News | June 7, 2024

Catesby's Natural History and Bob Dylan's Joey Typescript Lyrics Lead Christie's Fine Books Sale

Christie's

Mark Catesby's The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands

Christie’s' forthcoming June 13-27  Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts including Americana online sale features a selection of color-plate books, manuscripts, early printed material, and literary classics.

Highlights include: * 

* a magnificent first edition copy of Mark Catesby's The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands [1729-] 1731-1743 [-1747], with the extremely rare 1729 broadside prospectus (estimate: $400,000 - $600,000). Catesby drew the map from his own knowledge and engraved the majority of the plates; and, at least for the first copies, he is believed to have colored the plates himself.

* a 1970 typed letter from John Lennon and Yoko Ono, signed by them together with a pair of self-portrait sketches to Timothy Leary and Rosemary Woodruff referring to the song Come Together which Lennon offered to Leary's campaign (estimate: $10,000-15,000)

* an extremely rare, fully hand-colored first edition of Karl Bodmer's Reise in das innere Nord-America in den Jahren 1832 bis 1834, Coblenz: J. Holscher. Paris: Bertrand], 1839-1841, the important illustrated book on the American West, with an original German front wrapper (estimate $300,000-500,000)

Bob Dylan's 'Joey'
1/6
Christie's

Bob Dylan's Joey

Karl Bodmer's Reise in das innere Nord-America in den Jahren 1832 bis 1834
2/6
Christie's

Karl Bodmer's Reise in das innere Nord-America in den Jahren 1832 bis 1834

Henry VIII 1535 broadside
3/6
Christie's

Henry VIII 1535 broadside

1643 New Englands First Fruits
4/6
Christie's

1643 New Englands First Fruits

John Lennon and Yoko Ono letter
5/6
Christie's

John Lennon and Yoko Ono letter

Rare broadsheet constitution
6/6
Christie's

Rare broadsheet constitution

* a rare broadsheet printing of the Constitution, September or October 1787 (estimate: $80,000-120,000)

* the Alfred T. White copy of the rare 1643 New Englands First Fruits, promoting the fledgling Boston colony and containing the first printed description of Harvard (estimate $120,000-180,000) 

* a signed typescript of Bob Dylan's 1976 song Joey, inscribed to actor Jerry Orbach and Marta Curro who inspired it, the near to final draft lyrics with corrections and emendations, possibly in the hand of Jacques Levy, and additional notations in blue ballpoint, possibly in the hand of Dylan (estimate $20,000-30,000) 

* the only surviving example of an important June 1535 broadside proclaiming Henry VIII’s supremacy over the Church, issued by the Bishop of Lincoln, John Longland, the king’s confessor (estimate $100,000-150,000

read more