#134: The Manuscript Society Auction: 2000+ historic dealer catalogs

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Lot # Photo (Off) Title Current Bid High Bidder Time Remaining
0026 Lot 26. Paul C. Richards Catalogs. 170 items. Operating out of Brookline, Massachusetts, Richards (1938-1993) was widely known for his merchandise. In the spring 1993 issue of The Manuscript Society News, Mary Benjamin commented on his passing: “Paul Richards’ death is a true loss to those who loved history. He handled autographs in all fields, researched them thoroughly and priced them fairly. His catalogues were impressive in the variety of their contents.” Richards published 281 catalogs. This lot includes his first catalog; the last one in the lot is 203, so many are missing. P.C. Richards is listed in the 1976 Manuscript Society membership directory.
$1.00 575 closed
0027 Lot 27. Lester Roberts. 3 items. Catalogs 28, 31, 37. Undated and no internal evidence to suggest dates. Possibly 1970s. Antiquarian book dealer who operated out of San Rafael, California. Member of ABAA. Catalog 33 in name of Mrs. Roberts, perhaps after Mr. Roberts died. Catalog 31 includes a TLS by Graham Greene about his first book, published while an undergraduate, listed for $10. {Note: This description was altered on 2-28-22 @ 12:19pm ET}
$1.00 575 closed
0028 Lot 28. Joseph Rubinfine. 33 items. Lists 31-36, 45, 48, 50-53, 55, 56, 58-60, 62-65, 67, 69, 70-74, 76, 79-81, 84, 174, 178, 181, 183, 184; circa 1970-2018. Rubinfine (1938-2019) spent his early life on a farm in New Jersey and it’s from NJ that his first catalogs were issued. It was not until 1987 that he moved to Florida (the last five catalogs in this lot were issued there). He became very well known for his expertise with Americana, something that the entries in his catalogs reflect. Less obvious to many is that he was a long-distance runner for many years and competed in many marathons, including four Boston Marathons. He was named a Fellow of The Manuscript Society.
$30.08 2752 closed
0029 Lot 29. Seaport Autographs. 49 items. Catalogs 1, 5-22, 24-27, 29-35, 102, 105-117; and 120-124; 1976-1987, 2006-2011. The first catalog is modestly titled “Autographs Spring-1976” and was issued by “N. F. Boas” from Wilton, Connecticut; the title changed with later catalogs, as did the location from Mystic to Stonington. Boas is none other than Dr. Norman F. Boas (1923-2016), Fellow of The Manuscript Society. With a medical degree from Harvard attained by the time he was 22, Boas was in public health service, including a stint with NIH, taught at Yale, and later was in private practice. After retiring from medicine, he was heavily involved with historical projects in his area and, of course, acquiring and selling manuscripts. His research and publishing interests included Abraham Lincoln, First Lady Jane Pierce, and the noted anthropologist Franz Boas, his grandfather.
$1.00 575 closed
0030 Lot 30. James Smalldon. Americana. 6 items. Catalogs 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 17; 1980-1982. Smalldon (1925-2011) was born in Detroit, Mich. After serving in the Navy during WW II he resided in California where he received a master’s degree in history from the USC. He stayed in the state and made his name in the world of autographs, manuscripts and rare books for, among other things, his expertise in California Americana. The mailing address for the catalogs is Sutter Creek, Ca. Catalog 9, from 1980, includes many Civil War items including a muster roll for Co. C, 16th Louisiana, dated 1862. Several Caddo Native Americans, formerly from Louisiana, Arkansas and eastern Texas, are listed. The document listed for $20.
$1.00 575 closed
0031 Lot 31. R.M. Smythe & Co., Inc. 1 item. Catalogue No. 1, n.d. An ALS by Charles Lindbergh, dated February 24, 1936 and written from Wales where the Lindberghs sought seclusion, is addressed to the BBC declining an invitation to speak on BBC. It was offered for $1,350.
$1.00 575 closed
0032 Lot 32. A Creative Century: Collections at the University of Texas. Austin: Humanities Research Center, 1970. Second printing. 71 pgs. Paperback. Catalog of an exhibit held in November 1964 at the Academic Center and Undergraduate Library. Comprises selections from the university’s twentieth century literary manuscript collections. Includes 100 selections, especially useful for autograph examples.
$6.00 2750 closed
0033 Lot 33. Golden Cockerel Private Press. 1965-1966. British Handmade Books. Great Britain: Golden Cockerel Press, 1955. 48 pgs. Paperback.
$1.00 2758 closed
0034 Lot 34. William Blades. The Enemies of Books. London: Elliot Stock, 1902. Hardback. The author was a 19th-century bibliophile and book collector. First published in 1880, the book was republished in other editions in 1881, 1888, 1896 and 1902 in a popular edition. He worked with many notable collectors as well as printers, including William Claxton. Shelf wear, and boards are heavily worn at corners.
$1.00 36 closed
0035 Lot 35. Charles Hamilton. The Book of Autographs. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1978. Hardback, with dustjacket.
$1.00 575 closed
0036 Lot 36. Charles Hamilton. The Signature of America: A Fresh Look at Famous Handwriting. New York: Harper and Row, 1979. Hardback, with dustjacket.
$2.00 36 closed
0037 Lot 37. J. C. Fitzpatrick. Notes on the Care, Cataloging, Calendaring and Arrangement of Manuscripts. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1921. Second edition. 47 pgs. Paperback. The publication serves as an early guide to the practices employed by the Manuscripts Division of the Library of Congress to preserve and manage its, even then, enormous collection of manuscripts.
$1.00 575 closed
0038 Lot 38. Harry E. Pratt. Lincoln’s Inner Circle. Springfield: Illinois State Historical Society, 1955. 30 pgs. Paperback. With permission from The Abraham Lincoln Association, this publication provides 31 frontispieces chosen from the 52 used in the Abraham Lincoln Quarterly (1940-1952). They include photographs of Lincoln, his family, his vice-presidents and cabinet members, and buildings with which he was associated. Descriptions of each image are included.
$1.00 575 closed
0039 Lot 39. The Proceedings of the Disraeli Colloquium. April 22 and 23, 1978, at The Donald Gordon Center, Queen’s University at Kingston. Sponsored by The Disraeli Project, Queen’s University, and The Canada Council. John P. Matthews, editor. Paperback.
$0.00 NA closed
0041 Lot 41. Linda Sillitoe and Allen D. Roberts. Salamander: The Story of the Mormon Forgery Murders. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1988. Hardback, no dustjacket.
$0.00 NA closed
0042 Lot 42. Clyde C. Walton. Illinois’ Lincoln Letters. Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1967. 24 pgs. Paperback. Walton, the state historian, provides background to the large collection of over 1,200 original Lincoln letters and documents held by the state historical library. Includes many illustrations.
$1.00 36 closed
0043 Lot 43. Handbook: Museum and Library Collections. New York: The Hispanic Society of America, 1938. Hardback, no dustjacket.
$0.00 NA closed
0044 Lot 44. Manuscripts of the Dibner Collection. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Libraries, 1985. Hardback, no dustjacket.
$1.00 2750 closed
0045 Lot 45. Life in Letters, American Autograph Journal. October 1941; vol. 7, no. 1. 40 pgs. Paperback. Individual issues and broken sets are available online. This issue includes three letters (1730-1740) written by Abigail Levy Franks, born in New York in 1696 the year after her parents, Moses and Rachel Levy, arrived there from London. The letters are written to her son, Naphtali, who was living in London where he managed the family’s business. Each letter is long and full of information about the family and its affairs.
$1.00 575 closed
0046 LOT 46. Early Printed Books and Manuscripts. Catalog of the Property of the General Theological Seminary, New York City, and other owners, which will be sold on Wednesday, October 1, 1980, at 10:00 a.m. Christie, Manson & Woods International, Inc. Hardback.
$1.00 2758 closed
0047 Lot 47. T.S.R. Boase. The York Psalter in the Library of The Huntington Museum, Glasgow. New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1962. Hardback with dust jacket.
$0.00 NA closed
0048 Lot 48. Charles Hamilton. Great Forgers and Famous Fakes: The Manuscript Forgers of America & How They Duped the Experts. New York: Crown Publishers, 1980. Hardback with dust jacket.
$1.00 36 closed
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