Nov 7, 2023 10:00 EST
Rare Books, Autographs & Maps including the Esmond Bradley Martin Collection
32
With the rare signature of Constant Southworth, William Bradford’s stepson
Estate / Collection: The Victor Gulotta Collection
SOUTHWORTH, CONSTANT and THOMAS GILBERT
Land exchange document signed for an early Plymouth ironworks. Vicinity of Taunton, near Plymouth: the document dated December 1668; Southworth’s acknowledgment dated 20 July 1670. A manuscript document in ink, approximately 23 lines, possibly in the hand of Thomas Gilbert and signed by him with wax seal; signed at lower left by witnesses Robert Thornton and with "This wright was acknowledged/before me Constant Southworth/Assistant this 20 of July 1670" in Southworth’s hand. 6 x 12 inches (15 x 30 cm); framed. Toned and with a few spots, well preserved overall and dark, not examined of frame.
A very interesting deed of sale providing land for an extension of the first iron forge in Plymouth between “Thomas Gilbert of Tanton within the jurisdiction of the New Plimouth Husbandman… and James Linoard Senior of Tanton Forgman… for consideration … of twenty acres of upland and two acres of maddow land more or less lying and being within the township of Tanton… at the Mill River being westward of the town…”
It is unknown when James Leonard Sr. was born in England but it is believed he was in Plymouth by 1640. James and his brother Henry are said to have learned the iron trade from their father and later abandoned claims to iron forges back in England. The first iron forges in Massachusetts were at Braintree and at Lynn on the Saugus River, where James Leonard first appears in the written record in 1651. The Taunton Iron Works, which was also known as the Leonard Iron Works, was planned after a large amount of bog ore was discovered in 1652. The Town of Taunton offered the ironmasters land in exchange for help establishing the works. From this deed it appears the extension of the forge was planned in 1668 and it is known that James Leonard established an iron works on the Mill River in Taunton in 1670.
Constant Southworth was born by 1615, likely at Leiden, the decade-long home of William Bradford and the separatists who ventures to Plymouth in 1620, as his parents are recorded as being married in Leiden in 1613. His father Edward died at Leiden and his mother Alice Carpenter Southworth came to Plymouth and married then-Governor William Bradford in August 1623 (Bradford’s first wife had fallen from the deck of the Mayflower off today’s Provincetown and died on 17 December 1620,). In 1628, the teenaged Constant arrived at Plymouth and it is presumed lived with his mother and Bradford. Constant married Elizabeth Collier and named several children in his will. He held many important posts throughout his life including ensign to the Duxbury military company, treasurer, and assistant to the Governor, the capacity in which he here signs. He died about 1678.
his parents are recorded as being married in Leiden in 1613. His father Edward died at Leiden and his mother Alice Carpenter Southworth came to Plymouth and married William Bradford in August 1623 (Bradford’s first wife had fallen from the deck of the Mayflower off today’s Provincetown and died on 17 December 1620,). In 1628, the teenaged Constant arrived at Plymouth and it is presumed lived with his mother and Bradford. Constant married Elizabeth Collier and named several children in his will. He held many important posts throughout his life including ensign to the Duxbury military company, treasurer, and assistant to the Governor, the capacity in which he here signs. He died about 1678.
Sold for $2,520
Estimated at $1,000 - $1,500
Includes Buyer's Premium
Estate / Collection: The Victor Gulotta Collection
SOUTHWORTH, CONSTANT and THOMAS GILBERT
Land exchange document signed for an early Plymouth ironworks. Vicinity of Taunton, near Plymouth: the document dated December 1668; Southworth’s acknowledgment dated 20 July 1670. A manuscript document in ink, approximately 23 lines, possibly in the hand of Thomas Gilbert and signed by him with wax seal; signed at lower left by witnesses Robert Thornton and with "This wright was acknowledged/before me Constant Southworth/Assistant this 20 of July 1670" in Southworth’s hand. 6 x 12 inches (15 x 30 cm); framed. Toned and with a few spots, well preserved overall and dark, not examined of frame.
A very interesting deed of sale providing land for an extension of the first iron forge in Plymouth between “Thomas Gilbert of Tanton within the jurisdiction of the New Plimouth Husbandman… and James Linoard Senior of Tanton Forgman… for consideration … of twenty acres of upland and two acres of maddow land more or less lying and being within the township of Tanton… at the Mill River being westward of the town…”
It is unknown when James Leonard Sr. was born in England but it is believed he was in Plymouth by 1640. James and his brother Henry are said to have learned the iron trade from their father and later abandoned claims to iron forges back in England. The first iron forges in Massachusetts were at Braintree and at Lynn on the Saugus River, where James Leonard first appears in the written record in 1651. The Taunton Iron Works, which was also known as the Leonard Iron Works, was planned after a large amount of bog ore was discovered in 1652. The Town of Taunton offered the ironmasters land in exchange for help establishing the works. From this deed it appears the extension of the forge was planned in 1668 and it is known that James Leonard established an iron works on the Mill River in Taunton in 1670.
Constant Southworth was born by 1615, likely at Leiden, the decade-long home of William Bradford and the separatists who ventures to Plymouth in 1620, as his parents are recorded as being married in Leiden in 1613. His father Edward died at Leiden and his mother Alice Carpenter Southworth came to Plymouth and married then-Governor William Bradford in August 1623 (Bradford’s first wife had fallen from the deck of the Mayflower off today’s Provincetown and died on 17 December 1620,). In 1628, the teenaged Constant arrived at Plymouth and it is presumed lived with his mother and Bradford. Constant married Elizabeth Collier and named several children in his will. He held many important posts throughout his life including ensign to the Duxbury military company, treasurer, and assistant to the Governor, the capacity in which he here signs. He died about 1678.
his parents are recorded as being married in Leiden in 1613. His father Edward died at Leiden and his mother Alice Carpenter Southworth came to Plymouth and married William Bradford in August 1623 (Bradford’s first wife had fallen from the deck of the Mayflower off today’s Provincetown and died on 17 December 1620,). In 1628, the teenaged Constant arrived at Plymouth and it is presumed lived with his mother and Bradford. Constant married Elizabeth Collier and named several children in his will. He held many important posts throughout his life including ensign to the Duxbury military company, treasurer, and assistant to the Governor, the capacity in which he here signs. He died about 1678.
Auction: Rare Books, Autographs & Maps including the Esmond Bradley Martin Collection, Nov 7, 2023
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Successful Auction of Rare Books, Autographs & Maps Tops $1 Million!
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November 7, 2023 Sale Featured the Esmond Bradley Martin Collection of Africana & Travel
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Consignments Are Currently Being Accepted for Future Auctions
NEW YORK, NY -- Doyle's successful auction of Rare Books, Autographs & Maps on November 7, 2023 topped $1 million amid competitive international bidding. Offerings in this popular sale spanned early illuminated manuscripts to modern literary first editions.
The Esmond Bradley Martin Collection of Africana and Travel comprised fascinating material that attracted bidders from around the world. Highlighting the collection was a copy of the first Latin edition of the earliest published collection of voyages, including those of Columbus and Vespucci: the 1508 Milan Fracanzo da Montalboddo, which achieved a strong $239,400. The collection also featured a rare uncut copy of Livio Sanuto's 1588 atlas of Africa that doubled its estimate at $25,200, as well as a group of 19th and early 20th century material relating to Zanzibar that attracted intense competition, sending the lots soaring over expectations. (Read more about Esmond Bradley Martin below.)
Property of other owners was highlighted by a first edition of Charles Darwin’s groundbreaking scientific work, On the Origin of Species, 1859, which realized $94,500. This copy bore provenance of Charles Darwin's great-grandson Quentin Keynes, to the naturalist Richard Bayard Dominick, thence by descent to the consignor.
Robert Browning's first edition copy of John Keats’ poem, Endymion, 1818, sold for $37,800, many times its $7,000-10,000 estimate. The poem begins with the well-known verse, "A thing of beauty is a joy for ever."
The selection of livres des artistes featured François-Louis Schmied's Daphne in a major Art Deco binding by Pierre Legrain, 1924, one of 140 copies. The book tripled its $8,000-12,000 estimate, selling for $32,760.
Manuscripts in the sale were highlighted by a medieval manuscript on paper, Calculus temporum Ecclesiasticus, which sailed past its estimate of $3,000-5,000 to achieve an exceptional $31,500. This fascinating calendrical manuscript in Latin, circa 1360, possibly English in origin, was once the property of antiquary and collector Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872).
100 years before the Revolution: from Plymouth Colony to the Salem Witch Trials - The Victor Gulotta Collection, offered a curated collection of 17th and 18th century manuscripts documenting life in colonial New England. Among the rarities were a 1691 document signed by two notorious Salem witch trials magistrates John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin that realized $5,670, a document from 1686/87 signed by Edmund Andros as Governor of the Dominion of New England that sold for $5,670, and a 1656 Boston court document relating to a divorce case that achieved $6,300, all three exceeding their estimates.
Esmond Bradley Martin
Esmond Bradley Martin (1941-2018) was educated as a geographer and philosopher. He and his wife Chryssee had an enduring fascination with Africa, and settled in Nairobi, Kenya, in the mid-1970s. He wrote extensively, oftentimes in conjunction with his wife, publishing works including Zanzibar. Tradition and Revolution, Hamish Hamilton, 1978; Cargoes of the east. The ports, trade, and culture of the Arabian Seas and western Indian Ocean, Elm Tree Press, 1978; and many other works on African history and conservation. In the late 1970s, he began extensive research into the illegal trade in elephant ivory and rhino horn, which included substantial stints incognito posing as a buyer of illicit wildlife products. For a while, he served as special envoy for rhino conservation for the United Nations. He continued this work until 2018 , when tragically he was stabbed to death in his Nairobi home
For about thirty years, beginning in the mid-1960s, Esmond Bradley Martin assiduously collected books and manuscripts on Africa and its history, acquiring a phenomenal collection of letters by many of the major English explorers of the nineteenth century, as well as numerous rarities from earlier centuries. He was buying at a time when troves of such material surfaced frequently at English auctions. Doyle was privileged to offer the first selection of his collection in the November 7 auction. A second and final portion will be offered early next year.
We Invite You to Auction!
Consignments are currently being accepted for future auctions. We invite you to contact us for a complimentary auction evaluation. Our Specialists are always available to discuss the sale of a single item or an entire collection.
For information, please contact Peter Costanzo at 212-427-4141, ext 248, or Edward Ripley-Duggan at ext. 234, or email Books@Doyle.com
