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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.
[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!
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.
Many people have old and rare books in their homes that have been passed down in the family. They might include a well-loved and worn edition of Dickens that may be worth only a few dollars or an unnoticed early colonial printing that could be worth thousands. Whether to raise money or simply because they can no longer be properly cared for, books gets sold. Nevertheless, selling a library or inherited book can be a very emotional process. Books contain not just the voice of their authors but reflect the person who bought them and can often bridge generations in a family. These short stories are meant to chronicle some of those connections and collections.
SELLER: Chris
LOCATION: Wallingford, Connecticut
WHO COLLECTED THE BOOKS:
The books, stacked in neat piles on the basement floor, were part of the collection formed by Eugene Silver Barry, Chris’s maternal grandfather. Eugene S. Barry left school at twelve and by his late twenties opened a leather tannery. He befriended a bookseller in Boston, who in exchange for leather, offered rare books and expert advice. Clearly, a love of books was an inherited trait as his own father, Eugene Barry, Sr., was a published poet and an original donor and trustee of the Lynn Woods Reservation, one of the largest largest municipal parks in the United States. A humble volume of his 1904 poetry, inscribed to his wife, sat lightly bruised and infrequently dusted on the shelf.
BOOKS BEING SOLD:
Many of the books being sold concern voyages. As a leather tanner, Chris’s Grandfather had a natural interest in the fur trade and exploration books concerning the NorthWest Passage, the potentially highly lucrative trade route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans that captured the imagination of generations of explorers. Collecting exploration books was a shrewd investment. Mankind always has yearned to uncover the mysteries of new lands and the fascination has not escaped the attention of collectors. Fine copies of important voyage and exploration books have become expensive.
BOOKS NOT BEING SOLD:
There is a nice ten volume 1912 set in blue cloth of The Photographic History of the Civil War. That will stay in the family. Chris’s relative, Sergeant Joseph R. Balsley of the 142nd Pennsylvania Infantry, fought at Gettysburg and the set contains thousands of Civil War photographs including those of Matthew Brady. Chris proudly showed me his relative’s original battle sword.
Another book of sentimental value that will remain on the shelf is a copy of Kipling’s Just So Stories. Chris’s Grandfather read it to him as a child, but today he hesitates to read it to his own grandchildren. The story of how the elephant got his trunk seems dated and less palatable today when the paragraphs end with “they beat him.”
A BOOK WORTH HIGHLIGHTING:
An attractive and sought-after copy of John Marshall’s The Life of George Washington was one that grabbed my attention. Copies at auction generally command $1500-2500 or more depending on the condition and issue. This wonderful six volume set was printed between 1804 and 1807 and unites two great historical figures in American history- Chief Justice John Marshall, the principal founder of our constitutional law with George Washington, a founder of our nation. Washington was a major influence on the young Marshall, and his eloquent biography was drawn from Washington’s diaries, letters and secret archives. The accompanying, and often missing, Atlas volume contains maps of Revolutionary War battlefields. It is the type of patriotic work that no doubt would have interested the upstanding and civic minded Barry family.
REASON FOR SELLING:
There is no room in the house anymore and the books have been moved between homes several times, with the occasional nick in a spine or missing volume resulting from the shifts.
PLANS FOR THE MONEY:
The money will be funneled into the upkeep and care for a family property in Maine. The property was originally bought by Eugene Barry, Sr. in 1988. As Chris explained, he met a women (Lucy Wyman) from Sebec Village, at the eastern end of the lake, at a church social after the men had rowed 12 miles just to get there! They married, and the property has been in the family ever since. Chris is the fourth generation and his grandkids are the sixth. It is a comforting thought that the books have come full circle and the proceeds will benefit the family property that was so dear to his Grandfather’s heart.
The books as seen piled on the basement floor in Chris’s home
The First Edition of Marshall’s Life of Washington
The Civil War battle Sword of Sergeant Joseph R. Balsley
APPRAISING AN 18th CENTURY RARE BOOK ON CLOCKS AND WATCHES
We just received in the mail a very interesting work on watch and clockmaking from 1732: Johann George Leutmann’s Vollständige Nachricht von den Uhren. This is a complicated work and typographically intimidating. It is printed in black-letter script with only occasional Roman script, a style that remained common in Germany until the end of the 18th century. It is not a book, like a signed limited copy of the Little Prince, for example, that can more easily be looked up on the internet for a range of prices. So, I thought it would be instructive, to outline what goes through the mind of a bookseller when appraising a book’s value:
There are several factors one must reasonably consider:
IMPORTANCE: When evaluating an old book, and once it has been identified, it is necessary first to get a sense of its importance. Some books are rare, but not necessarily important and therefore not very valuable. The book here is important. A little research indicates that it is considered to be the “The first detailed treatise on clocks and watches.” (Baillie, Clocks and Watches, p.147). Book dealers are often fond of books that can be labeled “the first of this” of the “first of that”, and while they sometimes go to extremes to elevate a particular book’s importance with such descriptive labels for the purpose of marketing, this is truly a breakthrough work in horology. It is particularly fascinating, as while some other earlier works had touched upon clock mechanisms, Leutmann delves into the relatively newer area of pocket watches and portable time pieces, with a chapter even on how to tell the age of a watch (albeit that is not much use today if you like a glitzy Rolex or a more subdued vintage Patek Phillipe)
THE BINDING: The binding of this book is a scarce and collectible binding. It is a Brocade paper binding that is almost certainly contemporary with the book (i.e. from the 1730s). The paper was originally printed in bright colors, with an abundance of decorative leaves and flowers. It is now worn, and like many things that suffer the ravages of time, only displays a glimpse of its former beauty. Still, it is a quite fascinating as an example of innovative and inexpensive 18th century European bookbinding.
RARITY: The book is not a first edition, as it was originally issued in 1718. Still, it is a work that very rarely appears at auction in any edition. I have only been able, in fact, to trace two copies at auction in the last thirty years. There are several subscription databases to check auction results such as the ABPC, AmericanaExchange, and in the case of German books, the JAHRBUCH der Auktionspreise für Bücher. A quick and free option to ascertain rarity is to look at Worldcat.org. This is a solid, albeit not entirely comprehensive, database of holdings of books in Institutional Libraries (how many libraries have copies of a particular book). Worldcat has its flaws, such as duplicate listings, incorrect listings of actual books vs. microfilmed copies etc. Still, it is very helpful, and certainly one can also get the collation (page count) and cataloger’s notes of many rare books. Through Worldcat, I was able to trace only 9 other copies of this 1732 edition- so it is quite rare.
PROVENANCE: It is essential when evaluating a book, to look for signs of previous ownership, bookplates, annotations, inscriptions etc. and to assess their importance. In this book, we do have some ownership signatures in a fairly illegible hand, but which read “Ex Libris W.W. Eckark” Now, if that was an important and identifiable watch or clockmaker, that would certainly raise the value of the book. Unfortunately, there is scant biographical information on who that is and as such it does not contribute much to the value. Additionally, there are some mid-18th century notes to the inside of the front cover (paste-down) of the book. These notes however just reference and re-state part of the text and do not appear to be significant.
COMPLETENESS: The work should contain 2 parts in 1 volume with 2 engraved frontispieces, 30 engraved plates and 16 tables (mainly folding, or double-page). One must carefully check and count all pages. While all the text pages are present as well as the 2 engraved frontispieces, this copy only possesses 18 of the 46 plates and tables and therefore must be considered severely defective.
VALUE: While the book is extremely important in the history of horology and is bound in an interesting 18th century binding, it is incomplete. It is a unfortunate fact that collectors and dealers want complete books even if that means passing over otherwise interesting and rare works. Condition and completeness are extremely important when it comes to assessing the monetary value of a book. Were this a complete example, it would have a value in the range of $1500-2000. Sadly, with so many plates missing, it is just an antiquarian curiosity to those interested in watchmaking or bookbinding, but something not likely worth more than $300.
