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<b>Chiswick Auctions: Autographs & Memorabilia. February 28, 2019</b><b>Chiswick Auctions, Feb 28:</b> Autograph album featuring signatures by prominent actors, politicians, musicians and authors, including Rudolph Valentino. £1,000 to £1,500<b>Chiswick Auctions, Feb 28:</b> An extremely rare working radio script for Crazy People No 29, the first series of <i>The Goon Show.</i> £600 to £800<b>Chiswick Auctions, Feb 28:</b> Manuscript prayer book, in German. 8vo, 1755 £800 to £1,200<b>Chiswick Auctions, Feb 28:</b> Italian Manuscript on Geometry, with diagrams, 18th century. £500 to £700<b>Chiswick Auctions: Ornithology, Zoology & Voyages. February 27, 2019</b><b>Chiswick Auctions, Feb 27:</b> Thorburn (Archibald). Sparrowhawk, original watercolour & gouache, signed & dated lower right, 1917. £1,500 to £2,000<b>Chiswick Auctions, Feb 27:</b> Burton (Sir Richard Francis). <i>Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah.</i> 3 vol., FIRST EDITION, 1855-56. £1,000 to £1,500<b>Chiswick Auctions, Feb 27:</b> [Mount (Richard) & Page (Thomas)]. <i>The English Pilot. Describing the Sea-Coasts…</i> 31 engraved maps, W. & J. Mount, T. Page, 1756 £4000 to £6000<b>Chiswick Auctions: Ornithology, Zoology & Voyages. February 27, 2019</b><b>Chiswick Auctions, Feb 27:</b> D’apres De Mannevillette (Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Denis). <i>Le Neptune Oriental.</i> Paris & Brest, [1775 – 1781]. £10,000 to £15,000<b>Chiswick Auctions, Feb 27:</b> Loring (Josiah). Terrestrial Globe Containing all the Late Discoveries and Geographical Improvements. Boston, Gilman Joslin, 1846, £800 to £1,200<b>Chiswick Auctions, Feb 27:</b> Shelley (G. E., Capt.). <i>A Monograph of the Nectariniidae, or Family of Sun-birds,</i> FIRST EDITION, by the Author, 1876-80. £4,000 to £6,000 -
<b>Bonhams: Treasures from the Eric C. Caren Collection: How History Unfolds on Paper, Part VII (Online). March 6-14, 2019</b><b>Bonhams, Mar 6-14:</b> Albert Einstein A remarkable letter on God in English, one of his most eloquent and quoted, 1 p, July 2, 1945. $100,000 to $150,000.<b>Bonhams, Mar 6-14:</b> Benjamin Lincoln's commission as Major General in the Continental Army, February 19th, 1777. $60,000 to $90,000.<b>Bonhams, Mar 6-14:</b> Broadside. A Poem Upon the Bloody Engagement That Was Fought on Bunker's-Hill. 1775. $15,000 to $25,000.<b>Bonhams, Mar 6-14:</b> Early, full printing of the Star-Spangled Banner in The Yankee, October 7, 1814. $8,000 to $12,000.<b>Bonhams, Mar 6-14:</b> Paul Revere. Engraving, “The Boston Massacre Perpetrated on March 5, 1770," in <i>Massachusett's Calendar 1772.</i> $8,000 to $12,000.<b>Bonhams: Treasures from the Eric C. Caren Collection: How History Unfolds on Paper, Part VII (Online). March 6-14, 2019</b><b>Bonhams, Mar 6-14:</b> Earliest known newspaper coverage of Babe Ruth, "a St Mary's schoolboy," Baltimore, April 4, 1914. $6,000 to $9,000<b>Bonhams, Mar 6-14:</b> Franklin, Benjamin. <i>The Independent Whig.</i> First Magazine Published in America, Philadelphia: Keimer, 1723-4. $15,000 to $20,000<b>Bonhams, Mar 6-14:</b> Smith, Joseph. <i>The Book of Mormon.</i> Palmyra: Printed by E.B. Grandin for the Author, 1830. First printing. $40,000 to $60,000<b>Bonhams, Mar 6-14:</b> Last Words of Joseph Smith. Autograph Letter Signed from a Mormon disciple, conveying a contemporary account of the Prophet's final words, Nauvoo, July 27, 1844. $10,000 to $15,000<b>Bonhams, Mar 6-14:</b> John Brown's Body. Autograph Letter Signed from the daughter of John Brown attempting to arrange the return of her father's body, North Elba, Essex Co, NY, November 29, 1859. $4,000 to $6,000<b>Bonhams, Mar 6-14:</b> Powell Expedition. Autograph diary of Rhodes C. Allen kept during the Powell Expedition of 1868, June 29, 1868 - November 16, 1868. $20,000 to $40,000 -
<b>Swann Auction Galleries, Feb 21:</b> NASA archive with 351 photographs, silver & chromogenic prints, 1960-2002. $6,000 to $9,000.<b>Swann Auction Galleries, Feb 21:</b> Edward S. Curtis, suite of 18 cyanotypes, 1910-14. $25,000 to $35,000.<b>Swann Auction Galleries, Feb 21:</b> Edward S. Curtis, <i>Horse Capture, Atsina,</i> unique copper plate for <i>The North American Indian,</i> 1908. $60,000 to $90,000.<b>Swann Auction Galleries, Feb 21:</b> John Whipple, <i>Harriet Beecher Stowe,</i> salted print from a calotype negative, 1853. $10,000 to $15,000.<b>Swann Auction Galleries, Feb 21:</b> Lewis Carroll, <i>Xie Kitchen,</i> albumen print, circa 1872. $8,000 to $12,000.<b>Swann Auction Galleries, Feb 21:</b> Ansel Adams, <i>Taos Pueblo,</i> limited, signed first edition of the artist's first book, 12 silver bromide prints, 1930. $30,000 to $45,000.<b>Swann Auction Galleries, Feb 21:</b><br>JFK in his motorcade about 2 mins before his assassination, chromogenic print, 1963. $2,000 to $3,000.<b>Swann Auction Galleries, Feb 21:</b> Anton Guilio Bragaglia, 6 photomechanical postcards with facsimile signatures, 1911-13, printed 1932. $30,000 to $45,000.<b>Swann Auction Galleries, Feb 21:</b> Société Anonyme, Inc, group of 9 postcards, including 8 real photo postcards, 1920-30. $25,000 to $35,000. -
<b>Christie’s Paris, 20 Feb:</b> BELON. <i>L’Histoire de la nature des oyseaux.</i> Paris : Corrozet, 1555. $17,000 to $23,000<b>Christie’s Paris, 20 Feb:</b> MIOMANDRE – BARBIER. <i>Dessins sur les danses de Vaslav Nijinsky.</i> Paris. 1913. $23,000 to $34,000<b>Christie’s Paris, 20 Feb:</b> HOKUSAI. <i>Fugaku Hyakkei, Edo : Nishimura Yûzô.</i> 1834-1875. $58,000 to $80,000<b>Christie’s Paris, 20 Feb:</b> EDWARDS. <i> <br>A Natural History of Uncommon Birds…</i> London : Printed for the Author. 1743-1764. $35,000 to $46,000<b>Christie’s Paris, 20 Feb:</b> VESALIUS. <i><br> De Humane Corporis Fabrica libri septem...</i> Basle : J. Oporinus. 1555. $58,000 to $80,000
Rare Book Monthly
Articles - January - 2005 Issue
The AE Top 350 Book Auction Results For 2004!
The "Macclesfield Psalter", a 14th Century illuminated manuscript, was the most expensive book at auction in 2004
By Michael Stillman
Another year has drawn to a close, and we are now in the season of top ten lists for 2004. Traditionally, those of us in the rare book trade have had to sit on the sidelines as lists of the best selling new books, or most popular movies and television programs, flashed by. Not any more. We at the Americana Exchange have put together a list of the top 10 sales at book auctions, along with a bonus of 340 more entries. Welcome to the Americana Exchange 350, the three hundred fifty highest prices paid at book auctions during the past year. For those who can't wait any longer to see the list, there is a link at the end of this article to the AE 350 for 2004.
First, a quick explanation. The Americana Exchange follows over 80 worldwide auction houses for book auctions. The results of these auctions are added regularly to the AE Database (Advertisement Warning: to learn more about the AE Database or subscribe, click "Bibliographic Database" on the menu to the left). In 2004, we covered around 280 book auctions, or more than one per business day. Total lots were over 112,000 containing more than 400,000 items. Within these records is a fairly clear picture of just where the market for books really is today, as opposed to the fantasy prices often found on online sites. But that's a story for another day. What we most want to see is the prices paid for those items we cannot afford. That's what the Americana Exchange 350 is all about.
Not all of these items are truly "books." At the upper ranges, manuscripts and signed documents are heavily represented. These one-of-a-kind documents frequently fetch higher prices than printed books. Sketchbooks by famed artists may not be the typical book for sale, but they bring some of the highest prices. This is really a list of books, manuscripts, and ephemera that come from auctions with a heavy focus on books.
It will probably not come as a great surprise that the top end of the list is dominated by two auction houses: Sotheby's and Christies. All of the top 20 most expensive lots were auctioned by these houses, as were 92 of the top 100. Sotheby's had 59, Christie's 33, with Bonham's next at 5. The top sale was over $3 million, four were over $1 million, and 302 were over $100,000. And if you think the top 10 list won't be impressive, here are a few that didn't quite make it: 37, an autographed Sherlock Holmes manuscript from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; 35, 43 letters from Ernest Hemingway; 19, a contemporary broadside printing of the Declaration of Independence, 17, an autographed manuscript by Sir Isaac Newton; 15, a telegram from Lincoln to Grant ordering no negotiations with Lee other than surrender; 13, an autographed Mozart manuscript; 12, an annotated proof copy of The Scarlet Letter as revised by Hawthorne. This last item was recently in the news when it was discovered in the archives of a small Massachusetts library.
