Potter & Potter to Auction Science, Americana, and more at October Sale

Gaius Julius Caesar's The Commentaries, edited by Samuel Clarke (1712).
Gaius Julius Caesar's The Commentaries, edited by Samuel Clarke (1712).
On October 10, Potter & Potter Auctions will hold a sale featuring a wide variety of fine books perfect for any collection. Special highlights will include sections on science and the natural world; travel, exploration, and Americana; early histories; modern firsts; art and photography; and more.
The sale will be available for preview and prebidding on September 10 via Invaluable, LiveAuctioneers, and Potter & Potter's web platform. Bidding will be live streamed from the Potter & Potter Gallery at 10 a.m. Central on October 10. Details may be found at the Potter & Potter website.
To preview highlights, view the October sale slideshow.
This is a second edition, second issue with an 1860 imprint and "fifth thousand” on the title page. In actuality, 3,000 copies were printed, bringing the total to 4,250. "It is the most influential and important biological work ever produced on any continent," Brink said. "This scarce second edition was considered by Darwin as 'little more than a reprint of the first edition' and was the largest printing of any edition or issue in Darwin’s lifetime."
Photo Courtesy : Potter & Potter"This first edition is of one of the first scientific studies of dinosaurs by the paleontologist and fossil collector and dealer, Thomas Hawkins, whose specimens are still on display at the Natural History Museum in London," Brink said.
Photo Courtesy : Potter & PotterThis limited edition is number 27 of 200 copies on handmade paper and is finely bound by the Gregynog Press. "This is considered to be the most impressive book to ever come from the Gregynog Press," Brink said.
Photo Courtesy : Potter & Potter"The third pretended volume anonymously published in 1727 is considered the best known spurious third volume to Gulliver’s travels and is frequently offered with the two volumes of the genuine 'Travels' published one year prior," Brink said. "Part I, 'A Second Voyage to Brobdingnag and A Voyage to Sporunda,' Teerink describes as an 'imitation' and Part II 'A Voyage to Sevarambia' as being 'stolen from "‘The History of the Sevarites and Sevarambi" by one Captain Siden… (1675-9).' In Sir Walter Scott’s 'Memoirs of Jonathan Swift', Scott referred to this work as 'the most impudent combination of piracy and forgery that ever occurred in the literary world'."
Photo Courtesy : Potter & PotterThis copy includes a double-page engraved title; portraits of the Duke of Marlborough and Caesar; six double-page engraved maps; 78 plates, most of which are also double-page; and numerous engraved headpieces, tailpieces, and initials. "This work was considered by Lowndes to be 'The most sumptuous classical work which this country has produced'," Brink said. "It also includes a complete double-page plate of the the wild bull."
"This outstanding and important post-war American artist book features collaborations between four of the most influential American poets of the second half of the twentieth century and four important second-generation New York School artists," said Christopher D. Brink, Fine Books and Manuscripts Specialist at Potter & Potter Auctions. "According to the prospectus, the collaborators all 'lived in New York City where they knew one another well for a number of years and followed one another's work with involved interest. Tiber Press left the choice of partners in this project to the individuals themselves, and, in collaborating, the poet and painter were acknowledging an awareness of some real relationship between their work"
Photo Courtesy : Potter & PotterThis very fine first edition, first printing is one of only 5,000 copies and is rarely seen in this condition. "This is considered to be one of the foremost American photography books and the first to be devoted to the work of a single photographer," Brink said.
Photo Courtesy : Potter & PotterThis is a second edition, second issue with an 1860 imprint and "fifth thousand” on the title page. In actuality, 3,000 copies were printed, bringing the total to 4,250. "It is the most influential and important biological work ever produced on any continent," Brink said. "This scarce second edition was considered by Darwin as 'little more than a reprint of the first edition' and was the largest printing of any edition or issue in Darwin’s lifetime."
Photo Courtsey of Potter & Potter"This first edition is of one of the first scientific studies of dinosaurs by the paleontologist and fossil collector and dealer, Thomas Hawkins, whose specimens are still on display at the Natural History Museum in London," Brink said.
Photo Courtsey of Potter & PotterThis limited edition is number 27 of 200 copies on handmade paper and is finely bound by the Gregynog Press. "This is considered to be the most impressive book to ever come from the Gregynog Press," Brink said.
Photo Courtsey of Potter & Potter"The third pretended volume anonymously published in 1727 is considered the best known spurious third volume to Gulliver’s travels and is frequently offered with the two volumes of the genuine 'Travels' published one year prior," Brink said. "Part I, 'A Second Voyage to Brobdingnag and A Voyage to Sporunda,' Teerink describes as an 'imitation' and Part II 'A Voyage to Sevarambia' as being 'stolen from "‘The History of the Sevarites and Sevarambi" by one Captain Siden… (1675-9).' In Sir Walter Scott’s 'Memoirs of Jonathan Swift', Scott referred to this work as 'the most impudent combination of piracy and forgery that ever occurred in the literary world'."
Photo Courtsey of Potter & PotterThis copy includes a double-page engraved title; portraits of the Duke of Marlborough and Caesar; six double-page engraved maps; 78 plates, most of which are also double-page; and numerous engraved headpieces, tailpieces, and initials. "This work was considered by Lowndes to be 'The most sumptuous classical work which this country has produced'," Brink said. "It also includes a complete double-page plate of the the wild bull."
"This outstanding and important post-war American artist book features collaborations between four of the most influential American poets of the second half of the twentieth century and four important second-generation New York School artists," said Christopher D. Brink, Fine Books and Manuscripts Specialist at Potter & Potter Auctions. "According to the prospectus, the collaborators all 'lived in New York City where they knew one another well for a number of years and followed one another's work with involved interest. Tiber Press left the choice of partners in this project to the individuals themselves, and, in collaborating, the poet and painter were acknowledging an awareness of some real relationship between their work"
Photo Courtsey of Potter & PotterThis very fine first edition, first printing is one of only 5,000 copies and is rarely seen in this condition. "This is considered to be one of the foremost American photography books and the first to be devoted to the work of a single photographer," Brink said.
Photo Courtsey of Potter & PotterModern Signed First Editions and other Fine Books.