Catalogue of a Collection of Scarce and Rare Books, Pamphlets, Old Papers, Engravings, Colonial and Continental Bills . . .
Boston: Printed at the Herald Job Office, December 18, 1866. Item #837 8vo. 240 x 170 mm., [9 ½ x 6 ¾ inches]. 17 pp. Original printed wrappers, stitched as issued; some discoloration of the wrappers, edges chipped, some minor staining. This sale catalogue includes 349 lots, including an interesting collection of pamphlets on American trials and court room reports; eulogies, lectures, and speeches by notable Americans; election sermons; book sale catalogues; slavery pamphlets, old newspapers; and currency. Leonard & Co. was a venerable, old auction house in Boston that was established in 1842 and continued under different management until 1918. Its first big book consignment was in 1859 when it catalogued the collection of Edward E. Crowninshield and sold it en-bloc to Henry Stevens of Vermont. It contained a copy of the Bay Psalm Book purchased from the Prince Library at Old South Church and an Eliot Indian Bible. This sale was followed by the Hosmer Sale in 1861, the Humphrey Sale , and the sale of the collection of Samuel Gardener Drake and hundreds of other sales during its eighty-year existence. Charles Libbie got his start with Leonard and by 1880 had taken over the business of selling books in Boston. Most of Leonard’s later sales were of personal property and pictures. George McKay, American Book Auction Catalogues, pp. 5-6, no. 1188.
Price: $55.00