Oct. 18: Early Printed, Medical, Scientific & Travel Books at Swann
- by Thomas C. McKinney
Highlight lots from Swann's sale of Early Printed, Medical, Scientific & Travel Books
With fall officially upon us, the auction field has shaken off its quiet summer slumber and the calendar is once again chock-full of sales. One such sale taking place this month is Swann Auction Galleries’ Early Printed, Medical, Scientific & Travel Books, which is scheduled for Tuesday, October 18th. With 334 lots spanning incunabula to the 20th century, Swann has included a mélange of items that will appeal to collectors with many different focuses, from mathematics, to naval navigation, to mountaineering—these are just a few of the subjects you will find on offer.
One of the sale’s earliest printed items is Euclid’s Elementa geometriae. Math fanatics are likely familiar; this is the “foundation text of geometry, the first major mathematical work to appear in print” (Swann). The copy up for sale is a first edition, printed in Venice in 1482 by Erhard Ratdolt, an early German printer known for his innovations related to layout and typography. Euclid’s work would be equally at home in a collection of incunabula, mathematics, or Venice printings. It carries the sale’s highest estimate of $60,000 – 80,000 as lot 147.
Books on travel make up a large part of the sale and the last lot, 334, is one that bears mentioning. Rodrigo Zamorano was a cosmographer and pilot major at the Casa de Contratación, Spain’s government agency in charge of controlling Spanish exploration and colonization from the 16th to 18th centuries. In 1581 his Compendido del Arte de Navegar, a standard Spanish navigation manual was printed for the first time. Swann’s sale includes a fourth edition, printed in 1588, and they note that the Compendido is “scarce in all editions.” Lot 334 is estimated $20,000 – 25,000.
Other interesting travel material include:
Jean-Baptiste Du Halde’s Description Géographique, Historique, Chronologique, Politique, et Physique de l'Empire de la Chine et de la Tartarie Chinoise, a 1735 first edition of what was then the most comprehensive European work on China. It features 65 engraved plates and maps, most which are double-page or folding. Lot 219, est. $15,000 – 20,000.
Edmund Thomas Coleman’s Scenes from the Snow-Fields; being, Illustrations of the Upper Ice World of Mont Blanc from Sketches made on the Spot in the Years 1855, 1856, 1857, 1858, a first edition printed in 1859, called “one of the rarest and most valuable of all mountaineering books” (Neate C92). Lot 207, est. $4,000 – 6,000.
Jonathan Swift’s Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, another first edition, printed in 1726, with an engraved frontispiece portrait and five maps. Lot 102, est. $3,000 – 5,000.
Science books are in the sale’s name and while Euclid’s Elementa is undoubtedly the brightest highlight, lot 157 is also of true significance. Sir Isaac Newton was a titan of science, and lot 157 represents the opportunity to own a first edition, first issue, of one of his works, Opticks. Contained within are a summary of Newton’s discoveries and theories related to light and color, as well as two mathematical treatises in Latin, printed with the purpose of proving he invented calculus and not Leibnitz. Newton’s Opticks is estimated $15,000 – 25,000.
Swann Auction Galleries’ sale of Early Printed, Medical, Scientific & Travel Books will take place on Tuesday, October 18, 2016, at 1:30 pm eastern time at Swann Galleries, 104 East 25th Street in New York. The catalog can be viewed online here. Previews will be available on these days:
October 14: 10 am – 6 pm
October 15: 12 – 5 pm
October 17: 10 am – 6 pm
October 18: 10 am – 12 pm
Bidding is available in the standard methods: in person, absentee, online, and telephone. All methods require registration with Swann prior to the sale.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 29th May 2025
Forum, May 29: Darwin (Charles). On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, first edition, John Murray, 1859. £50,000 to £70,000.
Forum, May 29: Astronomy.- Apianus (Petrus). Cosmographicus Liber a Petro Apiano Mathematico Studiose Collectus., first edition, Landshut, 1524. £40,000 to £60,000.
Forum, May 29: Bound for Jean Grolier.- Negri Stefano. Stephani Nigri Elegantissime è Graeco authorum subditorum translationes, uidelicet., first edition, first issue, Milan, 1521. £15,000 to £20,000.
Forum, May 29: Gill (Eric). Eve, number 1 of 50, hand-coloured wood-engraving, signed at foot in pencil, [1926]. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 29th May 2025
Forum, May 29: America.- Warre (Capt. Henry James). Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory, first edition, Dickinson & Co., 1848. £25,000 to £35,000.
Forum, May 29: Wodehouse (P.G.) Psmith USA, autograph manuscript of his novel "Psmith Journalist", signed and dated at end and dated "11 November 1909, Hotel Earle, 103 Waverley Place". £15,000 to £20,000.
Forum, May 29: Women.- Wollstonecraft (Mary). A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, first edition, uncut in original boards, 1792. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum, May 29: Mathematics.- Whitehead (Alfred North) and Bertrand Russell. Principia Mathematica, 3 vol., first editions, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1910-13. £20,000 to £30,000.
Ketterer Rare Books Auction May 26th
Ketterer, May 26: Th. McKenney & J. Hall, History of the Indian tribes of North America, 1836-1844. Est: €50,000
Ketterer, May 26:Biblia latina vulgata, manuscript on thin parchment, around 1250. Est: €70,000
Ketterer, May 26: M. Beckmann, Fanferlieschen Schönefüßchen, 1924. Est: €10,000
Ketterer Rare Books Auction May 26th
Ketterer, May 26: A. Ortelius, Theatrum orbis terrarum, 1574. Est: €50,000
Ketterer, May 26: M. S. Merian, Eurcarum ortus, alimentum et paradoxa metamorphosis, 1717-18. Est: €6,000
Ketterer, May 26:PAN, 9 volumes, 1895-1900. Est: €12,000
Ketterer Rare Books Auction May 26th
Ketterer, May 26: Breviarium Romanum, Latin manuscript, 1474. Est: €15,000
Ketterer, May 26: Quran manuscript from the Saadian period, Maghreb, 16th century. Est: €10,000
Ketterer, May 26: E. Hemingway, The old man and the sea, 1952. First edition in first issue jacket. Presentation copy. Est: €3,000
Ketterer Rare Books Auction May 26th
Ketterer, May 26: Flavius Vegetius Renatus, De re militari libri quatuor, 1553. Est: €3,000
Ketterer, May 26: K. Marx, Das Kapital, 1867. Est: €30,000
Ketterer, May 26: Brassaï, Transmutations, 1967. Est: €6,000
Doyle The Collection of Mary Tyler Moore June 4, 2025
DOYLE: Peter Max, Portrait of Mary Tyler Moore (Versions 1,2, 5, 6), 2001. Estimate $10,000-15,000
DOYLE: The iconic screen-used wall-mounted "M" from The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Estimate $5,000-8,000
DOYLE: The Mary Tyler Moore Show by Al Hirschfeld. Estimate $4,000-6,000
Doyle The Collection of Mary Tyler Moore June 4, 2025
DOYLE: Annie Leibovitz presents Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke for Vanity Fair. Estimate $4,000-6,000
DOYLE: Al Hirschfeld presents Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke in the CBS Wednesday Night Lineup. Estimate $4,000-6,000
DOYLE: Richard McKenzie, Portrait of Mary Tyler Moore. Estimate $1,000-2,000
Doyle The Collection of Mary Tyler Moore June 4, 2025
DOYLE: Three Original Bill Hargate Costume Designs for The Mary Tyler Moore Hour. Estimate $600-800
DOYLE: The famous Bonnie and Clyde "Wanted" broadside. Estimate $500-800
DOYLE: Ticket to the Final Episode of the Mary Tyler Moore Show Estimate $400-600
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
One of a Kind Auctions Rare Autograph and Documents Ending May 29th, 2025
One of a Kind Auctions, May 29: George Washington Three Language Ship's Paper West Indies Trade Voyage.
One of a Kind Auctions, May 29: An Extraordinary Archive of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry: Over 60 Historic Documents, Naval Commissions, Family Papers, and Photographic Material Spanning the 19th Century.
One of a Kind Auctions, May 29: Abraham Lincoln Appointment for Vice-Consul of Russia.
One of a Kind Auctions Rare Autograph and Documents Ending May 29th, 2025
One of a Kind Auctions, May 29: John Adams Signed Mediterranean Scalloped Top ship's passport.
One of a Kind Auctions, May 29: Thomas Jefferson and James Madison Signed Ships Paper.
One of a Kind Auctions, May 29: Herman Melville RARE -ALS (Moby Dick Author).
One of a Kind Auctions Rare Autograph and Documents Ending May 29th, 2025
One of a Kind Auctions, May 29: Apollo 10: Flown Flag and Patch Display with Crew-Signed Covers from the Collection of NASA Engineer Clark C. McClelland.
One of a Kind Auctions, May 29: James Garfield Rare Signature as President - Possibly the largest Autograph as President almost 6 inches long!
One of a Kind Auctions, May 29: Walt Disney Autograph over 7 inches in Length.