The 30 Minute Rule begins September 24 at 7:00 PM EDT. An Initial Bid Must Be Placed By September 24 at 6:00 PM EDT To Participate After 6:00 PM EDT
UPDATE: A complete inventory is available here.
Among the foremost pieces is a complete April 1720 issue of The Political State of Great Britain, an exceptionally early London newsbook containing a large folding map entitled A New Accurate Map of the English Plantations in America and of the Louisiana and River Mississippi. Depicting the North American interior at an extraordinarily early date—including Louisiana and the Mississippi Valley before New Orleans had become established on contemporary maps—the issue represents a fascinating conjunction of early journalism and cartography. Another remarkable early publication is the May 1700 Monthly Mercury, containing contemporary reporting on French exploration and Native American encounters in the region northwest of the upper Mississippi.
Western Americana is represented at an exceptional level. A near-complete 360-issue bound run of the San Francisco Evening Bulletin from 1855–1856 chronicles Gold Rush-era San Francisco and the dramatic activities of the San Francisco Vigilance Committee, including the murder of editor James King of William and the subsequent executions of James Casey and Charles Cora. A 57-issue bound volume of the Pacific Commercial Advertiser of Honolulu, 1859–1860, offers extensive California and Western news, including contemporary reporting on the inauguration of the Pony Express; this is complemented by 36 issues of the Sacramento Daily Union from the summer of 1860, providing sustained coverage from the Pony Express's western terminus.
Other major highlights include two bound volumes of the European Magazine, 1790–1791, containing the complete serialized account of Daniel Boone's frontier adventures; a 13-issue run of the Gazette of the United States documenting St. Clair's catastrophic 1791 defeat during the Northwest Indian War, including the first reports and extensive aftermath; and the March 9, 1864 inaugural issue of the Arizona Miner, an extremely early Arizona Territorial newspaper featuring the territorial seal and the proclamation establishing government in the newly organized territory.
The collection is equally strong in iconic moments of American history. Included is a 1791 Gazette of the United States printing George Washington's presidential address to Congress; an 1831 National Intelligencer Extra containing an exceptionally early printing of President Andrew Jackson's State of the Union address; the July 1, 1844 Times and Seasons of Nauvoo, the Mormon newspaper carrying local coverage immediately following the murders of Joseph and Hyrum Smith at Carthage; and an 1881 Las Vegas Gazette reporting the death of Billy the Kid at the hands of Pat Garrett
Additional material chronicles the death of Crazy Horse, Jesse James, the Alamo and William Barret Travis's celebrated “Victory or Death” appeal, the opening of the Panama Railroad, the French and Indian War, Indian Removal and the Cherokee response, the construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad, Stanley's search for Livingstone, Yosemite exploration, and the Western imagery of Frederic Remington.
Taken as a whole, this is a remarkably deep documentary archive of American history as it was reported at the time, distinguished by early and territorial newspapers, significant bound runs, landmark political and military reporting, and vivid firsthand coverage of the people and events that shaped the nation. Its breadth—from rare eighteenth-century newsbooks and maps to Gold Rush journalism and legendary episodes of the American frontier—makes it an unusually compelling assemblage for collectors of historical newspapers, Americana, Western history, and primary-source material.
