AbeBooks Top 10 Highest Prices for the Summer of 2016
- by Michael Stillman
The British Gazette.
AbeBooks has released the top 10 most expensive prices paid on their listing site for the three months ending in September. AbeBooks has been selling many related ephemeral items at the top of late, but this period was solidly back in the camp of traditional books. Nine of the top 10 were books, though it should be mentioned that two of those books were notable more for their art than their text. The remainder reminded us that the great authors of the past two centuries are still highly collectible in the 21st. As AbeBooks described the list, it features "two Alices, two Waughs, and two Brontës." Here is the top 10.
10. Sports et Divertissements (1914), by Erik Satie. Satie was various things, but primarily a composer and pianist. This work is actually a cooperative effort with French artist Charles Martin, a collector's album featuring Satie's compositions and Martin's Art Deco illustrations. $8,826.
9. Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey (1850), by "Ellis and Acton Bell" (actually Emily and Anne Brontë, respectively). This is a second edition of these two volumes combined, including some poems by the two sisters not previously published and a "Biographical Notice" by "Currer Bell" (actually third sister Charlotte). By this time, only Charlotte was still living. $9,029.
8. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1969), by Lewis Carroll (another fake name, he was actually Charles Lutwidge Dodgson). As to why such a later edition is on a top 10 list, the answer is the illustrations. It includes 12 surrealist drawings (appropriate enough for Alice) from Salvador Dali in this limited edition. $9,500.
7. Brideshead Revisited (1945), by Evelyn Waugh. This is a first U.S. edition, inscribed by Waugh to his agent's wife. $9,719.
6. Great Books of the Western World (1970). The Franklin Press' 25th anniversary edition, containing 96 volumes, from Plato to Darwin. $9,775.
5. The British Gazette (1926), issues 1-8, a full run. This short-lived newspaper was published by the government during the General Strike of 1926. Among those to walk out were printers. It was edited by Winston Churchill as Chancellor of the Exchequer, and it is signed by Churchill, Stanley Baldwin, and J.C.C. Davidson. It was accompanied by Churchill's handwritten notice to the Press that the strike had ended. $9,825.
4. First editions of Flappers and Philosophers, The Beautiful and Damned, Tales Of The Jazz Age, The Great Gatsby, All The Sad Young Men, and Tender Is The Night, (1921-1934) by F. Scott Fitzgerald, in facsimile dust jackets. The lot included some works about Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda. $15,096.
3. To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), by Harper Lee. We can now say this was Harper Lee's first book, not her only book. $16,000.
2. A Handful of Dust (1934), by Evelyn Waugh. This book is also inscribed by Waugh, to "Bertie & Diane." $16,450.
1. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1866), by Lewis Carroll. This copy doesn't have Dali's illustrations, but it does have precedence. The first edition was withdrawn because of poor quality, only 22 copies known to survive. However, the poorly printed pages were shipped off to America to be sold to the rabble. This is therefore not only the first American edition, but technically the second issue of the overall first edition. $36,000.
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
