); Welton family. Ownership inscription of Pauline Helen Madgett Welton. In very good condition. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Exceptionally rare signed by Lincoln with no other signed copies traced at auction. Accompanied by the original pedestal table from the Morris household that, according to generations of family lore, Lincoln sat at with Morris, signed the book, and ate apples as well as an oil portrait of Martin S. Morris which hung by the table. With a letter of provenance signed by a descendant of Pauline Helen Madgett Welton attesting to the provenance of the book, table and a portrait. According to Rae Katherine Eighmey, Abraham Lincoln in the Kitchen: A Culinary View (2014), fellow lawyer Charles S. Zane recalled Lincoln at a circuit town inn: “There was a ‘large basket of apples in the sitting room and we were invited to help ourselves. Mr. Lincoln was a great eater of apples. He said to me once that a man should eat and drink only that which is conducive to his own health. “Apples,” he said, “agree with me.”‘” (p. 131, citing Zane’s article in the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society in 1921). According to Eighmey, Herndon wrote of Lincoln: “He loved best the vegetable world generally…and especially did he love apples.”
Price: $550,000.00 Item Number: 138634
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Exceedingly rare first edition, first issue presentation copy of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit; inscribed by Tolkien to the Livesleys who ran the summer guest cottage in the village of Sidmouth which inspired 'The Shire' and where Tolkien did much of his writing
TOLKIEN, J.R.R.
The Hobbit.
London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd 1937.
First edition, first issue of Tolkien’s classic tale, “among the very highest achievements of children’s authors during the 20th century” (Carpenter & Pritchard, 530), one of only a handful of presentation copies reserved for Tolkien to give to family members, colleagues and close friends. Octavo, original cloth, cartographic endpapers, frontispiece and 9 full-page uncolored illustrations after drawings by Tolkien. Presentation copy, inscribed by Tolkien on the flyleaf, “Mr. & Mrs. Livesley & Edgar with best wishes from J.R.R. Tolkien.” The recipients, the Livesleys and their son Edgar, ran the Kennaway House, a Regency town house in the village of Sidmouth, East Devon which Tolkien used as a summer holiday home and the surrounds of which inspired the landscapes, flora, and fauna of The Shire”, the region of Middle-earth inhabited hobbits first introduced in The Hobbit. Situated on the rocky coast of the rustic Devon countryside, the village of Sidmouth has featured in a number of famed literary works, as “Stymouth” in Beatrix Potter’s children’s story The Tale of Little Pig Robinson (1930), “Idmouth” in Thomas Hardy’s Wessex, “Baymouth” in William Makepeace Thackeray’s Pendennis, and “Spudmouth” in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle. English poet Elizabeth Barrett lived in the town from 1832 until 1835. In the final stages of The Hobbit’s revisions, Tolkien notably penned a list of special recipients he wished to present copies of the first printing of the book to upon publication, including C.S. Lewis, R.W. Chambers, R.W. Chambers, Simone d’Ardenne, George S. Gordon, Elaine Griffiths, his aunts Mabel Mitton and Florence Hadley, and the Livesleys who hosted him at the Kennaway House. Published on September 21, 1937, the first printing of the Hobbit constituted only 1500 copies and completely sold out by December 15th. In near fine condition. Housed in a custom full morocco clamshell box. An exceptional association of the most highly coveted work in fantasy literature.
Price: $475,000.00 Item Number: 135801
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HAYEK'S PERSONAL COPY OF HIS MAGNUM OPUS THE ROAD TO SERFDOM; ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY; SIGNED BY HIM, WITH HIS CORRECTIONS AND MARGINALIA, AND IN THE SCARCE ORIGINAL DUST JACKET
HAYEK, FRIEDRICH AUGUST VON [F.A.].
The Road To Serfdom.
London: Routledge & Sons 1944.
Friedrich August von Hayek’s first edition personal copy of one of the most influential books of the twentieth century and the most popular exposition of classical liberalism ever published. Octavo, original cloth. Hayek’s personal copy with his ownership name to the front free endpaper, “F.A. Hayek” and notation, “published March 10th, 1944” and list of 12 early critical reviews of the book to the verso of the rear endpaper, “Reviews: Tablet 11/3/44 (Douglas Woodruff); Sunday Times 12/3 (1 or 2 volumes) Harold Hobson 2. 9/4 (G.M. Young); Birmingham Post 14/3 (T.W.H); Yorkshire Post 29/3; Financial News 30/3; Listener 30/3; Daily Sketch 30/3; Times Literary Suppl. 1/4; Spectator 31/3 M. Polanzi; Irish Times 25/3; Observer 9/4 (George Orwell); Manchester Guardian 14/4 (W).” As a powerful challenge to the developing establishment consensus on both sides of the Atlantic for a proactive role for the state, The Road to Serfdom entrenched Hayek’s status as a strong voice of the libertarian right. Written during the wartime period when the London School of Economics, where Hayek had taught since 1931, was evacuated to Cambridge, the work was written to address the likely mode of government in Post-War Britain, yet proved to be much more widely applicable. Fearing the growing enthusiasm for state intervention and planning in 1940s Britain and its similarities to the roots of Nazi tyranny, Hayek argued that it would be impossible for a planned economy to mimic the complexities of the free market (in which information is naturally widely dispersed) and that, in their attempt to gather the information and resources needed to establish an efficient market, planners would be pushed towards an ever-increasing accumulation of power. This accumulation of information and power would, Hayek argued, lead inexorably towards totalitarianism, leading the nation down a “road to serfdom.” Hayek’s politics left him in a somewhat lonely position in the middle decades of the 20th century. When Churchill claimed during the 1945 General Election campaign that the Labour party would need “some sort of Gestapo” to fulfill its commitments to a Welfare State, this outburst was blamed on Hayek, and The Road to Serfdom was ferociously attacked by the New Dealers in the United States. The book received both praise and criticism upon publication in 1944. In his April 9, 1944 review in the Observer (a year before the publication of Animal Farm), George Orwell stated “By bringing the whole of life under the control of the State, Socialism necessarily gives power to an inner ring of bureaucrats, who in almost every case will be men who want power for its own sake and will stick at nothing in order to retain it. Britain, he says, is now going the same road as Germany, with the left-wing intelligentsia in the van and the Tory Party a good second. The only salvation lies in returning to an unplanned economy, free competition, and emphasis on liberty rather than on security. In the negative part of Professor Hayek’s thesis there is a great deal of truth. It cannot be said too often – at any rate, it is not being said nearly often enough – that collectivism is not inherently democratic, but, on the contrary, gives to a tyrannical minority such powers as the Spanish Inquisitors never dreamed of.” Yet, being true to his leftist leanings, Orwell also professed that he could not endorse Hayek’s program: “Professor Hayek is also probably right in saying that in this country the intellectuals are more totalitarian-minded than the common people. But he does not see, or will not admit, that a return to “free” competition means for the great mass of people a tyranny probably worse, because more irresponsible, than that of the State. The trouble with competitions is that somebody wins them. Professor Hayek denies that free capitalism necessarily leads to monopoly, but in practice that is where it has led, and since the vast majority of people would far rather have State regimentation than slumps and unemployment, the drift towards collectivism is bound to continue if popular opinion has any say in the matter …Capitalism leads to dole queues, the scramble for markets, and war. Collectivism leads to concentration camps, leader worship, and war. There is no way out of this unless a planned economy can somehow be combined with the freedom of the intellect, which can only happen if the concept of right and wrong is restored to politics.” With Hayek’s corrections in pencil to pages 39 and 111, marginal notes in pencil to pages 130-131 and 137, marginal note in pen to page 107, and a newspaper clipping of a satirical poem on ‘World Planners’ to the front pastedown. Also with an autograph manuscript transcription in Hayek’s hand on his King’s College, Cambridge letterhead of Morris Bishop’s ‘For the Tomb of Economic Man’ which appeared in the September 12, 1942 issue of The New Yorker Magazine laid in. Near fine in the scarce original dust jacket which is in very good condition. Housed in a custom full morocco clamshell box.
Price: $450,000.00 Item Number: 135374
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“Man selects only for his own good: Nature only for that of the being which she tends": First Edition of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species
DARWIN, CHARLES.
On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.
London: John Murray 1859.
First edition of “certainly the most important biological book ever written” (Freeman), one of 1250 copies. Octavo, bound in original cloth, half-title, one folding lithographed diagram, without advertisements. In very good condition with cracks to inner hinges and a touch of shelfwear. Housed in a custom clamshell box. A fine example of this landmark work.
Price: $400,000.00 Item Number: 116380
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"To Dr Karl Popper a fellow struggler for freedom": Rare First English Edition of The Road To Serfdom; Inscribed by F.A. Hayek to Karl Popper
HAYEK, FRIEDRICH AUGUST VON [F.A.] [KARL POPPER].
The Road To Serfdom.
London: Routledge & Sons 1944.
First edition of one of the most influential and popular expositions of classical liberalism ever published. Octavo, original black cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “To Dr Karl Popper a fellow struggler for freedom with friendly greetings from F.H. Hayek.” Also included is a letter signed by Karl Popper to his assistant Melitta Mew, presenting her with this book as a birthday gift (“…It is the copy he sent me to New Zealand on publication of the book, with a beautiful dedication. And thank you for everything you are doing for my work (and me)… Karl”), on his stationery of 136 Welcomes Road, Kenley, Surrey, and dated 23 January 1994. While this book was very special to Popper, he had been diagnosed with cancer and passed away from complications in September. Ms. Mew helped to put together Popper’s lectures and essays in a book, which was published in 1996: “In search of a better world : lectures and essays from thirty years.” Easily the best association copy in existence, as the lives of both of these great economists, Fredrich von Hayek (1899-1992) and Karl Popper (1902-1994) greatly impacted the other and their lives were intertwined. They both experienced the destruction of their Bourgeois Viennese families’ savings by hyperinflation due to the fragility of the liberal society. While both men studied at the University of Vienna, they first met in London in 1935. Hayek was at that time employed at the London School of Economics and Popper was in the city on a visiting lectureship. While Popper accepted a position in New Zealand, where he was to remain until after World War II, he would also later assume a chair at the LSE, due to Hayek’s influence there. Near fine in a good dust jacket. The British edition (which this example is) was published in March of 1944, preceding its American counterpart, which was published later that same year in September. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box.
Price: $400,000.00 Item Number: 123960
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Exceptionally rare first edition, presentation copy of Experiments and Observations on Electricity; inscribed by Benjamin Franklin to Prominent Philadelphia Merchant, Colleague, and friend Thomas Livezey
FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN.
Experiments and Observations on Electricity, Made at Philadelphia in America, by Benjamin Franklin, L.L.D. and F.R.S. To which are added, Letters and Papers on Philosophical Subjects. The Whole corrected, methodized, improved, and now first collected into one Volume, and Illustrated with Copper Plates.
London: Printed for David Henry; and sold by Francis Newbery, at the Corner of St. Paul's Church-Yard 1769.
First complete edition of “the most important scientific book of eighteenth-century America” (PMM), inscribed by Benjamin Franklin to prominent Pennsylvania Quaker and merchant Thomas Livezey, Jr. Quarto, bound in full contemporary calf with elaborate gilt tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, morocco spine label lettered in gilt, gilt turn-ins. Illustrated with 7 copper-engraved plates, 2 of which are folding. Presentation copy, inscribed by Benjamin Franklin on the front free endpaper, “To Mr. Livesy [sic] From his obliged Friend & humble Servant The Author.” With Thomas Livezey’s ownership signature to the second free endpaper, “Thomas Livezey Junior 1810.” The recipient, Thomas Livezey Jr. (1723-1790), was a member of the fourth generation of the prominent Pennsylvania Quaker Livezey family. His ancestor, Thomas Livezey, the elder (1627-1691), was among the earliest settlers of Pennsylvania; his land was a portion of William Penn’s Pennsylvania colony and was granted to him directly by Penn in an early patent. Thomas Livezey Jr. established one of the largest flour mills in colonial British North America, the Livezey Mill, and rose to prominence as one of the major suppliers of high quality flour to the world during that era. Situated on Wissahickon Creek in Philadelphia, the Livezey Mill was a major colonial operation, provided flour both domestically and overseas, and fed numerous armies throughout the eighteenth century including those fighting on both sides of the American Revolution. The mill was in continued operation for more than one hundred twenty-five years until roughly 1874. Livezey was elected to the colony of Pennsylvania’s legislative body, the Pennsylvania Assembly, in 1765. Benjamín Franklin had been elected to the Pennsylvania Assembly 14 years earlier in 1751 and in 1764 (one year prior to Livezey’s appointment), Franklin was sent to London by the Pennsylvania Assembly as a colonial agent to protest against the political influence of the Penn family, with whom the assembly was becoming increasingly frustrated. He remained there for five years, striving to end the Penn family’s prerogative to overturn legislation from the elected Assembly and their exemption from paying taxes on their land. His lack of influential allies in Whitehall led to the failure of this mission. Franklin and Livezey were warm acquaintances, despite their differences. In late 1767, Livezey sent a case of wine he had made from wild grapes to Franklin in London, writing, “I heartely wish it may arive Safe, and warm the hearts of Every one who tastes it, with a Love for America. And would it Contribute towards bringing about a Change of Government but one month Sooner, I would Gladly Send all I have.” In early 1768, Franklin thanked Livezey in a letter, stating that he “shall apply this parcel as I did the last towards winning the hearts of the Friends of our Country, and wellwishers to the Change of its Government.” PMM 199; Grolier 100 American Books 10; Dibner Heralds of Science 57. Presentation copies of this first collected edition are scarce. This is the only presentation copy to a known recipient to appear on the market over the course of the past century. In very good condition. Housed in custom three quarter morocco clamshell box.
Price: $375,000.00 Item Number: 147283