Auction 4: Lots 26-50

(prices realized are shown in bold following the estimated prices)

26. BUTLER, Samuel. The Way of All Flesh. London: Grant Richards, 1903. vi, 424 [12, publisher’s catalogue] pp. 8vo, original gilt-lettered red cloth, t.e.g. Binding with mild outer soiling, two small ink spots, and moderate shelf wear. Hinges cracked, endpapers lightly stained. Illustrated bookplate of E. A. Bennett. Preserved in a cloth folding box gilt-stamped “Arnold Bennett’s Own Copy.” Laid in is an amusing unsigned typed letter from a bookdealer defending the attributed provenance and declaring: “If the auction in Chicago misinformed that customer, I am hardly to blame; in any event I believe the purchaser bought it cheap enough, not to complain, even if it was the Bishop of London’s own copy.”

First edition, first issue (misprint on p. 352), in the primary binding.
($200-400) $230.00

27. [CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH & MEXICAN-AMERICAN WAR]. Collection of ten letters addressed to Manuel J. de la Madrid in Mexico by various correspondents. Mexico City, Guanajuato, Tacubaya, and Mazatlán, 1847-1860. 19 pp., 4to. Very good to very fine, at least two with postal cancels.

This modest little collection contains several substantial letters, including eyewitness reports on the Mexican-American War, the California Gold Rush, the Three Years War, etc. Mendoza Cortina writes on August 21, 1847, describing the U.S. invasion of Mexico City. On September 1, 1847, Antonio Azara relays the dramatic news: “The U.S. has its batteries in front of Chapultepec and will soon open fire.” On February 24, 1849, José O’Forns writes about the California Gold Rush and the ensuing mania, commenting that 3,000 persons have embarked for California through Veracruz. Documentation from Mexican writers on the Mexican-American War and the California Gold Rush is seldom encountered. (10 items)
($750-1,000) $862.50

“The California pictorial letter sheet provides the best visual chronicle of the California Gold Rush and the golden decades of the 1850s and 1860s. Imprinted on sheets of writing paper were views of rough-and-ready mining camps, argonauts panning for gold in the broiling Sierra foothill sun, pioneers pushing their way across the continent, terrifying city fires, vigilance committees marching down San Francisco streets, and California’s spectacular natural wonders” (Gary Kurutz, introduction to Clifford Sale, Part 3, California Pictorial Letter Sheets).

28. [CALIFORNIA PICTORIAL LETTER SHEET]. Assassination of James King of Wm. BY JAMES P. CASEY. San Francisco, May 14th, 1856. | Pub. by Britton & Rey. Lithograph (four images, each 4-3/4 x 6-5/8 inches), printed across double sheet (overall 10-15/16 x 16-5/8 inches), green wove. Mounted on archival tissue, reinforced with silk at centerfold, a few inconsequential chips to blank margin. Very good to fine.

Baird 5. Clifford Sale 6 (Plate 2). Documents early lawlessness in the West, illustrating in four scenes Casey’s assassination of newspaperman James King of William (organized the first Vigilance Committee), and Casey’s execution at the hands of the second Vigilance Committee.
($500-750) $575.00

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29. [CALIFORNIA PICTORIAL LETTER SHEET]. “CELEBRATION of WASHINGTON’S Birth Day.” San Francisco Feb^y. 23^d. 1852.” | Lith. & Pub. by Pollard & Britton. Lithograph (6-5/8 x 9-3/4 inches), single sheet (overall 8-3/8 x 10-7/8 inches), white wove. Fine, mounted on archival paper.

Baird 25. Clifford Sale 24 (Plate 10). Early collaborative effort by Pollard and Britton. A multitude of citizens are gathered on the lower side of Portsmouth Square in an old-fashioned, unifying celebration of the birthday of the Father of Our Country.
($400-600) $460.00

30. [CALIFORNIA PICTORIAL LETTER SHEET]. Celestial Empire in California. | MINERS [upper] | GAMBLERS [lower] | Lith. & Published by BRITTON & REY. Corn^r. Mont^y. & Cal^a. Sts. San Francisco. Lithograph (2 images, each 4-3/4 x 7-7/16 inches), single sheet (overall 10-3/4 x 8-3/8 inches), blue or grey wove. Slight darkening and two tiny holes at old folds, a few inconsequential light stains. Contemporary ink notation on lower blank margin.

Baird 26. Clifford Sale 25 (Plate 13). The upper illustration is a virtual mirror image to a plate found in J. D. Borthwick's Three Years in California. Borthwick, a Scottish artist (fl. 1825-1870) joined the Gold Rush, but abandoned mining when he discovered that he could make more money sketching miners and mining life. He has left us some of the most vivid illustrations of the California Gold Rush.
($400-600) $488.75

31. [CALIFORNIA PICTORIAL LETTER SHEET]. DEPARTURE FOR EL DORADO. | Lith. by [blank space] Quirot, S.F. Lithograph (10-1/4 x 8 inches), single sheet (overall 10-3/4 x 8-5/8 inches), grey wove. Silked, some discoloration, light wear, especially at folds.

Baird 51. Clifford Sale 45 (Plate 21). A wickedly humorous view of the dark side of the Gold Rush.
($300-500) $431.25

Click here for image (331 kb)

32. [CALIFORNIA PICTORIAL LETTER SHEET]. Dividing the Pile [upper] | Hard Road to travel. [lower] | Lith & Pub. by Britton & Rey, Cor Mont & Comml. Sts. Lithograph (upper: 4-7/16 x 7-3/16; lower: 4-7/8 x 7-3/16 inches), double sheet (overall 10-1/2 x 8-1/4 inches), white wove, lightly ruled. No. 7 from the Britton & Rey numbered series. Very fine.

Baird 54. Clifford Sale 48. Borthwick-style scenes of life at the mines: Four miners in a cabin weighing gold and miners on a steep mountain trail with packed mules.
($250-350) $287.50

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33. [CALIFORNIA PICTORIAL LETTER SHEET]. EXECUTION OF JOSE FORNER, DEC. 10, 1852. on Russian Hill San-Francisco, FOR THE MURDER OF JOSE RODRIGUES [sic] | [No publisher given]. Lithograph (6-13/16 x 9-7/16 inches), single sheet (overall 8-1/16 x 9-7/8 inches), blue or grey wove. Noisy Carrier’s stamp. Mounted on archival paper, remains of old ink stamp at upper left. Mild discoloration.

Baird 72. Clifford Sale 64. The Huntington Library Catalogue notes that this was "the first capital execution under sentence of lawful tribunal in the County of San Francisco." Bancroft records the hanging (but says that the man’s name was José Farmi) and states that between 1849 and 1854, there were 1,200 murders in San Francisco and only one conviction (California VII, p. 215).
($350-550) $431.25

34. [CALIFORNIA PICTORIAL LETTER SHEET]. THE GRAND PLAZA, SAN FRANCISCO. | Moody | B. F. Butler’s Lith. San Francisco | ATWILL & CO. Publishers, SAN FRANCISCO. | Entered...1850 by Joseph F. Atwill.... Lithograph (5-5/16 x 8-15/16 inches), single sheet (overall 6-7/8 x 10-1/2 inches), grey wove, two-tone (pale ochre tone stone with black). Very good. Mounted on very thin Japanese tissue, slightly trimmed (no losses), slight wear at old folds. Contemporary ink notation "1850" and "Telegraph Hill."

Baird 92. Clifford Sale 87 (Plate 31). The two-tone coloring on this sheet is very delicate and subtle. "California pictorial letter sheets were almost never hand colored. What is normally called color was added, infrequently, with tone stones over-printed in black; colored inks, for special effects, can be found on certain items." (Baird, p. 12). One of our favorites, an exquisite little view with unusual coloring, with attribution at lower left, “Moody.”
($500-700) $575.00

35. [CALIFORNIA PICTORIAL LETTER SHEET]. HYDRAULIC METHOD OF MINING. | C NAHL. [in block, l.l.] | W. C. BUTLER. ENGRAVER. [in block, l.r.]. Wood engraving (8-3/4 x 7-1/8 inches), single sheet (overall 9-7/8 x 7-3/4 inches), blue or grey wove, ruled paper. Slight creasing and staining, otherwise fine.

Baird 111. Clifford Sale 119. One of the most destructive mining methods ever devised is illustrated against the backdrop of a pristine wilderness. This image, by noted California artist Charles Nahl (1818-1878), also appeared in Hutchings California Magazine (July 1857).
($300-500) $373.25

36. [CALIFORNIA PICTORIAL LETTER SHEET]. MARIPOSA CITY. | Lith. & Published by Quirot & Co corner of California & Montgomery Sts S-Francisco. Lithograph (7-7/16 x 10 inches), single sheet (overall 8-5/16 x 10-5/8 inches), blue or grey wove. Mounted on archival paper, several small chips and holes (loss of three short segments of line border, just touching edge of image), minor soiling.

Baird 151. Clifford Sale 156 (Plate 53). The earliest view of Mariposa (dating from 1851 or 1852). Reps (Views and Viewmakers of Urban America) does not list any view of Mariposa. The town, located at the southern end of the Mother Lode country, traces its Anglo roots to Frémont, who acquired a ten-league grant in 1847 and established his Mariposa Rancho. The town sprang to life in 1849 when gold was discovered on Mariposa Creek, and the first quartz vein in California was discovered. Not too surprisingly, the next event of note was the 1851 punitive expedition by James D. Savage (“The Blond King of Tulare”) against the Mariposa and other tribes who were attacking incoming miners. A fine little view showing an unpaved main street and a few dozen austere wooden houses, business establishments, and tents set against the backdrop of the magnificent Yosemite foothills partially cleared of their timber.
($400-800) $460.00

37. [CALIFORNIA PICTORIAL LETTER SHEET]. THE MINING BUSINESS IN FOUR PICTURES. | Lith & Published by Britton & Rey, corner of Montgomery & Commercial Sts. S.F. Lithograph (four images, each 3-3/4 x 4-7/8 inches), single sheet (overall 8-1/4 x 10-11/16), grey wove. Light discoloration, else fine.

Baird 171. Clifford Sale 194. (Plate 61). The images illustrate the ups and downs of a miner’s life: entering the mining country; finding gold and jumping with joy; discouragement staring at an empty hole; leaving the mining country.
($350-450) $402.50

38. [CALIFORNIA PICTORIAL LETTER SHEET]. [Mining Scene]. | E C R[oberts], [mirror image, in block letters, l.r.] | PUBLISHED BY CHAS. P. KIMBALL, NOISY CARRIERS’ [sic] PUBLISHING HALL, SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. Wood engraving (5-1/16 x 6 inches), single sheet (overall 10-1/2 x 7-5/8 inches), grey wove. A few holes and lightly abraded at left blank margin where demounted. Generally fine.

Baird 172 (illustrated). Clifford Sale 196. A rather stiff and primitive rendering of miners working a sluice box in a forest. The frozen-in-time quality of the scene is partially due to the technique of wood engraving.
($250-350) $287.50

39. [CALIFORNIA PICTORIAL LETTER SHEET]. SAN FRANCISCO UPPER CALIFORNIA, IN NOVEMBER 1851. | Engraved [sic] by C. Quirot | Lith. & Pub. by Justh, Quirot & C^o., California S^t. corner Montgomery St. S.-F. Lithograph (5 x 15-3/4 inches), printed across double sheet (overall 10-3/16 x 17-1/8 inches), blue or grey wove. Very fine, a few small tears and one tiny chip in blank portion neatly repaired, slight creasing.

Baird 252. Clifford Sale 258 (Plate 78). View of San Francisco from Nob Hill east to bay, with Telegraph Hill at left and Methodist church at center foreground.
($400-600) $460.00

40. [CALIFORNIA PICTORIAL LETTER SHEET]. SONORA FROM THE NORTH. [p. 1 or p. 4] | SPRINGFIELD, TUOLUMNE COUNTY. [p. 4 or p. 1] | G. H. Goddard del. [appears as C. H. Goddard [sic] on SONORA] | Lith. Britton & Rey, San Francisco. | Published by G. S. Wells, Sonora May 1853. | Entered...1853 by G. S. Wells.... Lithograph (Sonora: 7-1/8 x 9-15/16 inches; Springfield: 7-1/16 x 9-7/8 inches), printed across double sheet (overall 16-7/8 x 10-3/4 inches, blue or grey wove. Split at fold. Professionally silked, two small tears to blank margin neatly mended. Fine condition. This letter sheet is not rare, but it certainly is desirable.

Baird 257. Clifford Sale 267 (Plate 79). Reps (Views and Viewmakers of Urban America 423) cites the Springfield view (first and only view), but not the Sonora image. Sonora, established by Mexicans from Sonora in 1848, served as headquarters for the Southern mines. Superb views of two mining towns by one of the most important letter sheet artists, Englishman G. H. Goddard (1817-1906). See Clifford Sale 36 and Wheat (Mapping the Transmississippi West IV, pp. 59-63) for a long note on the artist-cartographer. We dread to think what the estimate would be if these were Texas views.
($300-500) $373.75

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41. [CALIFORNIA PICTORIAL LETTER SHEET]. SUNDAY MORNING [upper] | LOG CABIN [lower] | Lith. & Published by BRITTON & REY San Francisco Cal. Lithograph (upper: 4-5/8 x 7-3/8; lower: 4-13/16 x 7-1/4 inches), single sheet (overall 8-3/8 x 10-9/16 inches), white wove. No. 15 from the Britton & Rey numbered series. Very fine.

Baird 267. Clifford Sale 275 (Plate 84). Another Borthwick-type illustration of mining life, this one showing the domestic side: Miners in camp (one in a tent eating; the other lying on the grass reading a book); two men standing before their neat log cabin talking.
($200-400) $230.00

42. [CALIFORNIA PICTORIAL LETTER SHEET]. A View of the [Elephant] | Published and Sold by W. B. Cooke & Co. San Francisco. Lithograph (eight vignettes surrounding an elephant with laurel wreath, overall 10 x 10-7/8 inches), double sheet (overall 10-11/16 x 8-3/8 inches), blue or grey wove. Creased and small holes where formerly folded, some staining and discoloration, four tears with tape repairs. Autograph letter signed, from John N. Ryerson, dated at Sacramento City, August 28, 1850, to his children (1/2 page).

Baird 293. Clifford Sale 301 (Plate 96). The elephant became the symbol for the unbelievable experience of the Gold Rush, with all its dreams and disappointments. Ryerson writes to his children (perhaps in New Jersey):

Dear son...I have Written to Nicholas N. Ryerson which you can get the letter & Read and All of you. I should like to see you all But I cannot for a while But hoping you may all be good Children And attend to Business strictly and I will Try and Benefit you all here. Help your uncle Nicholas to git the Butter off Right. I think it will make something here to pay you all for your trouble. If it comes here good. Be good to your Mother and the Rest of the children which will Be to your Benefit. You will see the californians how they move in this country in this sheet. I have sent one to catherine of the same kind and one also to Abraham at Patterson. Your affectionate father & friend to All of you.

($300-600) $345.00

43. [CALIFORNIA PICTORIAL LETTER SHEET]. VIEW OF THE FIRE IN SACRAMENTO CITY on the night of 2^d. & 3^rd. of November 1852, taken from the Levee. LOSS: TEN MILLIONS OF DOLLARS!!! | LITH & PUB. BY QUIROT & CO. CORN. MONTGOMERY & CALIFORNIA STS. S.F. Lithograph (7 x 10-1/4 inches), single sheet (overall, 8-1/8 x 10-5/8 inches), blue or grey wove. Noisy Carrier ink stamp. Professionally silked. Chipped lower margin neatly filled (loss of two words and a few letters at end of title), some soiling at lower margin.

Baird 294. Clifford Sale 305. Conflagration on Front Street with people, barrels, and crates covering the levee in the foreground.
($200-400) $230.00

44. [CALIFORNIA PICTORIAL LETTER SHEET]. WAY-SIDE SCENES IN CALIFORNIA. | C. NAHL DEL. [in main upper block, l.c.] | ANTHONY & BAKER SC. [in all blocks, l.l. or l.c.] | Published by J. M. HUTCHINGS, San Francisco. Wood engraving (four images: above and below, 3-1/2 x 7 inches each; at sides, 2-15/16 x 1-7/8 inches), single sheet (overall 10-11/16 x 8-3/4 inches), blue wove. A few tears neatly repaired (no losses), right margin slightly darkened (affecting ornamental border, but not images).

Baird 330. Clifford Sale 333. Nahl’s lively rendering of ethnically diverse Californians in the Gold Rush: Eastern and Western types travel together on a mountain trail (good symbolism), Native Americans grind acorns and harvest grasshoppers, and clannish Chinese gangs furiously attack each other with exotic hand-made Eastern weapons at the battle of "Five Cents Gulch,” with gringos cheering them on the background.
($250-450) $287.50

45. [CALIFORNIA PIOUS FUND]. Ley y reglamento aprobado de la junta directiva y económica del fondo piadoso de Californias. Mexico: Arevalo, 1833. 20 pp. 8vo, plain white paper wrappers, sewn. Fine.

First edition. Barrett 1474: "One of the earlier official documents relating to the Pious Fund of the Californias." Cowan, p. 491. Howell, California 50:192: "Implements the decree of May 25, 1832, which ordered that the properties in the Pious Fund be rented and the proceeds deposited in the mint at the capital for the sole benefit of California." Weber, California Missions, p. 63. By these regulations secularizing the great wealth of the California missions, Mexican authorities sought to replace the old monastico-missionary regime in California with civil colonies like those proposed by Híjar and Padrés.
($350-500) $402.50

46. [CARCANO, Michael de]. [Sermoniarum de poenitentia per adventum et quadragesimam...]. [Venice: Nicolaus de Frankfordia, December 11, 1487]. 224 leaves (the last a blank): a-y⁸ A-F⁸, round gothic type, double columns, 50 lines to the page, numerous capital spaces with small guide-letters. 8vo, full modern vellum with leather ties, marca de fuego BELV at top edge. Text trimmed close (with loss of letters at outer margins of four signatures), small wormholes affecting some letters and lower blank margins of about six or seven signatures (some filled), occasional contemporary notes and commentary in ink.

Goff C196. After printing in partnership with Franciscus Renner de Heilbronn from 1473 to 1477, Nicolaus worked on his own from 1481 to 1489, producing service-books in small format. The unidentified marca de fuego is illustrated in Sala, Marcas de fuego (pp. 1-2).
($2,000-4,000) $2,300.00

47. CASTRO, C[asimiro], et al. México y sus alrededores: Colección de monumentos, trajes y paisajes dibujados al natural y litografiados por los artistas mexicanos...bajo la dirección de Decaen.... Mexico: Establecimiento Litográfico de Decaen, 1855-1856 [lithographed title: 1855 y 1857]. 37 pp. (text in Spanish), 37 lithographed plates (41 views), black and/or dark sepia on ochre tinted grounds, captions in English, Spanish, and French. Tall folio, recent high-quality smooth, brown Mexican leather, gilt-ruled spine, raised bands, green gilt-lettered calf label, a.e.g. Matching leather slipcase. Other than occasional slight foxing to blank margins, very fine, the images bright and in strong impressions, paper clean and crisp. A beautiful, well-preserved copy of a classic plate book.

First edition, the augmented issue of 1857 with additional images (the first issue, 1855, had only 24 views). The early issues of the plates are preferred, because their tonal quality is far superior to that in later issues. Many variant issues and editions of this work exist, differing widely in the number of plates. The best historical and bibliographical study on the album is that of Roberto L. Mayer (“Nacimiento y desarrollo del album Mexico y sus alrededores,” written for the Castro exhibit at the Iturbide Palace in 1996). The present copy does not contain the plate of the Cathedral in Mexico City. Mayer explains that there were two versions of this plate, one showing Mexican lancers protecting Santa Anna in a coach, the other substituting a regiment of French soldiers. The Santa Anna version was suppressed after his banishment in 1855; the plate was reworked into the French version when Maximilian came to power.

These superbly executed plates are valuable expressions of art and history, vividly documenting the rich fabric of Mexican life at mid-nineteenth century. Included are incredibly detailed bird’s-eye views: Plaza de Armas, Tacubaya (two views), Paseo de Bucareli, the village and shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Paseo de la Viga, Ixtacalco, and the Alameda of Mexico City, the latter of which includes a hot-air balloon floating serenely above the city (Stephen F. Austin commented on gazing from his jail cell in Mexico City at just such a scene). Also included are views of architecture, plazas, parks, and elaborate costumed groups from every class, participating in a wide variety of social activities—all suffused with vibrant life and myriad details—aristocratic theatre patrons, finely attired churchgoers, common soldiers, elaborately equipped caballeros, fruit sellers and other colorful denizens of the bustling market place, lively dancers at a fandango in a crowded cantina. The final plate of Mesoamerican archaeology and antiquities is keyed to an explanatory article by José F. Ramírez. Hiler, Bibliography of Costume, p. 143. Mathes, Mexico on Stone, pp. 28-30 & 57: "One of the significant lithographic productions in the history of art.... The most important work illustrating Mexico in the nineteenth century." Toussaint, La litografía en México, p. xviii. This issue not in Palau, but see his entry 167505.
($4,500-6,500) $5,520.00

48. CATECHISM. The Racovian Catechisme; Wherein You Have the Substance of the Confession of Those Churches, Which in the Kingdom of Poland, and Great Dukedome of Lithuania, and Other Provinces...That No Other Save the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is That One God of Israel, and That the Man Jesus of Nazareth...is the Onely Begotten Sonne of GOD. Amsterdam [i.e., London?]: Brooer Janz, 1652. [6] 176 [i.e., 172] pp. 16mo, old calf (rubbed and worn). Hinges cracked. Very rare (no copy at auction since 1955).

First edition in English (first edition, Racow, Poland, 1605). This work is sometimes described as the first Unitarian catechism. It was based on the ideas of Faustus Socinus (1539-1604), who is considered a founder of Unitarianism. The book was very controversial because of its contention that Christ was not divine by nature. This English version by John Biddle was formally burned by order of Oliver Cromwell in 1654, thus accounting for its extreme rarity. Biddle was imprisoned several times for his anti-Trinitarian beliefs, and for publishing this and another catechism. After exile, he returned to London; imprisoned once again, he languished and died in 1662. We have often thought that it would be interesting to compile a list of books whose publication resulted in the death or ruination of their authors, editors, or printers. Such a list would include this book.
($400-800) $1,265.00

49. CATHER, Willa. Death Comes for the Archbishop. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1927. [1] [8] 303 [1] pp. 8vo, original green cloth over marbled boards, gilt-lettered black leather spine label. Fragile boards lightly rubbed, spine very slightly darkened. Gift inscription dated December 1925(!) and contemporary bookplate.

First edition, limited edition (#130 of 175 copies on rag paper, signed by author). Campbell, p. 246: “One of the most superb and impressive novels produced in the Southwest, or, for that matter, in the U.S.” Dobie, p. 39, 76, & 180. Powell, Southwest Classics, pp. 120-135; Southwestern Book Trails, p. 11: “Probably the most esteemed of all Southwestern novels...austere, strong, beautiful.”
($600-900) $920.00

50. CHAMBERS, Thomas Jefferson. Autograph letter, signed, to Samuel Bangs, in Cincinnati. Houston, January 7, 1838. 2 pp., 4to, manuscript address and New Orleans red ink circular postal mark on integral leaf. Creased at folds, two holes where wax seal removed (no losses). A fine, rubricated signature by the sire of Texas attorneys.

Thomas Jefferson Chambers (1802-1865), the first Anglo attorney licensed to practice law in Texas, cunning land speculator, and author of the Chambers Code for Coahuila y Tejas, advises Bangs (ca. 1798-1854), first printer in Texas and three Mexican states, on the legal procedures for validating his land claim on the Colorado River between Austin and Bastrop (New Handbook II, pp. 30-31 & I, p. 367). Chambers had earlier finagled Bangs out of half of his land but was unable to finalize matters because Bangs was no longer in Texas. In this letter the wily Chambers urges Bangs:

The law requires your presence here, and as the land is very valuable, if you do not come, advantage will be taken of your absence, and I shall lose all my labor, the expenses I have paid, and the land. Come then, early in the Spring, and we will make an equitable division of our interest.... Bring with you a good printing establishment worth something like 2000$ and I will take an equal interest with you. Such an establishment will do well here. I do not send my part of the money because of the difficulties of the currency; but if you can procure the press and so forth, it shall be forthcoming on your arrival. Come! There is always safety here: believe no rumors to the contrary.

Bangs returned to Texas in 1838 and established the first newspaper on Galveston Island. Ever the innocent, Bangs began a futile attempt to validate his few remaining land titles, which the scoundrel Chambers managed to acquire in toto for “services rendered.” See lot 9 herein.
($750-1,500) $1,092.50