Next Thursday, September 14, Freeman's Auctioneers in Philadelphia will host a sale of rare books and manuscripts, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Among the highlights:
- One of two known Providence-imprint copies of the "Declaration of the Representatives of the United Colonies of North America, now met in General Congress at Philadelphia, setting forth Causes and Necessity of their taking up Arms", issued in July, 1775 by the Second Continental Congress. The pre-sale estimate on this item is $25,000-$35,000.
- A second edition folio of Thomas Jeffreys' The American Atlas: a Geographical Description of the Whole Continent of America (1778), with thirty maps. Estimated at $40,000-$60,000.
- Several Audubon items, including a first octavo edition of the Birds of America (seven volumes, 1840-1844), a later octavo edition (eight volumes, 1870-1871), a first octavo edition of the Viviparous Quadrupeds (three volumes, 1849-1854) and various lots of prints from the octavo and the elephant folio editions of Birds (the latter including his American Pipit, Brown Lark, and Wood Pewee).
- First editions of Bram Stoker's Dracula, JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit, HG Wells' The Time Machine, Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White, Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, AA Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh (signed by Milne and the illustrator); a second edition of Boswell's Life of Johnson ...
- Many early American newspapers, containing contemporary accounts of such events as the Battle of Bunker Hill, Benedict Arnold's treason, Washington's death, and the Burr/Hamilton duel.
Quite an interesting selection; were I to be in Philadelphia next week I'd be very tempted to go watch the bidding and see how things fare.
