Bonhams' Voices of the 20th Century, A Fascinating View
- by Thomas C. McKinney
Featuring 159 lots, Bonhams New York’s sale of Voices of the 20th Century paints an interesting and compelling picture of an era that saw massive change worldwide. With a scope as wide as the 20th century, there is a large scale of material that warrants an inspection of the catalogue directly. Politics, war, art, and literature are for sale, as well as autographs related to all of those topics. The sale will take place on June 16th.
Here are a variety of highlights from the sale:
Lot 5. An important transcription of the day-by-day testimony given by Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann during his trial for crimes against the Jewish people in Jerusalem,[1961]. This is an extremely rare record of Eichmann’s testimony printed for the press at the time of the trial. Estimated $8,000 – 12,000.
Lot 6. Photograph Signed ("Dwight D Eisenhower" and "Douglas MacArthur") of Eisenhower and MacArthur travelling together in a car in Tokyo, 1946. Estimated $12,000 – 18,000.
Lots 9 and 10. Photograph and portrait signed of Mohandas K. Gandhi. Both estimated $3,000 – 5,000.
Lot 17. Autograph Letter Initialed (“MLK”) by Martin Luther King, Jr., written from Albany Jail to a close female friend. Estimated $25,000 – 35,000.
Lot 21. Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung, 1966. Signed. An estimated five billion copies were printed, but only a handful signed. Estimated $20,000 – 30,000.
Lot 27. Autograph Letter Signed (“Lee H. Oswald”) by Lee Harvey Oswald, written months before the JFK assassination. Estimated $50,000 – 70,000.
Lots 84 through 86. A series of autograph material by Frank Lloyd Wright.
Lot 99. A signed and inscribed presentation copy of the first edition, first state of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Estimated $80,000 – 100,000.
Lot 144. Autograph Musical Manuscript Signed (“Thelonious M”), “Monk’s Mood” by Thelonious Sphere Monk. Estimated $6,000 – 8,000.
Lot 151. A collection of scripts, correspondence, and other manuscript material relating to the TV sitcom Seinfeld. Estimated $5,000 – 7,000.
As you can see, many happenings and figures from the 20th century are covered in Voices of the 20th Century. If you are a collector focusing on this period, you will undoubtedly find something of interest, whatever your focus may be.
The sale will take place on June 16th, beginning at 1 p.m. EDT. Registration for the bidding on Bonhams.com can be done here.
Sotheby’s, July 14: Henry De La Beche. "Awful Changes," 1830. $6,000 to $9,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: [Apollo 11]. Flight Plan, Complete Original Printing Signed by Buzz Aldrin. $5,000 to $8,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: Thomas Alva Edison. Documents Establishing and Ending the Edison Electric Railway Company. $20,000 to $30,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: Richard P. Feynman. Feynman's Lectures on Gravitation 1-16, Including the Original Transcriptions of Lectures 12-16 by Morinigo and Wagner, With Richard Feynman's Manuscript Notations, 1971. $12,000 to $18,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: [Apollo 9]. A Group of Manuals and Mission Documents used by Stuart Roosa as a member of the Astronaut Support Crew. $5,000 to $8,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: [BYTE: The Small Systems Journal]. A collection of early foundational issues of Byte: The Small Systems Journal, with rare hardcover editions. $5,000 to $8,000.
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Inundation papyrus. P.Michael 4, the ‘Inundation papyrus’, a geographical account of the Nile near Canopus, in Greek, remains of two columns from a manuscript scroll on papyrus, Egypt, second century CE. £12,000-18,000
Forum, July 16: Book of Hours, use of Sarum, manuscript on vellum, 6 full-page miniatures, with famous Middle English inscriptions, Southern Netherlands for the English market, [c.1430]. £30,000-50,000
Forum, July 16: Qu'ran, Arabic manuscript on burnished, stencilled, and gold-flecked paper, 447ff., Sultanate Gujarat, Ahmadabad, [after 1411 but no later than 1442]. £15,000-20,000
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Turner (William). A New boke of the natures and properties of all wines that are commonly vsed here in England, rare first edition of the first English book on wine, By William Seres, 1568. £20,000-£30,000
Forum, July 16: Spenser (Edmund). The Faerie Queene. first edition, Printed [by John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, 1590. £30,000-40,000
Forum, July 16: Shakespeare (William). The Comedie of Errors, extracted from the first folio, Isaac Jaggard and Edward Blount, 1623. £15,000-20,000
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Fleming (Ian). Casino Royale, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1953. £40,000-60,000
Forum, July 16: d'Agoty (Jacques-Fabien Gautier). Anatomie de la Tête, first edition, Paris, chez le Sieur Gautier, 1748. £10,000-15,000
Forum, July 16: Martial Arts.- Lee (Bruce). 'Praying Mantis style' Kung Fu book, containing numerous annotations, diagrams and graphs in Bruce Lee's hand, c. 1960. £50,000-70,000
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Warre (Capt. Henry James). Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory, first edition, rare hand-coloured issue, 1848. £30,000-40,000
Forum, July 16: Norie (John William). The Marine Atlas, or Seaman's Complete Pilot for all the principal places in the known world..., 1826. £30,000-50,000
Forum, July 16: Mao Tse-tung.- Kim Il-sung.-[Note book for visitors from China to Korea], signed by Mao and Kim, [Beijing, 1954]. £10,000-15,000
