Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - May - 2014 Issue

The Heritage Book Shop Celebrates 50 Years with an Important Collection

A rare 50th anniversary.

The Heritage Book Shop of Beverly Hills has issued its 50th Anniversary Catalogue, Featuring the Important Collection of Roberto Salinas Price. For a bookshop to reach a 50th anniversary is very rare. For one to reach that milestone still under its original ownership is virtually unheard of. The shop was founded by its owner, Ben Weinstein, and his brother half a century ago. After many years at an iconic location on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood (various other Los Angeles area locations prior to that), Heritage migrated to its current address in Beverly Hills.

 

The collector whose books are being offered, Roberto Salinas Price, was also involved with books for many years, building his library over a course of 30 years. Mr. Salinas Price, a Mexican businessman, died in 2012. His collection, which he called Biblioteca Huicalco (root library), was devoted to the most important books of western thought and the history of printing. This catalogue contains just over 100 items, and they are all of historic significance. This was an important library of our roots. Here are a few samples.

 

There is certainly no better place to start a history of printing than here: A Noble Fragment. Being a Leaf of the Gutenberg Bible, 1450-1455. With a Bibliographical Essay by A. Edward Newton. Gutenberg Bibles were essentially unobtainable even a century ago when New York bookseller Gabriel Wells decided to break up an imperfect copy he had obtained. Six hundred copies of his book were printed, each including a Gutenberg leaf. Wells brought in Bruce Rogers to design the book, and A. Edward Newton to write a descriptive essay. This leaf comes from the Book of Numbers, and contains (translated from the Latin) the familiar phrase, “The Lord bless thee, and keep thee.” Item 10. Priced at $100,000.

 

For those interested in everything that ever happened before Gutenberg, and a few decades later, it is all found in Liber Chronicarum, better known as the Nuremberg Chronicle. This book starts from creation, Adam and Eve, and moves through the biblical times of Noah and others, on to antiquarian times, ancient Greece and Rome, and right up to the present, which at the time this book was published was 1493. It was a hair too soon for Columbus and the New World. Author Hartman Schedel was concerned that previous histories did not show proper respect for Nuremberg, his hometown and printing location, which he sought to correct. The book contains 1,809 woodcut illustrations, although 1,164 are repeats. This copy contains the double-page maps of Europe and the world, and the image of Pope Joan, usually blotted out, has not been effaced. Item 87. $150,000.

 

This is the book that consigned poor Galileo to house arrest for the remainder of his life: Dialogo... Galileo wished to teach the heliocentric Copernican theory of the universe, that the sun, not the earth, was at its center. The Pope refused him permission, but when a new, more open-minded pope arose, approval was granted. However, the Pope demanded that Galileo give equal consideration to the traditional, Ptolemaic world view. Galileo complied by presenting the positions in the form of a dialogue. Still, the way it was presented left little doubt as to which Galileo thought was correct. The Pope was not amused. Galileo was hauled before the Inquisition, forced to recant, and placed under house arrest. But he was right, anyway. Item 38, published in 1632. $95,000.

 

For those who think Galileo was controversial, this next author stirred up a hornet's nest that rages to this day. It was hard enough accepting we are not at the center of the universe. Believing we descended from monkeys was too much. Item 28 is Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection... published in 1859. Darwin had traveled to South America in the 1830's, and observed the similarities and differences between species on the mainland and outlying islands. It led him to his earthshaking conclusion, that evolution of the species explained the difference. He sat on this theory for nearly two decades, realizing how controversial it would be, but once Alfred Russel Wallace independently reached very similar conclusions, he was forced to publish his theory. $160,000.

 

Darwin never used that controversial word, “evolution,” in that work. He would first use it a decade later, in describing The Descent of Man... This book was published in 1871, and future editions of the Origin would then incorporate the term. Item 26. $8,500.

 

As Darwin's thoughts on man were not universally accepted, so were John Stuart Mill's on women. Item 71 is Mill's The Subjection of Women, published in 1869. Mill, a strong proponent of liberty, believed women were entitled to the same rights. Contrary to claims that women were happy in their subjugated role, Mill thought women might believe they were happy, but if ever given equal rights, they would never return to their previous state. He argues, “That the principle which regulates the existing social relations between the two sexes – the legal subordination of one sex to the other – is wrong in itself, and now one of the chief hindrances to human improvement; and that it ought to be replaced by a principle of perfect equality...” It took a while longer. $4,500.

 

The Heritage Book Shop may be reached at 310-659-3674 or heritage@heritagebookshop.com. Their website is www.heritagebookshop.com.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD
  • 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
  • 19th Century Shop
    Catalogue 198 just published
    19th Century Shop. Darwin and Wallace, first printing of the first paper on natural selection
    19th Century Shop. Shakespeare’s Poems, first collected edition
    19th Century Shop. Walt Whitman portrait inscribed with a Leaves of Grass poem
    19th Century Shop. Major Elizabeth Barrett Browning manuscript notebook
    19th Century Shop. Spock's Baby Book, original MS
    19th Century Shop. Cellarius, Harmonia Macrocosmica, the great celestial atlas
  • Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HARRISON, Benjamin. Document signed (“Benj Harrison”) as governor of Virginia, certifying the service of Daniel Cumbo, a Black Revolutionary soldier. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HIGHLY IMPORTANT MORMON ARCHIVE. ALLEY, George. Archive of 23 Autograph Letters Signed by Mormon Convert George Alley to His Brother Joseph Alley. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [AVIATION]. [ARMSTRONG, Neil A.] Aviation Hall of Fame Gold Medal MS64 NGC, Awarded to Neil Armstrong in 1979. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    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
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    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.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: SONS OF LIBERTY FOUNDER COLONEL BARRÉ ANNOTATED TITLE-PAGE, “WHICH OUGHT TO ROUSE UP BRITISH ATTENTION”. $4,000 to $6,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    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.
    Forum Mar. 28: Bible, Czech Biblia Bohemica, first complete Bible printed in the Czech vernacular, Prague, August 1488. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Shabthai Tzvi.- Collection of four printed and illustrated broadsides detailing the appearance, rise and fall of the false messiah, Shabthai Tzvi, Augsburg, 1666-67. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Leaf from the Beauvais Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [Northern France (perhaps Beauvais or Amiens)], [fourteenth century (c.1310)]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Aubrey (John). [Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme], manuscript in English, Latin and Greek, [c. 1693]. £30,000 to £50,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Poems on Various Occasions, first edition, Harriet Maltby's copy, Newark, Printed by S. & J. Ridge, 1807. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression with dust-jacket, 1937 [but 1938]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Blake (William).- Thornton (Robert John). The Pastorals of Virgil, 2 vol., engraved plates by William Blake, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: America.- Mount (William J.) & Thomas Page. The English Pilot…, [bound with] The Fourth Book, describing The West Indies Navigation from Hudson's-Bay to the River Amazones, 1721. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Oldfield (Henry Ambrose), Rajman Singh Chitrakar & others. An album of 160 photographs and 13 original artworks, (1833-1919), [c. 1850s-1880s]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    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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