Printed & Manuscript Americana (38 posts)

Historic Coastal Artist Colonies of Northeastern America

Each summer, tourists, some of them artists, flocked to Northeastern coastal havens to cure urban fatigue, become closer with nature, and enjoy the slower pace for the season. We explore several prominent artist colonies via the artwork they inspired.

September 15, 2020 Printed & Manuscript Americana

The First Feature Film Shot in Alaska: The Chechahcos

You may never have wondered about the birth of the Alaskan film industry. The first Hollywood film studio was launched in 1911, and from there the industry spread up and down the Pacific coast. Just 13 years later, The Chechahcos became the first feature film shot in Alaska. A melodrama set during the Klondike Gold Rush, no Alaskan or Wild West cliché was spared in its production. If you like glaciers, saloons, and damsels in distress, this is the film for you.

August 25, 2020 Printed & Manuscript Americana

Printed & Manuscript Americana: At Auction September 24, 2020

Covering a period of about five centuries and two continents, our auctions of Printed & Manuscript Americana are exceptionally varied in content and subjects covered, from colonialism and the Westward expansion of the United States, to Presidential material and first-hand accounts by ordinary persons of important historical moments.

July 21, 2020 Books & Manuscripts

As Seen in Books: A Glossary for Items Found in the Pages of Early Printed Books

Any experienced cataloger, scholar, collector, or reader of early printing is accustomed to discovering an array of random objects within the pages of books. Even though some of these tidbits may have fallen out of ancient beards, today we celebrate and study them and put them into categories. Devon Eastland, senior specialist for early printed books, provides a handy glossary for these curious items found within various books.

June 30, 2020 Books & Manuscripts

Collector’s Guide: Declaration of Independence

Probably the most common question we get in the Americana department is “I found an original copy of the Declaration of Independence—is it worth anything?” The short answer: it’s worth somewhere…

April 16, 2020 Printed & Manuscript African Americana

Printed & Manuscript African Americana: Rescheduled for May 2020

Among the highlights will be an 1836 autograph book with inscriptions by noted early African-American orators Moses Roper and Peter Williams. The large section on slavery and abolition will include several runaway broadsides and a miniature printing of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation (the only one produced in pamphlet form) intended for soldiers to distribute among the freedmen in the south. Military papers include material written by African-American soldiers, including a Civil War letter and a Spanish-American War diary.

March 23, 2020 Books & Manuscripts

Old Diaries Tell the Stories of Overlooked Americans

The value of diaries on the market is largely driven by historical content and the quality of the writing. What could your diary be worth?

March 2, 2020 Books & Manuscripts

Before O. Henry: William Sydney Porter’s First Professional Commission

William Sydney Porter, best known to posterity as the author O. Henry, was raised in North Carolina and moved west to Texas as a young man in 1882. After a stint on a sheep ranch, he settled in Austin, TX, where he worked various odd jobs while exploring his interest in writing and drawing. Our winter-spring 2020 sale of Printed & Manuscript Americana on March 10 is set to offer O. Henry’s first professional commission. Here, Rick Stattler, the house’s Americana specialist, tells the story of the mining memoir that never came to be.

February 12, 2020 Printed & Manuscript Americana

Printed & Manuscript Americana: Winter-Spring 2020 Highlights

This sale covers American history from the sixteenth to twentieth centuries, with a diploma from the Princeton Class of 1783, whose commencement was attended by Washington and the Continental Congress; a variant printing of the Bay Psalm Book; a first edition of the earliest firsthand account of the Lewis and Clark expedition; and an unusual volume of original outsider and occult art from 1904.

October 7, 2019 Auctions 101

The History of Books & Manuscripts at Swann Galleries

Bibliophiles of every denomination—Americana, autographs, art books, archives, atlases, ephemera, literature, maps—can find their niche at Swann Galleries. Originally founded in New York as a book auction house, we hold regular specialized sales devoted to books, printed material and manuscripts.

October 3, 2019 Printed & Manuscript Americana

Archives Revealing Information on Slavery & the Underground Railroad Lead Fall 2019 sale of Printed & Manuscript Americana

The September 26 sale of Printed & Manuscript Americana was an overall success with material relating to slavery & the Underground Railroad leading the sale.

September 13, 2019 Printed & Manuscript Americana

Printed & Manuscript Americana (38 posts)

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