Oct. 18: Fine Books & Manuscripts at Potter & Potter Auctions
- by Thomas C. McKinney
Later this month on October 18th, Potter & Potter Auctions out of Chicago will be hosting a 639 lot sale of Fine Books & Manuscripts. The sale is diverse, with the print and PDF catalogues broken into sections including 20th century literature, Asian books and prints, militaria, sports & entertainment, and gambling, crime & western Americana.
Estimates for the sale are reasonable, with the highest estimated item being Charles Etienne Briseux’s L’Art de Batir des Maisons de Campagne, a work on French Rococo architecture, interiors, and decoration. The copy being auctioned is a 1743 first edition and possesses a distinguished provenance—it was once part of the library of Henri François d’Aguesseau, the Chancellor of France (1717-1750) described by Voltaire as “the most learned magistrate France ever possessed.” As lot 211 it is estimated $6,000 to $8,000.
Predating Briseux’s work is Francesco Lana Terzi’s Magisterium naturae, et artis. Opus physico-mathematicum in three volumes from 1684/1692. This is a significant encyclopedic work of the physical sciences and natural philosophies, and its value is heightened by the presence of the third volume. The set is estimated $4,000 to $6,000 as lot 230.
Several lots under the umbrella term of Americana stand out. William James, widely considered the founder of modern American psychology, is here as lot 154: a first edition, first state of The Principles of Psychology in two volumes. A three-page autograph letter signed from James is tipped in. The two-volume set and ALS are estimated $3,000 to $5,000. Later on the in the sale, lot 236, Roland Clark’s Etchings, includes seventy folio illustrations, but its selling points are that this copy is number 29 of 50 signed De Luxe edition printings and it includes two original signed etchings “Bluebird Weather” and “The Morning Flight.” It is estimated $3,500 to $4,500. And lastly, an original illustration (comic story board, ink over graphite on paper) for Mad Magazine Issue No. 2 (the final page of an 8-page story entitled “Hex) by Jack Davis (story by Harvey Kurtzman) is an interesting work from an American classic. $2,500 to $3,500 is the estimate.
Potter & Potter Auctions’ sale of Fine Books & Manuscripts is set to take place on Friday, October 18, 2019, at 10AM Central time in Chicago. The online catalogue offers easy to use categories for lot filtering, making it significantly easier to maneuver through 600+ items. The entire catalogue is available here.
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
Forum Auctions Natural History: The remaining stock of Antiquariaat Junk, 1899-2026 25 March 2026
Forum, Mar. 25: Botany.- Andrews (H.C.) Coloured Engravings of Heaths, 4 vol. in 2, first edition, [1710,--94]-1802-1809-[1830]. £10,000 - £15,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Butterflies.- Cramer (Pierre) and Caspar Stoll. De Uitlandsche Kapellen voorkomende in de drie Waereld-Deelen…,, 5 vol., Amsterdam & Utrecht, 1779-91. £8,000 - £12,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Voyages.- Darwin (Charles) and others. Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle, 3 vol. in 4, including Appendix to vol.2, first edition, 1839. £8,000 - £12,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Butterflies.- de Graaf (Willem Diederik Vincent). [Inlandsche Kapellen in beeld], 170 fine original watercolours, [Enkhuizen], [1800-40]. £8,000 - £12,000.
Forum Auctions Natural History: The remaining stock of Antiquariaat Junk, 1899-2026 25 March 2026
Forum, Mar. 25: Birds.- Dresser (Henry Eeles). A History of the Birds of Europe, 9 vol., including supplement, first edition, by the author, 1871-96. £6,000 - £8,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Zoology.- Felines.- Elliot (Daniel Giraud). A Monograph of the Felidæ or Family of the Cats, first edition, for the Subscribers, by the Author, [1878]-1883. £25,000 - £30,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Birds.- Frisch (Johann Leonard). Vorstellung der Vögel Deutschlandes, 2 vol., first edition, Berlin, Friedr. Wilhelm Birnsteil, [1736]-1763. £40,000 - £60,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Birds.- Gould (John). The Birds of Great Britain, 5 vol., first edition, by the author, 1862-1873. £30,000 - £40,000.
Forum Auctions Natural History: The remaining stock of Antiquariaat Junk, 1899-2026 25 March 2026
Forum, Mar. 25: Pomology.- France.- Poiteau (A.) Pomologie Française. Recueil des Plus Beaux Fruits cultivés en France, 4 vol., Paris, 1846. £30,000 - £40,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Botany.- [Robin (Jean)]. Histoire des Plantes, nouvellement trouvées en l'Isle Virgine…,, 1620; with Geoffrey Linocier L'Histoire des plantes, second edition, 1619-20. £3,000 - £4,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Asia.- Japan.- Siebold (P.F. von). Nippon. Archiv zur Beschreibung von Japan, 7 parts in 6 vol., first edition, Leyden, [1832]-1852. £35,000 - £45,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Asia.- Valentijn (Francois). Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën..., 5 vol. in 8, first edition, Dordrecht [&] Amsterdam, 1724-26. £8,000 - £12,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Botany.- Australia.- Redouté (P.J.).- Ventenat (Étienne Pierre). Jardin de la Malmaison, 2 vol.,, Paris, 1803-04[-05]. £30,000 - £40,000.
