• 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
  • 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.
  • Koller Auctions
    Books & Autographs
    20 March 2024
    Koller, Mar. 20: DADA - Der Zeltweg. Redaktion: Flake, Serner, Tzara. Zürich, 1919. CHF 5,000 – 8,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: Jespers, Floris - Peeters, Jan. Kinderlust. Antwerpen, J. F. Bogaerts & R. R. Dodson, [1923]. CHF 2,000 – 3,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: FARBENLEHRE - Chevreul, M. E. De la Loi du contraste simultané des couleurs et de l'assortiment des objets colorés. Paris, 1839. CHF 4,000 – 5,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: BOTANIK - Schrank, Franz de Paula von. Flora Monacensis, seu plantae sponte circa Monachium nascentes. München, 1811-1818. CHF 20,000 – 30,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: French Bible manuscript. Latin manuscript on parchment. With 81 illuminated, ornamental and figurative initials. Paris, c. 1250. CHF 90,000 – 120,000
    Koller Auctions
    Books & Autographs
    20 March 2024
    Koller, Mar. 20: Gradual for the use of a Dominican convent. Latin manuscript on parchment, with Flemish rubrics in black and red. Mecheln (?), c. 1520. CHF 25,000 – 40,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: Calendar. French manuscript on parchment. With 12 large colored thorn leaf initials on a gold background. Paris, c. 1380/1390. CHF 40,000 – 60,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: Freud, Sigmund. Collection of 23 handwritten letters to Alphonse Maeder in Zurich. In addition to 4 letter drafts from Maeder to Freud. 2 February 1910 - 21 September 1913. CHF 50,000 – 80,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: Jung, Carl Gustav. Collection of 26 autograph and 3 typescript letters and a postcard to Alphonse Maeder. 1911-1918. CHF 20,000 – 30,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: Nietzsche, Friedrich, philosopher. Handwritten letter signed to Richard Wagner. Basel, September 27, 1876. CHF 20,000 to 30,000
  • 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

Rare Book Monthly

Articles - July - 2017 Issue

Eric Caren: Satisfied Seller at Christie's

I am not known to mince words.  I give 100 percent and I expect 100 percent back.  On June 15th in New York, some of my best material came up for sale at Christie’s and my expectations were exceeded in every way. The realized prices were fabulous (all in, approximately $1.3 million for my one hundred lots) and the single owner special catalog they issued for my 100 plus lots was splendid.  I worked hand in hand with Christina Geiger (for the third time) and Peter Klarnet on the catalogue and they were supervised and assisted by Sven Becker who is the proverbial gentleman and scholar. The descriptions were concise yet informative and appealing. The previews were professional; and the videos, both in house and on Instagram, were handled beautifully by Christie's Social Media Dept. My decision to let Peter Klarnet narrate the videos was rewarded in spades and I later teased him that he should get an Oscar. His voice was sharp and his observations sharper still.  [I believe they can still be viewed on Instagram by doing a @christiesinc search for them.]

 

The auctioneer was as good as the one Dennis Holzman and I employed (Dale Stulz) when we started HCA back in the 1990's to replace Brian Riba Auctions. I was a friend to both Brian and his former partner Bill Mobley (one of the founders of The Ephemera Society).  I think that Dale had done auctions for either Christie's, Sotheby's or both.  Whichever, wherever he was good but not better than the auctioneer who called this sale.

 

For the event I was offered a skybox view but I had more buying to do while in New York City and afterwards in Massachusetts. For those who know me, this will not be a shock. In just the week following the sale, I added a Henry VIII tract condemning to death one of his wives and also containing the first English language law on Witchcraft, a run of London newspapers printed in 1693 and containing the Salem Witchcraft trials.  And there is more - a splendid and famous Einstein letter to a soldier about his reasons for being an atheist, an unrecorded variant American Bunker Hill broadside, an illustrated 1620's European Americana broadside and a letter group including one from Ft. Defiance and another from Libby Prison (with the guy's GAR kepi)! Obviously, my passion for this wonderful "Lifestyle" has not diminished since I started a half century ago (ouch that hurt to say) when I was 7.

 

One very special moment of the sale touched me deeply. I heard the auctioneer refer to someone in the room as "young man" and knew he would only do that if he was talking to a young man and he was...13! Apparently, this young man was there bidding with his young friend (rumors are that he/they won a lot or two). I was so moved, that I subsequently gifted 2 original 17th century items through Christie's to them with the hopes that they too will continue until they are old enough to do the same for their next generation.

 

I was equally moved by a preview brunch attended by fellow members of The Grolier Club, etc. Unfortunately, I was not present. But then I had a special visit from two of the great wordsmiths of our time; both friends of mine. Sir Harold Evans and Will Shortz met me at Christie's and I gave them a private tour of my sale. They have a lot in common. Sir Harry was a table tennis champ back in the 1940's and Will has one of the largest private table tennis clubs in the nation in Westchester, NY where I have had the "pleasure" of being trounced by Will. I really appreciated their support and we had some laughs together. Will got his original first ever Crossword puzzle printed (1913) decades ago from me.

 

I have never lost my childhood sense of wonder and I am grateful that Christie's made every moment of the experience memorable. I dedicated my catalog to Chris Coover, for over 35 years a Christie’s specialist, and I dedicate this article to Christie's and their fine staff. Christie’s auctioned my first "big sale" when I was 15: a 19th century Italian painting for which I paid $100, then returning my investment 10 times over.

 

There are lessons from this and indeed every sale. Many of them I have known for a long time. Many of you will know them too, but I hope that these lessons will be helpful to others.

 

Lesson #1- You never know at an auction which item(s) may take off (Star Spangled Banner lots, Jack the Ripper Handbill and Laus Deo Banner Headline on Cornwallis' Surrender)

 

Lesson #2- There are bargains to be had at every auction, even and perhaps, especially, at the highest level. The illustrated broadside on the Death of Holy Roman Emperor Maximillian 1519, the King Philip's Indian War manuscript, the Edison Lab drawing of the Light Bulb and the Zenger newspaper from prison, to my way of thinking, fall into this category.

 

Lesson #3- Buy what you love! When I started with rare newspapers they hardly ever made it into any auctions much less Christie's. Now many sell for 6 figures and many more 5 figures and I believe they still have a long way to go!

 

Lesson #4- All that is Gold does not Glitter! My material tends to be rather dull aesthetically but boy do they shine brightly when you read them and consider their historical significance!

 

Lesson #5- Stick with people who treat you well! Christie's treated me well 40 years ago and again last month.

 

Lesson #6- Historical paper is still unappreciated when compared to Contemporary Art, Coins, Watches, etc. So the savvy buyers should take notice...

 

...And I hope that they will also take notice on September 8th when Cowan’s holds my 7th "How History Unfolds on Paper" auction. Wes got into the auction business at the same time that Dennis Holzman and I did and for the same reasons. He is legendary now and recently said to me "Eric, Just imagine if you and I had teamed up!" I replied, "Wes you didn't need me at all!" From Historical Paper, he spread into many departments and has become famous on "Antiques Roadshow" and "History Detectives."

 

To sum this experience up I’ll simply say:  I’ve been fortunate and am grateful for this complex field.

 

Eric Caren

The Caren Archive

Rare Book Monthly

  • 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.

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