Posted 13 years ago
BAM091707
(6 items)
Found this book in an old cabin...Titled Rocky Mountain Scenery...But says First edition...No Copyright dates or anything...only dates in book are Establishment dates in the advertisement...looking for dates and maybe even Value...pages are a very thick material...the cover is in solid but soiled condition ...and there is very little soiling on pages...
Bam, hold onto your hat. What a great find!
Don't get too excited --- yet --- but I strongly suggest that you send photos and the information I am providing to two auction houses and get an auction estimate. I suggest either Heritage Auctions in Dallas [personally, I like Heritage, very fair commission rate] or PBA Galleries in San Francisco, both do well with rare books.
This guide was published by the American Bank Note Co., New York, circa 1888, according to WorldCat:
http://www.worldcat.org/title/rocky-mountain-scenery-a-brief-description-of-prominent-places-of-interest-along-the-line-of-the-denver-and-rio-grande-railroad/oclc/1982484?referer=di&ht=edition
It contains "12 Albertype illustrations from photographs of Western Rocky Mountains scenery, 7 half-tone illustrations from photographs of Western scenery. Forbes Lithograph Co., Boston, produced the plates."--Hanson Collection [David A. Hanson Collection of the History of Photomechanical Reproduction] catalog, p. 96.
Hanson Collection: http://maca.cdmhost.com/cdm4/about.php
From "William Henry Jackson: An Annotated Bibliography, 1862 to 1995" by Thomas H. Harrell:
" 'Rocky Mountain Scenery.' New York: Press of the American Bank Note Co., c. 1887. An elegant small folio-size book in black leather binding, with brief descriptions of prominent places of interest along the Denver and Rio Grande line, produced by the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Company. Illustrated with 12 full-page Albertypes of Jackson views along the railway, and other halftone reproductions of Jackson photos. There are also munerous advertisements, including two by Chain and Hardy, acting as agents for Jackson's work. This seems to have been a souvenir book for prestigious guests of the railroad, and was certainly not inexpensive if sold generally."
See last entry on page, c. 1887:
http://books.google.com/books?id=FrnQSR3RIPQC&lpg=PA35&ots=W4gJeVPDoI&dq=%22rocky%20mountain%20scenery%22%20AND%20a%20brief%20description%20denver%20and%20rio%20grande%20railroad&pg=PA35#v=onepage&q&f=false
Condition is very important but this book is scarce. There is currently one for sale online, in better condition than yours, for $2,750 (near the bottom of the page).
http://www.mtgothictomes.com/william_henry_jackson.htm
One sold on July 13, 2006, for $2,587 at PBA that had condition issues:
http://www.pbagalleries.com/search/item.php?anr=173328&PHPSESSID=44ebb171be56c432956975849c861b0e&PHPSESSID=44ebb171be56c432956975849c861b0e
Respond to this post if you need any assistance if you decide to send an email to the auction houses for a sale estimate, which is simply an estimate until they physically inspect an item. It's always a good idea to get a sale estimate, along with auction consignment costs, from two auction houses before you make a decision.
solver
For anyone who might be interested, this "souvenir guide" is online, in black and white; the guide and illustrations begin on page 26.
http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?u=1&num=26&seq=72&view=image&size=100&id=njp.32101078163969
I found the Hanson Collection to be fascinating. Many of the books, guides, etc. are scanned; click on the picture to the left of each entry, of which there are 344:
http://maca.cdmhost.com/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=%2Fp1325coll1&CISOSTART=1,1
Not that it matters, but I am curious since and new to this board.
Does the original poster lose their way on this site after they post, which is why they don't come back? The same thing happened on another rare, expensive book where they specifically inquired about information.
Thanks.
AR8Jason, thanks for your insightful thoughts. I realize that behavior is individual, predicated on many factors. My presence, like yours, is only when "real life" allows me the time. ;-) Your last statement really did succinctly answer my question.
Regarding this and the other post about the 1792 bible, I responded hours after their initial post. I am disappointed "for" them since both had high values and worthy of going to auction, which is a good thing!
Respectfully,
solver
Yes I have sent emails to the 2 auction waiting still for Heritage Auctions...PBA said estimated the book in its condition to sell at auction in the price range of $1000-$1500... true fully I read your guys responses and didn't think a question was asked at first....