Rare Mormon Volumes Lead Early American Printing Auction
Early Philadelphia Museum trade card for Bowen's Exhibition of Wax-Work and Paintings, ca. 1792-93
Material spanning three centuries of American history will go under the hammer tommorrow at a Freeman's single-owner auction featuring rare newspapers, pamphlets, books, and ephemera tracing the development of printing and publishing in Philadelphia.
The first paper mill in America was established by William Rittenhouse and his son in Philadelphia in 1690, Benjamin Franklin began printing there in 1728, and the first printing of the Declaration of Independence in a newspaper was in The Pennsylvania Evening Post.
How History Unfolds on Paper: Important Americana from the Eric C. Caren Collection on June 30 marks the tenth major auction of Eric Caren’s extensive and carefully curated holdings. Included within the sale is a group of material related to Mormonism, including a contemporary manuscript account of the final message delivered by Mormon prophet Joseph Smith to his followers on June 26, 1844, the day before his death.
Written by Massachusetts shoemaker George Alley on the interior of a postal cover addressed to his brother, the note reads: “The prophet told his people the day before he was killed, to read the 6th Ch. Revelation; as a part was already fulfilled, and the remainder will shortly be.” (estimate: $8,000-$12,000).
Additional Mormon lots include a substantial and nearly consecutive 1872 run of the anti-Mormon Corinne Daily Reporter (estimate: $3,000-$5,000), an 1874 autograph quote from Ann Eliza Young, 19th wife of Mormon Leader Brigham Young signed during her divorce proceedings against him (estimate: $1,500-$2,500) and a group of items related to the early days of Mormonism ca. 1842-1879 (estimate: $500- $800) including pamphlets documenting the church’s growth, migration west, and evolving relationship with the United States government.
Other auction highlights include:
- an early report of the Boston Tea Party, printed by The Pennsylvania Gazette (estimate $1,500-$2,500)
- The Pennsylvania Evening Post (Philadelphia, Benjamin Towne, July 4, 1776), one of only two newspapers printed in the United States on July 4, 1776, and likely the first, to be printed after the United States formally declared its independence (estimate: $15,000-$25,000)
- a very early museum promotional card c.1792-93 advertising pioneering American museum proprietor and showman Daniel Bowen's (1760-1856) Philadelphia exhibition of wax-works and paintings (estimate: $1,500-$2,500)
