Heritage Auction Galleries to Offer The Henry Luhrs & Lincoln Library Collection In Dallas and New York City

Dallas, Texas: Heritage Auction Galleries will present an incredible collection of Lincolniana, manuscripts, autographs, rare books, and Americana in their February 21 & 22 Signature Auction in Dallas (with simulcast in New York City). Anchored by the Henry Luhrs & Lincoln Library Collection, this spectacular $5 million event contains one of the most significant offerings of Lincolniana in decades, but is also remarkable for the wide range of material included - from a leaf of the Gutenberg Bible to a JFK pardon for a Marijuana conviction! According to Americana Director Tom Slater, "The Luhrs Collection is one of the most significant and extensive to be auctioned in years, and will almost certainly be the most important manuscript event held in 2006."

"The Luhrs Family Collection," continued Slater, "is the work of a 'Collector's collector,' a man of sophisticated and varied tastes, but always with an eye for the interesting item - nearly 10,000 of them! The result was an eclectic, wide-ranging collection, deepest in autographs of American Presidents and historical figures, but also including an incredibly diverse selection from other collectible categories. Significantly, every item has been off the market for at least forty years - and some for eighty years!
Henry Luhrs collected from the 1930s to 1960. He purchased from the most famous dealers of the day, a "who's who" of the Americana and autograph field defining 'pedigree': Philip C. Duschnes; Walter R. Benjamin Autographs; Goodspeed's Book Shop; King V. Hostick; Parke-Bernet Galleries; John Heise Autographs; and the Carnegie Book Shop."

Among the most significant items in the auction:

Lot 25409, estimated $100,000-$150,000, is one of the finest items of Americana to be sold in recent memory. This extremely important bound collection contains letters and documents signed by all 55 delegates to the Federal Constitutional Convention of 1787. When they met in Philadelphia on May 25, 1787, no one could have guessed that they would produce an entirely new form of government - one which has endured for more than two centuries. These are all neatly tipped-in on pages housed in a custom pair of large red morocco folio volumes, circa 1890, with engraved portraits of the delegates. Every Founding Father is included, from George Washington of Mt. Vernon, who signed the Constitution, to George Mason of Gunston Hall, who didn't sign, but whose protests led to the Bill of Rights.

Lot 25206, another important George Washington document, is a three-page letter written as Commander and Chief of the Continental Army at the end of the American Revolution, April 14, 1783, on settling the Army's financial accounts with the states before the Army was disbanded. Washington states: "as I consider it of the utmost importance both for the ease and quiet of the Army, as well as in point of Oeconomy to the Public, that this business should be effected with all the dispatch that it is possible to give it, I have procured from the Pay Master Genl. the enclosed minutes of what he judges necessary to obtain from the States, as part of the ground of his settlement." Copies of this letter, each signed by General Washington, were sent to Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island. Estimate: $60,000-$80,000.

Other important political documents:

Lot 25516: An extraordinarily rare copy of General George Mead's congratulatory order of July 4, 1863 lauding his troops on their hard-won victory over Robert E. Lee at Gettysburg. This is the only known copy of the first report of victory at Gettysburg, a supreme rarity from the battle that changed American history. Estimate: $30,000-$50,000

Lot 25027: A significant hand-written letter by President Thomas Jefferson, 1802, to Caesar A. Rodney (son of the fellow Signer) on the importance of maintaining the U.S. Navy and western settlement. Washington, December 31, 1802. Estimate: $25,000-$35,000

Lot 25001: An extremely fine content, 2-page letter by John Adams, April 30, 1819 from Quincy, discussing his philosophy on government and his personal experiences in politics, and mentioning Jefferson. Estimate $20,000-$30,000

Lot 25334: A very rare autograph letter signed by Signer of the Declaration of Independence, Arthur Middleton, 1782, describing the early days of the Revolution. Signed with his pseudonym "Andrew Marvell", four pages, Charleston, South Carolina, August 12, 1775. Estimate $18,000-$25,000

Lot 25470: A hand-written letter by Abolitionist John Brown soliciting support in his struggle against slavery in 1858 - a year before his famous raid on Harper's Ferry. The letter is from Peterboro, New York, February 24, 1858 to transcendentalist author Franklin Benjamin Sanborn (1831-1917) who was a member of Brown's Committee of Six (or Secret Six). Estimate $5,000-$7,000

Lot 25291: A fantastic Patrick Henry letter, 1786, in which he sends a slave girl "Fanny" to his newly-married daughter and her husband. Richmond, November 14, 1786, to his son-in-law Spencer Roane. Estimate: $4,000-$5,000

Lot 26090: Certification of the first presidential election and the oaths of office by Washington and Adams, 1789, signed by Samuel A. Otis (1740-1814) as Secretary of the United States Senate. Could there have been a more important election in the history of America? This truly unusual document, bearing three dates between April 6 and June 3, 1789, certifies the first United States presidential election and the oaths of office taken by George Washington and John Adams. The early weeks of both houses of Congress were spent drafting rules and procedures so formal documents like these had very little precedent, and no document like this is mentioned in the Senate Journal. Estimate: $14,000-$18,000

The Henry E. Luhrs Collection was especially strong in material pertaining to Abraham Lincoln:

The largest selection of legal briefs and court documents in Lincoln's hand to be offered in decades - some 67 strong - is included. As examples, Lot 25064 is a request for issuance of subpoenas in the case of Edward Potter vs. John Bell (docketed October 1841], and estimated at $5,000-$6,000, or Lot 25090, an unsigned autograph affidavit from Vermilion Co., 3 June 1853, three and one-quarter pages, of Daniel Sturm, principal defendant in a lawsuit brought by John S. Graham, guardian of the minors Mary J., Marena E., and Sarah M. French, estimated at $3,800-$4,500.

A very important document for both Lincoln and Civil War collectors is Lot 25033, a significant autograph letter signed by President-elect Abraham Lincoln to Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin, advising him on addressing the growing secession crisis in his inaugural speech. Estimated at $80,000-$120,000, the "Confidential" Springfield, Illinois letter of December 21, 1860 advises Curtin "to express, without passion, threat, or appearance of boasting, but nevertheless, with firmness, the purpose of yourself and your state to maintain the Union at all hazards."

Lot 25034 will appeal to so many different collectors of Americana that its estimate of $50,000-$75,000 must be conjectural. Possibly the most important single document in the Luhrs Collection, this is Lincoln's warrant for his Thanksgiving Day Proclamation. Partly-printed, but signed "Abraham Lincoln" on October 3, 1863, it authorizes the Secretary of State to affix the Seal of the United States to the first Presidential Proclamation designating the last Thursday in November as a day of Thanksgiving. The document reads in full: "I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of State to affix the seal of the United States to a Proclamation, dated this day, and signed by me: and for so doing this shall be his warrant." Lincoln had previously issued Proclamations of thanksgiving for victories in battle, but this is for the general blessings of the year - the first in the unbroken string of annual Thanksgiving proclamations that is the true beginning of the national Thanksgiving holiday. The original proclamation is housed at the National Archives in Washington, and the original manuscript of the proclamation, in the hand of Secretary of State William Seward, was sold to benefit troops at an 1864 Sanitary Fair during the Civil War (its location remains unknown).

Perhaps the most romantic of the Lincolniana included in this auction is Lot 25134 from the Luhrs Collection, the 1841 Abraham Lincoln wedding gift that Mary Todd never saw. Looking ahead to his 1841 wedding, the self-taught attorney Lincoln and a highly-educated Southern belle named Mary Todd were to marry (curiously, she had also been courted by the "little giant" Stephen Douglas and most of the other bachelors in Springfield). She fell in love with Lincoln, but after their engagement in 1840, their relationship grew rocky due to their differing tastes, ambitions, and backgrounds. With the date for the nuptials set, Lincoln bought a wedding present suitable for his sophisticated young fiancée - a blue enamel, diamond-studded, 18-karat gold timepiece engraved "To Miss Mary Todd from A.L. 1841" on the inside back cover. Historians may never know exactly how or why the wedding was cancelled, but Lincoln later referred to his profound unhappiness "since that fatal first of Jany.'41." While Lincoln and Mary Todd did finally marry (on November 4, 1842), in the meantime he had given away the watch that served as a constant reminder of his unhappiness. Estimate $50,000-$100,000

Some highlights from the hundreds of rare books, incunabula, illuminated manuscripts, and printed pages:

Lot 25838 is the Isaiah 13:14 to 16:7 leaf from a Gutenberg Bible, ca. 1455. The importance of the Gutenberg Bible to modern civilization - an unequalled cultural revolution - cannot be overstated. Only 180 copies were printed, with perhaps 50 surviving today. Estimate: $30,000-$40,000

Collectors of Literary works will be avidly pursuing Lot 26725, 23 pages of Boris Pasternak's handwritten text for Doctor Zhivago, a book and movie of critical importance to Western understanding of Soviet history. From Chapter 11, which Pasternak called "The Forest Warriors" but in most American editions is translated as "The Forest Brotherhood," Pasternak has signed his name on the cover page precluding the 22 pages of text (all in the Russian Cyrillic alphabet). This extraordinary manuscript, in very fine condition, is estimated at $70,000-$80,000.

Lot 25271: Benjamin Franklin 1744 imprint of Cato Major, Or his Discourse of Old-Age: With Explanatory Notes, published in Philadelphia. Fewer than 100 copies extant. Estimate: $6,000-$8,000

Lot 25871: 1483 Koberger Printed Hieronymus Incunabulum, an incredibly rare and complete copy of St. Jerome's Vitas Patrum. Thousands of hand-accomplished rubrications in red. Fewer than 10 known in the U.S. Estimate: $2,000-$3,000

Lot 25930: 1950, Dard Hunter's Papermaking by Hand in America. Folio-sized, hand printed on handmade paper, with 150+ tipped-in illustrations. Number 12 of 210 signed copies. Estimate $5,000-$6,000

Lot 25880: 1552 De Sclopetorum sive Archibusorum Vulneribus, by Alfonso Ferri. The second book ever on the treatment of gunshot wounds. Estimate: $4,000-$6,000

Lot 25889: 1637 Decree of Starre-Chamber, Concerning Printing and censorship, limiting the number of master book printers in London to twenty, and forbidding certain heretical and seditious subjects. Estimate: $2,000-$3,000

Lot 25843: Original Leaves From Famous Bibles 1121-1935 A.D. by noted illustrator and teacher Otto Ege, with 60 different leaves from the finest manuscript and printed bibles. Estimate: $5,000-$6,000

Lot 25829: Bram Stoker Signed First Edition copy of Dracula. The Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable and Company, 1897, first edition, presumed first printing, first issue with no advertisements, signed and inscribed to Stoker's brother on the free front endpaper. One of the most famous horror novels of all time. Estimate: $15,000-$20,000

Lot 26283: An amazing archive of previously unseen autograph letters signed Jacqueline Bouvier [Kennedy], written between the ages of 15 and 17 (ca. 1944-1947). Ten letters on 60 pages reveals "the American Queen" as a princess, uttering such fascinating lines as "It makes me be sick to think how dreary this summer would have been without you-when I came here I was petrified of everything + pretty shy + not liking a bit the idea of going around with a lot of girls who were shallow + nothing but flirts - and talking about nothing but boys" or "God I'm mad at this dumb school." Estimate: $35,000-$40,000

Lot 26271: A partly printed DS in which "John F. Kennedy" as President and "Robert F. Kennedy" as Attorney General (Washington, D.C., July 16, 1963) commuted the 50-year sentence of Peter Young for illegal importation of marijuana. Estimate: $3,000-$4,000

For more information about Heritage auctions, and a complete record of prices realized, along with full-color, enlargeable photos of each lot, please visit www.HeritageGalleries.com/Americana.

Potential consignors are invited to contact Tom Slater, TomS@HeritageAuctions.com, or by phone at 800-872-6467, ext. 441 or contact John Hickey at JohnH@HeritageAuctions.com, or by phone at 800-872-6467, ext. 264.

To reserve your copy of a catalog for any upcoming Heritage auction, please contact Nicole Jewell, c/o Heritage Auction Galleries, 3500 Maple Avenue, 17th Floor, Dallas, TX 75219, or call 1-800-872-6467, ext. 272.