New Englands First Fruits…, first edition, first state, of the first of John Eliot’s “Indian Tracts,” London, printed by R.O. and G.D. for Henry Overton, 1643, sold for $60,000, the highest price of the sale ($40/60,000).
NEW YORK CITY — Swann Galleries’ November 21 auction of Printed & Manuscript Americana brought $608,036, landing squarely within its pre-sale estimates, with 234 of the 320 lots offered finding buyers. Of the auction, specialist Rick Stattler noted, “This auction found collectors going back to basics, with particularly strong results for the early colonial period, the Constitution and early republic, and especially the Civil War — perhaps part of an increasing interest in the foundations of the American experiment.”
The sale was led by a rare 1643 first edition of New England’s First Fruits, which made $60,000. The text was a first edition, first state example of the first of linguist John Eliot’s “Indian Tracts,” which examined the Massachusetts Bay Colony’s first years and Harvard College’s establishment.
Additional top lots included the 1815 Catalogue of the Library of the United States which described Thomas Jefferson’s personal library — the initial core of the Library of Congress ($30,000); and three important Mormon lots relating to founder Joseph Smith: a diary of an 1833 mission to western New York with Joseph Smith ($50,000); a family register of Brigham Young written by Rhoda Richards, one of Smith’s plural wives ($20,000); and a pair of deeds signed by Smith’s grandfather and uncle ($27,500).
Printed shortly after the infusion of Thomas Jefferson’s collection into the Library, this Catalogue of the Library of the United States (Washington, DC: Jonathan Elliot, 1815) had an early gift inscription on its title page and flipped to $30,000, surpassing its estimate ($15/25,000).
Book highlights featured a 1784 to 1793 volume of Connecticut acts and laws featuring an early printing of the Constitution made after the Revolution ($15,000) and Agustín de Mora’s rare illustrated 1701 Mexican book El sol eclypsado antes de llegar al zenid ($8,125), which made its first appearance at auction since Swann sold a different copy in 1946.
Ephemera offered the cover lot, a tintype sheet of 1860 presidential candidate campaign photographs ($11,875) and a set of three circa 1790 engravings of the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico, which showcased rarely seen early views of one of the most visited Catholic pilgrimage sites ($7,000). Large archives included papers of Consul James Maury and his family; Maury’s father had been Thomas Jefferson’s teacher ($5,750). Additionally, family papers of noted physician Cornelius R. Agnew ($13,750), and records of the Sterling Iron & Railway Company in Orange County, N.Y. ($4,250), performed well.
No Swann Americana manuscripts auction is complete without a great diary. Notable diaries included those of Catherine Colver Williams, a mother searching the South for her lost soldier son in the Civil War ($5,750); W. Everette Clark, a Civil War hospital worker describing Lincoln, contraband and more ($7,000); and the journal of the New Bedford, Mass., whaling ship Hunter ($12,500).
Crossing the block for $1,875, “Panoramic view of the Gold Rush boomtown of Dawson City, Yukon Territory” by Floyd W. Sheelor, circa 1915, gelatin silver print, 12 by 60 inches, credited and captioned “Dawson City Y.T.,” earned a new world auction record for the photographer’s work ($2/3,000).
The sale established several new auction records. A “Panoramic view of the Gold Rush boomtown of Dawson City, Yukon Territory,” brought $1,875, a record for photographer Floyd W. Sheelor; the Civil War pamphlet The United States Conscription Law of 1863, which established the military draft, brought a record $4,250; Kate Cumming’s Journal of Hospital Life in the Confederate Army, 1866, brought $2,210; and Daniel P. Smith’s Three Years in the Confederate Service, 1885, brought $2,375.
Prices quoted include buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, www.swanngalleries.com or 212-254-4710.
