Fine Books & Rare Manuscripts 2023-10-31 Auction - 40 Price Results - Bonhams in MA
Fine Books & Rare Manuscripts
LEDYARD, JOHN. 1751-1789 A Journal of Captain Cook's last voyage to the Pacific Ocean, and in qu...THE NUREMBERG CHRONICLE. SCHEDEL, HARTMANN. 1440-1514. Liber Chronicarum. [German: Das Buch der ...AUDUBON, JOHN JAMES. 1785-1851. Brown Pelican (Pelicanus Fuscus) [Plate CCCCXXI]., London: Rober...
Done
Bonston, MA, United States
Auction Details

Fine Books & Rare Manuscripts

Our Fine Books & Rare Manuscripts live auction opens up possibilities for exploration—both geographic and bibliographic. The famed (and doomed) third voyage of Captain James Cook (1776-1780) explored the South and North Pacific, but it also left behind a literary and artistic legacy, some notable pieces of which are on offer. The highlight is an ultra-rare copy of John Ledyard's 1783 Journal of Captain Cook's Last Voyage with its fold-out map intact, fresh to the market after having been in the same New England family for over two centuries. Ledyard, an American-born Royal Marine serving on Cook's ship, was present when the explorer was killed by Hawaiians in 1779. Also on offer is the Royal Admiralty's own, more detailed, account of the voyage, in three volumes plus a folio of large engravings from drawings by expedition artist John Webber. An engraving showing the moment of Cook's death, which was omitted from the folio, is offered framed, along with a rare early-20th-century print made from an unpublished watercolour by Webber. These items have an impeccable Hawaiian lineage, having been purchased four decades ago in Lahaina, Maui. Accompanying them is an intriguing selection of 19th-century Hawaii-related books, including the first publication of portions of the New Testament translated into the Hawaiian language by New England missionaries. Three centuries before Cook, the German scholar Hartmann Schedel and the artists Michael Wolgemut and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff put together a massive survey of world history and geography under the title Liber Chronicarum (1493). Better known to English-speakers as the Nuremberg Chronicle, it spans the globe from Western Europe to East Asia in over 1,800 woodcuts—maps, cityscapes, and portraits of notables both secular and sacred. We offer a complete copy of the rarely-seen German-language edition, which was issued in slightly smaller numbers than the Latin.
SOLD
KELLY, LEON. 1901-1982. Two notebooks on camouflage.: KELLY, LEON. 1901-1982.Two notebooks on camouflage. Both marbled paper over boards, one with cloth spine (8 x 6 1/2 in.) and one with 1/2 leather (12 x 7 1/2 in.), both with extensive writings and
0023: KELLY, LEON. 1901-1982. Two notebooks on camouflage.Est.
$1,000
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$2,000