Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1908-02-28
WASHINGTON
BOOKS FETCH $1,000
First Presidents Autographed
Copy of "Oon Quixote' is
Sold at Auction.

New York, Special: At the most i'm
portant sale of the winter, CONSISTING
of first editions and association BOOKS
collected by George w. Williamson, the
top price was brought by George Wash
ington's COPY of the history OF Don
Oulxote i'm four volumes, bearing Wash
ington's autograph on the title pages
and his book plate in three of the vol
umes. The four volumes, which are
foxed and have the corners of a few or
the leaves rubbed away were sold in
half a minute for 81 $50 to George D..
Smith, a New York dealer. These vol
umes were at one time owned in Phila-
delphia.
The majority of the offerings were
first editions, or presentation copies OF
the works of Robert Louis Stevenson.
Fred ID. Norris, bought The Pentland
Rising; a Page of History, 1856" which
was ~Stevenson's first publication, for
$177.50. Nearly all the other Stevenson
offerings OF Importance were bought
by Philadelphia dealers. for a customer.
A presentation cony of Deacon Brodie.
or the Double Life a four act melo-
drama by Stevenson n William
Ernest Henley, which was presented
by the latter to Brander Mathews, went
for sos.
Stevenson's THE Surprise"
The only known copy Of The Sur
prise" edited and published by S. l..
Osborne & Co., at Alameda, Cal, in
1880, which sold at Sotheby's in 1899 for
s27 5s., brought S225.
An original poem TO IF. j.. S." signed
by Stevenson, sold for SS1. and the
proof edition of his The silverado
Squatters" brought $65. "Ticonderoga,
a Legend Of the West Highlands
printed privately for King Kalakaua,
of Hawaii, of which only two copies
were struck off, sold for sos. The au-
thor's edition Of The Master of Bal
lantrae' sold for 800. and The Misad-
ventures of John Nicholson" which
was suppressed and all but a few
copies destroyed, brought $140.
"The South Seas; a Record of Three
Cruises" which was privately printed,
and of which only eight copies are
known, went for $3.50. A copy of a
Samoan missionary magazine, contain
ing THE Bottle Imp the first serial
story read by the Sainoans in their own
language. which caused Stevenson to
be named "Tusitala," a teller of tales,
sold for $50. Geo. D.. Smith bought a
presentation copy of AN Inland Voy-
age" for Sis.
New Dickens Record.
The greater part of the interest in
one sale centered about the contest over
a first edition in the original parts,
with the addresses of Dickens pick
wick Papers" c. B. Mems, of Boston,
finally bought the edition for 1855. This
was a new high price for a first of the
"Pickwick Papers, the former marx
being $40. which was paid in London
four or five years ago.
Other high prices were brought by a
first edition of John Burroughs Notes
on Walt Whitman as Poet and Person"
$40; a first issue Of Alice in Won
derland,' the authors own copy, with
illustrations by John Tenniel, S315; Dan
iel's civil Wars" $40: Charles Dick
ems own copy Of Doctor Marigold,"
as arranged and read by the author,
$50; a first of Emerson's Society and
Solitude" with an autograph letter, $40.
Thackaray's own copy Of Tom
Jones'" bearing Thackaray's embossed
stamp on the title page Of each of the
six volumes, S120; and THE Legend of
Jubal,' in the original printers proof,
with corrections In the autograph of
George Eliot, $26.
A high price, $500, was paid for a
first edition of H~awthorne's Fan
Shave" in the original binding. Only
eleven copies Of this rare edition have
ever been offered at public sale. Haw-
thorne's The Celestial Railroad" a
first bound In the original buff-printed
wrappers, brought $500.
A bronze medallion portrait of Haw-
thorne, issued by the Grolier club.
brought $67. while a similar one of
Lowell went for only SIS. The total Of
the two days sale amounted TO $4,000.