Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - September - 2011 Issue

Books of the Sea from Ten Pound Island Book Co.

Frances Sorcho and her diving equipment on the cover.

The Ten Pound Island Book Company has issued their Maritime List 203. It offers 75 seaworthy books and ephemeral items. Located in Gloucester, Massachusetts, it is only natural that Ten Pound Island Book Co. sell either nautical books or fish, and since it uses "book" in its name, the former seems more logical. This collection includes tales of shipwreck, crime at sea, naval encounters, piracy, yachting and the America's Cup, shipbuilding, deep sea diving, exploration, and more. For those who thrive on the other 71% of the Earth's surface, this catalogue has a selection of fascinating material. Books ahoy!

 

The picture you see on the cover of this catalogue is that of Frances Namon Sorcho, deep sea diver/showman. Born Frances Charlton, she married Louis Sorcho, a noted diver/showman himself in the 1890s. Where the "Namon" came from is unclear. Perhaps it was a corruption of "Nemo." Mrs. Sorcho took up her husband's profession of underwater diving plus entertaining audiences. Louis Sorcho made a name for himself performing in New York. He claimed to have located over 100 bodies from the sinking of the Maine, the event that touched off the Spanish-American War. Frances learned from her husband, and at the time was labeled the only woman deep sea diver in the world. That could be true as diving was a dangerous occupation at the time. There were no air tanks, just air hoses running to the surface, operated by hand pumps. The suits they wore were bulky and heavy. Item 68 is a pamphlet entitled Life and Adventures of Frances Namon Sorcho, the Only Lady Deep Sea Diver in the World. It was published by the "Captain Louis Sorcho Deep Sea Diving Co." The piece is undated, but it would have come from the late 1890s or, possibly, early 1900s. An 1899 article in the New York Herald finds Mrs. Sorcho performing in a water tank at the Electrical Exhibition in that city, displaying that recent invention, the electric light, in a searchlight she carried. We don't know what became of Mrs. Sorcho. Her husband continued in the business and later remarried, but we have not been able to follow Frances Namon much beyond the turn of the century. Priced at $2,000.

 
Item 43 is a manuscript log from 1805-06 of the ship Hantonia, kept by Ichabod Rollins. There are about 47 pages of entries, including an unusual and undoubtedly upsetting incident. The ship was at one point overtaken by pirates. On December 6, 1805, the pirates captured the ship, locked up the crew, stole everything they could pry loose, and feasted on the ship's food and drink. Notes Rollins, the pirates were "behaving in a shocking manner breaking & tearing & taking every thing they could lay their hands on." They also attempted to make themselves look like Spanish pirates, but Rollins was convinced they were French. He writes, "The pirate captain said his vessel was call'd the Queen of Spain he had Spanish colours sett but they were all French men on board of her." $5,500.

Rare Book Monthly

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    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
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  • Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG BEADED JUDICIAL COLLAR. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A COMPLETE RUN OF VISIONAIRE MAGAZINE THROUGH 2010. $6,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: LAW REVIEW OFFPRINT SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: META REBNER'S WORKING SCRIPT OF THE LOVED ONE. $1,500 - $2,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A KATHY GROVE PORTRAIT OF CYNDI LAUPER FOR THE FEBRUARY 1989 DETAILS COVER. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A PLASTIC COAT BY MILLIE DAVID FEATURED IN SOHO NEWS STYLE SECTION, FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANNIE FLANDERS. $500 - $700
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG JEWELRY BOX. $600 - $900
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A SET OF JONI MITCHELL LYRICS FOR "IF I HAD A HEART." $2,000 - $3,000
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    19th Century Shop. Shakespeare’s Poems, first collected edition
    19th Century Shop. Walt Whitman portrait inscribed with a Leaves of Grass poem
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    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
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    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
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    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
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    Potter & Potter Auctions
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    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: NEWLY DISCOVERED FIRST PRINTING OF "WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE... " FROM THE ONLY NEWSPAPER ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL PROCESSION. $4,000 to $8,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: A VERY RARE ACCOUNT OF BLACKBEARD’S DEATH AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PIRATE ITEMS EXTANT. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
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    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [VIETNAM WAR]. The original pen used by Secretary of State William P. Rogers to sign the Vietnam Peace Agreement, Paris, 27 January 1973. $10,000 to $15,000.
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  • Forum Auctions
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    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: [Shakespeare (William)]. [Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies], second folio edition, [by Tho.Cotes, for Robert Allot], [1632]. £30,000 to £40,000.
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    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.

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