An enormous run of Goodspeed’s rare book and manuscript catalogues. Vols. 1-370 and 381-575. Boston: Goodspeed's Book Shop, 1899-1973

Founded in 1898, Goodspeed’s published its first catalogue in 1899. For decades to come the firm would be a dominant force in American bookselling. These catalogues are a witness to that golden age.

$6,500

Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie. Boston: William D. Ticknor & Company, 1847

First edition, first state. This is an excellent copy of the rare first issue of Longfellow’s romance of the expulsion of the Acadians by the British during the French and Indian War. The idea for the poem came from Nathaniel Hawthorne, who had heard a story about tragic Acadian lovers. Longfellow did meticulous research on the historical setting of the poem, which paid off, literally—it earned him record royalty payments.

$6,000

Ode recited at the Commemoration of the Living and Dead Soldiers of Harvard University, July 21, 1865. Cambridge: Privately printed, 1865

$6,000

Snow-bound. A Winter Idyl. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1866

FIRST EDITION, FIRST AND SECOND ISSUES. These are the fine Bradley Martin copies of both issues of the poem that brought Whittier his greatest fame.

$6,000

Georgia Scenes, Characters, Incidents. Augusta, GA: S.R. Sentinel office, 1835

$6,000

Autograph note signed to John H. Johnston. Camden, March 7, 1887

Whitman writes to his good friend and benefactor John H. Johnston, the New York jeweler, evidently congratulating him on the birth of his child: “Bless the dear baby, & all babies – Love to you & wife, Walt Whitman.”

$4,800

Original drawing of Walt Whitman. no date, no place, 19th century

This original pen and ink drawing of Walt Whitman is mounted at the front of an 1888 edition of Leaves of Grass. The likeness of a jaunty, casual, Whitman wearing his trademark slouch hat takes its cue from the famous 1855 Hollyer engraving, but here we see an older Whitman with a full beard.

$4,800

Our Old Home: A Series of English Sketches. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1863

$4,500

Autograph manuscript signed headed “Extract from ‘Bravo,’. Paris, 16 June 1831

A passage from Cooper’s The Bravo, A Venetian Story. Cooper likely wrote out this extended passage from The Bravo for an unknown admirer. Cooper identifies it at the foot of the page as “Chapter VI. vol. I. copied from proof sheet…” The manuscript varies in several places from the text of the novel’s first publication in 1831.

$4,500

“The Ocean” in The Salem Gazette. Salem, Massachusetts: Ferdinand Andrews and Caleb Foote, 26 August 1825

$4,500