The Successor to Bangs & Co. (Established 1833) No. 5 West 29th Street, New York UNEQUALED facilities for the handling and sale Sales of Private Collections Extract from the Will of Edmond de Goncourt: 64 (Trans.) My wish is that my Drawings, my Prints, my Curiosities, my Books in a word these things of art which have been the joy of my life-shall not be consigned to the cold tomb of a museum, and subjected to the stupid glance of the careless passer-by; but I require that they shall all be dispersed under the hammer of the Auctioneer, so that the pleasure which the acquiring of each one of them has given me shall be given again, in each case, to some inheritor of my own tastes." The Hurst Sale A Letter of Appreciation The American Security and Trust Co. of Washington, D. C., being named as the sole executor of the estate of the late Bishop John Fletcher Hurst, chose The Anderson Auction Company as the medium for the public sale of his choice collection of Books, Autographs, and Manuscripts. In due time the sales were effected, the aggregate proceeds amounting to $56,500. In connection therewith, the following extract from an unsolicited letter received from the Executor may prove of interest: "It seems proper that I should express to you our entire satisfaction with your management and conduct of the sale. The cataloguing, on which so much depended, was admirably done, and the amount realized was fully up to the highest estimate of the value of the collec tion. I have heretofore congratulated you personally on the success of the sale, and now beg you to accept this expression of our appreciation of the excellent service rendered in this connection by your Company to ours. Yours very truly, JAMES F. HOOD, Secretary." A FOREWORD. THE incentive for the collection of the first editions of American authors here offered for sale came from the dispersal at auction of William Harris Arnold's books. Though not nearly so complete a collection as the one Mr. Arnold gathered together, yet the number of titles now offered which were not included in his collection emphasizes the fact that, given the essential conditions of time, patience and means, a much more complete collection can be made at the present day than was possible even a few years ago. William Cullen Bryant is here represented by a number of items not mentioned either by Foley or in the much more complete special bibliography of Sturges. Among the Emerson books will be found a presentation copy of his address at Concord in 1835 (his first book), a fine copy of the rare 1847 edition of his poems, as well as some hitherto undescribed early English editions of his works. Among the Longfellow books there is, in best collector's state, a presentation copy of the exceedingly scarce large paper edition of Evangeline, issued in 1848. In the same year appeared Lowell's Vision of Sir Launfal, here represented by an unusually fine copy. The copy of Thoreau's Walden came from the " gardenroom "bookcase of the poet Whittier, whose comment on the book was, "that the practical moral of it seems to be that if a man is willing to sink himself to the level of a woodchuck he can live as cheaply as that quadruped; but, after all, for me, I prefer walking on two legs." The numerous books entered under the name of Whittier include an especially fine copy of the scarce History of Haverhill. Of the Whittier items not to be found in any of the bibliographies mention may be made of the unique leaflet of his poem, "In War Time," and of the very scarce specially printed "Summer Ode," the first copy to be offered at public sale. With but very few exceptions, all the books are in the original bindings; and while all collectors are, unhappily, forced to realize the great difficulty of securing, in many cases, even presentable copies of the earlier works of our authors, the hope is expressed that in the present sale will be found many volumes in a condition to suit the most exacting booklover. |