Nov 7, 2023 10:00 EST
Rare Books, Autographs & Maps including the Esmond Bradley Martin Collection
160
Two fine letters from General Gordon, one about elephants, the other on suppressing the slave trade
Estate / Collection: The Esmond Bradley Martin Collection
GORDON, CHARLES GEORGE, General. Two unrelated autograph letters signed. Kartoum [sic]: 1878 and Brussels, 1874. 7 x 4 3/8 inches (17.75 x 11.25 cm); each letter 4 pp., the first addressed to Lt. Watson R.E. on elephants and the completion of the screw steamer Khedive, reassembled on Lake Albert; the second on African exploration and the suppression of the slave trade, with a small sketch map. Usual folds. Offered with a typed transcript.
The first letter reads as follows, in part:
"My Dear Watson
Five Indian Elephants & one African Elephant left here for Lindo. They took 34 days from K[ar]t[o]m. to Fashoda. & 50 days from Fashoda via Bahr Gazelle & Bahr to Lindo. The natives used to be very hostile, and I do not think anyone has ever been from Fashoda to Lindo, however when the natives saw the elephants they all fled and the party reached Lindo without trouble. he tame elephants were much exercised at coming across the tracks of the wild ones. The party killed 7 wild elephants and 1 rhinoceros. The tame elephants eat the trees & grass like the wild ones and are in first rate condition (tell the R° Geo Society this) for it is evident that all those luxuries they give elephants in India, sugar caine (etc.) are not required, and any party could penetrate anywhere with 5 or 6 elephants. The natives will not fight them.
I have here a missive from Mitesa who will return with the three missionaries, whom I expect from Berber daily.
The screw steamer Khedive taken to pieces at Moogie is now complete on Lake Albert.
If you can tell Baker about this, and the elephants. I have not time to write..."
The second reads as follows, first portion:
"Dear Mr. Bates,
Some one let the cat out of the bag yesterday; and so there is no more a secret as in some way there was before. (I hate these secrets.) I go as second to Stanley, & hope he will take up Zanzibar or East side while I take towards Mombuttoo & Bahr Gazelle & Equatorial parts. (So?) if He helps or wills it we will cut off the slave hunting grounds from the hunters by making treaties with the chiefs and advising them against the marauders. Baker V. & Saml (who goes to Egypt at once) will keep the slave hunters employed till I get out and concert with Stanley. I leave England on 25 Jan[uary] & Lisbon on 5 Feb[ruary]. Hope to see you before I go in London. I come over to Southampton on 7th Jan[uary]
Kindly look at map [ed.-small drawing opposite] & you will see that Bahr Gazelle is 250 miles from Congo & 2000 miles crow's flight to Cairo. We will God willing push the cross against the crescent since the case is thus..."
Sold for $1,260
Estimated at $800 - $1,200
Includes Buyer's Premium
Estate / Collection: The Esmond Bradley Martin Collection
GORDON, CHARLES GEORGE, General. Two unrelated autograph letters signed. Kartoum [sic]: 1878 and Brussels, 1874. 7 x 4 3/8 inches (17.75 x 11.25 cm); each letter 4 pp., the first addressed to Lt. Watson R.E. on elephants and the completion of the screw steamer Khedive, reassembled on Lake Albert; the second on African exploration and the suppression of the slave trade, with a small sketch map. Usual folds. Offered with a typed transcript.
The first letter reads as follows, in part:
"My Dear Watson
Five Indian Elephants & one African Elephant left here for Lindo. They took 34 days from K[ar]t[o]m. to Fashoda. & 50 days from Fashoda via Bahr Gazelle & Bahr to Lindo. The natives used to be very hostile, and I do not think anyone has ever been from Fashoda to Lindo, however when the natives saw the elephants they all fled and the party reached Lindo without trouble. he tame elephants were much exercised at coming across the tracks of the wild ones. The party killed 7 wild elephants and 1 rhinoceros. The tame elephants eat the trees & grass like the wild ones and are in first rate condition (tell the R° Geo Society this) for it is evident that all those luxuries they give elephants in India, sugar caine (etc.) are not required, and any party could penetrate anywhere with 5 or 6 elephants. The natives will not fight them.
I have here a missive from Mitesa who will return with the three missionaries, whom I expect from Berber daily.
The screw steamer Khedive taken to pieces at Moogie is now complete on Lake Albert.
If you can tell Baker about this, and the elephants. I have not time to write..."
The second reads as follows, first portion:
"Dear Mr. Bates,
Some one let the cat out of the bag yesterday; and so there is no more a secret as in some way there was before. (I hate these secrets.) I go as second to Stanley, & hope he will take up Zanzibar or East side while I take towards Mombuttoo & Bahr Gazelle & Equatorial parts. (So?) if He helps or wills it we will cut off the slave hunting grounds from the hunters by making treaties with the chiefs and advising them against the marauders. Baker V. & Saml (who goes to Egypt at once) will keep the slave hunters employed till I get out and concert with Stanley. I leave England on 25 Jan[uary] & Lisbon on 5 Feb[ruary]. Hope to see you before I go in London. I come over to Southampton on 7th Jan[uary]
Kindly look at map [ed.-small drawing opposite] & you will see that Bahr Gazelle is 250 miles from Congo & 2000 miles crow's flight to Cairo. We will God willing push the cross against the crescent since the case is thus..."
Auction: Rare Books, Autographs & Maps including the Esmond Bradley Martin Collection, Nov 7, 2023
-
Successful Auction of Rare Books, Autographs & Maps Tops $1 Million!
-
November 7, 2023 Sale Featured the Esmond Bradley Martin Collection of Africana & Travel
-
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
