Newman Portal Search: Earle Collection

This week a Newman Portal searched for the George H. Earle auction sale catalog prepared by Henry Chapman in 1912. The Chapman brothers Henry and Samuel set up shop in Philadelphia in 1879, and, for reasons unknown, parted ways 27 years later. From there both continued to successfully market a number of important properties, into the 1930s. The Earle sale catalog on Newman Portal, from the Hamelberg collection (ex. Bass), is an extraordinary copy. For starters, the catalog is plated, priced and named – and these three features alone place it in the top rung of early American auction sale catalogs. It only gets better from there. This copy is Henry Chapman’s bid book, used by the firm as a permanent record of the sale.  Not all bid books were plated, and this example is exceptional as such. The number of photographic plates, 39, further indicates Chapman’s dedication in documenting the Earle cabinet. Finally, the copy concludes with delightful ephemera – news clippings, sale addenda, and a photograph of the sale itself. What did an auction sale look like in the early 20th century? This photograph tells far more than a thousand words. One of the many spectacular items in the Hamelberg library, It is hard to image a more desirable copy among the Henry Chapman series.Link to George H. Earle catalog on Newman Portal: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=20&AuctionId=511094