Rare Cambodian Kraing Leads PBA Galleries' Antiquarian Books Sale
PBA Galleries
Cambodian Kraing, early 20th century
An early 20th century Cambodian Kraing and a selection of Aldine Press titles are among the leading lots at PBA Galleries' online Rare and Antiquarian auction ending tomorrow which includes early printed books, and titles on religion, food and drink, and Asia.
Kraing are illustrated Buddhist manuscripts in accordion-fold format, nearly all of which were destroyed under the Khmer Rouge regime. The example in this auction is in color with 21 painted mixed media illustrations, and depicts religious stories and lessons across its 50 leaves. Text in Khmer on handmade paper. It has an estimate of $2,000-$3,000.
Other highlights include:
- a 1514 Aldine Press first edition of De institutione oratoria by Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (Quintilian) including the complete text for the first time in print (estimate: $2,000-$3,000)
- William Salmon's Botanologia: The English Herbal (London, 1710, printed by I. Dawks, for H. Rhodes and J. Taylor), a first edition with 1,072 woodcut illustrations and the bookplate of John Ynyr Burges, Esq, with the Index Plantarum and the Index Latinus at rear (estimate: $800-$1,200)
- Harpo Marx's copy of My Little Boy by Carl Ewald (Alexander Woollcott, 1926) stamped on cover Ex Libris Harpo Marx, a limited Christmas publication by Woollcott, distributed to his friends and Algonquin Round Table members (estimate: $400-$600)
- a first edition of The Unrivalled Cook-Book and Housekeeper's Guide by Mrs. Washington (New York, Harper & Brothers, 1886), a pseudonym for an anonymous Creole woman in Louisiana offering household tips and more than 1,000 recipes for Cajun and Creole cuisine including numerous soups and gumbos (estimate: $700-$1,000)
- English inventor and engineer Thomas Savery's Navigation Improv'd or The Art of Rowing Ships (Printed and Sold by James Moxon at the Atlas, London, 1698) (estimate: $5,000-$8,000)
