NEW YORK – On Wednesday, July 13, starting at 7 pm Eastern time, Jasper52 will hold a sale titled 15th-19th Century Antique Books Collection, which delivers exactly that – books published between the 15th and 19th centuries, with a few maps and posters mixed in. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.
The sale presents 662 lots in all, leaving bidders spoiled for choice. Unsurprisingly, there is a large selection of Bibles, published sermons and other holy books on offer, as well as assorted histories of great people and great events. Other treasures on offer include a 1606 treatise in Italian on the history and use of artillery; a 1788 account of the surviving crew of the shipwrecked Antilope and how they returned home with a prince from the Palau Islands in tow; a visually compelling 1652 map of Italy; and a 1551 copy of Lodovico Domenichi’s In Praise of Women.
Also of note is a 1619 Dutch illustrated printing of Ovid’s Metamorphosis; the poetry of Horace, printed in Spanish in 1599; the Life of Girolamo Savonarola, a biography released in 1761; a handsome 1881 edition of Tennyson’s The Lady of Shalott, illustrated by Howard Pyle; a two-volume publication from 1784 recounting Captain James Cook’s voyages toward the South Pole and around the world; a book on the coins and medals of Holland, published in French in 1688; a 1712 treatise on obstetrics; and an 1809 book of poems on the topic of abolishing the slave trade.
First among the highlights is a two-volume work credited to Captain James Cook and titled A Voyage towards the South Pole, and round the World. Published in London in 1784, it is estimated at $2,500-$3,000. It features 56 engraved plates plus seven more plates supplied in facsimile, including a map of the South Pole (which, it should be said, Cook did not actually reach.)
A second strong lot is a 1712 printing of a work originally released in 1664 by Francois Mauriceau, the leading birth attendant of his era. The medical tome deals with all aspects of childbirth and stresses the importance of mastering knowledge of anatomy and physiology. It is estimated at $350-$400.
Rounding out the highlights is a 1652 map of Italy, signed in the cartouche by Nicolai Ioannis Visscher. Colored by hand, the map depicts the familiar boot-shaped country framed by a series of views of Italian cities, local costumes and coats of arms. The map is estimated at $1,500-$2,000.
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