AbeBooks Lists Its Top 10 Most Expensive Sales for 2016
- by Michael Stillman
Sam I Am, serving up green eggs and ham.
For many, the AbeBooks' website is a great place to buy used books for a low price. Students and casual readers have made the most of their bargains for twenty years. But then, there is a rarefied group, the serious collector. They inhabit AbeBooks too. At the top of this group, you need to have a five figure credit line on your charge card, and a willingness to use it. Here is the cream of the crop. These are the Top 10 highest prices paid on AbeBooks for 2016.
10. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee (1960). This one has been a classic from the moment it was published 56 years ago. This is a signed first edition by Ms. Lee, who died in 2016. $16,000.
9. A Handful of Dust, by Evelyn Waugh (1934). Inscribed copy of a semi-autobiographical book. $16,450.
8. The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde (1908). Fourteen volumes, one of 80 copies of this limited edition. $16,500.
7. An original drawing of Sam I Am carrying a plate of green eggs and ham, by Dr. Seuss. $17,832.
6. Abstraction Création Art Non Figuratif 1932-1936, a 1973 reprint of the five yearbooks of Abstraction-Création, a loose association of abstract artists in the 1930's. $19,300.
5. Description Géographique Historique, Chronologique, Politique et Physique de l'Empire de la Chine, by Jean-Baptiste du Halde (1735). An 18th century French look at China. $19,770.
4. The Works of H. G. Wells, (1924-1927). This is a 28-volume set, number 524 of 1,050 copies, signed by H. G. himself (first volume only). $20,792.
3. Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens (1861). The personal copy of children's poet Eugene Field. Came with a letter from Rev. Chauncy Hare Townshend, to whom the book was dedicated. $25,000.
2. Selectarum Stirpium Americanorum Historia, by Nicolaus Joseph Jacquin (1763). Early detailed account of American botany. $25,679.
1. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll (1866). First American edition, or, technically speaking, second issue of the first edition. The first issue of the first edition was recalled, Carroll and illustrator John Tenniel displeased with the quality. Rather than throw the unused pages out, the publisher shipped them to America, where tastes are less discerning, for use in the American edition. Meanwhile, a revised, or second edition was published in England. Therefore, this is a second issue of the first edition, though it came out after the second 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
