• Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG BEADED JUDICIAL COLLAR. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A COMPLETE RUN OF VISIONAIRE MAGAZINE THROUGH 2010. $6,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: LAW REVIEW OFFPRINT SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: META REBNER'S WORKING SCRIPT OF THE LOVED ONE. $1,500 - $2,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A KATHY GROVE PORTRAIT OF CYNDI LAUPER FOR THE FEBRUARY 1989 DETAILS COVER. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A PLASTIC COAT BY MILLIE DAVID FEATURED IN SOHO NEWS STYLE SECTION, FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANNIE FLANDERS. $500 - $700
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG JEWELRY BOX. $600 - $900
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A SET OF JONI MITCHELL LYRICS FOR "IF I HAD A HEART." $2,000 - $3,000
  • 19th Century Shop
    Catalogue 198 just published
    19th Century Shop. Darwin and Wallace, first printing of the first paper on natural selection
    19th Century Shop. Shakespeare’s Poems, first collected edition
    19th Century Shop. Walt Whitman portrait inscribed with a Leaves of Grass poem
    19th Century Shop. Major Elizabeth Barrett Browning manuscript notebook
    19th Century Shop. Spock's Baby Book, original MS
    19th Century Shop. Cellarius, Harmonia Macrocosmica, the great celestial atlas
  • Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HARRISON, Benjamin. Document signed (“Benj Harrison”) as governor of Virginia, certifying the service of Daniel Cumbo, a Black Revolutionary soldier. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HIGHLY IMPORTANT MORMON ARCHIVE. ALLEY, George. Archive of 23 Autograph Letters Signed by Mormon Convert George Alley to His Brother Joseph Alley. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [AVIATION]. [ARMSTRONG, Neil A.] Aviation Hall of Fame Gold Medal MS64 NGC, Awarded to Neil Armstrong in 1979. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: NEWLY DISCOVERED FIRST PRINTING OF "WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE... " FROM THE ONLY NEWSPAPER ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL PROCESSION. $4,000 to $8,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: A VERY RARE ACCOUNT OF BLACKBEARD’S DEATH AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PIRATE ITEMS EXTANT. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [VIETNAM WAR]. The original pen used by Secretary of State William P. Rogers to sign the Vietnam Peace Agreement, Paris, 27 January 1973. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: SONS OF LIBERTY FOUNDER COLONEL BARRÉ ANNOTATED TITLE-PAGE, “WHICH OUGHT TO ROUSE UP BRITISH ATTENTION”. $4,000 to $6,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: [Shakespeare (William)]. [Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies], second folio edition, [by Tho.Cotes, for Robert Allot], [1632]. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Bible, Czech Biblia Bohemica, first complete Bible printed in the Czech vernacular, Prague, August 1488. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Shabthai Tzvi.- Collection of four printed and illustrated broadsides detailing the appearance, rise and fall of the false messiah, Shabthai Tzvi, Augsburg, 1666-67. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Leaf from the Beauvais Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [Northern France (perhaps Beauvais or Amiens)], [fourteenth century (c.1310)]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Aubrey (John). [Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme], manuscript in English, Latin and Greek, [c. 1693]. £30,000 to £50,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Poems on Various Occasions, first edition, Harriet Maltby's copy, Newark, Printed by S. & J. Ridge, 1807. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression with dust-jacket, 1937 [but 1938]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Blake (William).- Thornton (Robert John). The Pastorals of Virgil, 2 vol., engraved plates by William Blake, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: America.- Mount (William J.) & Thomas Page. The English Pilot…, [bound with] The Fourth Book, describing The West Indies Navigation from Hudson's-Bay to the River Amazones, 1721. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Oldfield (Henry Ambrose), Rajman Singh Chitrakar & others. An album of 160 photographs and 13 original artworks, (1833-1919), [c. 1850s-1880s]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.

Rare Book Monthly

Articles - January - 2013 Issue

AE Top 500 Auction Sales for 2012

Edward Curtis' North American Indian appears twice in the top 10. Courtesy Christie's.

10. ExpositionabrégéedusystèmedumondeselonlesprincipesdeMonsieurNewton... by Émilie Du Châtelet. The manuscript books of discussion and translation of Newton's Principia by Ms. Du Châtelet, of whom Voltaire wrote, she was “a great man whose only fault was being a woman.” $1,249,300.

 

9. TheNorthAmericanIndian. Edward Curtis' great photographic series on the American Indians published from 1907-1930. $1,440,000.

 

8. LiberInsularumArchipelagi, an illuminated manuscript by Cristoforo Buondelmonti, circa 1450. $1,762,500.

 

7. EmancipationProclamation, the “authorized edition,” one of 26 of 48 copies signed by President Lincoln known to survive. These copies were sold to raise funds for the soldiers. $2,127,500.

 

6. Mahzor, an illuminated manuscript Hebrew prayerbook, circa 1490. $2,395,530.

 

5. Archive of manuscript material consisting of thousands of pages from “the genius of modern Russian cinema,” Andrei Tarkovsky, from 1967-1986. $2,395,600.

 

4. Illuminated manuscript portolan atlas of the world on vellum by Battista Agnese, from 1542. $2,770,500.

 

3. TheNorthAmericanIndian.The second copy in the top 10 of Edward Curtis' massive work. $2,882,500.

 

2. TheBirdsofAmerica, the double-elephant folio first edition of John James Audubon's color-plate illustrated work. Audubon's BirdsofAmerica is still the most expensive printed book ever sold, though this copy did not reach the $11 million-plus one sold for in 2010. $7,992,500.

 

1. TheU.S.Constitution,BillofRights,andkeyactsofthefirstCongress. This was George Washington's personal copy of the founding documents of the American government. $9,826,500.

 

The total value of all 500 was $123,005,884.



Late Addition:  We apologize for missing a major item, one that would have qualified for #3 on this list. On December 5, in Sotheby's sale of Old Master and British Paintings, an illuminated manuscript, dated 1464, from the Duke of Devonshire’s collection at Chatsworth was sold for £3,849,250, or roughly $6,244,500 in U.S. dollars. 

 

The complete AE Top 500 can be found by clicking here.

 

Anoteonmethodology,AndyWarhol,andAppleComputer:

Compiling a list of works on paper is not quite as easy as it looks. What qualifies is sometimes obvious, other times not. Standard books and manuscripts are easy, but printed images can be particularly difficult. Prints and photographs, though “works on paper,” are often hard to categorize. We have attempted to draw the line between images that were meant to convey information (like books), vs. those that were meant to appeal as art. A print of a drawing depicting a historic event, or some far away place during the Age of Discovery, makes the cut. A print of a work of art does not. The same applies to photographs. Early photographs, in particular, before photography was thought of as an art, are most likely to appear. Sometimes, works of art appear in book form. Now what? If it is bound and includes at least a little text, it is included. A portfolio in a box is not so likely. A plate from Audubon, or a drawing by Arthur Rackham used to illustrate a book, make the cut. A print of a work by Picasso or Andy Warhol do not.

 

Speaking of Andy Warhol, no one better illustrates the need for these limitations than Mr. Warhol. If his prints were considered “works on paper,” he would overwhelm this list. Books would practically disappear. Four of Mr. Warhol's works would have appeared in the top 6, five in the top 10. An incredible 165 Warhol items sold at prices high enough to qualify for the Top 500. Obviously, rarity is not a requirement. Two copies of his “Piss Painting,” featuring pigment and urine, would have made the cut. Take that, Shakespeare. Shakespeare just beat out “Piss Paintings” on the list 3-2. Does this tell us something about our culture? It does explain why Warhol could not be included on this list.

 

And, we don't even track art auctions. These are from the books and prints category. There's no telling how much other Warholiana was sold. The Warhol material we track, which is overwhelmingly prints, not original art, took in $61 million. That's an average of $370,000 each. Those who came of age when Warhol was the trendsetter in art and culture are now in their peak earning years. Will he always be considered cutting edge, will his work stand the test of time like Leonardo or Rembrandt, or will he be considered by coming generations as yesterday's trendy fashion? If his appeal fades with his generation, there will be an enormous amount of the prolific Mr. Warhol's art out there that was purchased at astronomical prices seeking to find a new home.

 

Finally, we come to the hardest call for the list, the last item to make the cut. It may also be the most important. #56 on the list, with a sale price of $374,500, was an Apple I computer. It was made by Steve Wosniak, the technician, with help from his business partner, Steve Jobs. The year was 1976, and it was their first retail computer. It sold then for the devilish price of $666.66. Keyboard, monitor, and power supply were extra. Fewer than 50 are known to survive, just 6 in working order like this one. We can take the easy way out for justifying the inclusion of this item. It comes with the printed owner's manual. However, this early personal computer may have been the most dramatic development in the book world since Gutenberg invented the press over 500 years earlier. It opened the door to a new way of reading and writing – on a monitor, not paper. In time, it would lead to electronic books and “printed” reading accessed via the internet. It would lead to bookselling on listing sites, and library catalogues on a screen. The computer has turned the printed world upside down. For better or worse, the Apple belongs here.


Posted On: 2013-01-04 00:00
User Name: scientiabk

All 10 of your "other choices" on the list above are non-book items. So it is not just the buyers at auction who are tending more and more to


Rare Book Monthly

  • Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Alken (Henry). Sporting Notions, first edition, T.McLean, 1832-33. £800 to £1,200.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Bardi (Lorenzo). Nuova Raccolta delle piu interessanti Vedute della Citta di Firenze…, Florence, Lorenzo Bardi, [c.1840]. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Crawfurd (John). Journal of an Embassy from the Governor-General of India to the Court of Ava..., first edition, 1829. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Dawe (George, engraver). The Life of a Nobleman, first edition, Geo. Henderson, [c.1825]. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: [Doyle (John)], "H.B.". Political Sketches &c., 10 vol. including The Descriptive Key to H.B., Thomas McLean, [1829-51]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Eben (Adolphus Christian Frederick, Baron von) and Nicolaus Heideloff. Modèles de l'Uniforme Militaire Adopté dans l'Armée Royale de Suède, Rudolph Ackerman, 1808. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Geissler (J.G.G.) and Friedrich Hempel. Mahlerische Darstellungen der Sitten, Gebrauche und Lustbarkeiten bey den Russischen, Tartarischen…, 4 parts in 1, Leipzig and Paris, [1804]. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Hunt (Charles). Portraits of Winning Horses...of the Derby, Oaks, & St. Leger, from the Year 1842 to 1849…, Rock Brothers & Payne, 1849. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Kunike (Adolf Friedrich). Zwey hundert und sechzig Donau-Ansichten nach dem Laufe des Donaustromes…, Vienna, Leopold Grund, 1826. £3,000 to £5,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Lasinio (Carlo). [Matrimony], Florence, 1790. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Reinhardt (Joseph). A Collection of Swiss Costumes, in Miniature, second English edition, James Goodwin, [1828]. £800 to £1,200.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Wengen (Gottfried Durst von). Die Öffentliche Maskerade Bamberg am Fastnachts-Montage 1833…, Bamberg, [1833]. £2,000 to £3,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD

Article Search

Archived Articles

Ask Questions