Swann Galleries' Book Department Director and Americana Specialist Rick Stattler remarked, "We were pleased to see an unusually large number of lots go to institutions, including a quarter of the top 20 lots. The Massachusetts Historical Society acquired the diary of Emerson disciple John Albee; the Society of the Cincinnati won a wonderful letterbook of Revolutionary privateer mogul Paschal Smith and several other lots; and a very early whaling journal from Cape May, NJ went home to the Museum of Cape May County. The South Carolinian Library at the University of South Carolina acquired the correspondence of George de Groot, who served in the state during the Civil War.

“In general, the market for Printed & Manuscript Americana remains very strong. This was our fourth million-dollar Americana auction in the past 18 months. The considerable attention pre-sale attention paid to the Bay Psalm Book, lot 84, and the success of that lot was particularly satisfying­–it was the highest price ever paid for a book at a Swann Americana auction.”  

PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF SALE 2404, February 4, 2016: PRINTED & MANUSCRIPT AMERICANA Sale total: $1,051,124 with Buyer’s Premium

Hammer total: $842,425

Estimates for sale as a whole: $669,550-976,450

We offered 324 lots; 292 sold (90% sell-through rate by lot)

Top lots                                                                                                                                                         Prices with buyer’s premium

84**    Previously unknown seventh edition of the Bay Psalm Book, published in Boston, 1693, with provenance tied to            $221,000 D

            Salem witch trial judge Jonathan Corwin, as well as descendants of John Proctor.

126      The Federalist, A Collection of Essays Written in Favour of the New Constitution, first edition, New York, 1788.  $87,500 D

155      Thomas Jefferson, Observations sur la Virginie, first published edition, Paris, 1786 [1787].                                            $47,500 C

171      $100,000 Reward! Broadside reward poster for John Wilkes Booth and accomplices, Washington, 1865.     $37,500 C

188      Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate, 24 monthly issues, Kirtland, OH, Oct. 1834 to Sept. 1836.                           $35,000 D

93**    Johann George Gemeling, Disputatio Geographica de Vero Californiae, Marburg, [1739].                                               $32,500 D

17        Letterbook of Boston merchant and privateer agent Paschal N. Smith, during the American Revolution, 1775-81.    $30,000 I  

156*    Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, London, 1787.                                                                                              $22,500 C

189      A Collection of Sacred Hymns, first edition of the “Manchester Hymnal,” edited by Brigham Young, 1840.     $22,500 C

29*      John André, A Representation of Major John André . . . going from the Vulture Sloop of War to the Shore of              $15,000 D

            Haverstraw Bay, aquatint, circa 1781.

314      Family Papers of Apache fighter Colonel Joaquin Terrazas of Chihuahua, with 59 items, including letters.       $15,000 D

321      José Maria Tornel y Mendevil, early printing of the Guerrero decree abolishing slavery in Mexico, 1829.               $15,000 C

283      Manuscript journal of early Cape May whaler Lewis Cresse, 1752-66.                                                                             $13,750 I

199      Bond signed by the widow Joseph Smith, Emma Hale Smith, Nauvoo, 1845.                                                  $13,750 D

113      Civil War-era archive of correspondence between regimental surgeon William C. Towle and his wife, 1863-66.       $10,625 D

179      Diary of young Trancendentalist John Albee, 1853-61.                                                                                                $9,375 I

270      Diaries of Elizabeth F. Houghton, a young woman in Woodstock, VT, 1816-36.                                                             $9,375 C

33        John Hancock, A Proclamation for a Day of Thanksgiving, broadside, November 1781.                                                $8,450 I

282      The Will of General George Washington, Washington family copy, first edition, 1800.                                     $7,500 D

320      Broadside offering amnesty to American citizens who fought for Mexican independence, 1820.                         $7,250 I

KEY:  * = Auction Record; C = Collector; D = Dealer; I = Institution