Rare Book Monthly

Articles - March - 2015 Issue

A busy month for Dreweatts & Bloomsbury with 6 relevant sales

Bloomsbury has six sales in March that will be archived into the Rare Book Transaction History

Bloomsbury has six sales in March that will be archived into the Rare Book Transaction History

As winter gives way to spring, and the pace picks up for things in the northern hemisphere, so too does the auction game for works on paper. For Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions, no less than eighteen auctions are scheduled for the month of March. Of these, six are potentially relevant to you, readers of the Rare Book Monthly, and they include over 1800 lots all told.

For collectors of photography, March 5th and 6th see two separate sales on the docket. 19th and 20th Century Photographs from a Private Collection is the first auction and contains 213 lots. Photographs by William Henry Fox Talbot, Julia Margaret Cameron, Alfred Stieglitz, and Ansel Adams are only a small sample of the names available. The following day, March 6th, Photo Opportunities takes place with 245 lots for sale, 207 of which are contemporary photographs, and the other thirty-eight being books. This sale is focused on the 20th century and has modest estimates.

On March 12th, The Bibliophile Sale takes place and is the first of two book sales. Featuring 483 lots with estimates topping out at £3,000-4,000, the auction contains a wide variety of price-accessible material for collectors such as an illustrated copy of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Bells signed by the artist Edmund Dulac. (lot 190, est. £3,000-4,000) or Arts et Métiers Graphiques, a graphic design book on book design and production (lot 115, est. £1,500-2,000). One week later on March 19th, Continental, English & Middle Eastern Books and Manuscripts brings 169 lots to market featuring high profile items like lot 115, a first edition in English of the first complete translation of Euclid’s The Elements of Geometrie (est. £20,000-30,000), or lot 80, a large illuminated Ottaman Qur’ran from 1776 (est. £12,000-18,000).

Immediately following Continental, English & Middle Estern Books and Manuscripts, a sale of Autographs, Memorabilia and Vintage Posters is scheduled for March 20th. With 292 lots, the autographed material shines with examples from Charles Dickens (lot 35, est. £3,000-5,000), Paul McCartney and George Harrison of the Beatles (lot 47, est. £2,000-3,000), and Houdini (lot 227, est. £2,000-4,000) among the highlights. 

Wrapping up the month for Dreweatts & Bloomsbury is their 445-lot sale Modern & Contemporary Prints on March 26th. A significant amount of famous and significant artists have their works included in the auction, including Lill Tschudi, Joan Miró, Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Marcel Dunchamps, David Hockney, and Banksy. This is a can’t miss sale for collectors of modern prints.

 

Details for all six sales are as follows:

19th and 20th Century Photographs from a Private Collection

2 p.m. GMT Thursday March 5, 2015

Link to Dreweatts & Bloomsbury catalog

Link to online bidding on Invaluable.com

Bloomsbury London

Bloomsbury House

24 Maddox Street

London

W1S 1PP

 

Photo Opportunities

2 p.m. GMT Friday March 6, 2015

Link to Dreweatts & Bloomsbury catalog

Link to online bidding on Invaluable.com

Bloomsbury London

Bloomsbury House

24 Maddox Street

London

W1S 1PP

 

The Bibliophile Sale

11 a.m. GMT Thursday March 12, 2015

Link to Dreweatts & Bloomsbury catalog

Link to online bidding on LiveAuctioneers

Bloomsbury Godalming

Baverstock House

93 High Street

Godalming

Surrey

GU7 1AL

 

Continental, English & Middle Eastern Books and Manuscripts

2 p.m. GMT Thursday March 19, 2015

Link to Dreweatts & Bloomsbury catalog

Link to online bidding on Invaluable.com

Bloomsbury London

Bloomsbury House

24 Maddox Street

London

W1S 1PP

 

Autographs, Memorabilia and Vintage Posters

10 a.m. Wednesday March 25, 2015

Link to Dreweatts & Bloomsbury catalog

Donnington Priory

Oxford Road

Donnington

Newbury

Berkshire

RG14 2JE

 

Modern & Contemporary Prints

10 a.m. Thursday March 26, 2015

Link to Dreweatts & Bloomsbury catalog

Bloomsbury London

Bloomsbury House

24 Maddox Street

London

W1S 1PP

Rare Book Monthly

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  • Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 9, 2025
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 156: Cornelis de Jode, Americae pars Borealis, double-page engraved map of North America, Antwerp, 1593.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 206: John and Alexander Walker, Map of the United States, London and Liverpool, 1827.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 223: Abraham Ortelius, Typus Orbis Terrarum, hand-colored double-page engraved world map, Antwerp, 1575.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 9, 2025
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 233: Aaron Arrowsmith, Chart of the World, oversize engraved map on 8 sheets, London, 1790 (circa 1800).
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 239: Fielding Lucas, A General Atlas, 81 engraved maps and diagrams, Baltimore, 1823.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 240: Anthony Finley, A New American Atlas, 15 maps engraved by james hamilton young on 14 double-page sheets, Philadelphia, 1826.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 9, 2025
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 263: John Bachmann, Panorama of the Seat of War, portfolio of 4 double-page chromolithographed panoramic maps, New York, 1861.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 265: Sebastian Münster, Cosmographei, Basel: Sebastian Henricpetri, 1558.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 271: Abraham Ortelius, Epitome Theatri Orteliani, Antwerp: Johann Baptist Vrients, 1601.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 9, 2025
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 283: Joris van Spilbergen, Speculum Orientalis Occidentalisque Indiae, Leiden: Nicolaus van Geelkercken for Jodocus Hondius, 1619.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 285: Levinus Hulsius, Achtzehender Theil der Newen Welt, 14 engraved folding maps, Frankfurt: Johann Frederick Weiss, 1623.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 341: John James Audubon, Carolina Parrot, Plate 26, London, 1827.
  • Sotheby’s
    Book Week
    December 9-17, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue, inscribed by the author pre-publication. £100,000 to £150,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Autograph sketchleaf including a probable draft for the E flat Piano Quartet, K.493, 1786. £150,000 to £200,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000.

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