Doyle New York: Rare Books, Autographs & Maps on November 7th
- by Bruce E. McKinney
Highlights from Doyle's Nov. 7 sale
On 7 November Doyle New York will hold an appealing sale of material that is both rare and unusual. Two hundred and thirty-three lots will traverse the written, printed and photographic landscape that is seeded with the widely known as well as the obscure. Collectors that run their searches are going to find things they want.
Such a sale is not easily characterized. Abbie Hoffman, Albert Einstein and George Washington never met but if they are watching from a distance they instinctively understand why they are sharing pages with each other: they are famous and, in their individual ways, important. They are also not alone. In addition to these three gentlemen there are others.
Lot 1 is the cabinet-maker’s guide that is attributed to G. A. Siddons. There are books about high ideals and then there is this book which has helped would-be cabinet makers know the rules for finishing. A copy of this book belongs on a shelf near your antiques.
Lot 5 is Catlin’s North American Indian Portfolio, the 1845 first American edition. This is the Frank T. Siebert copy that brought $211,500 in 1999. The estimate is $100,000 - $200,000.
Gun collectors will find lots 8 and 9 interesting. They both relate to Samuel Colt including in one case, a lithophane portrait of Mr. Colt.
For those with a preference for the 20th century Lot 19 is Empire State [Building]: a Pictorial Record of its construction. Bidders from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania on a very clear day can see the subject. The estimate is $300 - $500.
Lot 33 is a Three-Rotor Service Enigma Machine [Enigma 1]. No World War II collection is complete without it. Estimated $80,000 - $120,000.
Lot 38. Abbie Hoffman. Manuscript notebook of interview responses. Bergen, New Jersey: circa 24 November 1987. Estimated $1,200 - $1,800.
Lot 100. [George Cruikshank] The Comic Almanack for 1835. Estimated $400 - $600.
Beatrice Potter. Lots 107 to 114. Many choices.
Those of you of a certain age will remember Daniel DeFoe’s Robinson Crusoe. Lot 158 is the 1719 second edition, estimated at $1,500 - $2,500.
Lot 193. James Joyce. Single typescript leaf, consisting of page 23 from the printer’s typescript for Chapter Twelve of Ulysses. Estimated $60,000 to $90,000.
Lot 213. Olafur Eliasson. Your house. Someone will buy this and be happy. Estimated $10,000 - $15,000.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 26th March 2026
Forum, Mar. 26: Book of Hours.- Heures a lusaige de Romme, printed on vellum, with 14 full-page illuminated miniatures, Paris, N. Higman for J. de Brie, [c.1521]. £20,000-30,000
Forum, Mar. 26: France.- Book of Hours, perhaps Use of the Abbey of Saint-Gildas de Rhuys, with thirteen miniatures surviving from an original cycle of at least twenty, [c. 1430]. £15,000-20,000
Forum, Mar. 26: Milton (John). Paradise lost. A Poem in Ten Books, first edition, Pforzheimer's sixth state, S. Simmons, 1669. £8,000-12,000
Forum, Mar. 26: Blake (William). Illustrations of the Book of Job, one of 215 first issue "Proof" copies, this one of 65 copies on "French" paper, Published by the Author, March 8, 1825 [but March, 1826]. £15,000-20,000
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 26th March 2026
Forum, Mar. 26: Christie (Agatha). The ABC Murders, first edition, The Crime Club, 1936. £15,000-20,000
Forum, Mar. 26: Halley (Edmund). Astronomiae Cometicae Synopsis, in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, no. 297, pp.1882-99, March 1705. £10,000-15,000
Forum, Mar. 26: Haytham (Ibn al) [known as Alhazen]. Opticae Thesaurus...Item Vitellonis Thuringopoloni libri X..., first edition, Basel, August, 1572. £20,000-30,000
Forum, Mar. 26: Kepler (Johannes). Dioptrice seu demonstratio eorum quae visui & visibilibus propter conspicilla non ita pridem inventa accidunt, first edition, Augsburg, David Frank, 1611. £12,000-18,000
