Feb. 4: Swann Galleries brings the Federalist Papers and more to sale
- by Thomas C. McKinney
Highlight items from Swann Galleries' sale of Printed & Manuscript Americana
February 4th is a date Americana collectors want to have circled on their calendars. Featuring a particularly strong array of revolutionary era and religious material, Swann Auction Galleries’ sale of Printed & Manuscript Americana promises not to disappoint with 324 lots offered. With a wide range of prices and Americana-related focuses, the sale carries broad appeal. Let’s take a look at some of the lots available.
The headline item for the sale has no competition. The Federalist papers needs little to no introduction. With 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, this pivotal item played no small role in securing the passage of the U.S. Constitution. Three copies appeared at auction last year, with condition a significant factor: prices ranged from approximately $50,000 to over $300,000. This copy is described as having minimal wear and is estimated $90,000 – 120,000 as lot 126.
The item with the second highest estimates of the sale is far more obscure. Many people save those with a collecting focus on Mormonism may never have heard of the Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. An early Latter Day Saint monthly newspaper (the second of its kind), a run of this periodical is extremely rare—Swann notes that only three other runs have come to auction in the last sixty years. The Messenger and Advocate was short-lived, being printed from October 1834 to September 1837, and this run is volumes I and II (of III), bound in one. It is estimated $50,000 – 75,000 and can be found at lot 188.
In November 2013, a landmark item was sold at auction at Sotheby’s. With a final hammer price of $14.2 million, the Bay Psalm, the first book printed in English in North America, set the record for highest price ever for a printed book. In Swann’s Printed & Manuscript Americana, a copy of the Bay Psalm is also available. No, this is not a first edition. However, this is still a special item, as it is a previously unknown 7th edition printed in Boston in 1693. No other copies have been traced. Interestingly enough, the original owner of the book, Jonathan Corwin, was a judge at the Salem Witch Trials. This edition is estimated $30,000 – 40,000 under lot 84.
Returning to revolutionary times, two copies of a work by Thomas Jefferson are being sold. Notes on the State of Virginia is available in both English, and French, as Observations sur la Virginie. This work was born out of a questionnaire circulated to America’s governors in 1781 by Francois Barbé-Marbois, a French diplomat stationed in Philadelphia, and contain the expanded answers from Jefferson who had recently completed his term as governor of Virginia. Both copies include a folding map of Virginia and surrounding states. The version in French is considered the first published edition and was printed in 1786. It is available as lot 155 and estimated $30,000 – 40,000. The English edition was printed the following year, and follows as the next item in the sale, lot 156, carrying an estimate of $25,000 – 35,000.
Even with the heavyweight items we’ve already gone through, there’s still an item that may prove to be the most iconic of the sale. Lot 171 is America’s most famous reward poster, that of the murderer of Abraham Lincoln. Entitled $100,000 Reward! The Murderer of our Late Beloved President, Abraham Lincoln, is Still at Large, this is a second issue of the second printing, coming days after the assassination. Estimated $20,000 – 30,000, this piece of history will make a fine visual centerpiece in many Americana collections.
With 324 total lots, Printed & Manuscript Americana is worth your time perusing. The catalogue is available online here. The sale goes live at 1:30 Eastern on February 4th, with a multitude of bidding methods available: in person, phone, fax email, and Swann’s website. Live online bidding is available via Invaluable.
Sotheby’s Shelf Life: Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper from the Library of Stanley J. Seeger and Christopher Cone 25 June – July 7
Sotheby’s, July 7: Ludwig van Beethoven. Autograph sketches for the overture "Die Weihe des Hauses", op.124, [1822], UNPUBLISHED. £150,000 to £200,000.
Sotheby’s, July 7: Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice, 1813, first edition, 3 volumes, contemporary half calf. £50,000 to £70,000.
Sotheby’s, July 7: Walt Whitman. Leaves of Grass, Brooklyn, 1855, first edition, first issue, original green cloth, the Doheny copy. £50,000 to £70,000.
Sotheby’s, July 7: Binding—Sangorski & Sutcliffe—Omar Khayyam. Rubaiyat, London, 1872, third edition, in a magnificent jewelled Peacock binding. £15,000 to £20,000.
Sotheby’s, July 7: George Eliot. Middlemarch, Edinburgh and London, 1871, first edition in the original parts. £20,000 to £30,000.
Forum Auctions The Private Library: Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers July 9, 2026
Forum, July 9: Hassall (Joan) A large collection of over 300 original woodblocks of engravings for various books, v.d., with Hassall's engraver's glass water-globe (Qty) - Est. £10,000-15,000
Forum, July 9: Eragny Press.- [Bradley (Katherine Harris) & Edith Emma Cooper], "Michael Field." Whym Chow, Flame of Love, one of only 27 copies, inscribed by Bradley, the rarest book from the press, 1914. - Est. £3,000-4,000
Forum, July 9: [Moore (Thomas Sturge)] [Wood Engravings], 71 wood-engravings printed by David Chambers from the original blocks, the only set on Japanese Hosho paper, from an edition of 5 sets, [1970]. - Est. £3,000-4,000
Forum Auctions The Private Library: Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers July 9, 2026
Forum, July 9: La Fontaine (Jean de) Contes et Nouvelles en vers, 2 vol., engraved plates after Eisen, fine early 19th century blue morocco, gilt, by Bradel l'ainé, Amsterdam [Paris], 1762. - Est. £2,000-3,000
Forum, July 9: Erotica.- Prostitution.- Pretty Women of Paris (The); Their Names and Addresses, Qualities and Faults..., [Paris], privately printed at the Press of the Prefecture de Police, 1883. - Est. £3,000-4,000
Forum, July 9: Vale Press.- Ricketts (Charles) & Lucien Pissarro. De la Typographie et de l'Harmonie de la Page Imprimée…, [one of 216 copies], bound in dark blue morocco tooled in gilt, by Sarah T.Prideaux, 1898. - Est. £1,000-1,500
Forum Auctions The Private Library: Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers July 9, 2026
Forum, July 9: Martin (John) Illustrations of the Bible, complete set of 20 mezzotints, good impressions, rarely found in early states, [c.1831-1835]. - Est. £1,000-1,500
Forum, July 9: Golden Cockerel Press.- Four Gospels of the Lord Jesus Christ (The), one of 500 copies, Mary Gill's copy, Waltham St. Lawrence, 1931 with a signed proof of engraving on japon numbered 10/10 (2) - Est. £5,000-7,000
Forum, July 9: Boccaccio (Giovanni) The Decameron, 3 vol., vol.1 extra-illustrated by John Buckland Wright with c.150 erotic original drawings in pen & ink and pencil, 1886 [extra-illustrated c.1940]. - Est. £10,000-15,000
Forum Auctions The Private Library: Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers July 9, 2026
Forum, July 9: Cox (Morris) Collection of Gogmagog Press Books, 35 vol., rare complete collection of printed books issued by the press, limited editions, most signed by Cox, 1957-83. - Est. £10,000-15,000
Forum, July 9: Wynkyn de Worde.- [Terentius Afer (Publius)] [Comedie...], [Paris, Josse Badius: sold in London by Wynkyn de Worde, & others], [15 July 1504]. - Est. £4,000-6,000
Forum, July 9: Mosley (James) Ornamented Types. Twenty-Three Alphabets from the Foundry of Louis John Pouchée, 2 vol., one of 10 copies for presentation, from an edition of 210, 1992-93. - Est. £1,000-2,000
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
