54 19th June 2010


antiquarian books A negro at the


SOMETHING of a rarity in the annals of Arctic exploration, Matthew Henson’s A Negro Explorer at the North Poleis a reminder that Robert Peary was not alone when he became the first to reach the North Pole in 1909 – a claim that is still disputed. As Peary, ill or exhausted, was at the time unable to proceed on foot and travelling on a dog-sled, it was Matthew Henson who went ahead as a scout and who actually planted the American flag.


Henson had spent many years at sea before he joined Peary on his 1876


Just who did make it to the North Pole first? PREVIEW


expedition to Nicaragua and, having proved himself a capable navigator and a man of great courage and physical endurance, he was taken by Peary on all his subsequent expeditions. Henson was also held in high esteem by the Inuit, whose language he mastered, and whose prowess as hunters and dog handlers he made his own. The relationship between him and Peary is a curious one. While he was, in some ways, regarded as a manservant, Henson was quite obviously a key member of Peary’s expeditions but, because of his colour, his status may have caused resentment. On the other hand, even after 25 years together,


Henson’s letters to Peary still began “Dear Sir” and Peary was enraged by Henson’s temerity in publishing his own story – apparently seeing the book and a proposed lecture tour as a breach of faith. At the time, Admiral Peary was showered with honours while Henson was largely ignored and spent most of the next 30 years working as a clerk in a New York Customs House. In 1944, however, Congress awarded him a duplicate of the silver medal given to Peary, and Presidents Truman and Eisenhower both honoured him before he died in 1955.


Retaining a dust jacket and signed and inscribed by Henson, a copy being


offered by Bonhams New York on June 23 is valued at $2500-3500, but could well make more.


British & Irish Book Auctions Jun 16@ Stock in Trade of the late Keith Oliver, Bloomsbury Auctions (020 7495 9494)


Jun 16*@ 94-lot Book Section,incl. William Beckford Colln.Woolley & Wallis - Salisbury (01722 424500) Jun 16


Books, Hexham & Northern Marts - Hexham (01434 605444)


Jun 16*@ 19-lot Book Section: Maritime Sale, Bearnes Hampton Littlewood - Exeter (01392 413100) Jun 16*


Jun 16*@ Jun 16*@ Jun 16@


Book Section: Medals & Coins Sale, Dix, Noonan,Webb - London (020 7016 1700) 13-lot Book & Ephemera Section, Martin & Pole - Wokingham (0118 979 0460) 9-lot Book Section, Barry Hawkins - Downham Market (01366 387180) Antiquarian & General Books & Maps, Dominic Winter - S. Cerney (01285 860006)


Jun 17@ Children’s/Illustrated Books, Modern Firsts, Photos, Dominic Winter - S. Cerney (01285 860006) Jun 17@ Jun 17*@ Jun 18*@ Jun 18* Jun 18*


Bibliophile Sale, Dreweatts - Godalming (01483 423567) Book Section, T.N. Miller - Newcastle (0191 2658080) 22-lot Book Section, ELR Auctions - Sheffield (0114 281 6161) Book Section, Cotswold Auctions - Cirencester (01285 642420)


Jun 19*@


Jun 19-20*@ Jun 22@ Jun 22*@ Jun 22*


Jun 22*@ Jun 23* Jun 23*


Jun 23*@


Jun 23-24*@ Jun 23-25* Jun 24*@ Jun 24* Jun 24*


Jun 24*@ Jun 24* Jun 24* Jun 24*


Jun 24*@ Jun 24* Jun 25*


Comics, Annuals, etc. Section, Biddle & Webb - Birmingham (0121 455 8042) Book Section, Steven B.Bruce - Stratford-upon-Avon (07778 595952) Cricket & other Sports Memorabilia in Leicester, Knights (01263 768488) 182-lot Books, Maps & MSS Section, Chiswick Auctions (020 8992 4442) 45-lot Book Section, Canterbury Auction Galleries (01227 763337) Book Section, Eldreds -Plymouth (01752 340066)


Book Section, Automobilia Sale, Brightwells - Leominster (01568 611122) Book Section, Harpenden Auctions (01582 793603)


Book Section: Militaria Sale, J.P. Humbert - Towcester (01327 359595) 7-lot Book Section,Wintertons - Bakewell (01629 812777) Sports Memorabilia, Mullocks - Ludlow (01694 731771) Book Section, Bamfords - Derby (01332 210000)


14-lot Book & Map Section, George Kidner - Lymington (01590 670070) Book Section, Coins & Medals Sale, Spink - London (020 7563 4000) Book Section, Peter Wilson - Nantwich (01270 623878)


6-lot Book Section, Tayler & Fletcher - Cheltenham (01451 821666) Book Section, Brentwood Antiques Auction (01277 224599)) Book Section, Philip Serrell - Malvern (01684 892314)


Book Section: Motorsport Sale, J.P. Humbert - Towcester (01327 359595) 8-lot Book Section, Chorleys - Prinknash Abbey Park, Gloucester (01452 344499) Book Section: Decorative Interiors Sale, Cheffins - Cambridge (01223 213343) Book Section, Jacobs & Hunt - Petersfield (01730 233933)


Sales marked with an * are those in which books and ephemera form part of a larger sale. Sales marked @ are viewable on antiquestradegazette.com. Auctioneers are asked to send details of specialist book sales, as well as those sales that may contain significant book and ephemera sections, to: Ian McKay Tel: (01795) 890475 • Fax: (01795) 890014 • ianmckay1@btinternet.com


“It is not unknown for relatively common or unexceptional items to make out-of-the-ordinary prices when offered out of their usual context”


continued from page 53


scale mapmaking, though it was Davis’s only contribution to English cartography. Comprising a key map with inset plan of the city of Oxford, plus 16 maps sheets, each measuring roughly 2ft 3in x 20in (69 x 51cm) and in original colour, this example in modern half calf is signed by Davis to the title page. All subscribed copies were so identified, but the highest number recorded is 159, suggesting that the print run was probably less than 200. A surprisingly high bid was taken at


Sotheby’s on April 28 for another map that John Cary published at much the same time – a 1799 issue of his New and Accurate Plan of London. Under ordinary circumstances, a good copy of this sectionalised and folding map might be expected to make around £1000-1500, perhaps a little more, and that is what the Sotheby’s map specialist suggested. However, this framed example was to be found not along with books


Above: part of Richard Davis’s very detailed New Map of the County of Oxford... of 1797, sold by Dominic Winter for £3100.


and maps, but in a glamourous antiques sale called ‘Defining an Era: The Collection of the late Francis Egerton and Peter Maitland’ and it seems likely that a different set of buyers were involved. It is certainly not unknown for relatively common or unexceptional items to make out-of-the-ordinary prices when offered out of their usual context – and that seems to be what happened here. This framed-up copy of Cary’s fine but not particularly rare sectionalised and folding map sold for £9000 to a private buyer.


Left: this plate from Hewetson’s ...Noble Mansions in Hampshire of c.1830 depicts ‘Chawton House, The Seat of Edward Knight, Esq.’, the home of Jane Austen’s brother and her own for the last years of her life.A copy at Bloomsbury Auctions on May 6-7 had some overall light foxing and marginal waterstaining to three of the 25 mounted litho plates on India paper, but in a period half morocco binding it brought a bid of £1200.


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