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<b>Il Ponte Casa d’Aste: Books and Manuscripts. January 22, 2019</b><b>Il Ponte Casa d’Aste, Jan 22:</b> [MAGGIOLO, Vesconte] <i>Carta nautica manoscritta, bottega di Vesconte Maggiolo.</i> Italy, c.1550. Previously unknown extraordinary portolan chart. €50,000 to 80,000<b>Il Ponte Casa d’Aste, Jan 22:</b><br>LA PÉROUSE, Jean-François. <i>Voyage de la Pérouse autour du monde.</i> Paris: L'Imprimerie de la République, 1797. €6,000 to 9,000<b>Il Ponte Casa d’Aste, Jan 22:</b> PEREA Y ROJAS, Daniel. The preparatory watercolours to the renown album <i>A Los Toros.</i> €4,000 to 6,000<b>Il Ponte Casa d’Aste: Books and Manuscripts. January 22, 2019</b><b>Il Ponte Casa d’Aste, Jan 22:</b> MELA, Pomponio. <i>Cosmographia, sive De situ orbis.</i> Venice, 1478 [Bound with] DIONISIO il Periegeta. <i> De situ orbis…</i> Venice, 1478. €6,000 to 9,000<b>Il Ponte Casa d’Aste, Jan 22:</b> DE FELICE, Fortunato Bartolomeo. <i>Encyclopedie, ou dictionnaire universel raisonne des connoissances humaines.</i> Yverdon, 1770-1780. €4,000 to 6,000<b>Il Ponte Casa d’Aste, Jan 22:</b> VECELLIO, Cesare. <i>De gli habiti antichi et moderni di diverse parti del mondo.</i> Venice: Damian Zenaro, 1590. €3,000 to 5,000<b>Il Ponte Casa d’Aste: Books and Manuscripts. January 22, 2019</b><b>Il Ponte Casa d’Aste, Jan 22:</b> FALDA, Giovanni Battista; SPECCHI, Alessandro. <i>Il nuovo teatro delle fabriche…</i> [bound with] <i>ll quarto libro del nuovo teatro delli palazzi in prospettiva di Roma moderna.</i> 1665-1699. €4,000 to 6,000<b>Il Ponte Casa d’Aste, Jan 22:</b> FALDA Giovan Battista. <i>Le fontane di Roma nelle piazze e luoghi pubblici della citta - Le fontane delle ville di Frascati nel Tusculano…</i> Rome, [1691]. €2,000 to 3,000<b>Il Ponte Casa d’Aste, Jan 22:</b> FERRERIO, Pietro & Giovanni Battista FALDA. <i> Palazzi di Roma de piu celebri architetti disegnati… [1655 – 1677]. €2,500 to 3,000<b>Il Ponte Casa d’Aste: Books and Manuscripts. January 22, 2019</b><b>Il Ponte Casa d’Aste, Jan 22:</b> VON JACQUIN, Joseph Franz. <i>Eclogae graminum rariorum.</i> Vienna: Strauss Sommer, 1813-1844. €2,000 to 3,000<b>Il Ponte Casa d’Aste, Jan 22:</b> Prayer book according to the synagogical Ashkenazy rite in an elegant and precious silver binding. €3,000 to 5,000<b>Il Ponte Casa d’Aste, Jan 22:</b> BOCCACCIO, Giovanni. <i>Ameto.</i> Venice: Nicolo Zoppino, 1524. €3,000 to 5,000 -
<b>Forum Auctions: Private Press, Illustrated Books and Modern First Editions. January 30, 2019</b><b>Forum Auctions, Jan 30:</b> Wilde (Oscar). <i>The Sphinx,</i> one of only 25 large paper copies, illustrations and original pictorial vellum, 1894. £10,000 to £15,000<b>Forum Auctions, Jan 30:</b> King (Jessie Marion, 1875-1949). The Lament, pen and black ink on vellum. £10,000 to £15,000<b>Forum Auctions, Jan 30:</b> Leger (Fernand). <i>Cirque,</i> one of 300 copies, Paris, Teriade, 1950. £10,000 to £15,000<b>Forum Auctions: Private Press, Illustrated Books and Modern First Editions. January 30, 2019</b><b>Forum Auctions, Jan 30:</b> Picasso (Pablo).- Reverdy (Pierre). <i>Sable Mouvant,</i> one of 255 copies signed by the artist, Paris, Louis Broder, 1966. £8,000 to £12,000<b>Forum Auctions, Jan 30:</b> Joyce (James). <i>Ulysses,</i> one of only 250 copies signed by both the author and artist, 6 etchings by Matisse, New York, Limited Editions Club, 1935. £6,000 to £8,000<b>Forum Auctions, Jan 30:</b> Golden Cockerel Press.- <i>Four Gospels of the Lord Jesus Christ (The),</i> one of 500 copies, wood-engravings by Eric Gill, Laurence Hodson's copy, 1931. £5,000 to £7,000<b>Forum Auctions: Private Press, Illustrated Books and Modern First Editions. January 30, 2019</b><b>Forum Auctions, Jan 30:</b> Camus (Albert). <i>The Stranger,</i> first American edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, New York, 1946. £5,000 to £7,000<b>Forum Auctions, Jan 30:</b> Greenhill (Elizabeth, binder).- Flint (Sir William Russell). <i>In Pursuit: An Autobiography,</i> limited edition signed by Francis Russell Flint, 1969. £4,000 to £6,000<b>Forum Auctions, Jan 30:</b> Cranach Press.- Shakespeare (William). <i>The Tragedie of Hamlet Prince of Denmarke,</i> one of 300 copies, Janet Leeper's copy signed by Edward Gordon Craig, 1930. £4,000 to £6,000<b>Forum Auctions: Private Press, Illustrated Books and Modern First Editions. January 30, 2019</b><b>Forum Auctions, Jan 30:</b> Gray (John). <i>Silverpoints,</i> first edition, one of 25 large paper copies, initials and original vellum bidning designed by Charles Ricketts, 1893. £2,000 to £3,000<b>Forum Auctions, Jan 30:</b> Kelmscott Press.- Design for the frontispiece to 'A Dream of John Ball', pen & black ink over pencil and heightened with Chinese white, 1892. £2,000 to £3,000<b>Forum Auctions, Jan 30:</b> Crowder (Henry). <i>Henry Music…</i> Poems by Nancy Cunard, Richard Aldington, Walter Lowenfels…, first and only edition, one of 100 copies signed by Crowder and additionally inscribed by him, 1930. £1,500 to £2,000 -
<b>Swann Auction Galleries, Jan 29:</b> Leonard Baskin, <i>Diptera: A Book of Flies & Other Insects,</i> Gehenna Press, 1983. $6,000 to $9,000.<b>Swann Auction Galleries, Jan 29:</b> Georg Heym, <i>Umbra Vitae,</i> illustrated by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, first edition, Munich, 1924. $6,000 to $9,000.<b>Swann Auction Galleries, Jan 29:</b> Edgar Allan Poe, <i>The Raven,</i> special copy for illustrator Alan James Robinson, first book from Cheloniidae Press, 1980. $3,000 to $4,000.<b>Swann Auction Galleries, Jan 29:</b><br>W.B. Yeats, <i>Poems,</i> illustrated by Richard Diebenkorn, accompanied by a suite of 6 etchings, 1990. $12,000 to $18,000.<b>Swann Auction Galleries, Jan 29:</b> Georges Rouault, <i>Cirque de l’Étoile Filante,</i> Paris, 1938. $30,000 to $40,000.<b>Swann Auction Galleries, Jan 29:</b> François-Louis Schmied, <i>Le Cantique des Cantiques,</i> Paris, 1925. $10,000 to $15,000.<b>Swann Auction Galleries, Jan 29:</b> Frank Lloyd Wright, <i>Ausgeführte Bauten und Entwürfe,</i> Berlin, Ernst Wasmuth, 1910. $8,000 to $12,000.<b>Swann Auction Galleries, Jan 29:</b> Hans Bellmer & Georges Hugnet, <i>Oeillades ciselées en branch,</i> Paris, 1939. $2,000 to $3,000.<b>Swann Auction Galleries, Jan 29:</b> Wassily Kandinsky, <i>Klänge,</i> first edition, Munich, 1913. $30,000 to $40,000.<b>Swann Auction Galleries, Jan 29:</b> Charles Dickens, <i>The Nonesuch Dickens,</i> limited edition, 1937-38. $5,000 to $7,500.<b>Swann Auction Galleries, Jan 29:</b> Rudyard Kipling, <i>Le Livre de la Jungle,</i> plates by Paul Jouve, engraved by F.L. Schmied, Paris, 1919. $7,000 to $10,000.<b>Swann Auction Galleries, Jan 29:</b> Georges Lepape, <i>Les Choses de Paul Poiret,</i> Paris, 1911. $3,500 to $5,000. -
<b>Potter & Potter Auctions: Fine Books & Manuscripts. February 2, 2018</b><b>Potter & Potter Auctions, Feb. 2:</b><br>Lot 230: Charles Bukowski. <i>South of No North.</i> Los Angeles, 1973. First edition. Signed. $1,500 to $2,000<b>Potter & Potter Auctions, Feb. 2:</b><br>Lot 244: Aldous Huxley. <i>Brave New World.</i> Garden City, 1932. First American edition. Signed. $2,500 to $3,500<b>Potter & Potter Auctions, Feb. 2:</b><br>Lot 10: Frank Lloyd Wright. “Fallingwater Side Elevation” Original Blueprint. $1,500 to $2,500<b>Potter & Potter Auctions: Fine Books & Manuscripts. February 2, 2018</b><b>Potter & Potter Auctions, Feb. 2:</b><br>Lot 169: <i>Chicago’s Progress: A Review of the World’s Fair City.</i> Chicago: Bishop Publishing, (1933). $150 to $250<b>Potter & Potter Auctions, Feb. 2:</b><br>Lot 299: [Tanguy, Yves] Benjamin Peret. <i>Dormir dans Les Pierres.</i> Paris: Editions Surrealistes, 1927. $2,500 to $3,500<b>Potter & Potter Auctions, Feb. 2:</b><br>Lot 276: Jean Hans Arp. <i>Arp: Eleven Configurations.</i> Zurich, 1945. $1,200 to $1,500<b>Potter & Potter Auctions: Fine Books & Manuscripts. February 2, 2018</b><b>Potter & Potter Auctions, Feb. 2:</b><br>Lot 235: Joseph Conrad. <i>Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard.</i> New York: 1904. First edition. $800 to $1,200<b>Potter & Potter Auctions, Feb. 2:</b><br>Lot 290: Umberto Brunelleschi. Louys, Pierre. <i>Les Aventures du Roi Pausole.</i> Paris: 1930. $1,200 to $1,500<b>Potter & Potter Auctions, Feb. 2:</b><br>Lot 700: X-Men No. 94. Marvel Comics, 1975. CGC 9.0. $800 to $1,200<b>Potter & Potter Auctions: Fine Books & Manuscripts. February 2, 2018</b><b>Potter & Potter Auctions, Feb. 2:</b><br>Lot 540: Travers, P.L. <i>Mary Poppins</i> [and] <i>Mary Poppins Comes Back.</i> Signed. New York: 1936. $1,000 to $1,500<b>Potter & Potter Auctions, Feb. 2:</b><br>Lot 576: Mickey Mouse. 17 Big Little Books. 1930s-40s. $300 to $500<b>Potter & Potter Auctions, Feb. 2:</b><br>Lot 429: Paracelsus. <i>Medicina Diastatica or Sympathecall Mumie.</i> London: 1653. $800 to $1,200
Rare Book Monthly
How to make a Fortune
Arthur Rackham's pre-Disney Peter Pan is seen in valuable 1906 edition.
By Michael Stillman
Looking to make a fortune in books? A recent article on the London Telegraph's website has some ideas, but I don't know. The article is headed "Book a limited edition fortune," by David Derbyshire. That title may be a headline writer's contribution, as Derbyshire is a bit more cautious about getting rich in his copy. In a reality check statement, he points out, "Although few people will ever make a fortune investing in books, some owners are making respectable returns." The no fortune part is probably not news to most booksellers.
The article points out that, "Not that long ago, dedicated book collectors had to seek out rare editions on the musty shelves of bookshops...." Where are they going now? Not the answer you are probably anticipating, the internet. No, they are going to "mainstream bookshops," those places which sell new books. What Derbyshire tells us is that publishers, "in an attempt to cash in on the demand from collectors," are putting out high quality limited editions of modern works. Evidently, the bookstores have been encouraging the publication of such editions. A typical run might be 1,000 copies (not all that limited). The publisher sends a handful of copies to each bookstore, a small enough volume to sell out quickly. Often, the volumes are signed by the author, making them even more desirable. Buyers may then choose to post their copies for sale on the internet for a tidy mark up, or put them away until their value reaches a "fortune."
There is nothing new about high quality limited editions. These have been produced on a regular basis for over a century, although in the past they were more likely to be classic works and authors, rather than newer ones. However, I think the appeal in those days was more to the collector, to the person who wanted something nice to put on the shelf. I don't believe the appeal was quite so blatantly financial. Rather than publishing these editions for people who want something fine to hold in their hands, they seem to be created solely for the purpose of making money in the resale market. Of course, at some point someone better actually want one of these for collecting purposes, or one day this house of speculation will collapse. I don't expect that I will ever be one of those people who buys such an edition to collect, but perhaps others will. If the author stands the test of time, it is likely there will eventually be collectors willing to pay up for these limited editions.
The article cites a few examples, both old and new, where profits have been realized. For example, there is a Peter Pan book published in 1906 that is now worth around £6,000 (that's $11,400 U.S. dollars). Blimey, Captain Hook! An investment like that could make you wealthy, provided the key to eternal life is found during your lifetime. More recent examples include Saturday by Ian McEwen. Sold at a bookstore in January for £35, it is now priced online for over £80. Here's something you know that Mr. Derbyshire does not. "Priced" online does not always mean "sold" online. But let's suppose this is a very good item and the owner does sell it for £80. How many copies can he buy, and how many of those will sell online for such a price before the market for these marked up copies disappears?
