An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. London: Strahan and Cadell, 1791

SIXTH EDITION of the most important book in the history of economics. One of 2000 sets. The sixth edition is the first to have been published after Smith’s death in 1790.

$6,800

[Poster.] Nuzhno usilit’ i ukrepit’ internatsional’nye proletarskie sviazi rabochego klassa SSSR a rabochim klassom burzhuaznykh stran [“We Must Reinforce and Consolidate the International Proletarian Links of the Working Class of the USSR with the Working Class of the Bourgeois Countries” – Stalin]. Moscow, Izostat, 20 October 1940

This dramatic poster, similar in style to the Socialist Realist graphics found in USSR In Construction, exhorts the people to support MOPL, the International Organization of Helpers of Fighters for the Revolution. The figures represent international workers united with the Soviets in the heroic struggle for the Revolution. The poster was printed during the last year of Lissitzky’s life while he worked for the Soviet state with the sure knowledge that his friends and colleagues were the victims of Stalin’s purges.

$6,800

A collection of manuscripts and typescripts written by a member of the Revisionist Zionist movement.. Palestine, 1930-1943

$6,500

An enormous run of Goodspeed’s rare book and manuscript catalogues. Vols. 1-370 and 381-575. Boston: Goodspeed's Book Shop, 1899-1973

Founded in 1898, Goodspeed’s published its first catalogue in 1899. For decades to come the firm would be a dominant force in American bookselling. These catalogues are a witness to that golden age.

$6,500

East Front of the Capitol. Washington, August 31, 1864

This rare photograph shows the East Front of the U.S. Capitol during construction. Sawhorses and construction debris are visible in the foreground, while a number of figures, perhaps builders and the architect, stand at the head of the main stairs beneath Thomas Crawford’s pediment of The Progress of Civilization.

$5,500

Leaves of Grass: the original printed paper wrappers. [Brooklyn], [1855]

Although the green cloth bindings for the 1855 first edition of Leaves of Grass are familiar, the rare paper wrappers are little known. This set survived only because Whitman preserved them until his death in 1892.

$5,500

The Double Helix. In Atlantic Monthly. Boston, January and February 1968

FIRST EDITION of The Double Helix, preceding the publication in book form in late February 1968. Signed by James Watson on the front cover of each issue.

$4,800

Original drawing of Walt Whitman. no date, no place, 19th century

This original pen and ink drawing of Walt Whitman is mounted at the front of an 1888 edition of Leaves of Grass. The likeness of a jaunty, casual, Whitman wearing his trademark slouch hat takes its cue from the famous 1855 Hollyer engraving, but here we see an older Whitman with a full beard.

$4,800

Autograph note signed to John H. Johnston. Camden, March 7, 1887

Whitman writes to his good friend and benefactor John H. Johnston, the New York jeweler, evidently congratulating him on the birth of his child: “Bless the dear baby, & all babies – Love to you & wife, Walt Whitman.”

$4,800

View of Rome from the Tiber River with Castel Sant’Angelo and Saint Peter’s Basilica. Rome, ca. 1870

$4,500