February 2015 |
Surprises Abound in Georgia Rare Books Auction Next Month
On March 7, Addison & Sarova Auctioneers in Macon, Georgia, will hold a grab-bag auction of 100 rare books and manuscripts that includes a Zaehnsdorf-bound set of Dibdin's Bibliographical Decameron, a hand-colored Koberger Bible leaf, a fifteenth-century manuscript on vellum, a finely bound set of Pepys from 1825, two incunabula, early law & religion books, and some Faulkner firsts. Variety is the name of the game here, and the catalogue offers many unexpected turns. Here are few of the stand-out rarities.
Robert Cushman's The Sin and Danger of Self-Love (Boston, 1724). First American edition of a sermon first published in London in 1622, with its contemporary paper covers. The verso of the title page showcases the penmanship of eighteenth-century owners Elizabeth Follet and Susanna Grant. According to the auctioneer, "We find no record of this scarce edition ever appearing at auction ... The present edition has been seemingly unobtainable until now." The estimate is $10,000-15,000.
Gerson's Opus tripartite de praeceptis Decalogi ...(Cologne, c. 1467). A "very rare first edition of one of the earliest productions of the first press established in Cologne." Showing fine rubrication and bound in full brown levant. The estimate is $5,000-8,000. Another incunable, Gerson's Imitatio Christi (Brescia, 1485), is also on offer.
William Langland's The Vision of Pierce Plowman (London, 1561). "Aside from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, this work is regarded as the most important of early English literature. All early editions (this being the 4th) of Piers Plowman are rare with Pforzheimer listing only this and the second edition of 1550." This one is further distinguished by manuscript notes, underlining, and marginalia throughout (from the 18th or early 19th century?) and an engraved bookplate of American industrialist Waldo C. Bryant. The estimate is $5,000-8,000.
Images via Addison & Sarova.
Robert Cushman's The Sin and Danger of Self-Love (Boston, 1724). First American edition of a sermon first published in London in 1622, with its contemporary paper covers. The verso of the title page showcases the penmanship of eighteenth-century owners Elizabeth Follet and Susanna Grant. According to the auctioneer, "We find no record of this scarce edition ever appearing at auction ... The present edition has been seemingly unobtainable until now." The estimate is $10,000-15,000.Gerson's Opus tripartite de praeceptis Decalogi ...(Cologne, c. 1467). A "very rare first edition of one of the earliest productions of the first press established in Cologne." Showing fine rubrication and bound in full brown levant. The estimate is $5,000-8,000. Another incunable, Gerson's Imitatio Christi (Brescia, 1485), is also on offer.William Langland's The Vision of Pierce Plowman (London, 1561). "Aside from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, this work is regarded as the most important of early English literature. All early editions (this being the 4th) of Piers Plowman are rare with Pforzheimer listing only this and the second edition of 1550." This one is further distinguished by manuscript notes, underlining, and marginalia throughout (from the 18th or early 19th century?) and an engraved bookplate of American industrialist Waldo C. Bryant. The estimate is $5,000-8,000. Images via Addison & Sarova.
