Printed and Manuscript Americana at Christies on May 19th

About it Christies mentions as follows: Exceedingly rare: according to American Book Prices Current, no copy has sold at auction since the copy sold at the Streeter sale in 1967. Muller priced the copy discovered by Asher at the enormous sum of $250 in 1850. Henry C. Murphy, who made a new translation for James Lenox [published in 1854], sold his copy at auction in 1884 for $100. Alden & Landis 649/32 [10 copies]; Asher 334, Bell B485, JCB [3] II:382; Sabin 26272; Stoke Iconography VI:259; Streeter Sale II:856; Vail Frontier 112 [12 copies].

Our own records show eleven copies and references in the AED. The search terms in the advanced search are:

Keyword: Breeden-Raedt aende
Date Range: 1649 to 1649
11 Records

The estimate is $70,000 to $100,000.

Our calculations of current valuation for rare and collectible material measure the entire market. This type of exceptional rarity is difficult to access because it is early, rare and related to New York, the book collecting capital of America. Its performance will provide a measure of the market.

By category the 204 lots divide into the following categories:

Letters, manuscripts, signed documents and signatures: 59

Books and pamphlets: 80

Broadsides: 24

Maps and ephemera: 41

The material is eclectic and intense. A few examples:

Lot 39. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis: An archive of 22 letters signed Jackie and one printed telegram, all to R. Beverley Corbin, written during the 1945-1951 period. Christies describes them as “Love letters from a feisty, teenage Jackie Bouvier to her Harvard boyfriend." Estimated $25,000 to $35,000

Important contemporary history and famous people do very well.