Jasper52’s August 28th online-only rare books auction boasts an eclectic selection of fascinating books, autographs, and documents, from the 16th to the 20th centuries. Among the many subject areas to entice collectors at all levels are: American history, nautical history, World War II, literature, popular science, transportation, animal husbandry, art, and early printed books and autographs from England and the Continent.

James Fenimore Cooper’s two-volume History of the Navy of the United States of America (1839) kicks off the sale (featured below). Cooper is best known today for The Deerslayer and The Last of the Mohicans, novels of rugged individualism on the early American frontier, but in his time he was also a noted historian. Inspired by his own experiences as a sailor and midshipman, he wrote the first full-scale history of the U.S. Navy, from the Colonial period through the War of 1812. This first edition in the publisher’s original cloth binding has an estimate of $300-$400. Lots 5 (The War-Ships and Navies of the World) and 6 (Steel’s Elements of Mastmaking, Sailmaking and Rigging) will also be of interest to nautical enthusiasts.

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