Specimens - photo 1

Specimens

Lot 284
16.06.2023 10:00UTC -05:00
Classic
Sold
$ 6 930
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUSA, New York
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Archive
ID 967484
Lot 284 | Specimens
Estimate value
$ 7 000 – 10 000
MILLER, Cincinnatus Heine "Joaquin" (1837-1913). Specimens. [Portland, OR: George H. Himes, 1868.]

A great rarity of Western printing, in original wrappers with author's manuscript instructions. The Bradley Martin copy of the first book by the "Poet of the Sierras." Miller was a wild frontier character who grew up in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, His adventures took him across the continent and beyond (after losing some toes to frostbite in Alaska, he joked that he was "the most no-toe-rious poet in America”). After traveling to England in 1871, he became something of a celebrity amongst the Pre-Raphaelites, fêted by the British press and attending the Savage Club as a guest of Nathanial Hawthorne's son Julian—who called him a "licensed libertine." Miller self-funded the present collection of poetry but ended up giving away more copies than he sold, with the remainder supposedly destroyed in a fire in S.J. McCormick's bookshop in 1872. It is an important early Oregon imprint, and a rare survival.

This copy is in its original wrappers, with Miller's instructions written on the front, likely to his sister Ella: "Have these bound and send one to our cousin Mesh & give the other to the girl you like best—always keep a couple of them yourself—no telling what will happen & you know you are to collect and edit my Poems and preserve my fame; if I don't live to do it—CH." According to a 1976 census of copies by John Kohn, there were only 3 known copies (including this one) in private hands, with a further 6 held by libraries. No copies are recorded as sold at auction since the present one, which had also previously sold in 1976 with the collection of H.B. Collamore. BAL 13746; Oregon Imprints 453.

Octavo (148 x 105mm). Original lavender wrapper with author's instructions to the binder in manuscript (a little even sunfading); modern chemise and slipcase. Provenance: Henry Bacon Collamore, c.1894-1975, (acquired by him at Collectors' Bookshop in 1939; sold, his sale, Parke-Bernet, 25 February 1976, lot 93) – H. Bradley Martin (bookplate; his sale, Sotheby's New York, 31 January 1990, lot 2178).
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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16.06.2023
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