Auction Highlights: Printed & Manuscript Americana — June 27, 2024

Our June 27 Americana sale stretches across the ages from the 1500s to the 1980s. The age of early exploration is represented by a lovely 1590 De Bry Latin printing of Thomas Hariot’s report on the “New Found Land of Virginia.” A large offering of Revolutionary War-era pamphlets is illustrated by more graphic material, such as a scarce French engraving of the surrender at Yorktown (one other known at auction since 1916). A highlight of the Civil War section is a manuscript order by General Sherman issued on his March to the Sea: “Enforce a devastation more or less relentless.” 

For the Wild West lovers, we have an original charcoal portrait of Buffalo Bill Cody by the artist Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait. For those captivated by the tragedy of the Titanic, we have the letters of the Johnston family, emigrating from Scotland to America in steerage: “Our boat has been canceled owing to the coal strike, so they are transferring us onto the Titanic, a new one. This will be her first voyage.” All nine family members perished.

The sale features a large aviation section which arrived from several different consignors, including a photo album from the 1910 Harvard Boston Aero Meet (the first such event in the United States). A 28-lot Judaica section (also from several consignors) spans from George Washington’s famous “Address to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport” through World War Two. 

This sale includes several lots of African Americana for those who do not wish to wait until our annual sale in March. These include the 1852 first separate printing of Frederick Douglass’s scathing 4th of July speech, which has not appeared at auction in twenty years, and an original “I Am A Man” poster from Martin Luther King’s final march in Memphis. 

The Latin Americana section includes a wonderful 1803 illustrated Mexican book on the ages of man titled simply “Soneto”, which contains two more plates than either of the other known surviving copies. 

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