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V3 2000 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 3, Number 49, November 26, 2000, Article 6

1850 ECKFELDT-DUBOIS AND THE STREETER SALE

Dave Bowers writes:

"Just a note to say that the 1850 edition of Eckfeldt and Dubois, with the gold sample, comes in two colors of cover--blue and red (I have copies of both).

Also, in the Streeter Sale held by Parke-Bernet years ago there was a copy of this book--with a nice write up -- which, if I remember correctly, served to call widespread attention to the volume (at the time Thomas Winthrop Streeter's Americana collection was sold, there was not a great deal of interest yet, in numismatic circles, for the collecting of books).

The Streeter sale brought good prices, partly because the Streeter trustees donated MONEY to certain institutions so that they could buy his books in the sale. I was a competitor for the Eckfeldt and Dubois book, but lost it and was amazed at the high price.

I have the original suite of six or seven Streeter catalogues in my library at home -- not at the office where I am writing this -- and could provide more information. No doubt quite a few NBS members also remember the event which was held in the second half of the 1960s. It was quite a sensation at the time."

[Editor's note: "THE CELEBRATED COLLECTION OF AMERICANA FORMED BY THE LATE THOMAS WINTHROP STREETER" was sold by Parke-Bernet Galleries of New York from 1966-70. The catalog consists of seven volumes plus an index volume.

Streeter (1883-1965) was a consummate bibliophile who had holdings beyond the material sold by Parke-Bernet. For example, Streeter was also the "preeminent collector of railroadiana" and donated the core of the American Antiquarian Society's holdings of materials on canals and railroads. See this web page: http://www.americanantiquarian.org/canalsrr.htm

From www.dartmouth.edu: "As chairman of the board of the Simms Petroleum Corporation from 1923 to 1930 Streeter made several business trips to Texas from his home in Morristown, New Jersey. These visits prompted his interest in collecting 'books, pamphlets, broadsides and maps relating to Texas history' between 1795 and 1845. Those acquisitions, totaling almost 2,000 imprints, are now in Yale University's outstanding Western Americana Collection."

Has anyone ever compiled a list of the numismatic rarities in the Streeter library? Where are they now? Does anyone have a book from the Streeter sales? A copy of Jacob Perkins' Bank Bill Test came from the Streeter sales in 1967, where it realized $350 (as noted in Charles Davis' "American Numismatic Literature")]

Wayne Homren, Editor

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