SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- Turner Auctions + Appraisals is pleased to present Books & Ephemera, including Historical Documents from the Chapman Family of Connecticut, on August 20, 2022, at 10:30 am PDT. Featuring over 220 lots from the 17th to the 20th centuries, the auction includes antique and vintage books on many subjects and in diverse languages. There is also a wide selection of works on paper – engravings, vintage photographs; maps; war posters, lithographs, and several artworks. Historical documents from the Chapman family are part of a collection related to Edward Mortimer Chapman (1862-1952), a Connecticut pastor, academic, author, and descendant of one of Saybrook’s first settlers.
Books from the 17th-19th centuries are written in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Latin. There are a wide range of topics: art, history, literature, plays, poems, illustrations, European cities and travel, Russia, opinions, and more. Among the multi-volume groupings are those by Voltaire, Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Louisa May Alcott, Charles Darwin, and J. F. Ducis. From the 20th century are books on Americana, architecture, posters, children’s and youths’ books, fables, English churches, and more. Notable fiction authors include Tom Wolfe, William Faulkner, and Ayn Rand.
Works on paper include “Dennis the Menace” original art; antique engravings; maps of arrondissements in Paris, and U.S. railroads and townships; vintage and panoramic photographs; patriotic World War I and II posters, and lithographs by Lucien Hector Jonas; an 1823 letter from British actor John P. Kemble; four illuminated Tafsir al-Qur'an manuscript paper leaves; Indian miniatures; and signed photos of Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Coleman. Rounding out the sale are ocean liner ephemera of the mid-20th century, including from Cunard/Queen Mary and United States Lines, and WWI-era newspaper flonges (molds).
An important part of this auction features the historical documents, papers and ephemera of Edward Mortimer Chapman and his family. Born in 1862, Chapman graduated from Yale Divinity School in 1890 and served as pastor of Old Lyme Congregational Church from 1906 to 1915. Chapman’s written works integrated his wide-ranging theological, literary, and historical interests. A descendant of Robert Chapman, one of the first settlers of Saybrook, Connecticut (c. 1635), Edward Chapman was an avid chronicler of history of his family and the area.
The Chapman-family’s offerings, many from the 18th century, include letters, land grants and sales, deeds, ledgers, opalotype milk glass portraits and miniatures, silhouettes, tintypes, photographs. Among the highlights are various letters from Woodrow Wilson, with whom Chapman had a personal acquaintance, through the Old Lyme Church and time spent in the Old Lyme art colony. Chapman corresponded with Wilson and his family, both when Wilson was president of Princeton University, and then during his U.S. presidency. Along with Woodrow Wilson, Chapman's correspondents included senators, clergymen at various institutions (many being friends from Yale Divinity), editors and reviewers, fellow antiquarians, and family members.
Turner Auctions + Appraisals begins its online auction on Saturday, August 20, 2022, at 10:30 am PDT; sale items are available for preview and bidding now. The auction will be featured live on multiple platforms: LiveAuctioneers, Invaluable, Bidsquare, iCollector, and Turner Auctions + Appraisals’ free mobile app, which can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Apps ("Turner Auctions"). All are easily accessed through ‘Upcoming Auctions’ at the company’s website.
Here is information on the upcoming sale:
Lot 7: Burd, Clara Miller (American, 1873-1933). An opalotype milk-glass portrait signed l/l: "CM Burd," in an oval gilt frame. 4 3/4in. x 3 1/4in. Together with the original photographic image in a textile frame; 6in. x 4 3/4in. Clara Miller Burd was a stained glass artist/designer who was educated at the Chase School and National Academy of Design, New York. She worked for Tiffany Glass Co. and was a children's book and magazine illustrator. Estimate $200-$300.
Lot 63: Illuminated Tafsir Leaves In Arabic/Persian. Four large, illuminated Tafsir
al-Qur'an manuscript paper leaves, c. 18th-19th century. Each white/cream thin paper leaf has text on both sides and measures 18 6/16" x 12 6/16". The primary text is written on a buff-colored background within a rectangular gilt, green, blue, and red border, and consists of eight gilt-bordered lines of Arabic script in black, with interlinear Persian translations in red beneath. The perimeter of the leaves is ruled in linear gilt and red and three sides. The margins contain diagonal commentary script in black, and a single red letter in a blue, red, and gilt decorative round device. Overall the leaves are in very good condition, with some light soiling. Three leaves are uniformly framed, the fourth unframed but frame (without glass) is present. Estimate $400-$800.
Lot 16: 18th Century Letter, Unsigned; [Thomas Flagg, Boston]. A single-sheet unsigned, undated letter, c. 18th century, written on both sides. After thoughts of grief and mortality, the writer entreats the recipient to retrieve personal items after the illness and death of the writer's paramour. It appears to be written to someone in Saybrook, Connecticut, as the writer thanks the recipient for his assistance because he "...cannot think of coming to Say-brook since the flower is faded that was the desire of my eyes." He then moves on to practical matters and writes: "I left several shirts and several pair of stokings and necks in her keeping... if you would be pleased to ruturne them by some opertunity to my brother Thomas Flagg in Boston." He also mentions a "perticular fan" that he gifted her, which he wants returned, but adds he would also like a "single hair of her head" for remembrance. He then begs his friend to burn "sundry letters" that will be found in her apartment, saying, "...perhaps some are wrote with too careless a hand." 7 1/2in. x 12in. Estimate $200-$300.
Lot 208: Christy, Howard Chandler (D. 1952); [World War I]. Vintage World War I Poster. "Americans All," 1919. Paper size: 43 3/4 x 30 1/4 inches. Linen backed. Condition: Good and bright overall; some small creases at top, and there is a repair at the top margin. Estimate $300-$500.
Lot 24: Old Lyme Church; Correspondence, 1924-1926. Seymour, George Dudley, And Chapman, Edward Mortimer. An archive of 10 letters to Chapman from Seymour, a Waterbury, Connecticut patent lawyer and self-described "antiquarian," concerning his research of Colonel Samuel Belcher (architect of the church), particulars of the structure and the rebuild following the fire in 1907, his amusing interaction with Lyme art colony painter Childe Hassam, and other discussions of local historical interest. Together with Chapman's pencil sketch plan of the church and accompanying letter. Estimate $400-$600.
Lot 61: Mariette, Jean. A set of two large size fold-out engraved elevations of the Louvre Palace, from L'Architecture Françoise (Paris: 1738). From Jean-Francois Blondel. Showing the palace as rebuilt during the reign of Louis XIV. Each measures 20 1/2in. x 41 1/2in. 1. "Plan de la facade du Louvre du cote de la rue S. Honore." 2. "Plan au rez de chaussee de la facade du Louvre du coste de la riviere." Condition: Both overall good; each with three to four vertical folds; toning, light foxing; both with tears/small losses around edges. Estimate $300-$500. (Photo, lower left)
Lot 20: Stewart, Matthew; New London, Ct, 1761. Two ALS (autograph letter signed) to John Tully, Esq. Saybrook, concerning tickets for Matthew Stewart's Connecticut property sale by lottery. Stewart was a New London merchant who invested heavily in farmland, and by the 1750s devised a lottery sale scheme to stave off bankruptcy. Estimate $200-$400.
Lot 193: Ketcham, Henry "Hank" King (1920-2001). Original art, Dennis the Menace "Private Practice" comic strip. Four panels are inked directly on board, one panel half on board/half paper, the others on paper mounted on the board. Printer's guides are pasted on. 14in. x 21 12/16in. (sight). Matted and framed together with a printer's color guide reference, signed in black marker by Ketcham u/l, dated in pencil l/l 2-7-93. 10 3/4in. x 15 3/4in. (sight). Frame: 33 1/4in. x 29in. Newspaper interview with artist attached at back. Estimate $700-$900.
Lot 76: Voyages Of Captain James Cook, 7 Vols, 1809. Cook, James. The Voyages of Captain Cook Round the World. London: Printed for Richard Phillips, 1809. Vols. I-VII. 16mo (6 1/4in.). Half calf and marbled boards; gilt-decorated spines, black and red morocco gilt labels. Vol. I with engraved frontispiece; with 2 fold-out maps and 28 illustrations. The last page of Vol. I is printed with: "End of the Second Volume," with a line inscribed through "Second" and "first" handwritten above it. Condition: Fair-Good. Note, however, Vol. I has considerable condition issues. Estimate $200-$400.
Lot 80: The Whole Art Of Hocus Pocus, 1830. [No Author.] The Whole Art of Legerdemain, or Hocus Pocus Laid Open and Explained, by those Renowned Masters Sena Sama, Hamed Ben-Ali, and all the Celebrated and Mysterious Professors in the Art of Natural Magic; with Full Instructions How to Perform the Various Tricks On Cards, Dice, Birds, Eggs, Rings, &c. Before their sublime Majesties, the Emperor and Empress of China, the crowned Heads of Europe, and the President and people of the United States. Baltimore: Engraved, Printed and Published by C. V. Nickerson, 1830. 16mo (6in. x 3 7/8in.). Blue pictorial printed paper over boards, beige cloth spine. Engraved fold-out frontispiece illustration, and one more at pp. 24-25. There are clipped engraved magic illustrations glued to the front and back pastedowns, which appear to be from periodicals. Condition: Poor; pages 15-18 are missing; cloth torn/partially detaching from spine; edgewear; rubbing, wear, staining to paper covers; tear to front flyleaf; toning and foxing; approx. eight pages with old inked marginalia lines; splitting at back inner hinge. Estimate $300-$500.
Lot 104: Masson, Frederic. Livre du Sacre de L'Empereur Napoleon. Paris: Goupil & Cie, 1908. No. 66 of a Limited Edition of 300. 4to (11in.). Gilt brown morocco covers with Napoleonic coat of arms, and gilt brown spine (repaired/rebound). Includes color plates. Condition: This volume has been rebound with the original covers and a replacement spine and endpapers. The title page and flyleaves are very toned, otherwise, there is only occasional light soiling. On two illustrations the color on the faces has darkened; there is a corresponding toning on some of the opposite pages of the color illustrations. Estimate $300-$500.
Lot 182: Patriotic Eagle Silk Embroidery Souvenir. Circa late-19th/early-20th century, likely made in Japan. The eagle form is raised/padded, has a glass blue eye, and stands on a shield with two flags above an "E Pluribus Unum" banner. 17 1/2in. x 21 1/2in; 20 1/4in. x 24 1/4in. (frame). Condition: The silk panel has horizontal tears, some soiling/staining; fading; fraying/losses to embroidery on shield/flags; the eagle with one or two loosened threads, but overall good. Estimate $150-$250.
Lot 93: Price, Richard. Observations on the Importance of the American Revolution, and The Means of making it a Benefit to the World. Boston: Powars and Willis, 1784 (first printed in London, 1784). 16mo (6 3/4in. x 4 1/8in.). Marbled paper cover booklet. Includes section at back (p. 71-87) titled "Advertisement," comprised of an introduction by the author and the text of a letter by Turgot. The last page with addendum notes for pp. 6 and 45. Condition: Fair-Good; the paper covers with rubbing, fading, creases, edge wear, tears (one approx. 3/4-in. long, one 1/4in.); toning, foxing/dampstaining; the title page considerably toned and with dampstains; the last page with outer corners clipped/torn off. Penciled notation on inside front cover: "Howes p 585." Estimate $800-$1,200.
Lot 25: Wilson, Woodrow (1856-1924). One-sheet TLS (typed letter signed by writer), on White House stationery, with franked/stamped envelope, August 15, 1914. The letter is a personal thanks for the condolences sent by Edward M. Chapman, following the death of Wilson's first wife, Ellen Axson Wilson. He writes that it was "delightful to feel the warm touch of a friend's hand at such a time..." 8 3/4in. x 13 7/8in. sheet folded vertically and horizontally. Condition: Good; the type has become blue shadowed/blurred; envelope with light soiling. Estimate $300-$500.
