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<b>Bonhams:</b> MANDELSHTAM, OSIP. 1891-1938. Autograph Manuscript, 2 pp, [Petersburg,] January 1913, entitled

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Bloomsbury Offers Mid-Range Americana on March 5th - By Bruce McKinney An appealing portrait By Bruce McKinney Bloomsbury Auctions, whose Normandy is New York and who came ashore late last summer, is up and running and laying out an aggressive schedule of sales for the balance of the year; 16 from now through the end of the December. In hand is their catalogue for New York 7, their 7th sale to date and first of 2008: Bibliophile Americana & Literature. It's scheduled for March 5th and is well worth a look. The high quality printed presentation is out-of-keeping with the estimates. They are low so the reader confronts a disconnect between presentation and price. My guess is the prices will be well up from the low estimates and most lots will sell. Across the entire universe of auctions last year 75% of all lots sold. When north of 80% sell it suggests esimates are low. When less than 70% of the lots sell it suggests both the estimates and reserves have been set above the market. In spite of the uncertain economic environment I expect this sale to do well. The aggregate low estimate is $545,480 for the 594 lots, $800,870 for the aggregate high estimate. This works out to an average low estimate of $916 and an average high of $1,345. Documented sales tend to approach these levels without the great catalogue this one has. For the first six auctions held at Bloomsbury in New York in 2007 the median lot realization was $2,160, the London parent's $534, the Italian division $665. The percent of lots sold in New York was 66%, about 10% below the industry average. The lower estimates for Auction 7 suggest Bloomsbury is estimating material to sell. For buyers, this makes the sale interesting to evaluate. Jeremy Markowitz has prepared the material. In his previous life, he did the same for Swann where he regularly achieved sell-throughs in the high eighty percents. As to the material, images, perhaps the strongest part of the works on paper field today, are interspersed with books, manuscript material, autographs, pamphlets and maps. Here are a few examples: 4. AMERICAN REVOLUTION - ADAMS, Samuel. Mr. Samuel Adams. [Newport, RI:] printed by and for Charles Reak & Saml. Okey, April 1775. Mezzotint portrait by Saml. Okey after J. Mitchell (sheet size: 346x247 mm). Condition: cut to the edge of the image on three sides and within the plate-mark at the lower margin, with loss of imprint. very rare american mezzotint of a revolutionary hero. In this portrait Adams is standing in front of a table with a paper in his hand, engraved with the words "Instructions from ye Town of Boston" -- probably referring to his famous Circular Letter. Below the title are eight lines of verse in two columns celebrating Adams's opposition to the Intolerable Acts: "When haughty North impress'd wth proud Disdain, / Spurn'd at the Virtue, which rejects his Chain; / Heard with a Tyrant Soon our Rights implor'd, / And when we su'd for Justice sent the Sword: / Lo! Adams rose, in Warfare nobly try'd, / His Country's Saviour, Father, Shield & Guide, / Urg'd by her Wrongs he wag'd ye glorious Strife / Nor paus'd to waste a Coward-Thought on Life." The painting by J. Mitchell after which the mezzotint was designed was based on J. S. Copley's portrait of Adams now in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Samuel Okey had only a very short working life in the Americas: he engraved and published in Newport from 1773-1775, and had returned to London by 1778. Only one other example of this American mezzotint has appeared at auction, selling in 2005 for $13,800. Another example of this print is in the Emmet Collection (EM 495) in the New York Public Lilbrary. Cf. Bulletin of the NYPL, vol.I, p.163; Grolier. Early American Engraving upon Copper1727-1850 (1908) cat. # 181; Shadwell 46; Stauffer 2370. $4000 – $6000
Bloomsbury Offers Mid-Range Americana on March 5th - By Bruce McKinney You'll be asked - where did you get this? 53. BOXING - Broadside. Come & See all the New Arrivals at Owen Geoghegan's Old House at Home ... Decoration Day Monday, May 30, 1881. A Grand Testimonial Benefit (In which all the Champions of the English and American Prize Ring will appear). New York: Cameron & Co., 1881. Broadside (700x260 mm). Printed on yellow newspaper stock. Illustrated with a woodcut of two men with gloved hands facing off in a ring. Condition: Few short splits to edges and folds, few small holes in text, a few tears repaired on verso. While Jimmy Highland ("of Birmingham, England") and Harry Evans (alias "Thumby") were the featured fighters, the card also featured local and travelling boxers such as Charley Norton, Jack Turner and "Jno. Sullivan of Boston" -- almost certainly the John L. Sullivan who became the first heavyweight champion of the world just a few years after this fight. Geoghegan's was a noted (and notorious) bar located at 105 Bowery. $400 – $600 67. BURTON, Sir Richard Francis. The City of the Saints, and Across the Rocky Mountains to California. London: Longman, Green, Longman & Roberts, 1861. 8vo (222x142 mm). Half-title. Wood-engraved frontispiece, 1 folding engraved map (route marked by hand in red), 1 folding engraved town plan, 7 wood-engraved plates, occasional wood-engraved illustrations. Original green cloth, blocked in gilt and blind, brown glazed endpapers. Condition: some light browning or soiling to margins. Provenance: author's presentation inscription in purple ink on half-title "With the best regards of / the Author" and with Burton’s signature in Arabic script (loosely inserted note from Quentin Keynes confirming the attribution of the inscription). Signed presentation copy of the first edition. Penzer pp.68-69; Sabin 9497. $2000 – $3000 118. FRENCH & INDIAN WAR - WOLFE, James. Autograph letter signed "Jam: Wolfe" to an unnamed recipient [but Viscount Sidney] recommending works on military tactics. Devises: 18 July 1756. 3 pp, on a folded sheet but since separated (230x185 mm). Docketed on the blank page in an early hand "Original letter from General Wolfe to Lord Sydney." Condition: some browning, separated along the vertical fold, other separations crudely repaired on the blank page. an important letter by wolfe on the art of war, written at the beginning of the french & indian war and just three years before his death. Wolfe writes: "You cannot find me a more agreable Employment than to serve or oblige you, & I wish with all my heart that my inclination & abilities were of equal force. I do not recollect what it was that I recommended to Mr. Cornwallis & newphew, it might be the Comet de Turpin’s Book, which is certainly worth looking into, as it contains a good deal of plain Practice. Your Brother, no doubt, is Master of the Latin & French Languages & has some knowledge of the Mathematicks; without this last he can never become acquainted with one considerable Branch of our Business, the construction of Fortifications & the attack & defense of places." This comment on the importance of understanding fortifications would prove prophetic, considering his hero's death at the 1759 assault on Quebec. The letter continues over the next two pages with reviews of specific works. Wolfe then continues: "In these days of scarcity & in these unlucky Times it were much to be wished that all our young soldiers of Birth & Education would follow your Brother's steps & [as] they will have their turn to command, that they would try to make themselves fit for that important Trust: without it we must sink under the superior ability & indefatigable Industry or our restless neighbour." After this reference to France, Wolfe concludes by commenting, "In what a strange manner have we conducted our affairs in the Mediterranean?" An early copy of this letter is located at the Houghton Library. $4000 – $6000
Bloomsbury Offers Mid-Range Americana on March 5th - By Bruce McKinney none 197. MAP - HOWELL, Reading. A Map of the State of Pennsylvania. [Philadelphia]: 1810. Folding hand-colored engraved map (537x852 mm) engraved by J. Vallance after Howell. Sectioned and linen-backed at an early date. Condition: slightly toned, trimmed to or just within the neatline. A rare issue of the smaller scale version of Howell's important map of the state; this issue unrecorded by Ristow. Includes a small vignette view of the "Schuylkill permanent bridge" in the lower left corner. $1500 – $2500 298. WASHINGTON, George. General Washington. From the Original Picture in Philadelphia. Philadelphia and London: Atkins & Nightingale, 1 July 1801. Mezzotint portrait, printed in colors and finished by hand, after Gilbert Stuart (plate size: 630x445 mm). On wove paper. Condition: light surface soiling, minor staining in the margins from prior framing, else a luminous impression with brilliant coloring. An extremely rare, early color print of gilbert stuart's famous lansdowne portrait. The Lansdowne portrait, so called because the original was commissioned of Stuart by William Bingham as a gift for the Marquis of Lansdowne, is the most iconic of all images of Washington, depicting him as the father of democracy. In this issue of the print, the rainbow is absent from the sky through upper right window -- a famous element of the original painting. On the imprint line beneath the image, Atkins and Nightingale's London address ("No. 143 Leadenhall Street") has been added to the plate. In the famed 1906 sale of the James T. Mitchell collection of portraits of Washington, several variants of this print came to auction for the first time. In the catalogue to that collection, the print is described as "so scarce that it is only within the last few years that it has been known to collectors." A color copy sold in that auction for $425 -- an enormous sum in 1906. Not in Baker. $10000 – $15000 Few American auctions houses are able to master the intricacies of more than four well documented auctions a year in the books, manuscripts and ephemera field because the hurdles are substantial. Sufficient consignors must consign. The auction house must then describe both appropriately and convincingly, turn these descriptions into both effective paper catalogues and smooth searchable presences on line. Then they must vet buyers, conduct sales, be paid, pack, ship, and then pay the seller. In Bloomsbury New York we have a house that is out to break the code, to create a presence in the vacant space abdicated by Sotheby's and Christies as they pursue ever more valuable and rare material. This sale is an indication the process is well-engaged.

Bloomsbury Offers Mid-Range Americana on March 5th

- By Bruce McKinney

An appealing portrait

By Bruce McKinney

Bloomsbury Auctions, whose Normandy is New York and who came ashore late last summer, is up and running and laying out an aggressive schedule of sales for the balance of the year; 16 from now through the end of the December. In hand is their catalogue for New York 7, their 7th sale to date and first of 2008: Bibliophile Americana & Literature. It's scheduled for March 5th and is well worth a look.

The high quality printed presentation is out-of-keeping with the estimates. They are low so the reader confronts a disconnect between presentation and price. My guess is the prices will be well up from the low estimates and most lots will sell. Across the entire universe of auctions last year 75% of all lots sold. When north of 80% sell it suggests esimates are low. When less than 70% of the lots sell it suggests both the estimates and reserves have been set above the market. In spite of the uncertain economic environment I expect this sale to do well.

The aggregate low estimate is $545,480 for the 594 lots, $800,870 for the aggregate high estimate. This works out to an average low estimate of $916 and an average high of $1,345. Documented sales tend to approach these levels without the great catalogue this one has. For the first six auctions held at Bloomsbury in New York in 2007 the median lot realization was $2,160, the London parent's $534, the Italian division $665. The percent of lots sold in New York was 66%, about 10% below the industry average. The lower estimates for Auction 7 suggest Bloomsbury is estimating material to sell. For buyers, this makes the sale interesting to evaluate.

Jeremy Markowitz has prepared the material. In his previous life, he did the same for Swann where he regularly achieved sell-throughs in the high eighty percents.

As to the material, images, perhaps the strongest part of the works on paper field today, are interspersed with books, manuscript material, autographs, pamphlets and maps. Here are a few examples:

4. AMERICAN REVOLUTION - ADAMS, Samuel. Mr. Samuel Adams. [Newport, RI:] printed by and for Charles Reak & Saml. Okey, April 1775. Mezzotint portrait by Saml. Okey after J. Mitchell (sheet size: 346x247 mm). Condition: cut to the edge of the image on three sides and within the plate-mark at the lower margin, with loss of imprint.
very rare american mezzotint of a revolutionary hero.
In this portrait Adams is standing in front of a table with a paper in his hand, engraved with the words "Instructions from ye Town of Boston" -- probably referring to his famous Circular Letter. Below the title are eight lines of verse in two columns celebrating Adams's opposition to the Intolerable Acts: "When haughty North impress'd wth proud Disdain, / Spurn'd at the Virtue, which rejects his Chain; / Heard with a Tyrant Soon our Rights implor'd, / And when we su'd for Justice sent the Sword: / Lo! Adams rose, in Warfare nobly try'd, / His Country's Saviour, Father, Shield & Guide, / Urg'd by her Wrongs he wag'd ye glorious Strife / Nor paus'd to waste a Coward-Thought on Life."

The painting by J. Mitchell after which the mezzotint was designed was based on J. S. Copley's portrait of Adams now in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Samuel Okey had only a very short working life in the Americas: he engraved and published in Newport from 1773-1775, and had returned to London by 1778. Only one other example of this American mezzotint has appeared at auction, selling in 2005 for $13,800. Another example of this print is in the Emmet Collection (EM 495) in the New York Public Lilbrary. Cf. Bulletin of the NYPL, vol.I, p.163; Grolier. Early American Engraving upon Copper1727-1850 (1908) cat. # 181; Shadwell 46; Stauffer 2370.

$4000 – $6000

Bloomsbury Offers Mid-Range Americana on March 5th

- By Bruce McKinney

You'll be asked - where did you get this?

53. BOXING - Broadside. Come & See all the New Arrivals at Owen Geoghegan's Old House at Home ... Decoration Day Monday, May 30, 1881. A Grand Testimonial Benefit (In which all the Champions of the English and American Prize Ring will appear). New York: Cameron & Co., 1881. Broadside (700x260 mm). Printed on yellow newspaper stock. Illustrated with a woodcut of two men with gloved hands facing off in a ring. Condition: Few short splits to edges and folds, few small holes in text, a few tears repaired on verso.
While Jimmy Highland ("of Birmingham, England") and Harry Evans (alias "Thumby") were the featured fighters, the card also featured local and travelling boxers such as Charley Norton, Jack Turner and "Jno. Sullivan of Boston" -- almost certainly the John L. Sullivan who became the first heavyweight champion of the world just a few years after this fight. Geoghegan's was a noted (and notorious) bar located at 105 Bowery.

$400 – $600

67. BURTON, Sir Richard Francis. The City of the Saints, and Across the Rocky Mountains to California. London: Longman, Green, Longman & Roberts, 1861. 8vo (222x142 mm). Half-title. Wood-engraved frontispiece, 1 folding engraved map (route marked by hand in red), 1 folding engraved town plan, 7 wood-engraved plates, occasional wood-engraved illustrations. Original green cloth, blocked in gilt and blind, brown glazed endpapers. Condition: some light browning or soiling to margins. Provenance: author's presentation inscription in purple ink on half-title "With the best regards of / the Author" and with Burton’s signature in Arabic script (loosely inserted note from Quentin Keynes confirming the attribution of the inscription). Signed presentation copy of the first edition. Penzer pp.68-69; Sabin 9497.

$2000 – $3000

118. FRENCH & INDIAN WAR - WOLFE, James. Autograph letter signed "Jam: Wolfe" to an unnamed recipient [but Viscount Sidney] recommending works on military tactics. Devises: 18 July 1756. 3 pp, on a folded sheet but since separated (230x185 mm). Docketed on the blank page in an early hand "Original letter from General Wolfe to Lord Sydney." Condition: some browning, separated along the vertical fold, other separations crudely repaired on the blank page.
an important letter by wolfe on the art of war, written at the beginning of the french & indian war and just three years before his death.
Wolfe writes: "You cannot find me a more agreable Employment than to serve or oblige you, & I wish with all my heart that my inclination & abilities were of equal force. I do not recollect what it was that I recommended to Mr. Cornwallis & newphew, it might be the Comet de Turpin’s Book, which is certainly worth looking into, as it contains a good deal of plain Practice. Your Brother, no doubt, is Master of the Latin & French Languages & has some knowledge of the Mathematicks; without this last he can never become acquainted with one considerable Branch of our Business, the construction of Fortifications & the attack & defense of places." This comment on the importance of understanding fortifications would prove prophetic, considering his hero's death at the 1759 assault on Quebec.

The letter continues over the next two pages with reviews of specific works. Wolfe then continues: "In these days of scarcity & in these unlucky Times it were much to be wished that all our young soldiers of Birth & Education would follow your Brother's steps & [as] they will have their turn to command, that they would try to make themselves fit for that important Trust: without it we must sink under the superior ability & indefatigable Industry or our restless neighbour." After this reference to France, Wolfe concludes by commenting, "In what a strange manner have we conducted our affairs in the Mediterranean?"
An early copy of this letter is located at the Houghton Library.

$4000 – $6000

Bloomsbury Offers Mid-Range Americana on March 5th

- By Bruce McKinney

none

197. MAP - HOWELL, Reading. A Map of the State of Pennsylvania. [Philadelphia]: 1810. Folding hand-colored engraved map (537x852 mm) engraved by J. Vallance after Howell. Sectioned and linen-backed at an early date. Condition: slightly toned, trimmed to or just within the neatline.

A rare issue of the smaller scale version of Howell's important map of the state; this issue unrecorded by Ristow. Includes a small vignette view of the "Schuylkill permanent bridge" in the lower left corner.

$1500 – $2500

298. WASHINGTON, George. General Washington. From the Original Picture in Philadelphia. Philadelphia and London: Atkins & Nightingale, 1 July 1801. Mezzotint portrait, printed in colors and finished by hand, after Gilbert Stuart (plate size: 630x445 mm). On wove paper. Condition: light surface soiling, minor staining in the margins from prior framing, else a luminous impression with brilliant coloring.

An extremely rare, early color print of gilbert stuart's famous lansdowne portrait.
The Lansdowne portrait, so called because the original was commissioned of Stuart by William Bingham as a gift for the Marquis of Lansdowne, is the most iconic of all images of Washington, depicting him as the father of democracy.

In this issue of the print, the rainbow is absent from the sky through upper right window -- a famous element of the original painting. On the imprint line beneath the image, Atkins and Nightingale's London address ("No. 143 Leadenhall Street") has been added to the plate.
In the famed 1906 sale of the James T. Mitchell collection of portraits of Washington, several variants of this print came to auction for the first time. In the catalogue to that collection, the print is described as "so scarce that it is only within the last few years that it has been known to collectors." A color copy sold in that auction for $425 -- an enormous sum in 1906. Not in Baker.

$10000 – $15000

Few American auctions houses are able to master the intricacies of more than four well documented auctions a year in the books, manuscripts and ephemera field because the hurdles are substantial. Sufficient consignors must consign. The auction house must then describe both appropriately and convincingly, turn these descriptions into both effective paper catalogues and smooth searchable presences on line. Then they must vet buyers, conduct sales, be paid, pack, ship, and then pay the seller. In Bloomsbury New York we have a house that is out to break the code, to create a presence in the vacant space abdicated by Sotheby's and Christies as they pursue ever more valuable and rare material. This sale is an indication the process is well-engaged.