Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: ANDERSEN'S EXTREMELY RARE FIRST APPEARANCE IN PRINT. "Scene af: Røverne i Vissenberg i Fyen." in Harpen, 1822.
Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: FIRST ISSUE OF THE FIRST THREE FAIRY TALE PAMPHLETS, WITH ALL INDICES AND TITLE PAGES. Eventyr, fortalte for Børn. 1835-1837.
Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: THE FIRST FAIRY TALES WITH A SIGNED CARTE DE VISITE OF ANDERSEN AS FRONTIS. Eventyr, fortalte for Børn. 1835-1837.
Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: KARL LAGERFELD. Original pastel and ink drawing in gold, red and black for Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes (1992), "La cassette de l'Empereur."
Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: PRESENTATION COPY OF THE SIXTH PAMPHLET FOR PETER KOCH. Eventyr, Fortalte For Børn, Second Series, Third Pamphlet. 1841. Publisher's wrappers, complete with all pre- and post-matter.
Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN RARE AUTOGRAPH QUOTATION SIGNED IN ENGLISH from "The Ugly Duckling," c.1860s.
Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: HEINRICH LEFLER, ORIGINAL WATERCOLOR FOR ANDERSEN'S SNOW QUEEN, "Die Schneekönigin," 1910.
Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: FIRST EDITION OF ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES IN ENGLISH. Wonderful Stories for Children. London, 1846.
Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: ANDERSEN ON MEETING CHARLES DICKENS. Autograph Letter Signed ("H.C. Andersen") in English to William Jerdan, July 20, 1847.
Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: PRESENTATION COPY FOR EDGAR COLLIN. Nye Eventyr og Historier. Anden Raekke. 1861.
Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: DOLL HOUSE FURNITURE BY HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON, DECORATED WITH FANTASTICAL CUT-OUTS, for the children of Jonna Stampe (née Drewsen), his godchildren.
Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: PRESENTATION COPY FOR GEORG BRANDES. Dryaden. Et Eventyr fra Udstillingstiden i Paris 1867. 1868.
Jeschke Jádi Rare Book Auction 155 Saturday April 26, 2025
Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 962. Baird. United States Exploring Expedition. Philadelphia 1858.
Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 772. Edith Holland Norton. Brazilian Flowers. Coombe Croft 1893.
Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 49. Petrarca. Das Gluecksbuch, Augsburg 1536.
Jeschke Jádi Rare Book Auction 155 Saturday April 26, 2025
Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 1496. Jacob / Picasso. Chronique des Temps, 1956.
Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 8. Augustinus. De moribus ecclesie. Cologne 1480.
Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 17. Heures a lusaige de Noyon. Paris 1504.
Jeschke Jádi Rare Book Auction 155 Saturday April 26, 2025
Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 13. Schedel. Buch der Chronicken. Nürnberg 1493.
Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 957. Donovan. Insects of China. London 1798.
Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 123. A holy martyr. Tuscany, Florence, mid-14th century.
Jeschke Jádi Rare Book Auction 155 Saturday April 26, 2025
Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 438. Dante. La Divine Comédie. Paris 1963.
Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 602. Firdausi. Histoire de Minoutchehr. Paris 1919
Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 994. Westwood. Oriental Entomology. London 1848.
Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 124: Henri Courvoisier-Voisin, et alia, [Recueil de Vues de Paris et ses Environs], depicting precursors of the modern roller coaster, Paris, [1814-1819?]. $2,000 to $3,000.
Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 148: Pablo Picasso & Fernando de Rojas, La Célestine, First Edition, Paris, 1971. $30,000 to $40,000.
Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 201: Omar Khayyam & Edward Fitzgerald, Rubaiyat, William Bell Scott's copy of the First Edition, London, 1859. $20,000 to $30,000.
Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 223: Charles Dickens, Great Expectations, First Edition, extra-illustrated with hand-colored plates by Palinthorpe, London, 1861. $7,000 to $9,000.
Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 248: L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, First Edition, inscribed by the illustrator, Chicago & New York, 1900. $20,000 to $30,000.
Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 305: Tycho Brahe & Pierre Gassendi, Tychonis Brahei Vita, Paris, 1654. From the Collection of Owen Gingerich. $8,000 to $12,000.
Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 338: Giovanni Battista Riccioli, Almagestum Novum, two folio volumes, Bologna, 1651. From the Collection of Owen Gingerich. $8,000 to $10,000.
Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 350: Tobias Cohn, Ma'aseh Toviyyah, first edition, Venice, 1707-8. $3,000 to $5,000.
Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 359: Alan Turing, Computing, Machinery, and Intelligence, first edition, Edinburgh, 1950. $3,000 to $5,000.
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
Over 600 Books Stolen After World War II Returned to Owner
- by Michael Stillman
California Turkey Vulture from John James Audubon's Birds of America (courtesy Sotheby's).
Over 600 stolen books from World War II were recently returned to their rightful owner. This is not the typical war era returned books story. The normal story, common even today as repatriation has become better recognized as the right course, involves books looted by the Nazis. The Nazis stole books, art, and everything else they could lay their hands on, primarily from Jews and others they considered enemies at home, and from the lands they overran during the war. All these years later, many of the books and artifacts are finally making their way back to their rightful owners, often heirs of owners they murdered.
So here is a different story. Some books were also looted from German libraries. This came primarily at the close of the war, when Allied soldiers captured and temporarily occupied Germany. Considering the atrocities committed by the Nazis, and the casualties inflicted on Allied soldiers, some may have had little sympathy for German institutions. Losing books pales in comparison to losing lives. They may have seen this as the spoils of war rather than stealing.
Stealing was not the major cause of books being lost. There was heavy bombing of Germany and the buildings of many institutions were destroyed. This was the case of the Bonn University and State Library. They lost 180,000 books, and most were almost certainly destroyed during the war. However, some were removed to safe places, in this case, a bunker in Bonn. Some of those books also disappeared. Fortunately for the library, it had extensive records of its collection. It knew what was missing, even it it didn't know the books' fate, whether they still existed or had been destroyed.
Over 600 of these books missing since around 1945 recently showed up at Sotheby's auction house in London. They had been consigned to Sotheby's by Tania Grégoire, a Belgian woman. She had no knowledge of their origin. She inherited them from her father. Sotheby's routinely checks consignments for legitimacy of their background. These books were particularly suspicious. Sotheby's noticed that most of the titles were the same as those missing from the Bonn library. Some were missing title pages or had torn pages where indicia was likely removed, signs that someone was hiding their origin. Some still had identifying markings, such as Bonn library numbers. Sotheby's contacted the Bonn University Library and it did not take long before the identity of these books was known.
It turned out that Ms. Grégoire's father was a Belgian soldier during the war. He had been stationed in Bonn after the war's conclusion. While how he ended up with the books cannot be ascertained with certainty, it is likely that he and/or other Belgian soldiers had taken these books back home with them from Bonn. Ms. Grégoire, unaware of their origin, proved to be very cooperative. She willingly returned the books, and did receive a finder's fee for her efforts. However, that amount was nowhere near as valuable as the books she returned.
Among the books were some valuable medieval manuscripts, dating as far back as the 13th century. There were also 15th century prints and historical maps. Of particular interest to Americans was a collection of bird books once owned by Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied. Maximilian visited America in the 1830s and provided one of the best accounts of America's midwestern Indians before their way of life was too deeply altered by Europeans. He was accompanied by artist Karl Bodmer, whose illustrations of American natives are among the best ever created. Among Maximilian's bird books was a first octavo edition of John James Audubon's Birds of America.
The Bonn University Library has received some stolen books back before, though nothing on this level. In 2011, an American soldier returned a book himself. In 2018, three more books were returned from America, this time by the heirs of an American soldier.
According to Charlotte Miller, Specialist in Books and Manuscripts at Sotheby's in London, their restitution and specialists department examines approximately 15,000 books, manuscripts, art works and other lots annually brought to their European locations. Typically, only a few dozen items need further attention, and these are usually only single items. "So," she noted, "the scope of the present return is unprecedented for Sotheby's."
University Archives Rare Autographs, Books & Photos; Abraham Lincoln Collection April 23, 2025
University Archives, Apr. 23: Best Image of Abraham Lincoln: "Closest… to ‘seeing' Lincoln… A National Treasure" Original Hesler/Ayres Interpositive. $800,000 to $1,000,000.
University Archives, Apr. 23: Einstein, 3pp of Unified Field Theory Equations: “I want to try to show that a truly natural choice for field equations exists.” Formalizing His Final Approach, Association to Theory of Relativity. $80,000 to $120,000.
University Archives, Apr. 23: Marilyn Monroe's Best Personally Owned & Annotated Script for Unfinished Last Film, "Something's Got to Give" (1962). $75,000 to $100,000.
University Archives Rare Autographs, Books & Photos; Abraham Lincoln Collection April 23, 2025
University Archives, Apr. 23: David Ben-Gurion ALS: "The Jewish people have attained the epitome...the State of Israel is born," 1 Day After Signing Israeli Declaration of Independence, Best Ben-Gurion Ever! $80,000 to $100,000.
University Archives, Apr. 23: Lincoln ALS to Youth: "A young man, before the enemy has learned to watch him...votes... shall redeem the county" Evocative of Famous "Work" Letter. $70,000 to $100,000.
University Archives, Apr. 23: Lincoln Appointment for Cabinet Member With Largest, Boldest, Full Signature! Important Content: Detente with England. $10,000 to $15,000.
University Archives Rare Autographs, Books & Photos; Abraham Lincoln Collection April 23, 2025
University Archives, Apr. 23: Abraham Lincoln Rare Signed Check To Law Partner W.H. Herndon, Perhaps Unique as Such! $20,000 to $25,000
University Archives, Apr. 23: Tokyo War Crimes Files of Prosecuting Attorney For POW Camp Atrocities, 500+ Pages, Unpublished Court Documents, Photos and More. $25,000 to $35,000.
University Archives, Apr. 23: 1698 South Carolina Slavery Archive Huguenot Planters Earliest Rare Plat Maps for Plantations 41 Docs 107 pp. Most Colonial. $25,000 to $35,000.
University Archives Rare Autographs, Books & Photos; Abraham Lincoln Collection April 23, 2025
University Archives, Apr. 23: Adam Smith ALS While Revising “The Wealth of Nations” - A New Discovery Documenting Meeting with Influential Editor. $18,000 to $24,000.
University Archives, Apr. 23: Margaret Mitchell Rare ALS to Her Editor as Epic Film "Gone With the Wind" Gains Heat "Forgive this scrawl. I haven't written a letter in long hand in years and I've almost forgotten how it's done." $3,000 to $4,000.
University Archives, Apr. 23: Einstein 1935 TLS, Hopes to Warn Non-Jews of "The true nature of the Hitler regime.” $8,500 to $10,000.
Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: BELLEFOREST (François de). La cosmographie universelle de tout le monde. €12,000 to €15,000.
Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: DESNOS (Louis Charles). Mappe-monde, ou Carte Generale de la Terre. €5,000 to €6,000.
Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: DE BRUYN (Cornelis). Voyage au Levant. €3,000 to €5,000.
Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: ABI ISHAQ AHMAD B. IBRAHIM AL-THAʿLABI (M. 1035) : TROISIÈME VOLUME DU KASHF WA-L-BAYAN ʻAN TAFSIRI AL-QURʼAN. €3,000 to €5,000.
Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: DE BRUYN (Cornelis). Voyages de Corneille Le Brun par la Moscovie, en Perse, et aux Indes orientales. €1,500 to €2,000.
Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: DESNOS. (Louis Charles). Amérique septentrionale et Méridionale. €4,000 to €5,000.
Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: ÉLIOT (J.B.) ; MONDHARE (Louis Joseph). Carte du théatre de la guerre actuel entre les anglais et les treize Colonies Unies de l'Amérique Septentrionale. €5,000 to €6,000.
Old World Auctions (April 23): Lot 748. Second volume of Blaeu's atlas featuring 89 maps of the Americas and Asia (1642) Est. $12,000 - $15,000
Old World Auctions (April 23): Lot 12. A world map with popular cartographic myths and unique embellishments (1788) Est. $3,000 - $3,750
Old World Auctions (April 23): Lot 30. One of the most sought-after charts from Cellarius' work (1708) Est. $1,200 - $1,500
Old World Auctions (April 23): Lot 38. Anti-Vietnam War persuasive cartography on a velvet poster (1971) Est. $350 - $425
Old World Auctions (April 23): Lot 43. Ortelius' influential map of the New World - second plate (1584) Est. $4,750 - $6,000
Old World Auctions (April 23): Lot 95. Scarce German map illustrating the French & Indian War (1755) Est. $8,000 - $9,500
Old World Auctions (April 23): Lot 149. Bachmann's dramatic view of the Mid-Atlantic region (1864) Est. $1,200 - $1,500
Old World Auctions (April 23): Lot 373. De Jode's very rare map of Europe with costumed figures (1593) Est. $6,000 - $7,500
Old World Auctions (April 23): Lot 674. De Bry's Petits Voyages, Part VII with all plates and map of Sri Lanka (1606) Est. $1,400 - $1,700
Old World Auctions (April 23): Lot 704. The first printed map devoted to the Pacific in full contemporary color (1589) Est. $7,500 - $9,000
Old World Auctions (April 23): Lot 734. Superb hand-colored image of the Tree of Jesse (1502) Est. $700 - $850