Hindman Auctions to Present Fine Books & Manuscripts November 9-10

Chicago – Hindman Auctions’ November 9-10th Fine Printed Books & Manuscripts, Including Americana auction will feature 687 lots. The sale will be led by strong sessions featuring printed and manuscript Americana, natural history, science and microscopy, and fine bindings including fore-edge paintings and publisher’s trade bindings and children’s literature. A dedicated session of selections from the studio and personal archive of Barry Moser will also be offered. Moser, a renowned artist and illustrator, is the owner, operator and proprietor of the Pennyroyal Press. This selection, the most comprehensive group of Moser material ever offered at auction, represents the full range of Moser’s creative process – from his own annotated source material and preliminary drawings to his trial designs and proof impressions to the final productions of many of his most celebrated works.

Other notable collections in the auction include the Selections from the Collection of Dr. Eugene Vigil and the Remaining Stock of the Antiquariat Botanicum, Part I, microscopy and children’s books from the Collection of Norman and Florence Blitch, the Americana & Texiana Collection of Brant Mittler and the Frank Lloyd Wright Collection of Jesse “Cary” Caraway.

Leading the auction will be sessions of science and natural history books and manuscripts, including fine microscopy books from the Collection of Norman & Florence Blitch, and selections from the Collection of Dr. Eugene Vigil and the Remaining Stock of Antiquariat Botanicum. Highlights include a first edition, second issue printing of Robert Hooke’s Micrographia: Or Some Psychological Descriptions of Minute Bodies Made by Magnifying Glasses (lot 40; estimate: $12,000-18,000) and Jean Baptiste Audebert’s Histoire naturelle des singes et des makis, a first edition of the first monograph devoted to the description of primates (lot 70; estimate: $10,000-15,000).

Printed and Manuscript Americana
Leading the session of printed and manuscript Americana is the Dr. Brant Mittler Collection of Americana and Texiana. This collection includes a complete set of the Journals of the United States Continental Congress and Congress, which documents the activities of the Continental Congress from the American Revolution to the signing of the Constitution (lot 256; estimate: $25,000-35,000). Other significant Americana includes a first edition of the Federalist Papers (lot 281; estimate: $40,000 - $60,000).

Bindings
Day two of the auction features fine bindings, including Cosway-style bindings by Sangorski and Sutcliffe and Bayntun (lots 476, 478, and 479). Also included are a fine collection of fore-edge paintings. The session concludes with a collection of superlative examples of American publisher’s decorated cloth bindings, including iconic designs by Sarah Wyman Whitman, Margaret Armstrong and the Decorative Designers.

Selections from the Studio and Personal Archive of Barry Moser

The auction will conclude with selections from the studio and personal archive of Barry Moser, with highlights representing his major works, including Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz and Mark Shelley’s Frankenstein. The session includes a copy of Moser’s exceptional Pennyroyal Caxton Bible, containing over 235 resingrave engravings (lot 620; estimate: $8,000- $12,000).

How to Bid
Bidding for the November 9-10th auction begins at 10 am CT each day. Bidders will be able to participate in-person, via absentee bid, by phone, or live online through the Digital Bid Room, Hindman’s recently launched online and mobile bidding platform. Private preview of the auction will be available at Hindman’s Chicago office, by appointment only. Additional information about the auction can be found at the auction page here and the catalogue can be viewed here.