ORIGINAL PIECES FROM THE CY STAPLETON COLLECTION 3198 S. John Redditt Dr. Lufkin, Texas 75904 (409) 637-7468 FAX (409) 637-1480 Thank you for your interest in items from my "Printing History Collection". This list contains a few other artifacts that do not relate to printing that I have collected over the years. All pieces are guaranteed to be as described. I am not in the business of selling documents, but rather am in the process of disposing of my personal collection of some 100,000 items. I hope to do a fairly regular list and will keep your name on my mailing list to receive future lists. All printed pieces are matted and shrink wrapped unless otherwise noted. All items are accompanied by a descriptive card. Most items are one-of-a-kind and are subject to prior sale. On a few items, such as early news sheets, American Colonial Documents, and Civil War documents, I may have two or more similar pieces. As an example, I may have 4 copies of Addison & Steele's "The Spectator" (different dates). If the numbered item you order has been sold, I will substitute a different date, if available - unless the content of the listed item is significant. You may order by phone or FAX me at the number above to get additional details, to reserve a piece, or to place an order. In the case of reserved pieces, I will hold them for 14 days awaiting payment before removing them from the reserved list. Payment may be made by MasterCard, VISA, or check. Please add $5.00 per order to cover packaging, shipping and insurance. Texas residents must add 8.25% for state sales tax. Please note item #000. This is not a specific item, but rather a small group of original pieces printed on handmade paper between 1460 and 1499ad. These pieces were stored with my incunabula, but over the years the descriptive labels have become separated from the individual pieces and I cannot identify them any more detailed than the fact that they are incunabula, and printed within the first 50 years after Gutenberg developed the process. These are all priced at $25.00 each and I will send what I consider the nieces of the remaining pieces as they are ordered. The 300 series items are all what I call "trade show prints". These are high quality prints that are actually printed at graphic arts trade shows to show the capabilities of various manufacturers printing presses and pre-press equipment. While not unusual or uncommon to the average printer, these are highly sought after by the general public, and many are magnificent. They are "limited editions" in a sense in that normally a particular piece is printed only at one trade show - after which the plates are discarded. They are not signed or numbered. In the margins will normally be the information relating to the press it was printed on, the ink and paper used, etc. Over the years I have picked up 10-20 of each of these at the various trade shows and conventions I have attended. Most of these are in the $10-$15 range and the price reflects more the cost of mounting and matting rather than the value of the print itself. Cy Stapleton 3198 S. John Redditt Dr. Lufkin, Texas 75904 (409) 637-7468 FAX (409) 637-1480 INV# VALUE DATE DESCRIPTION ---- ------ ------------ ---------------------------------------- 000 25.00 15th Cen. Incunabula - See note at the end of this list. 101 165.00 1769 American Colonial applicaton for 300 acres of land in Philadelphia area. Part printed, part handwritten. Very rare Colonial document. 102 65.00 1539 Leaf from 1539 Great Bible - 3rd bible printed in England and 4th English translation. A major source for the 1611 King James version. 103 55.00 1487 Johann Amerbach imprint. Two hand painted initial letters in red and blue. Comes with a description of the piece and the book it came from. A very nice leaf. 104 20.00 1986 Marque de Martin imprint on handmade paper. A 15th century military ship 105 60.00 1681 Addison & Steele's "The Observator", a marvelous piece dated March 1, 1681 106 20.00 1988 Marque de Martin imprint on handmade paper. The Ruling Planets, 1491. 107 20.00 1988 Marque de Martin imprint on handmade paper - Venice, 1492 108 40.00 c1480 Leaf from Guido de Mont Rochen's Manipulus Curatoum, printed in Cologne by Johann Guldenschaff c1480. 109 10.00 1873 Full page ad for Lockwood's Directory of the Paper Trade from American Newspaper Reporter. 110 10.00 1873 Display & word classified ads for engravings, folders, mailing eqpt., printing companies for sale, etc. 111 10.00 1873 Full page illustrated classified ads for Fairhauer & Acme presses and other eqpt. 2 great woodcuts of presses. 112 18.00 1870 Marvelous children's newspaper with color mast and woodcut of children at play. The Child at Home, Sept. 1870. 113 18.00 1926 Music interest - German imprint of Ludwig Spohr 114 18.00 1926 Music Interest - German print of Luigi Cherubini. 115 15.00 c1975 Printing interest. Douglas Parrish print of Geofrey Tory, engraver, and Simon Decolines, printer. 116 40.00 1710 Rare copy of Oct. 12, 1710 issue of The Examiner, an early news sheet. 117 275.00 1340 Great manuscript leaf, by hand on animal skin (vellum). From a religious work. Has red & blue initial letters plus some red text. A cross is done in text at lower right margin. Wide margins. 118 15.00 1873 Illustrated front cover of Oct. 27, 1875 issue of American Newspaper Reporter. Very nice piece with 9 writers illustrated, including Mark Twain and Bret Harte. 119 10.00 1873 Printing interest. Wood type chart. Full page ad from American Printer's Warehouse. 120 12.00 c1930 Beautiful litho - abstract of stars, moon, clouds, etc. 121 18.00 1926 Music interest. German lithoo of Jgor Strawinskij. Color. 122 18.00 1926 Music interest. German litho of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. 123 38.00 1782 Rare Connecticut pay receipt for Revolutionary War bills. Part printed, part handwritten. Endorsed on back and signed by pay table. 124 20.00 1988 Marque de Martin imprint on handmade paper - Canterbury Tales, 1484. 125 25.00 1773 Beautifully handwritten ledger piece from American Colonial general store - pewter, gun powder, etc. 126 500.00 1791 Very rare signature of Isaiah Thomas. Receipt for an ad in Thomas' Mass. Spy. Thomas was one of the most significant Colonial era printers, the author of the first history of printing in America, and one of those who stood watch in the Old North Tower to send Paul Revere and the other riders on their "midnight ride". 127 15.00 c1975 Printing interest. Robert Thom print of Egyptians making papyrus and doing pictography. 128 375.00 1823 Printing interest. Very rare handwritten letter by Sir Charles Wilkins (1749-1836?)- printer and orientalist. Included is bio and auction description. 129 20.00 c1850 Leaf from rare heiroglyphic bible. 130 75.00 1760 Rare Benjamin Franklin imprint. A leaf from An Extract from a Treatise by William Law, M.A., printed by Franklin in Philadelphia for the Quakers. American Colonial era imprints are very rare. 131 85.00 1768 Very rare American Colonial newspaper. The Boston Chronicle, Feb. 22, 1768. News of the day. One of the colonies' most respected newspapers. 132 25.00 1985 Beautiful example of the ancient oriental art of paper cutting. This piece is of two birds on a branch on a beautiful maroon paper. I acquired this on a trip to China in 1985. 133 950.00 1918 An incredibly rare fragment of history - a small piece of the canvas covering of Baron von Richtoven's WWI tri-wing fighter, recovered after the Baron was shot down. Is mounted on a print illustrating the plane. The print was done in the same style as the Smithsonian Institute did an aviation collection some years ago. A copy of the original recovered pieces and what part of the plane they came from accompanies the fragment (approximately 1" square). This fine piece was acquired from aviation artist, Bob Carlin, from a friend of his who was the last survivor of the squadron that shot down the Baron, and is one of several fine aviation related pieces in my collection. 134 65.00 1902 Rare bullfight broadside with one large and two small woodcuts. Very nice. 135 12.50 C100ad Roman era coin dating 50bc-100ad, hand stamped. Found in the Palistine area. 136 20.00 - A beautiful reproduction of the 1484 woodcut, "Pilgrims at the Table" from Caxton's "Canterbury Tales". Printed with a hand press by Marque de Martin on paper made by Robert and Suesanne Martin. 137 20.00 - A fine reproduction of String Musicians, a 16th century woodcut printed by Marque de Martin on a hand press using paper 138 20.00 - Beautiful reproduction of the 1510 woodcut of London from Cronycle of Englonde. This was printed on a handmade press by Marque de Martin on paper made by Martin. 139 125.00 1759 A fine and very rare Benjamin Franklin imprint - a leaf from his "The Liberty of the Spirit and of the Flesh" that he printed for the Mormons in Philadelphia. This was one of the last pieces Franklin printed before he sold his shop to his partner, Hall. It is mounted side-by-side with a fine woodcut of Franklin working in his shop. 140 5.00 - A small fragment off the NASA Lunar Landing Module. This is a gold plated transistor cut from a defective circuit board, and mounted in a small coin holder. Not rare, but an interesting conversation piece. I acquired the board some years ago from a friend who was a support person on the mission. 141 75.00 1759 Similar to item #139, but does not have the woodcut mounted with it. This is the "finis" page. 142 20.00 - A fine reproduction of the 1493 woodcut, "Dancers", from Neuer Weltchronik (Nuremberg). This was printed on a hand press by Marque de Martin, on handmade paper made by Robert and Suesanne Martin. 143 25.00 - An excellent example of the oriental art of paper cutting. This piece, a bird on a limb, was acquired by me on a trip to China in 1985. 144 20.00 - A reproduction of "The Organist", from the 1492 Gafurius, Theorica Musicae (Milan). This was printed on a handmade press by Marque de Martin on paper made by Robert and Suesanne Martin. 145 20.00 c2-400ad Pre Columbian fragment. This is the small head of a "fertility" idol which was thrown into the fields praying for good crops. It was recovered on a early 1960's dig by a friend who was on a Los Angeles County Museum dig in Western Mexico. 146 15.00 1915 Fantastic ad, though not in the best condition (with a corner and a piece out of the side affecting some text) of the grand opening of "The Birth of a Nation" - considered the first of the modern movies using pan shots, closeups, and montage. Traveled with its own orchestra. 147 12.50 Civil War Lead Civil War bullet recovered in the area of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania by Erik the Flutemaker - a friend on the Renaissance Festival circuit. 148 20.00 - A reprint of the 1493 woodcut, "Knight with Flag", from Neuer Weltchronik, Nuremberg. This beautiful piece was printed on a hand press by Marque de Martin on paper made by Robert and Suesanne Martin. 149 15.00 c1840? Mini Ball recovered from the San Jacinto River near the San Jacinto, Texas battlefield. This was found as shell was being laid for a parking lot at Kuhn Paint Company in Houston in the early 1960's. I was making a call on the company when the shell was being laid and we found about 50 of these artifacts. I was able to keep a few of them. I know nothing more about them. They could be from as early as the Battle of San Jacinto, or perhaps as late as the Civil War. Because so many were found in such a small area, we surmised that they came from a keg of bullets that were on a barge or boat that was sunk in the area. 160 35.00 c1985 Signed & numbered limited edition embossing of John Wayne. This is #233 of 2,500. Double matted and beautiful deep embossing of bust of Wayne in western wear. 161 45.00 1685 The Observator, August 1, 1685. A very nice copy of this important early news sheet. An unusual sort of journalism in that it is done as conversation. 162 55.00 1497 A nice 15th century imprint, this piece was printed in Lyons in 1497 by Jean Pivard. It is a leaf from a Latin bible. Typography is very nice. Paper is in such fine condition because it is handmade from cotton rags. 163 75.00 1568 A leaf from the Bishop's Bible - One of the main translations used in the 1611 King James version. This leaf is from Exodus. 165 75.00 1711 A great copy of Addison & Steele's "The Spectator", Dec. 26, 1711 - one of journalism's finest accomplishments, their style of journalism is studied yet today. 168 25.00 1722 The Weekly Journal and Saturday Post of August 4, 1722. Very elaborate masthead and large initial letter on front page. News of the day includes 4-500 tons of copper being made into coins at the Tower of London, an execution, and the fact a citizen was found guilty of sodomy and sentenced to pillory. 169 60.00 1791 Fine copy of Moses Woodward's "Middlesex Gazette" dated Dec. 10, 1791. Front page letter from a field officer near Ft. Washington. His garrison of 1,700 men are not looking forward to conflict with 1500 well provisioned Indians. Much other nice news and ads in this rare piece. 170 25.00 - A photo of Torpedo Squadron 8 - famous for the fact that the entire squadron was wiped out by the Japanese during the Battle of Midway. The photo is personally autographied by the squadron's sole survivor and author of the book, "Sole Survivor", George Gay. 171 15.00 - Full color print of Queen Victoria's Imperial State Crown. Made in 1838, then reset for King George VI in 1937. 172 50.00 1894 Thomas Nast signature on a $3.25 check payable to F.L. Jennings, March 10, 1894. Nast was the most famous of the 19th century political cartoonists. It was he who created the Democratic Donkey, Republican Elephant, Tammany Tiger, the image we have of Uncle Sam, and even jolly old Santa Claus. A very nice item. 173 10.00 - A reprint of the Courier & Ives "Great Boston Fire". Quality of reprint is fair. 174 50.00 1487 A beautiful original 15th century imprint from the press of Marinus Saracenus (Venice). A leaf from Plinius Secundius Naturalis Hystorie. After the piece was printed, a scribe or printer's helper inked a large initial letter in color. The paper remains in such excellent condition because it is made from pure rag with no fillers or caustics. 175 27.50 1862 Fine Civil War quartermaster ledger for Edward Cunningham, 139th Regt. of Penn. Volunteers. Part handwritten, part printed. 176 45.00 1902 Very rare Spanish bullfight broadside with 4 woodcuts and fancy borders. small piece missing out of right side not effecting type and small tear at bottom poorly repaired. 177 65.00 c1300? Rare early oriental woodblock print. Part of a scroll, believed to date from the late 14th century. A very nice and scarce example of how printing was done prior to Gutenberg's introduction of movable type. 178 35.00 1862 Quartermaster issue ledger sheet for Henry Frantz of the 143rd Regiment of the Penn. Volunteers. Frantz returned from being a Prisoner of War and was reissued some equipment to replace that evident lost. 180 18.00 - Papermaking in Fabriano - a beautiful full color print by George Parrish. 181 18.00 - Chinese Block Printing - a beautiful full color print by Robert Thom. 182 18.00 - The Roman Alphabet. Beautiful full color print by D.M. Parrish. 183 18.00 - Charlemagne and the Monastic Scribes. Beautiful full color print by Robert Thom 184 18.00 - Benjamin Franklin, Printer & Publisher. Beautiful full color print by Robert Thom. 185 18.00 - John Peter Zenger's trial. A beautiful full color print by George Parrish. 186 18.00 - Shakespeares First Folio - a beautiful full color print by George Parrish. 187 18.00 - Nicolas Jensen, Printer & Typefounder. A beautiful full color print by Robert Thom of Jensen working at his bench. 188 25.00 - Johann Gutenberg and Movable Type. A beautiful full color print by Robert Thom of Gutenberg's print shop and type foundry. 189 55.00 1482 A very fine piece with wide margins and nice typography. Printed by Antoniodi Bartolommeo Misconini in Florence in 1482. A leaf from Horatius Flaccus Quintus Opera. Has marginal notes and red paragraph marks. 193 45.00 1793 A copy of Benjamin Russell's fine 18th century American newspaper, The Columbian Centinel (Boston), dated Feb. 16, 1793. Great text and ads, including an ad for "labourers" to dig a canal linking the Schuiylkill, the Susquehanna, and the Delaware. The generous pay is $6 per month plus food and lodging (bring your own blanket). 194 45.00 1793 A fine copy of Benjamin Russell's fine 18th century newspaper, The Columbian Centinel (Boston), dated November 4, 1797. Great ads and interesting editorial content. 196 35.00 19th Century Original 19th century wood engraving of the "Revisers of the Old Testamet. This is a fantastic group portrait - a double page spread from "Harper's Weekly". Slight foxing, otherwise great. 197 35.00 18th century Leaf from Burmese leaf book. Text was scribed into a dried palm leaf which was cut to size and drilled. It was then strung together like a venetian blind. A very nice, unusual, and scarce piece. 198 75.00 19th Century Fantastic signature (24-pages - book trims out about 3.25x6) from the Cherokee Indian Bible - the only bible printed in the Cherokee language. Rare. 199 25.00 - Excellent collection of miniature reprints of famous front pages. Death of Kennedy, Pope, Ruby, New York Blackout, Moon flight, etc. 200 285.00 Gail Bordon imprint - the most famous of early Texas printers. Official printer for the Republic of Texas. Part printed, part handwritten, this piece is witnessed and signed on the back by his brother and partner, John Bordon. 300 12.50 - A very nice transportation theme "trade show" print - those high- quality prints printing equipment manufacturers produce to demonstrate the quality of work their equipment is capable of. While common among printers, these are highly collectible by those outside the printing industry. For the most part they are in a sense, "limited editions", but not signed and numbered. It is seldom a manufacturer will use the same set of separations once they have been printed at one show. This one demonstrates the Ryobi 522H run at 13,000 sheets per hour. Shown is a balloon, sailing ships, a bicycle, carriage, and a rickshaw(sp). 301 10.00 - Similar to #300. Beautiful horizon scene with 4 jets streaking across the sky. Printed on a 40" 6-color Heidelberg Speedmaster. 302 10.00 - Similar to #300. This is a full color print of of playing cards, dice and poker chips. A beautiful piece printed on a Komori Sprint at Southwestern Graphics 93. 303 10.00 - Similar to #300. This was showing the quality of the Optronics Colorsetter 4000 and the Ryobi press. It is a beautiful scene of Texas bluebonnets in a blaze of color. 304 12.50 - Similar to #300. Print is of a sculptor working on a casting of a bird with his welding torch. Was printed on a Heidelberg GTOZ using Wikoff ink. 305 10.00 - Similar to #300. A very nice print, not unlike the work of T. LaTreck(sp), printed on a Hamada E47S at Southwestern Graphics 93. 306 20.00 - The most popular of all recent trade show prints - Newschwanstein Castle - Mad King Ludwig's extravagant 19th century castle - the one the Disney World and Land castles were modeled after. Printed on the Heidelberg MOY-IT 4-color press. 307 25.00 - Similar to #300. A magnificent piece printed on the Heidelberg 72VP press. The poster is an incredible scene - "Be transformed" - a butterfly coming out of his caccoon in a field of blazing color flowers, with "Spring" dropped into the background. An exceptionally fine piece. 308 25.00 - Similar to #300. Great sports scene of Dallas Cowboy #8 - World Champions. Printed on a Komori L-628-III. 309 12.50 - Similar to #300. A beautiful pair of prints of porpoise - an underwater scene full of color. Printed on a Shinohara 66IP press. 310 20.00 - Similar to #300. A magnificent map of the known world from c1500ad. Printed in Chicago in 1985 on a Miehle Roland 200 press. 311 12.50 - Similar to #300. A NASA photo of the Jovian System from the Voyager mission. Produced by Z-Nix to demonstrate their input system. 312 12.50 - Similar to #300. A fantastic poster of a red and gold Harley Davidson bike. Printed at 11,000 sheets per hour on a Ryobi 512 press. 313 12.50 - Similar to #300. What a treasure. This is a great shot of a Persian kitty surrounded by colorful flowers. Printed on a Ryobi 512 at Southwestern Graphics. FOR THOSE WHO ARE INTERESTED I started collecting significant items relating to the history of printing some 30 years ago. Over the years I have acquired some 100,000 items dating from about 3,500bc to the present. The original purpose of this collection was to attempt to build a collection of pieces relating to the history of printing that could be used as a traveling exhibit. That exhibit was culled down to about 75 pieces - the earliest being a clay tablet with the earliest form of handwriting on it and the latest being a copy of the first book printed using the phototype process (the 1952 "Wonderful World of Insects"). I continued to upgrade the collection where I could afford to. As an example, I might have a nice copy of Isaiah Thomas's "Mass. Spy" in the collection, then come across another copy that had an engraving by Paul Revere. I would replace the copy in the collection with the new copy - storing the older one. In other cases, I would have to purchase a small collection in order to get one or two pieces I wanted. Over the years the collection grew and grew - still with only some 75 pieces in the "real" collection. As the word of my collection spread, I was offered more and more pieces - some having nothing to do with my collection, but since they were interesting, I would occasionally purchase them. It's almost like eating peanuts - once you start it's hard to stop. Over the years I traded some of my pieces with other collectors - some for pieces totally out of my main area of interest. As an example, I traded a collection of old bible leaves to a collector of Roman artifacts for a number of Roman Empire related artifacts - coins, oil lamps, tear vials, and other such items. I made a similar trade with an archeologist for some Pre Columbian fragments, with an aviation artist for some wonderful WWI and WWII limited edition prints, etc. I have also traded with Civil War artifact collectors and even artists that I work with at the various Renaissance Festivals I participate in. As time passed and I had to move my "cache" from one area of our home, office, or warehouse, some of the pieces started getting separated from their descriptions and others began to get damaged. I decided that it was time to pull out a hundred or so of my absolute favorites and dispose of the remainder. In 1990 I started matting a few of the pieces and taking them with me to the Texas Renaissance Festival and Scarborough Faire - where we operate an exucational 15th century style print shop and type foundry. The pieces sold quite well. In the October 1993 edition of Quick Printing Magazine's "Helene's Hotline", Helene noted that I had "prints" relating to the history of printing for printers to use to decorate their shops. While most of my items are not actually prints in the way most people think of as prints, they certainly are appropriate to decorate a print shop. I started getting calls from printers all over the country and decided that it was time to put together a list. This is my first list, and the items on this list are in no particular order of significance. They are simply the first 100 or so items I pulled out of the storage area. We cut mats for the items, wrote up descriptive cards, and placed them on this list. We are continuing to mat new items, and as we get them matted I will be adding to this list - probably every month or two. Each new list will contain the items remaining from the previous list, as well as any new items. If you are interested in continuing to receive this list, let me know and I will put you on my mailing list. As far as the pricing goes, you can use this rule of thumb... On items that are in the $10 - $15 range, the piece itself probably has little true value, but rather is a nice piece to display. The bulk of that price is the cost of mounting and matting the piece. The higher priced items are priced according to what I paid for the piece originally, a perceived value, or auction prices for similar items that I have seen. A couple of areas where my prices are extremely low will be in the 18th century American Colonial and early years of the Union pieces and 19th century wood engravings. These pieces are priced rediculously high everywhere I see them displayed or advertised. As an example, in Dallas recently I saw a collection of 19th century wood engravings from Harper's Weekly priced at between $150 and $450. One, priced at $250, was the same as #196 on this list - and it wasn't in as good a condition as was mine. American Colonial pieces such as the general store ledgers I have in this list (such as #125), I have seen in the $150 - $200 price range. Many years ago I purchased 2 bound ledger books - in very bad condition and missing a number of sheets, but still containing the transactions of over 500 accounts. Let's see, 500 X $150 = $75,000. Anyone want to make an offer? I will settle for a far more reasonable price on the individual pieces. Finally there are items such as the fragment from the Red Barron's Fokker Tri-Wing (WWII). There is no way to determine a price on something like this because it is almost unique. That sort of thing is priced as perceived value - probably a bargain to some collectors, but what that piece is worth to me. You will find some interesting pieces in this and future lists, and hopefully some of them will hit your hot button.