[Rarebooks] FS: The Rarest American Childrens Book -the first Peter Parley

[Pia Oliver]

To start the New Year off:

GOODRICH,  Samuel Griswold.  The Tales of Peter 
Parley About America.  Boston: S. G.  Goodrich, 
1827.  Illustrated with 36 wood engravings on 32 
plates by Alonso Hartwell,  J. W.  Barber,  and 
others.  12mo,  original quarter sheep and slate 
boards,  spine ruled and lettered in gilt.

  Covers rubbed and a little browned,  corners 
worn,  light to moderately heavy foxing 
throughout.  Top of title page excised from 7/8 
to one inch above the word Tales,  resulting in 
loss of the word The.  The following leaf 
containing the Preface,  excised 1/4 inch from 
top with no loss of text.  Both excisions seem to 
have been undertaken to remove an inked notation, 
scant traces of which remain,  probably initials 
or a name.  In spite of the above imperfections, 
this copy would seem to be equal or superior to 
most of the other known copies.  The collation 
given in Peter Parley to Penrod ends at page 142. 
In our copy,  the last page 144 is mis-numbered 
142 i. e.  the pagination being 141-142-143-142. 
There are a very few marginal tears,  not 
affecting text.  The last leaf -pages 143-142 
[sic]- has a tiny hole which obliterates the 
letter G in George .

First edition.  One of the great rarities of 
childrens literature.  It was the initial entry 
in Jacob Blanck's Peter Parley to Penrod.  A 
Bibliographical Description of the Best-Loved 
American Juvenile Books.  (New York: R. R. 
Bowker,  1938).  Blanck could only locate one 
copy rebound,  at Harvard University.  The 1954 
Pierpoint Morgan catalogue of Childrens 
Literature added to this the Barrett copy at the 
University of Virginia.  Four copies have 
subsequently sold at auction:
1.  Sotheby Parke Bernet,   28 February,  1974, 
lot 692.  Half sheep,  rubbed,  spine defective, 
binding   cracked,  foxed. 	$2, 750.00

2.  Sotheby London,  2 June,  1982,  lot 75 the 
Oppenheimer copy,  original half leather,  joints 
repaired,   stained title page and preface 
repaired.  £2,420   ($4,235-4, 464)

3.  Swann,  29 April,  1992,  lot 186 the Epstein 
copy,  quarter sheep,  original boards.  Worn 
with covers  detached,  endpapers detached and 
childish scrawl in brown ink,  some scattered 
damp staining and   browning to text,  a few 
minor marginal chips or short tears.     
	$13, 200

4.  Sotheby New York,  June 1,  1995,   lot 45, 
slate blue boards backed with red sheep.  Some 
foxing,    soiling,  and staining,  rubbed, 
front joint chipped with loss.      	$14, 950

5.  To those can be added the incomplete Mildred 
Greenhill-H.  Bradley Martin copy.   The H. 
Bradley   Martin sale,  Sothebys New York, 
January 30-31,  1990.  This lacked four pages of 
text as well as   one of the illustrations. 
Original half roan boards,  slightly worn.  It 
did not sell.  From the descriptions,  it is 
possible numbers one and four as listed here are 
the same copy.

  [Blanck,   Peter Parley to Penrod I.  Pierpoint 
Morgan Library,  Childrens Literature,  49. 
Grolier Club,  One Hundred Influential American 
Books Printed Before 1900,  35].	$32, 
500.00 (less usual trade courtesy).


-- 

Randall House (member Antiquarian Booksellers' 
Association of America - <http://www.ABAA.org>  )
835 Laguna Street
Santa Barbara, California 93101

(805) 963-1909      fax (805) 963-1650
<http://www.randallhouserarebooks.com>

Visa, MC, AmEx, MO, cheques in US funds, institutional billing on request.

Know who your Internet bookseller is! Look for 
the ABAA membership logo, the Antiquarian 
Booksellers' Association of America - now a 50 
year professional organization requiring its 
members to have a proven track record of 
knowledge and experience, and to abide by a 
written code of ethics.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://rarebooksmailinglist.com/pipermail/rarebooks_rarebooksmailinglist.com/attachments/20031230/bec7266e/attachment.htm>