Nov 21 at 10:30 AM - Sale 2687 -
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Sale 2687 - Lot 171

Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900
(MAINE.) Herbert M. Sylvester. "Ye Romance of Casco Bay," extra-illustrated with the author's own original illustrations. 24 illustrated galley leaves and 18 ink and wash drawings (many signed and dated by author) mounted on 45 blank leaves, 10½ x 8 inches, bound with brads in two volumes; moderate edge wear and toning to leaves, cello tape repairs to final leaf; author's name and Boston address on last page of first volume. Boston, 1891-1892
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Casco Bay fills the long stretch of Maine coastline stretching north from Portland. Herbert M. Sylvester (1849-1923), a lawyer who spent much of his childhood and early adulthood in the Portland area, wrote and illustrated this lyrical meditation on the region after removing to Boston. It was first published over two issues of The New England Magazine, May and June 1892, pages [379]-390 and [501]-512.

Offered here are Sylvester's galleys for the magazine articles, with each page trimmed down and mounted to a sheet of paper. They bear a very few pencil corrections of typographical errors, which were corrected in the final publication. The leaves are interspersed with Sylvester's own original ink and wash illustrations, some of which were also engraved for the magazine publication, some reproduced photographically, and others which were apparently unpublished.

For example, the building in Sylvester's title vignette was closely copied for publication, although the stylized lettering was reconfigured. However, his view of "The Old Salt Mill" (the largest of the original renderings here at 6½ x 9½ inches) was replaced in the magazine by a completely different view of the structure, "Ye Fickett House" was also replaced by a different view. His "Capisic Mill" and "Ye Westbrook House" are not illustrated at all, nor is another sketch captioned in pencil "The outhouse where the tragedy occurred."

Sylvester published an expanded version of this essay under the same title in 1904, kicking off his "Romance of the Maine Coast" series. It used a different batch of illustrations.

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