Search Results: Titles starting with R from The Raab Collection

17/06/1835. Ralph Waldo Emerson One of the earliest letters ever to reach the public marketRalph Waldo Emerson is remembered today as an essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendental movement of the mid-19th century. His ideology is disseminated to us through his voluminous writings.To his contemporaries, he was best known as a lecturer, and he delivered some 1,500 addresses In the United States and Great Britain over the course of his career. Over the period 1833-1871, Emerson often spent four to six months a year on the lecture circuit.[video width=""1920"" height=""1080"" mp4=""https://raab-collection-uploads.storage.googleapis.com/wp-content/uploads/20231204130350/Emerson-1.mp4""][/video]Emerson toured Europe in 1833 and later wrote of his travels in ""English Traits."" He left aboard the brig Jasper on Christmas Day, 1832, sailing first to Malta. During his European trip, he spent several months in Italy, visiting Rome, Florence and Venice, among other… Read More

09/02/1850. Ralph Waldo Emerson This unpublished letter, written at the time of debates around the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, comes from the collection of Dr. Otto O. Fisher, who bought primarily in the 1930s and 1940s, and thus has not been offered for sale in nearly a centuryIn the middle of the 19th century, Massachusetts brought together men and women who gathered to form perhaps America's first prominent literary movement. It was a flowering of literary artistic creation, and the image of the great men and women of the era sitting around the table discussing and debating the great issues and literary works of the time, from their own works to the evil institution of slavery, is today iconic.Amos Bronson Alcott founded the Town and Country Club in 1849 ""to establish better acquaintance between men of scientific, literary, and philanthropic pursuit ,"" in particular bringing together ""Town” intellectuals with those living outside urban Boston and Cambridge in the “Country"", such as Ralph… Read More

11/11/1870. Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson is remembered today as an essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendental movement of the mid-19th century. His ideology is disseminated to us through his voluminous writings.But to his contemporaries, he was best known as a lecturer, and he delivered some 1,500 addresses In the United States and Great Britain over the course of his career. Over the period 1833-1871, Emerson often spent four to six months a year on the lecture circuit. In April 1871, just three months after this letter, Emerson’s lectures are commonly considered to have come to an end. This is so because any later lectures cannot be reconstructed. Because his most important ideas were worked out in his lectures, these lectures provide the best record we have of his evolving thought-and thus are a key to understanding of his essays and other printed works.Emerson was invited to speak at Andover, Massachusetts on January 13, 1871. Emerson’s… Read More

4/4/52. Dwight D. Eisenhower Ike signed this as president and sent it to a Navy veteranOn April 4, 1949, twelve nations from Western Europe and North America signed the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington, D.C. A key feature of this treaty is Article 5, in which the signatory members agreed that ""an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all.” Initially, however, the alliance was not very well prepared to carry out the mission of defending its territory. In addition to grave shortages of troops and equipment, there was no command structure to direct the overall defense of Western Europe, just committees - known as ""Regional Planning Groups"" - that were charged with drawing up plans for the defense of their regions.The 12 original members were the United States, Canada, Britain, Belgium, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Portugal.All this changed after the outbreak of the Korean War in… Read More

1536. Americana|All Medieval Historical Documents This was the same university where Francisco Suarez would, a generation later, study and teach; he would have had access to and may have used this very book Coimbra was the jumping off for many of the men who went as missionaries around the expanding globe We do not recall having seen a book from such a library before on the market; From an American collectionUnder the terms of the Treaty of Tordesillas, signed in 1494 between the Spanish and Portuguese crowns, the ‘new world’ was divided between the two of them. Thus, Portugal had the right of exploration to the east of Africa while Spanish vessels journeyed west across the Atlantic. Until the rise of Dutch and British East India trading companies and the defeat of the Spanish Armada in the latter part of the sixteenth century, Portuguese and Spanish traders had a monopoly over the maritime routes into East Asia and the riches that could be bought there.During this time, Portugal… Read More

Medieval History, Literature, Law|Ege|All Medieval Historical Documents A very uncommon leaf from Livy, very few manuscript examples having survivedRome, having survived the invasions of the Celtic Gauls in the early 4th century BC, set its sights on further expansion in the middle part of the century. They re-conquered those Latin and Etruscan towns that had left the fold during the Gallic occupation, and in absorbing others, reconsolidated their position as the dominant force in Latium and Central Italy. With their home turf secured (or so it seemed) the Romans looked south towards Campania.At this time, the Samnites had moved into the fertile lands of Campania, from the south-central Appenines. They already controlled the towns of Capua and Cumae to the south of Rome, and held sway to the east, as well. Rome, to protect its flanks while still in the midst of re-taking Latium and Etruria, wisely entered into an alliance with the Samnites in 354 BC. Conflict with Samnium over Campanian dominance was… Read More

Theology and Scripture|All Medieval Historical Documents Records show only a small number of such mathematical devices having reached the public market The manuscript bears markings of subsequent owners, including a poem from the 16th century to Saint Basil, normally associated with the East[video width=""1920"" height=""1080"" mp4=""https://raab-collection-uploads.storage.googleapis.com/wp-content/uploads/20231204130536/Computus-Youtube-Template-1.mp4""][/video] Prior to 1420, devotional books such as Books of Hours or Breviaries were made to order and reflected the particular interests of the patron. A breviary, usually formatted in a writing block of two columns (as opposed to its single column relative, the Book of Hours), contains excerpts of psalm, gospel, hymns, and prayers, to guide the reader in his or her daily prayer at the fixed Canonical Hours. Because these books were created at this time for a specific use, they could be catered to that use, including the use of alternate… Read More

3/7/61. Queen Elizabeth II In 1960, Stanley Davidson was convicted of four offenses of housebreaking and larceny and sentenced to four years in prison at Durham Prison. His case came to the attention of the Queen’s staff who brought it to her attention. She decided to remit a the sentence and release him from custody. In doing so, she says she will “extend her Grace and Mercy.”Document signed, London, July 3, 1961, being a pardon for Davidson, and ordering the governor of the prison to “discharge him out of custody accordingly.” This is the only pardon signed by Elizabeth that we have had. 

15/12/1865. Samuel Morse Part of a collection assembled decades agoDocument signed, December 15, 1865, to J.A. Babcock & Co, in the amount of $42. JA Babcock was a firm that made fine items in silver. It closed in the late 19th century.Checks of Morse are rare. Our research reveals only one other having reached the public market in decades

1861. Salmon Chase A beautiful and boldly signed image of Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase, signed SP Chase. This image was in the family of a prominent Boston women’s suffrage family that also took an active part in the Civil War, and has never before been offered for sale.

Pablo Picasso The most prodigious artistic talent of the twentieth century came from his native Spain to settle in Paris at the turn of the century, and art and the art world were never the same again. His companion is writer Pierre Bertrand, to whom the photo is inscribed. 6 7/8 x 4 1/2 inches. A half-length portrait, inscribed on the lower margin: ""Pour Pierre Bertrand / Picasso.""

09/02/1793. Thomas Jefferson We are unaware of another signed copy of this act having reached the market For generations in a private collectionThe first three Executive branch departments under the Constitution were created in 1789 - the departments of Treasury, War, and State (Thomas Jefferson was confirmed by the Senate as the nation's first Secretary of State, on September 26, 1789 (the day after Washington appointed him). At the time, Jefferson was just completing his four-year tenure as United States Minister Plenipotentiary to France, and was acutely aware of the need for official American representatives abroad who would have responsibilities beyond the mere facilitation of commerce. President Washington recognized this need as well - in his first Annual Address to Congress (on January 8, 1790) he remarked: ""The interests of the United States require that our intercourse with other nations should be facilitated by such provisions as will enable me to fulfill my duty in that respect in… Read More

Before 1300|All Medieval Historical Documents Fine Carolingian manuscript on vellum; this may well be the earliest Collectarium to be offered for sale, and perhaps the sole example of this text from the dawn of literacy and learning in Europe that any collector could hope to acquire.[video width=""1920"" height=""1080"" mp4=""https://raab-collection-uploads.storage.googleapis.com/wp-content/uploads/20231204130551/Carolingian.mp4""][/video] The late eighth century saw a new power rising in Europe in the form of the empire of Charlemagne (747-814). Originally from the region of north-eastern France and the adjacent territories of the Low Countries, within a few decades most of Europe from the Channel to the Pyrenees, westwards into much of Germany, and downwards into Italy had fallen under his sway. It is clear that he saw the correct fostering of religion and learning as a vehicle to give this unit a collective identity, remaking the Roman Empire as he saw it out of the fragmented and disparate… Read More

24/01/1984. Richard Nixon We have never before seen such a document relating to a president’s personal finances reach the marketRichard Nixon resigned the Presidency in August 1974 under a cloud of scandal, after an extensive impeachment-related inquiry that left him with few allies. Following his resignation, the Nixons flew to their home La Casa Pacifica in San Clemente, California. He had very little money relatively speaking - at one point in early 1975 he had only $500 in the bank - and nothing to do. In August 1975, he met with British talk-show host and producer David Frost, who paid him $600,000 for extensive, revealing interviews that were the talk of the time. The interviews helped improve Nixon's financial position, as did the sale of his Key Biscayne property. On August 10, 1979, the Nixons purchased a 12_room condominium occupying the seventh floor at 817 Fifth Avenue in New York City, after being rejected by two Manhattan co-ops. After eighteen months in the New York City townhouse,… Read More

8/3/88. Richard Nixon We obtained this letter from the Kirkpatrick family, and it has never before been offered for saleThe Washington Summit of 1987 was meeting between President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev that took place on December 8–10. Reagan and Gorbachev discussed regional conflicts in Afghanistan, Central America, and Southern Africa, arms control issues for chemical weapons as well as conventional weapons, the status of START (limitation on strategy weapons) negotiations, and human rights. Some progress was made in these areas. The notable accomplishment of the Washington Summit was the signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty which banned all of the two nations' land-based ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and missile launchers. By 1991, almost 2,700 missiles had been eliminated. Needless to say, the collegial atmosphere of the talks, and the feeling that Gorbachev was a man you could work with, caused great excitement in the United… Read More

1930. Robert Frost Robert Frost is perhaps the most popular and critically respected American poets of the twentieth century, authoring such memorable poems as Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, Fire and Ice, and The Road Not Taken. He was honored frequently during his lifetime, receiving four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry, an extraordinary achievement. According to “Contemporary Literary Criticism”, Frost became one of America’s rare “public literary figures, almost an artistic institution.” He was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1960. Frost spoke at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy, and on July 22, 1961, was named poet laureate of Vermont.In early 1915, Robert Frost wrote ""The Road Less Traveled"", which featured the now famous lines: ""Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference."" This focused on the paths in life we have to take.In the late 1920s, he returned to this, one of his most powerful themes, with the… Read More

8/4/65. Robert Kennedy He writes, as the Kennedy family starts to collect materials for the planned John F. Kennedy Library, “I am confident that these interviews will be an invaluable part of the historical record…”Lewellyn E. Thompson was one of the most important American diplomats of the 20th Century.  He was the United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War, serving two separate tours in the administrations of Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson, and then acting as advisor to Richard M. Nixon.  Few Ambassadors faced as many crises as Thompson did in Moscow - the shooting down of a U.S. U-2 reconnaissance aircraft over Russia, the great confrontation between the U.S. and Soviet Union over Berlin and the building of the Berlin Wall, very difficult summits between Soviet Premier Khruschev and Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy, the August 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, and tensions over the Vietnam War. But there were… Read More

20/04/1985. Ronald Reagan This is the most personal religious letter we have ever seen from a president, nor are we aware of any letter of Reagan professing his own belief in the afterlife ever having come up for saleRonald Reagan's administration brought with a deepened connection between religion and politics. Reagan, a self described born again Christian, had a deep faith that was based on his belief that one day, each person will reach a day of judgment.Autograph letter signed, to Margot and Doug Morrow, his old friend from Hollywood and an Academy Award winning writer and director. No date, but on White House letterhead. “Nancy and I were so sorry to learn of your loss. Please accept our deepest sympathy. Forgive me for being so late with this and know that you are in our thoughts and prayers. We have to trust in God’s infinite mercy and wisdom and know that Angela is in a better and happier world as we’ve been promised. Bless you both, Ron.""We are not aware of any letter of Reagan… Read More

5/12/52. Ronald Reagan Reagan had been sent to New York to see Berle by the producers of a film Reagan was starring inAt the time, the future president, though president of the Screen Actors Guild, was little involved in national politics, outside of the issues related to that organization's interests. He was, however, an outspoken opponent of supposed communist influences in the entertainment field.Reagan would go on to greater prominence among the general and political audiences in late 1953, when he was hired as the host of General Electric Theater, a series of weekly dramas that became very popular. His contract also required him to tour General Electric (GE) plants 16 weeks out of the year, which often demanded that he give 14 talks per day. He earned approximately $125,000 (equivalent to well over a million dollars in 2021) in this role. The show ran for ten seasons from 1953 to 1962, which increased Reagan's national profile.Texaco Star Theater was an American comedy-variety show, broadcast on… Read More

10/11/81. Ronald Reagan He awaits a report on the Communist government in China An increasingly rare and insightful unpublished ALS of Reagan as President, which also shows how he handled his correspondence, offered for sale for the first time hereRonald Reagan is closely associated with his strong Christian faith. He knew the Bible and believed in it. He used the symbol of the parting of the Red Sea with some frequency in speeches before and during his presidency.Douglas Morrow was a Hollywood screenwriter and film producer. He earned an Academy Award for his script for 1949’s The Stratton Story, a biography of baseball player Monty Stratton, who was disabled in a hunting accident. Reagan played the lead role in the film, and the men stayed close. Morrow’s other films included Jim Thorpe – All-American and Beyond a Reasonable Doubt. He also wrote for a number of television series.Autograph letter signed, November 10, no year, on White House letterhead, to ""Dear Doug."" ""Just have a few… Read More