What Was the Source of Two Rare Books?

At the recent New England Book Auctions (formerly the Oinonen Book Auction) at the Hotel Northampton - sale number 300 in its series of twice-a-month auction of catalogued rare and antiquarian books - two items caught my eye as I was examining the lots prior to the bidding.

One was a copy of the Boston Gazette and Country Journal from 1770 reporting on the “Boston Massacre” and which was illustrated by four engravings by Paul Revere. A second was Burt’s “Among the Clouds,” volume one, numbers 1 through 45 of a newspaper published in 1877 on the summit of Mount Washington, described as the only newspaper “published on a mountain top.”

The prices fetched by these items were not exorbitant in relationship to many of the volumes sold at this decidedly high-end auction; the Boston Gazette sold for $2,700 and the other volume sold for $900.

I noticed that both of these books contained a Forbes Library book plate which meant that at one time they had been in the Forbes collection, but one way or another wound up on the auction block.