Rare 1790 Census Up For Auction

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Sep 24th 2010 at 3:01PM

This year's census was a massive undertaking but things were a little simpler at the time of the first census back in 1790. A rare copy of the 1790 census conducted under the direction of Thomas Jefferson will highlight the bi-coastal Bonhams Fine Books and Manuscripts Auction on October 4. Simulcast to New York, the Los Angeles based sale is comprised of fine and rare first-edition books, maps, manuscripts, and ephemera.

The census being sold is one of the rare copies signed by Jefferson on the final page. It has been handed down through the family of Gideon Granger, Postmaster General during Jefferson's administration, and is believed to be his copy. It is annotated with all sorts of calculations. This rare piece of American history is estimated to sell for $80,000 to $120,000.

The sale also includes historical photographs and maps and atlases including John Melish's Map of the United States with the Contiguous British and Spanish Possessions (1816) which is estimated at $50,000 to $70,000. Other items include a signed 1922, first edition, first printing of F. Scott Fitzgerald's second novel, The Beautiful and Damned; an original 4-panel daily strip of Charles Schulz's Peanuts and a single page printed and typed report detailing a blood test taken from Mohandas Gandhi ten days before his assassination, indicating that, although he is generally healthy, his white blood cell count is high. A New York preview is scheduled for September 23-25 and the Los Angeles preview will be held October 1-3.

Tags: bonhams, census, documents, historic, historic documents, historical, history, thomas jefferson

Filed under: Auctions

Subscribe to these comments

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

lpscoon Sep 29th 2010 10:02PM

To anyone who may be interested:

I attended the auction, and in fact had an object of great value in the auction. Mr. Ettinger's remark regarding high reserves on the objects had nothing to do with the lack of sales. His lack of promotion, and also his extreme need to hold on to every cent, prevented the auction from being successful. The room where it was held was very small, and at that only about one third of the chairs were filled. It was a pitiful evening. If not for billionaire Stewart Rahr, the auction would have been a total bust!!! 75 percent of the items were not sold, and did not even receive a single bid. It had nothing to do with the reserves. Sadly, many people trusted this man. In the end it was not Arlan who lost out, but the people who trusted him with their objects, for in the end he made the people pay him 9 percent of whatever reserve was placed on their item before he would release it to them. Thankfully we did not agree to this, but most we spoke to had, including a man with cancer who was there to sell his Remington so that he could continue on with treatments.......he left with his item, and a considerable amount less cash. Oh so sad.