In Manhattan's Parke-Bernet Galleries one night last week, the auction room was jampacked with bibliophiles and rare-book dealers. On the block was a great rarity, the finest of eleven known copies of the famed Bay Psalm Book, first book published in the Anglo-American colonies (Cambridge, 1640). It had been bought for $1,200 by the late Cornelius Vanderbilt and was being sold by the estate of his daughter, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney.
The bidding started at $30,000, and went up fast. By the time it reached $91,000 only two were bidding. One was the owner's...
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