MESSRS. PUTTICK AND SIMPSON, AUCTIONEERS OF LITERARY PROPERTY, No. 47, LEICESTER SQUARE, LONDON. MARCH, M.DCCC.LXI. MNW THE Books described in this Catalogue were collected, several years since, by Mr. HENRY STEVENS, Literary Agent in London of the Smithsonian Institution, as material to be used in the completion of his yet unfinished Work upon American Bibliography. Having made such use of the Books as was necessary for this purpose, he described them, with collations, and prices for sale affixed, in a Catalogue, printed about four years ago, entitled AMERICAN NUGGETS.* Only three or four copies of that Catalogue were permitted to go out of his hands, and a few of the Books have been sold; but, on account of his large accessions of works of the same class, the public circulation of the Catalogue was delayed until the preparation of other volumes of the series could be completed. The greatly altered value of many of the books described in t'. Nuggets, some having much increased, and others probal ly diminished in price, has induced the conviction that the circulation of that Catalogue now, or at any future time, as a means for the sale of its contents, would not be fair either to buyer or seller. Mr. STEVENS has therefore determined to submit the entire unsold portion of the Nuggets to unreserved public competition, in the hope and belief, that, though many of the articles may fall below the prices affixed to them in his own Catalogue, the prices of others, with whose rarity and importance Collectors have become better acquainted, will be found to be enhanced; and thus such a result may be obtained as, on the whole, will justify the course proposed. In the Nuggets, the title of each work is printed, word for word, as in the original, and exact collations of each are appended. The titles in the following catalogue have been abridged, but it is hoped, not to such an extent as to hinder the exact identification of any work or edition. By the kind permission of Mr. Stevens we have availed ourselves of the collations printed in the Nuggets, * See under STEVENS, in this Catalogue. M133132 |