Runner up for highest price at auction was Bill W.'s manuscript copy of Alcoholics Anonymous' Big Book
Well, we've waited long enough. So let the drum roll begin as we start counting down the top 10 book auction sales for 2004!
10. This is one of the famed Shakespeare folios, but a mere $623,500 will no longer get you a complete first folio or even a second. This is a third.
9. A complete 40-volume set of Edward Curtis' mammoth limited edition of The North American Indian, with a forward by Theodore Roosevelt and signed by T.R. himself. All of Manhattan Island didn't cost this much. $679,500.
8. An autographed manuscript for the Gustav Mahler song, "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen." I don't know this song, but it must be a real toe tapper. $739,242.
7. This is a copy of the Texas Declaration of Independence with a price as big as Texas. $764,000.
6. This one is an etching of La Femme qui pleure by Pablo Picasso. Picasso never comes cheap. $813,900.
5. An illuminated manuscript from the 16th century of what is called the "first great travel book of the Renaissance," by Cristoforo Buondelmonti. It was once part of the collection of eccentric collector Sir Thomas Phillipps. $822,649.
4. De revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri vi, by Nicolaus Copernicus, 1543. Copernicus is the guy who came up with the revolutionary idea that the planets revolve around the sun, rather than the sun around the earth. $1,208,583.
3. More Picasso. This is La Suite Vollard, one of 260 copies of a collection of 100 etchings from Picasso signed in pencil. $1,228,261.
2. Bill W.'s (William Wilson) manuscript copy of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. $1,576,000.
1. 252 leaves of what is called the "Macclesfield Pslater," a previously unrecorded illuminated manuscript from the 14th century. The many illustrations are often too bizarre to describe on a family website, so you'll need to read the full description in the AE 350 list. $3,057,004.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Jerry Thomas. How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion, Containing Clear and Reliable Directions for Mixing All the Beverages Used in the United States…
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Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("Martinus Luther") to His Friend the Theologian Gerhard Wiskamp ("Gerardo Xantho Lampadario"). $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: An Exceptionally Fine Copy of Austenís Emma: A Novel in Three Volumes. $40,000 - $60,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Presentation Copy of Ernest Hemmingwayís A Farewell to Arms for Edward Titus of the Black Mankin Press. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript Signed Integrally for "The Songs of Pooh," by Alan Alexander. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript of "Three Fragments from Gˆtterd‰mmerung" by Richard Wagner. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Preliminary Artwork, for the First Edition of Snow Crash. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("T.R. Malthus") to Economist Nassau Senior on Wealth, Labor and Adam Smith. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Finely Bound by Michael Wilcox. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: First Edition of Lewis and Clark: Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Artwork for the First Edition of Neal Stephenson's Groundbreaking Novel Snow Crash. $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: A Complete Set Signed Deluxe Editions of King's The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("John Adams") to James Le Ray de Chaumont During the Crucial Years of the Revolutionary War. $8,000 - $12,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000.
![<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/8caddaea-4c1f-47a7-9455-62f53af36e3f.jpg "<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.")
