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April 7, 2014

FROM THE LIBRARY OF THE FAVORITE AND CLOSE FRIEND OF QUEEN ELIZABETH I

A ROBERT DUDLEY BEAR BINDING WITH AN EARLY SCOTTISH VERSE INSCRIPTION by Patrick Home of Polwarth.

Osorio da Fonseca, Jeronimo, 1506-80. Hieronymi Osorii de gloria libri V. Florence, Laurence Torrentinus, 1552…Bound with.. . De Nobilitate civili, libri duo…. – Florence, Laurence Torrentinus, 1552. 2 vols. in 1; 8vo., 22.5 x 15 cm. Contemporary calf gilt, covers with double fillet and fleurs-de-lys corner pieces enclosing a cartouche with the badge of Robert Dudley, a bear chained to a ragged staff with a crescent for difference with his initials ‘R D’. Remarkably, unrestored with wear to boards and corners, hinges very weak or partially separated; internally some light marginal damp staining. While not unrecorded, the binding has not resurfaced since it was sold at Sotheby’s Monday, April 11th, 1932. Ref: BMC of Italian Books p. 478.

The lower title page bears the interesting 1608 Scottish English verse: “In all ye varld is na mair ado || bot sawll to kepe and honor to luik to” (In all the world [there] is no more necessary but [your] soul to kepe and honour to look to [ie. make sure you keep an eye on]), signed by Sir Patrick Home of Polwarth (1550-1609) the courtier and poet, as in the Flyting of Montgomerie and Polwarth. The facing inscription attests that this book was bought in London by him in 1608.

Lord Robert Dudley, the English nobleman and the favourite and close friend of Elizabeth was one of the first Englishmen, after Thomas Wotton, to commission gold-tooled bindings. An inventory at the dispersal of his possessions after his death in 1588, shortly after his crucial preparations to repel the Spanish Armada, records 232 books – of which 80 have survived in institutional collections. In commerce, Robert Dudley bindings are exceedingly uncommon.

Jerónimo Osório (1514-80) was the best known Portuguese writer of the period in England and his works were practically required reading for Elizabethan statesmen. “De Gloria and its companions … deal with the role of the leader in society from a Catholic and anti-Machiavellian perspective. Their first great English admirer was Roger Ascham, at the time Queen Mary’s Latin secretary, who thought De Nobilitate…might have been written with Cardinal Pole in mind. He had probably seen a copy of the Florentine edition of 1552, which was brought to England by two of Osório’s friends when they were sent there by Pope Julius III to congratulate Philip of Spain on his marriage to the English queen. [Ref: mod-langs.ox.ac.uk/files/windsor/4_earle.pdf] The work was translated by William Blandie into English in 1576: The fiue bookes of the famous, learned, and eloquent man, Hieronimus Osorius, contayninge a discourse of ciuill, and Christian nobilitie.

In all, a splendid pairing of remarkable provenance, a beautiful binding with a highly influential work that helped shape the Elizabethan mindset. [SOLD]

December 22, 2013

HOW TO VALUE A RARE EARLY PIECE OF AMERICANA

When traveling and purchasing rare books from estates and libraries, it is impossible sometimes to realize the value of every single book one encounters or even buys.  This is especially true with ephemera that has suffered from the ravages of time, and whose importance can easily be overlooked.  However, that is the fun of research!  The book below was  originally purchased from a house in Virginia whose contents descended in the family for 200 years.

The book languished on my shelf before I finally sat down to examine it.  I initially dismissed it as early music instruction book- and one that was incomplete- the type of work which rarely excites interest or brings any money.  However, as I started researching it through the standard databases such as Worldcat.org, I immediately saw how rare it was.   In fact, Worldcat cites no other known copies. Surprisingly, there wasn’t even a copy in the Library of Congress,  which since the 1790 Copyright law,  has served as a repository of deposit copies of all printed works (albeit it is conceivable this was printed in 1790 or even a bit earlier and escaped that legal requirement).

What makes the book fascinating is the author/composer Alexander Reinagle, who was an English-born American composer, organist, and theater musician, but who journeyed in 1786 to try his  fortune as a professional musician in the new United States of America  (see Wikipedia). George Washington was one of his admirers and  Reinagle composed important pieces which were performed on the way to Washington’s inauguration.  In fact, Alexander Reinagle taught George Washington’s step-granddaughter (Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis (March 31, 1779 – July 15, 1852), known as Nelly) to play the pianoforte and he likely used this very book!  During during George Washington’s presidency, Nelly helped entertain guests at the first Presidential Mansion on Cherry Street in New York City, and therefore it is very conceivable that these pieces were among the first pieces of music ever performed for the guests of the President of the United States.

That fascinating history behind this simple, worn book of piano lessons, therefore requires a re-evaluation in terms of its price.   There are condition issues, including a missing last leaf that must be taken into consideration.  Still, this was a very cheaply printed, ephemeral production and it is remarkable that it even survived at all.  Pricing this important piece of American music history, without any comparable examples recorded (let alone sold), is as much art as science.

PRINTED c. 1790s.  LIKELY THE ONLY SURVIVING COPY  OF AN IMPORTANT WORK OF EARLY AMERICAN MUSIC PUBLISHING

The Book:

Reinagle, Alexander.  Twenty four short & easy pieces : intended as the first lessons for the piano forte s.d.s.l.;  [Baltimore] : Printed and sold at Carrs music store Baltimore., [between 1790 and 1800].  Oblong 8vo.,  23.5 x 16 cm., first two lvs. detached but present, wanting last leaf with XXIII-IV as indicated on the title and ending on XXII; original string holding pages together, with wear, thumbing, staining as depicted.  Overall, a remarkable survivor in any condition and EXTREMELY RARE- no copies of this Carrs imprint listed in Worldcat with the only similar work being the c. 1806 second set of pieces. The Library of Congress holds only the earlier 1780 London imprint.  THIS IS LIKELY THE ONLY SURVIVING COPY OF A FASCINATING WORK OF EARY AMERICAN MUSIC PUBLISHING.   $3500.00

VI, Allegretto and VII, Allegro  present here are reproduced in Maurice Hinson’s  Music for the Washingtons : a collection of keyboard pieces and songs performed in Philadelphia during the early days of the young republic Belwin Mills, 1988.

June 16, 2013

CLAUDE LORRAIN’S ‘LIBER VERITATIS” WITH 200 MAGNIFICENT MEZZOTINT PLATES

Printed 1777:  The earliest instance of a self-compiled catalogue raisonné and a landmark work history of copyright protection.

[FINE PRESS] [HISTORY OF PRINTING][COPYRIGHT LAW] Lorrain, Claude [Laude Gelee] Liber Veritatis; Or, a collection of prints after the original designs of Claude Le Lorrain; in the collection of His Grace the Duke of Devonshire, executed by Richard Earlom… London: Messrs. Boydell and Co., n.d. (dated 1777 in the preface)  Two volumes. Folio: frontispiece, 18 pp.,  100 plates in mezzotint printed in bistre by Earlom after Claude,  frontispiece, 10 pp., 100 plates in mezzotint printed in bistre. 3/4 red morocco and marbled bords, spines richly gilt.   Provenance:  Sir William Eden Bart, his bookplates with laid in gift presentation note from Robert Goff.  Abbey Life 200.     $14,000

A magnificent and unusually clean set of a great work in the history of the book.  Abbey, without exaggeration, describes it as “a capital work, a landmark in the history of reproduction master drawings.” Its compilation was intended to protect Claude from numerous forgeries and imitators, and as such, it is perhaps the earliest instance of a self-compiled catalogue raisonné.  A work of enormous influence that even Turner sought to emulate with his Liber Studiorum, it also ranks as one of the great causes célèbres in the history of copyright protection, vying with Dürer’s challenge to Marcantonio Raimondi’s, Ruben’s privilege applications, and William Hogarth’s lobbying for the first English Copyright Act.  A third volume was eventually published in 1819.

June 2, 2013

William Duncan’s 1794 New-York directory with the Map intact

[EARLY NEW YORK HISTORY] [EARLY NEW  YORK MAP] [EARLY AMERICAN DIRECTORY] Duncan, William. The New-York directory, and register, for the year 1794. : Illustrated with a new and accurate plan of the city and part of Long-Island, exactly laid down, agreeably, to the latest survey … New-York : Printed for the editor, by T. and J. Swords, no. 167, William-Street., –1794.   Small 8vo., 16 x 10 cm.,  COMPLETE WITH MAP; i.e.  xii, 288 p., [1] leaf of plates: 1 map.  Some small loss to left margin of map as depicted, restorable tear to right margin, some general toning, a few folded corners, map detached. Early marble wraps partially preserved (and remarkably so), wraps detached, text-block without stitching (requires relatively easy resewing through the clean stab-holes present). Ref: Evans 26919.  An EARLY NEW YORK CITY DIRECTORY OF GREAT RARITY, ESPECIALLY IN PRIVATE HANDS.  $12,000

The Map present in this modest, ephemeral, and exceedingly rare directory is of great importance in American cartography.  It was engraved by the well regarded early American engraver Cornelius Tiebout (1777-1832) after John McComb Jr. (1763-1853 ), one of the most important architects of the period.  It was drawn primarily to depict the First Meeting of the Federal Government in New York.  “The federal government under the new United States Constitution first met in Federal Hall (formerly City Hall) in New York City during the spring of 1789. This plan of the city of New York by John McComb (1763–1853) shows the city and environs and indexes many important landmarks, including Federal Hall.” [LOC].  Additionally, according to Evans, “In this directory is given the changes from the early names of the streets.”

There is a wonderful blog post by Philip Sutton on the importance of early directories to researchers, historians and genealogists (in connection with  New York Public Library’s Direct Me NYC 1940 project)  here.

Auction Record:
The only copy actually sold at auction in the last 30 years was in 1986 Swann Galleries  for $650.00 (Thursday, April 3, 1986. lot 292) for an INCOMPLETE copy described as having “good portion of the engraved plan of the City and part of Long Island is lacking, tear at D2; lacks F5 and F6”  Please keep in mind that the copy for sale here is COMPLETE by comparison with the important map intact!

May 20, 2013

RARE BOOK APPRAISAL : PROVENANCE

It is often necessary to examine books firsthand to appraise them properly. There are often attributes to a book besides the specific title, date or edition that can affect the value. One of those is certainly provenance, which may be formally defined as the “chronology of the ownership, custody or location of a historical object.” In simpler terms: who previously owned the book. So, how does prior ownership or provenance affect the value of a book? This is a question I am often asked by people who find signatures or inscriptions in their books.

Sometimes, if the book contains a signature or bookplate of a person of great literary, cultural, or historical importance, then the value of the book will clearly be affected. However, I am not talking here about books owned by George Washington (one of which sold for $9 Million). I wanted instead to look at the more subtle examples rare booksellers normally encounter: ownership marks of well known or important people, but not necessarily household names.

As a simple case study, I will examine one of the 19th century’s most popular works on archeology: Lazard’s Nineveh and its Remains. “Layard became the foremost archeologist of his time, and discovered the ancient ruins of Nineveh at the tender age of thirty-one. While the British Museum unloaded hundreds of tons of sculpture from Layard’s excavation, Layard wrote Nineveh and Its Remains, a popular account of his discoveries… The book appeared to rapturous acclaim and sold out numerous printings. Readers loved the fluent mix of high adventure and archeology in his books, and intoxicating stew of compelling characters and sudden crises. He made the Assyrians accessible to the common person and brought alive a shadowy Biblical civilization.” [Kessinger Publishing, LLC, describing the reprint]

Here is the simple description and photo of the set:

Layard, Austen Henry. Nineveh and its Remains. London, John Murray, 1849. 2nd ed., 2 vols. 8vo., 22 x 14.5 cm., complete with half-titles, 26 plates and plans (many folding), engraved folding map (short tear), occasional light spotting. Full fine crushed red morocco and gilt as depicted, all edges gilt, inner gilt dentelles, slight chipping to spine and rubbing to hinges.

Based solely on title, edition, and condition alone, we might consult one of the subscription auction databases such as the American Book Prices Current
A recent auction record of the set listed there is: Layard, Austen Henry, Sir, 1817-94 – Nineveh and its Remains. L, 1849 – 1st Ed – 2 vols. 8vo, – contemp half calf – rubbed – With 2 frontises, folded map & 24 plates. – Foxing – Winter, May 16, 2012, lot 40, £180 ($279). Because the attractive bindings on our set perhaps are more desirable that the half calf described in the auction record, we could reasonably increase the evaluation fo our set to $350.

However, upon examining this particular set, we find the 19th century Crest Bookplate of Henry B. H. Beaufoy, F.R.S, the famed hot-air
balloonist, Royal Society member, and bibliophile. Beaufoy owned an important library including a set of magnificent copies of the first four folios of Shakespeare, known now as the “Beaufoy Shakespeares” Copies of Beaufoy books, often splendidly bound, may be referred to reverentially as “the Beaufoy copy.”

Additionally when we open the set further, we find bound in before the preliminary pages a 10 PAGE MANUSCRIPT IN BEAUFOY’S HAND commenting on the work and furnishing details of the famous Beaufoy library. When reading this manuscript, it is mentioned that Layard (the author) was a family friend
and had donated a manuscript volume of another of his works to the prestigious library. It may be supposed, without proof (an authorial inscription), that this set may also have been a presentation from the author.

So, how does the Beaufoy provenance affect the value of a set that would normally sell for $350? This is, of course, a subjective question as the inclusion of the manuscript and provenance are unique attributes not found in other copies. Needless to say, is not unreasonable to add perhaps $400 to the value of the set, making the total value $750. Beaufoy may be fascinating to bibliophiles and book collectors, but he is no George Washington.