August 12 Auction To Include Mercator, Johnson And Lewis And Clark
(
Completely fresh to the market
and the expected top lot of the auction is a rare two volume atlas by the famed sixteenth-century Flemish cartographer, Gerard Mercator (Lot
47). Printed in 1636, this rare first English edition is estimated to sell between
$30,000-50,000, and is the focal point of 15 lots of antiquarian maps from a
private collection in
Another particularly interesting piece is a first edition, first printing of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Lot 304), together with an autographed letter signed by the author thanking the recipient for his praises of her recent work and discussing the character of Nina Gordon, from Dred: A Tale of Great Dismal Swamp:
“It is a weakness that attends us makers of puppet shows that we sometimes conceive a real human affection for some of our corps de ballet as Pygmalion for his statue. I had such a weakness for my little Nina In fact I have such a motherly weakness for the poor child that whoever speaks well of her becomes henceforth a discerning person in my eyes ”
The book and letter, which are further accompanied by a signed photograph of the author, are estimated at $5,000-7,000.
Literary highlights include a collection of uniformly bound Charles Dickens first book editions (Lot 247), a first printing of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind (Lot 291), a rare printing of Jack London’s Sea Wolf (Lot 290), and a first printing of William Faulkner’s Light in August (Lot 270).
Leslie Hindman Auctioneers’ next Fine Books and Manuscripts auction will take place November 19. The catalogue is available online at www.lesliehindman.com.
For more information, please contact Mary Williams at 312.334.4236 or by email at marywilliams@lesliehindman.com.
