• Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HARRISON, Benjamin. Document signed (“Benj Harrison”) as governor of Virginia, certifying the service of Daniel Cumbo, a Black Revolutionary soldier. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HIGHLY IMPORTANT MORMON ARCHIVE. ALLEY, George. Archive of 23 Autograph Letters Signed by Mormon Convert George Alley to His Brother Joseph Alley. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [AVIATION]. [ARMSTRONG, Neil A.] Aviation Hall of Fame Gold Medal MS64 NGC, Awarded to Neil Armstrong in 1979. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: NEWLY DISCOVERED FIRST PRINTING OF "WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE... " FROM THE ONLY NEWSPAPER ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL PROCESSION. $4,000 to $8,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: A VERY RARE ACCOUNT OF BLACKBEARD’S DEATH AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PIRATE ITEMS EXTANT. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [VIETNAM WAR]. The original pen used by Secretary of State William P. Rogers to sign the Vietnam Peace Agreement, Paris, 27 January 1973. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: SONS OF LIBERTY FOUNDER COLONEL BARRÉ ANNOTATED TITLE-PAGE, “WHICH OUGHT TO ROUSE UP BRITISH ATTENTION”. $4,000 to $6,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: [Shakespeare (William)]. [Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies], second folio edition, [by Tho.Cotes, for Robert Allot], [1632]. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Bible, Czech Biblia Bohemica, first complete Bible printed in the Czech vernacular, Prague, August 1488. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Shabthai Tzvi.- Collection of four printed and illustrated broadsides detailing the appearance, rise and fall of the false messiah, Shabthai Tzvi, Augsburg, 1666-67. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Leaf from the Beauvais Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [Northern France (perhaps Beauvais or Amiens)], [fourteenth century (c.1310)]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Aubrey (John). [Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme], manuscript in English, Latin and Greek, [c. 1693]. £30,000 to £50,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Poems on Various Occasions, first edition, Harriet Maltby's copy, Newark, Printed by S. & J. Ridge, 1807. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression with dust-jacket, 1937 [but 1938]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Blake (William).- Thornton (Robert John). The Pastorals of Virgil, 2 vol., engraved plates by William Blake, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: America.- Mount (William J.) & Thomas Page. The English Pilot…, [bound with] The Fourth Book, describing The West Indies Navigation from Hudson's-Bay to the River Amazones, 1721. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Oldfield (Henry Ambrose), Rajman Singh Chitrakar & others. An album of 160 photographs and 13 original artworks, (1833-1919), [c. 1850s-1880s]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Alken (Henry). Sporting Notions, first edition, T.McLean, 1832-33. £800 to £1,200.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Bardi (Lorenzo). Nuova Raccolta delle piu interessanti Vedute della Citta di Firenze…, Florence, Lorenzo Bardi, [c.1840]. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Crawfurd (John). Journal of an Embassy from the Governor-General of India to the Court of Ava..., first edition, 1829. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Dawe (George, engraver). The Life of a Nobleman, first edition, Geo. Henderson, [c.1825]. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: [Doyle (John)], "H.B.". Political Sketches &c., 10 vol. including The Descriptive Key to H.B., Thomas McLean, [1829-51]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Eben (Adolphus Christian Frederick, Baron von) and Nicolaus Heideloff. Modèles de l'Uniforme Militaire Adopté dans l'Armée Royale de Suède, Rudolph Ackerman, 1808. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Geissler (J.G.G.) and Friedrich Hempel. Mahlerische Darstellungen der Sitten, Gebrauche und Lustbarkeiten bey den Russischen, Tartarischen…, 4 parts in 1, Leipzig and Paris, [1804]. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Hunt (Charles). Portraits of Winning Horses...of the Derby, Oaks, & St. Leger, from the Year 1842 to 1849…, Rock Brothers & Payne, 1849. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Kunike (Adolf Friedrich). Zwey hundert und sechzig Donau-Ansichten nach dem Laufe des Donaustromes…, Vienna, Leopold Grund, 1826. £3,000 to £5,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Lasinio (Carlo). [Matrimony], Florence, 1790. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Reinhardt (Joseph). A Collection of Swiss Costumes, in Miniature, second English edition, James Goodwin, [1828]. £800 to £1,200.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Wengen (Gottfried Durst von). Die Öffentliche Maskerade Bamberg am Fastnachts-Montage 1833…, Bamberg, [1833]. £2,000 to £3,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD

Rare Book Monthly

Articles - December - 2016 Issue

From Champlain to Boissel de Monville, A travel books sale in Paris.

M. Courvoisier.

Samuel Champlain was in Paris the other day, and since he had come with his iconic map of New France, many people came to see him. In fact, the showroom at Drouot was overcrowded with various travellers from the past centuries, and with as many booksellers. Rare Book Hub attended the meeting and collected the figures. Welcome on board of the Binoche et Giquello’s sale of November 16, 2016!

 

Travel books sales are not that many nowadays, especially those made up of a same book collection. “This was a family-owned collection,” confirms Odile Caule from the auction house Binoche et Giquello. “It comes from the castle of Menneval, Eure. Except one: Les Voyages de la Nouvelle France occidentale (Paris, 1632) by Champlain, as stated in the catalogue.” The expectations were not that high despite a very attractive list of books. First, because travel books have greatly suffered from the “old book crisis”—“I wouldn’t say so,” retorts the optimistic Rodolphe Chamonal, who’s been selling travel books for the past 30 years. “The market is sort of stable, now. The problem with this interesting sale is the condition of the books. Many of them need to be restored, and it costs money.” The expert for the sale, Dominique Courvoisier, made it clear from the start: “These books haven’t been properly stored and taken care of. Moisture made their pages crispy, and, at one point, the bindings have been waxed with Baranne, a cheap wax for shoes! The effect on gildings was terrible, and the hinges are quite fragile.

 

Castle business

 

Yet, castle collections hold a special place in the hearts of collectors, and this one featured a lot of classics—and a few treasures. “We have a handful of them bound in full morocco, like Acuna’s Relation de la rivière des Amazones (Paris, 1682) or Knox’ Relation du voyage de l’île de Ceylan (Paris, 1789). Fortunately, they were stored in another place, and have suffered less,” confesses M. Courvoisier. Travel books in such bindings are very rare—“they were bound for one of the “grands curieux (great curious)”, a group of bibliophilists from the early 18th century, who ordered gorgeous and unusual bindings.” Rodolphe Chamonal states: “These ones will probably go way over the appraisal, and will be bought by some fortunate collectors, who will probably never see another copy of the like in their lives.” Among the other stars of the sale were two copies of Champlain’s historical voyages in North America. The first one (Paris, 1613), relates the second expedition of the French explorer, but it came without the famous map—it was estimated between 20 and 25,000 euros (before the buyer costs of 27%), and it went for 58,540 euros (buyer costs included). The second one (Paris, 1632) regroups all the expeditions of Champlain. It is bound in full vellum, and contains the iconic “general map” of New France (Canada). “In a time when it was necessary for a European country which claimed the ownership of a land to prove that it had explored it, this map drawn by Champlain himself enabled the French to claim the region of Acadia and the valley of the Saint-Laurent River,” reads the catalogue. The huge map, at the crossroad of knowledge and ignorance, is a moving testimony of the time—and a graphic beauty. The appraisal of 100,000 euros was a little bit high, according to M. Chamonal, who reminded us that three copies of Champlain’s book were recently sold in New York—and that book lovers who can afford such a book are not that many. It was nonetheless sold for 124,460 euros. The Acuna, though missing the map of the Amazon River, was sold for 16,510 euros (appraisal 3,000 euros), and the Knox for 15,850 euros.

 

Condition comes second?

 

All booksellers from Paris attended the sale—even the people from Binoche et Giquello seemed surprised. The condition of the books worried M. Courvoisier—“curiously, it did not discourage the buyers,” he said after the sale. Indeed, a manuscript of Le Roman de la rose from the 14th century, though missing a full set of pages, was sold for 63,500 euros, while “one of the nicest books ever published about the Ottoman empire” (catalogue), Nicolay’s Les Quatre premiers livres des navigations... (Lyon, 1568), went for 57,150 euros (appraisal 40 to 50,000 euros); the hand-coloured engravings were gorgeous, indeed, but one of them was missing. On the contrary, the Wytfliet’s Histoire universelle des Indes Occidentales (Douai, 1607) featured all the maps called for, but the frontispiece of the second part was missing—it went for 18,412 euros. “We’re quite happy about this sale,” confesses M. Courvoisier. “We generated 620,000 euros where we didn’t expect more than 430,000.” As a matter of fact, even the off catalogue books, sold separately at the end of the sale, made very good prices. “This I can hardly explain,” says M. Courvoisier. I mean... Most of them were in a very poor condition or incomplete... Yet, they were bought by professional booksellers.” Travel books might have been given up for dead a little bit too fast.

 

The few unsold books (see below) were returned to the family. Among them was a modest book, which indeed went unnoticed—except by M. Courvoisier. It is always interesting to ask an expert to point out their favourite book in a sale. After all these years, and all these books, they often choose the most peculiar ones. “Take this one,” he says, handing me a copy of Boissel de Monville’s Voyage pittoresque (...) sur une partie du Rhône (Paris, An III-1795). This French traveller did not go to the ends of the Earth to discover some unknown region, he sailed the Rhône Riversaid to be partly non navigable at the time.” And he joined 17 engravings to his work. “Look at them,” whispers M. Courvoisier. “They are so unusual, so... bizarre. He drew them himself, and his style is unique for the period. And take a look at these sceneries,” he goes on while leafing through the modest book, “you’d bet you’re in the middle of the Wild West... but no, this is the Rhône River!” An untold story, as nobody bought it despite the low starting price of 200 euros.

 

This sale was interesting because it proved that travel books are still attractive to many, and that “exceptional copies” are not the only ones to reach good prices.

 

The prices quoted in this article are buyer costs included. We link to the catalogue (PDF) and the results of the sale—forwarded by the auction house. “The numbers which are not listed correspond to the books that did not sell,” underlines Binoche et Giquello.

 

Thibault Ehrengardt

Rare Book Monthly

  • Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG BEADED JUDICIAL COLLAR. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A COMPLETE RUN OF VISIONAIRE MAGAZINE THROUGH 2010. $6,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: LAW REVIEW OFFPRINT SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: META REBNER'S WORKING SCRIPT OF THE LOVED ONE. $1,500 - $2,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A KATHY GROVE PORTRAIT OF CYNDI LAUPER FOR THE FEBRUARY 1989 DETAILS COVER. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A PLASTIC COAT BY MILLIE DAVID FEATURED IN SOHO NEWS STYLE SECTION, FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANNIE FLANDERS. $500 - $700
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG JEWELRY BOX. $600 - $900
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A SET OF JONI MITCHELL LYRICS FOR "IF I HAD A HEART." $2,000 - $3,000
  • 19th Century Shop
    Catalogue 198 just published
    19th Century Shop. Darwin and Wallace, first printing of the first paper on natural selection
    19th Century Shop. Shakespeare’s Poems, first collected edition
    19th Century Shop. Walt Whitman portrait inscribed with a Leaves of Grass poem
    19th Century Shop. Major Elizabeth Barrett Browning manuscript notebook
    19th Century Shop. Spock's Baby Book, original MS
    19th Century Shop. Cellarius, Harmonia Macrocosmica, the great celestial atlas

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