Printed and Manuscript Americana at Christies on May 19th
- By Bruce McKinney
First edition of the earliest separate publication of New Netherland. Lot 70
Christie’s has put together an appealing sale of Americana that’s to be sold on May 19th in New York. The sale includes 204 lots of which 53 relate to Benjamin Franklin, 34 to the French and Indian War, 25 to California as an island and 16 to Abraham Lincoln. Fifty-nine lots are in the letters, manuscripts and signatures category, eighty are books and pamphlets; twenty-four are broadsides, and forty-one maps and ephemera. The emphasis is on the highly collectible.
It’s a catalogue of serious if sometimes obscure material. The estimates are generally appealing, the prospects of bargains evident. Christie’s tends to estimate low to encourage interest and sometimes you can actually steal something. But to do so of course you have to bid and once bidding... The high estimates of the first ten lots altogether are $33,300. You can buy things in this sale.
Four consignors are identified, the Brooklyn Historical Society [17 lots], The New Jersey Historical Society [9], the Historical Society of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania [1], and material from the Collection of John W. Whitely, Jr, [XX]. Two other categories, material relating to Franklin and 25 items offered under the heading California as an Island, are consigned as the property of private collectors. When the identity of sellers are known the sales are always more interesting. In this sale the majority of the lots are identified.
This is a sale that ten years ago would have contained four hundred lots. To maintain the same standards the volume of material has declined, reflecting that the market for important material has thinned and consignors grown wary.
An interesting test of market enthusiasm will be lot 70: [New York] Breeden-Raedtaende Vereenichde Nederlandsche Provintien. Antwerp: Francoysvan Duynen, 1649. This is the first edition of the earliest separate publication relating to New Netherland. For serious collectors of New York history it’s significant and according to the AED exceptionally rare.
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Printed and Manuscript Americana at Christies on May 19th
- By Bruce McKinney
Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis archive. Lot 39
About it Christies mentions as follows: Exceedingly rare: according to American Book Prices Current, no copy has sold at auction since the copy sold at the Streeter sale in 1967. Muller priced the copy discovered by Asher at the enormous sum of $250 in 1850. Henry C. Murphy, who made a new translation for James Lenox [published in 1854], sold his copy at auction in 1884 for $100. Alden & Landis 649/32 [10 copies]; Asher 334, Bell B485, JCB [3] II:382; Sabin 26272; Stoke Iconography VI:259; Streeter Sale II:856; Vail Frontier 112 [12 copies].
Our own records show eleven copies and references in the AED. The search terms in the advanced search are:
Keyword: Breeden-Raedt aende
Date Range: 1649 to 1649
11 Records
The estimate is $70,000 to $100,000.
Our calculations of current valuation for rare and collectible material measure the entire market. This type of exceptional rarity is difficult to access because it is early, rare and related to New York, the book collecting capital of America. Its performance will provide a measure of the market.
By category the 204 lots divide into the following categories:
Letters, manuscripts, signed documents and signatures: 59
Books and pamphlets: 80
Broadsides: 24
Maps and ephemera: 41
The material is eclectic and intense. A few examples:
Lot 39. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis: An archive of 22 letters signed Jackie and one printed telegram, all to R. Beverley Corbin, written during the 1945-1951 period. Christies describes them as “Love letters from a feisty, teenage Jackie Bouvier to her Harvard boyfriend." Estimated $25,000 to $35,000
Important contemporary history and famous people do very well.
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Printed and Manuscript Americana at Christies on May 19th
- By Bruce McKinney
An item for those who collect the music of America: The Star Spangled Banner. Lot 91
Lot 32. Andrew Jackson [1767-1837] Broadside. Some Account of the Bloody Deeds of General Jackson., n.p., n.d. [1828] Striking testimony to one of the most bitter presidential campaigns ever fought. A striking, strong graphic broadside, one of several similar circulated during the intense and bitter political contest of 1828, in which Jackson was accused of no less than adultery, murder and genocide.
Mr. Jackson was a states’ rights man following an era of increasing power of the central government. These arguments continue today. For the historically aware this broadside can launch a thousand conversations. Estimates $4,000 to $6,000
Lots 43-58. Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln was a prolific writer and it seems every scrap has been retained as souvenirs and collectibles. It makes sense given the assassination at the height of his powers at the moment of victory in the Civil War. Lots 43 to 58 are documents he wrote or signed. At the moment of his death much of what existed was put away as momentos.
For any collector with a desire for Lincolniana there may be a chance to buy something appealing for less than a king’s ransom.
Lot 91. The Star Spangled Banner. For the musically minded, particularly those who hum the Star Spangled Banner while conducting bibliographic research, lot 91 is a copy of the rare 1814 second printing of the words and music to the National Anthem. It’s estimated $12,000 to $18,000.
Altogether the sale is quite appealing. It’s a serious effort to present A list material, something not seen so often these days.
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