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  • DARWIN, CHARLES

    Collection of four letters to William Chester Tait.. Down, Beckenham, Kent, February 2, February 24, April 18, and June 1, 1869

    This fascinating series of letters reflects Charles Darwin’s wide-ranging scientific research, his boundless curiosity, and his encouragement of a young naturalist.

    $60,000

  • WHITMAN, WALT

    Autograph letter signed to Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Camden, New Jersey, 9 August 1878

    “The Good Gray Poet” to the Poet Laureate. Tennyson was the most important of of the many English literary figures who subscribed to the “Author’s Edition” of Leaves of Grass, privately issued by Whitman in 1876. Hearing that Whitman was “in great straits, almost starving,” Tennyson sent him five pounds virtually as an outright gift, rather than the more modest subscription price (Kaplan, Walt Whitman).

    $60,000

  • (GRANT, U.S.) Mathew Brady

    Ulysses S. Grant. Washington, c. 1865

    $52,000

  • ALCOTT, LOUISA MAY

    Autograph letter signed to Miss Thurston. No place, [c. 1868 or possibly later]

    Louisa May Alcott discusses the impact of Little Women and its place in children’s literature. She observes that “My ‘Little Women’ have much astonished their Momma by making many friends for themselves, & she can only account for it by the grain of truth that lay at the bottom of the little story.”

    $45,000

  • HAWTHORNE, NATHANIEL

    The Scarlet Letter, a Romance with Autograph letter signed to Donald Grant Mitchell. Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields / The Wayside, Concord, Massachusetts, 1850; 15 April 1862

    First edition of the Scarlet Letter. Henry James hailed The Scarlet Letter as “the finest piece of imaginative writing yet put forth in the country … It is beautiful, admirable, extraordinary.”

    $40,000

  • WHITMAN, WALT

    Autograph letter signed to his sister [together with] “To the Sun-Set Breeze” Original printer’s proof, signed by Whitman.. Camden, 1890; 29 June 1891

    In this fine, warm letter to his sister, Whitman writes, “Love to you sister dear. The day has got along & I have just time to hurry this off to catch this evng’s mail. Much the same with me— hot wave here again. Am anchor’d here at my window as usual. 2 enc’d.” The latter comment may refer to Whitman’s enclosure of the accompanying broadside (see next item). Several well-known photographs capture Whitman in his final years seated at his window at a table overflowing with his papers.

    $40,000

  • VON BRAUN, WERNHER

    Original drawing, “3-Stage Satellite Vehicle (pitch plane)” signed and dated 1952. [Huntsville, Alabama, 1952.]

    This is an original signed drawing of a space ship by Wernher von Braun, the father of the American space program. He made this drawing for his landmark Colliers series “Man Will Conquer Space Soon” (1952-54), which played a central role in inspiring a generation of rocket scientists and convincing the public of the possibility of space exploration. These essays covered seemingly every aspect of manned space flight and anticipated many developments including the enormous multi-stage vertical launch vehicle (to become Saturn V), a horizontal landing space ferry (the Space Shuttle), an orbiting space station, a lunar landing, the establishment of a base on the moon, and ultimately a manned expedition to Mars.

    $35,000

  • SPOCK, BENJAMIN

    The Pocket Book of Baby and Child Care. No Place, [ca. 1946.]

    Spock’s book helped to revolutionize child-rearing in post-war America. Within one year of its first publication the book sold 750,000 copies, and it has since sold more than 50 million copies in ten editions and more than 40 languages. “When it appeared in 1946, the advice in Dr. Spock’s now classic book was a dramatic break from the prevailing ‘expert’ opinion. Rather than force a baby into a strict behavioral schedule, Spock, who had training in both pediatrics and psychiatry, encouraged parents to use their own judgment and common sense” (NYPL Books of the Century).

    $35,000

  • TOLKIEN, J. R. R

    The Lord of the Rings. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1954-1955

    FIRST EDITIONS, FIRST PRINTINGS. This is a very attractive set of the celebrated Lord of the Rings trilogy. The size of the edition was small: The Fellowship of the Ring (3000 copies), The Two Towers (3250 copies), and The Return of the King (7000 copies).

    $35,000

  • GODDARD, ROBERT H

    Autograph manuscript diagrams and text. [n.p., n.d.],

    Goddard (1882-1945), the “father of modern rocket propulsion,” launched the world’s first liquid-propellant rocket on March 16, 1926, at Auburn, Massachusetts, a “feat as epochal in history as that of the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk” (NASA). Goddard had a rare genius for invention and these notes suggest the endless refinement necessary to create a dependable, operational rocket engine.

    $35,000