Hol dit !!

Yesterday I went to a fabulous antique book & document sale at Lebanon. Mr. A.L. Hanford (of Ladd Hanford, auto dealer) had amassed quite a collection in his lifetime. He passed away and now his collection was being disbursed. (What does that tell you about life?)

Anyway, after looking at the catalog of items to be sold, I knew I wouldn't be able to afford much but I wanted to at least see it. I went early enough to look at the stuff before the sale started at noon and was there all afternoon. There were no bargains and I only bought one small item.

To give you an idea of the kind of things that were being sold, here is a 1695 Land Deed between William Penn and the Indians. It sold for $5,750.

This is a Quaker marriage certificate from 1750, signed by American botanist John Bartram and many others, which sold for $400.

I have never in my life seen so many sheepskin deeds and Patents from the 1700s in one place. There were many signed by John, Thomas, and Richard Penn, who were the sons of William Penn. There were also some signed by Conrad Weiser, James Logan, James Hamilton, and Ben Franklin which brought big bucks. Others without the signatures of famous people were sold in box lots.

Many old and rare books were also sold. This is the family record of David and Mary (Overholser) Weaver on the back page of a 1776 Bible printed in Germantown by Christoph Sauer. Selling price--$2800.

Also sold was a Martyrs Mirror printed at the Ephrata Cloister in 1748 which contained the manuscript genealogy of John Rudolph. It sold for $2400. Other big ticket prices were a 1739 Christoph Saur Zionitischer Weyrauchs Hugel (songbook) for $2600, 1871 German song book with color fraktur bookplate signed by Barbara Ebersol for $850, book printed by Ben Franklin in 1744 for $6500, 1731 land document between James Logan and George Graff of Lancaster signed by Benjamin Franklin and James Logan for $5000, and a portfolio collection of the autographs (and other documents, engravings, deeds, portraits, & ephemera) of the Governors of Pennsylvania beginning with William Penn until 1970 for $2600.

Although I could not afford to buy these things, I could afford to admire and inhale the historical atmosphere. I hope the most valuable things wound up in the hands of museums which will preserve them so they are not scattered again and potentially lost. It was a fun day which I am not likely to repeat soon, if ever.