Rare Book Monthly
Despite a Few Clouds Over Title,<br>Texas Auction a Huge Success
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The highest price went for a copy of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Patterned after the United States Declaration of Independence, Sotheby’s reports that this is one of only three copies remaining in private hands. This document went for $764,000, sold to a telephone bidder who chose to remain anonymous. Runner up was a first edition of Stephen Austin’s account of the first Anglo-American settlement in Texas. This was apparently the first copy of this book to go on the market since 1898, and the bidding soared past all expectations. With an estimate of $25,000 - $35,000, the bidding did not stop until it closed at $153,000. A letter from Austin as Commander of the Texas Militia ordering his forces to take the Alamo rose even more, from an estimate of $4,000 - $6,000 to a close of $78,000, while a letter from Austin to a cousin estimated at $10,000 - $15,000 sold for $54,000. In what could certainly be described as an understatement, Ms. Gioia called this “a very successful sale.”
