Auction Highlights: Printed & Manuscript Americana — September 28, 2023

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The September 28, 2023, Americana auction is rich in material from the American Revolution and the Civil War. Highlights include early printed journals of the Continental Congress, a complete run of Gentleman’s Magazine from the period of the Revolution, and an early printing of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense. From the Civil War, we have a long run of lots relating to the Baltimore riot which launched the war in 1861, including the only known contemporary ambrotype of Luther Ladd, the first Union soldier killed in action. We also offer an archive on the surrender of a Confederate cavalry brigade in May of 1865.

^{Left to Right: Lot 17: Journal of the Proceedings of the Congress Held at Philadelphia, May 10, 1775, New York, 1775. Estimate $10,000 to $15,000; Lot 22: Thomas Paine, Common Sense, Addressed to the Inhabitants of America, 1776. Estimate $6,000 to $9,000; Lot 28: Thomas Contee, diary of meetings with Washington and Hancock in the midst of the retreat from New York, October to December 1776.}

On offer is a Bible given to Massachusetts founder John Winthrop as a twelfth birthday gift by his father in 1599. The sale includes many historic newspapers, including a 1789 paper with the proclamation of the first Thanksgiving under the Constitution.

^{From Left to Right: Lot 59: Partial New Testament given to John Winthrop as a 12th-birthday gift by his father in 1599. Estimate $3,000 to $4,000; Lot 102: Contemporary photograph of Luther Ladd, the first Union soldier killed in action, ambrotype, 1861. Estimate $8,000 to $12,000; Lot 280: Issue of the Gazette of the United States with the proclamation of the first Thanksgiving under the Constitution. Estimate $15,000 to $25,000.}

Also of note is a large archive of papers of the famed polar explorer Robert Peary: supply lists for his Greenland expeditions, a letter to his longtime lieutenant Matthew Henson, letters on his rivalry with explorer Frederick Cook, four diaries, and much more.