Rabbi Papers, Needlework Album, and Annapolis Map: The Week in Rare Books
Bird's Eye View of the City of Annapolis, New York, 1864
This weekly auction result is provided by Spencer W Stuart, an independent collections advisor specializing in rare books and manuscripts as well as fine photography and prints. He is also the author of Contemporary Issues in Rare Books & Manuscript Collecting and host of the monthly webinar Collecting Insights.
These are the three lots that stuck out this week because of either uniqueness or exceeding expectations:
* Needlework Album
Simple Directions in Needle-Work and Cutting Out; intended for the use of the National Female Schools of Ireland (Commissioners of National Education in Ireland, 1846)
Some 34 tipped-in samples and a packet of 13 further mounted samples, later ink ownership inscription "Emma Meine Shepherd, Stourbridge 1871". Samples present in all 35 'Specimen' boxes excepting No 12., where the packet is inserted. Sold at Bearnes, Hampton & Littlewood for £7,500 following a £1,000-£1,500 estimate.
* Personal Papers of a Rabbi
Personal papers of R. Dovid Yitzhak Eizik Rabinowitz, The Admo’r of Skolya (1898-1979) including one Polish passport and two American passports, US immigration identity cards, Certificate of US naturalization, Social security card, Health insurance card (signed), group of nine portrait photographs of Admor Dovid Yitzchak Eizik Rabinowitz, including one of his father, the former Skole Rebbe (R. Baruch Pinchas Rabinowitz) and one of the Steipler Gaon, plus five manuscript Kameyos. Grand Rabbi David Yitzchak Eizik Rabinowitz, the third Skolya Rebbe, was born in Skolye (today, Skole, Ukraine) and came to America after fleeing Nazi Germany in 1938 where he was renowned for his Torah scholarship and musical prayer until his passing in 1979. Sold for $32,000 at Kestenbaum & Company following an estimate of $1,000-$2,000
* Bird's Eye View of the City of Annapolis
Aerial panorama of the Annapolis Neck (Charles Magnus, MD, New York, 1864) looking inland across various American vessels with a portrait of Union General Ambrose Burnside at the lower title; lithographed in colors and finished by hand. Sold by Swann Galleries for $17,780 following an estimate of $1,500-$2,000.
