Encore

 Items just received at Presstime

28-1. Prelude to America’s Very First Automobile Race.

Printed card, “[Chicago] Times-Herald Motocycle Contest / Admit Bearer to Preliminary Tests  / Washington Park Race Track / Oct. 29th, 30th and 31st, 1895 / ‘Paddock’ - Board of Judges.”  Navy blue on palest blue bristol, 2¼ x 37/8. An inspection and mechanical qualification event  preceding America’s first automobile race, held the following month. “...The contest required  vehicles to have at least three wheels and be able to carry at least two people, one of whom was  to be an umpire selected by the judges to ride with the driver during the race. Entrants also  had to run their vehicles through a preliminary test. The cars were placed on a machine built  by the Chicago City Railway Company that simulated road conditions. Officials measured and  noted various aspects of the automobiles’ performances (fuel consumption, load capacity,  tractability, etc.), and compared these findings against the horse and wagon.”--Henry Ford  Museum. The ensuing Thanksgiving Day race won by a Duryea Motor Wagon, at an average  speed of about 7 m.p.h., the event spurred the formal start of a much faster race – America’s  pursuit of the horseless carriage, quickly changing the social and economic landscape of the  country. (Claims by Charles Duryea on his contributions to the winning car led to a lifetime of  disputes with his brother J. Frank.) On Nov. 29, the day after the race, the sponsoring  newspaper opined in an article, “The Future of the Motocycle”: “Persons who are inclined...to  decry the development of the horseless carriage...will be forced...to recognize it as an admitted  mechanical achievement, highly adapted to some of the most urgent needs of our civilization.”  Very light waterstain on right quarter, two soft corner bends and one central crease, very  minor tip wear, else about fine. Certainly the earliest obtainable artifact of an American auto  race. $600-800

28-2. America’s First International Auto Road Race.

Superlatively rare souvenir of this immensely historic landmark in motoring history: Original  silk armband, imprinted “Briarcliff Trophy Race / April 24, 1908 / Judge at Turns, Controls  and Camps.” Black on gold. 3¼ x 17¼. Red and white circular paper label affixed to verso,  “Whitehead and Hoag Co. - New York Office - 253 Broadway.” Notwithstanding the charming  language, the Briarcliff event was a behemoth, in scale and in importance: Over 300,000  people watched the race, the first of its kind. “By 1908, auto races held worldwide, including  the Vanderbilt Cup on Long Island heightened the auto fever. Most of the races were  completed on tracks specially built for the many foreign and domestic automobiles being  developed by fledgling manufacturers. The Briarcliff Trophy Stock Car Race was the first of its  kind in this country to be run on average town and country roads, thereby testing what kind of  performance the automobile owner could expect from his own vehicle in everyday driving.  While the winner came away with a Trophy, contributed by Walter W. Law, a wealthy  Briarcliff businessman, the real prize was the lead in automobile sales that such a race could  promote. When we think of early auto makers, the name Ford comes to mind, but there was  not a single Ford in the race. Henry was busy manufacturing cheap cars that the average man  could own...”--Westchester County: The Past Hundred Years, 1883-1983. Headlines from The  New York Times on the Sunday before race day proclaimed, “Briarcliff Race...Concentrates the  Interest of Automobilists - Twenty-Two Cars to go for Cup - Course Abounds in Difficulties  Which Promise Many Mishaps to Drivers...Slow Time Sure to be Made in View of the Great  Danger of the Many Curves - Skill Will Win Trophy.” Drivers included Ralph Mulford (driving  the exotic Maja), Montague Roberts (Thomas), Barney Oldfield (Stearns), George Robertson  (Panhard), et al, driving Bianchi, Fiat, Apperson, Lozier, Renault, Hol-Tan, Allen-Kingston, Benz, and Simplex – all formidable, high-  grade cars. An Isotta, guarded day and night in the lead up to the race, took the Cup, driven by New Yorker Louis Strang. Cars flew as  fast as 75 m.p.h. This armband may have had a lively history: The first train to leave Grand Central Station took three hours for the  one-hour journey to Briarcliff, delaying all trains following. The Times recounted, “The first group of spectators arrived just before the  appointed start of the race, causing havoc in the street near the Grand Stand and delaying the start until after 5:00 A.M. A hurry call  was sent out for marshals, and 200 of the citizen soldiery, armed with canes and official insignia, answered the call. The clearing of the  crowd was begun in no light-handed manner, and several brawls ensued...At least 1,000 National Guardsmen at ten makeshift  headquarters were used to patrol the course and several hundred paid policemen were hired to insure there were no fatalities, such as  occurred at the Vanderbilt Race....” Several discrete pinholes at blank right portion, light vertical creases where folded to fit a pocket,  else bright, clean, and excellent. Relics of such pioneer American races are rare; this item is excessively so. $550-750 

28-3. A Manor in the Reign of William and Mary.

Manuscript on vellum, in Latin, Oct. 3, 1698. In an attractive hand, on ruled lines. 9¾ x 12¼. Transfer of a lease issued by Lady Susan  Effingham, widow of Robert, presiding over a manorial court. To Charles Shawe, for land in Wymondham, Norfolk, previously rented  to Elizabeth Paston. Elizabeth was perhaps a descendant of the Paston family of Norfolk, who acquired much land from the real-life  namesake of Shakespeare’s character Falstaff. Famous for their 15th century correspondence, the Paston Letters serve as one of the  principal sources for social history of the Wars of the Roses period, and are notably mentioned in Encyclopædia Britannica’s chapter on  the English Language: “In Old and Middle English the spelling remained a fairly reliable source for obtaining knowledge of the  pronounciation, but the development of a fixed spelling early in the modern period meant that this was no longer the case, and other  types of evidence have to be used. The most important of these are: (1) the spellings in private writings which are not bound by  conventions, e.g., the Paston Letters...”--1958 ed., Vol. 8, p. 562. The Pastons also appear in Magna Carta Ancestry... (Everingham and  Richardson, eds., 2011), The Paston Women (West, 2004), The Changing Face of Arthurian Romance (Adams, 1986), and numerous  other works. (Interestingly, Prince Harry and family are rumored to be relocating to this charming area.) Several light smudges, one  small hole in a crease with no loss of text, some toning, else very good. $130-170 

28-4. Graduation – 1763.

Charming manuscript “diploma,” on particularly supple vellum, in Latin. France, Apr. 21, 1763, from reign of Louis XV (and Mme. de  Pompadour). 5½ x 13¼ oblong, ornate crest stencilled in charcoal-black, “Gem - de / Toulouze / Douzes.” A certificate of completion  of university studies of Jacobus Thomas Sarrus, attesting to his proficiency in philosophy and his exacting scholarship. Signed by  Rector and another, with two signa; original blue grosgrain silk tie over loosely folded vellum lip at bottom, partially covering  signatures. Docketing on verso, with additional signature. The university at Toulouse was founded in 1229. A city of immense  historicity and antiquity, it was the 5th century capital of the Visigoths, and later center of a major feudal dynasty. Some tiny holes  along folds, darkening on verso, else fresh, fine, and charming for display. One of the earliest graduation documents we have handled.  $90-120