Historical Paper Triumphant Once Again; Prices Soar at Sotheby's!
- by Eric Caren
The stupendous collection of Printed and Manuscript Americana built by Ira and Barbara Lipman grossed just under 12.4 Million dollars at Sotheby's this past month.
It is never a surprise when an early printing of The Declaration of Independence goes through the roof ($504,000), but the numerous broadsides, newspapers, almanacs and other Paper Americana/ Ephemera in this sale, did not disappoint lovers of this once neglected field of collecting:
Following are some additional prices realized:
Lot #2, a 1794 broadsheet relating to the first anti-slavery legislation...$8,820.00
Lot 37, Ames Almanac for the year 1771 with first printing of Benjamin Franklin's famous pre-mortem epitaph...$1,638.00
Lot 69, a newspaper broadside carriers address related to the recent (December 1773) Boston Tea Party...$35,280.00
Lot 70, Nine issues of Niles Weekly Register containing "The Jew Bill" debate...$10,710
Lot 72, The famed Tombstone edition of The Pennsylvania Journal dated 1765 and protesting the hated Stamp Act...$69,300
Lot 78, a 1775 broadside relating to The Battle of Bunker Hill...$13,860.00
Lot 117, a 1778 broadside printed in the middle of The American Revolution and containing an Address by Congress to The United States..
$30,240.00
Lot 147, a run of Dutch printed newsletters from 1651-1690 with early American content...$12,600.00
Lot 165, Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac for 1749...$30,240.00
Lot 192, a 1756 Declaration of War by Great Britain against France (start of The French and Indian War)...$35,280.00
Lot 217, a 1778 broadside related to The Great Britain Peace Commission...$18,400.00
Lot 295, "The Bloody Butchery" broadside dated 1775 with an account of the Battles of Lexington and Concord...$94,500.00
Lot 296, Virginia Gazette newspaper dated 1775 with news of Lexington and Concord...$11,970.00
Lot 302, The first obtainable printing of Lincoln's 1862 Emancipation Proclamation, a broadsheet circular...$403,200.00
Lot 305, NY newspaper dated November 20, 1863 with a printing of The Gettysburg Address...
$10,710.00
Lot 307, New York Herald newspaper containing Lincoln's second Inaugural Address, March 1865...$8,820.00
Lot 309, The iconic reward poster for the capture of the Assassins of Lincoln containing tipped on photographs of J.W. Booth, etc....$214,200.00
Lot 339, First Printing of The Monroe Doctrine, 1823, broadside extra of The National Intelligencer...$75,600.00
Lot 357, Independent Chronicle newspaper dated 1787 with a printing of The North West Ordinance...$2,016.00
and several Davy Crockett almanacs from 1837 through 1840, brought prices ranging from $4,400.00 to $10,710.00 each!
Eric C. Caren, owner of The Caren Archive, has had numerous single owner sales at major auction houses, of "How History Unfolds on Paper." His first collection formed the nucleus of The Newseum.
Sotheby’s, July 14: Henry De La Beche. "Awful Changes," 1830. $6,000 to $9,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: [Apollo 11]. Flight Plan, Complete Original Printing Signed by Buzz Aldrin. $5,000 to $8,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: Thomas Alva Edison. Documents Establishing and Ending the Edison Electric Railway Company. $20,000 to $30,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: Richard P. Feynman. Feynman's Lectures on Gravitation 1-16, Including the Original Transcriptions of Lectures 12-16 by Morinigo and Wagner, With Richard Feynman's Manuscript Notations, 1971. $12,000 to $18,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: [Apollo 9]. A Group of Manuals and Mission Documents used by Stuart Roosa as a member of the Astronaut Support Crew. $5,000 to $8,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: [BYTE: The Small Systems Journal]. A collection of early foundational issues of Byte: The Small Systems Journal, with rare hardcover editions. $5,000 to $8,000.
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Inundation papyrus. P.Michael 4, the ‘Inundation papyrus’, a geographical account of the Nile near Canopus, in Greek, remains of two columns from a manuscript scroll on papyrus, Egypt, second century CE. £12,000-18,000
Forum, July 16: Book of Hours, use of Sarum, manuscript on vellum, 6 full-page miniatures, with famous Middle English inscriptions, Southern Netherlands for the English market, [c.1430]. £30,000-50,000
Forum, July 16: Qu'ran, Arabic manuscript on burnished, stencilled, and gold-flecked paper, 447ff., Sultanate Gujarat, Ahmadabad, [after 1411 but no later than 1442]. £15,000-20,000
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Turner (William). A New boke of the natures and properties of all wines that are commonly vsed here in England, rare first edition of the first English book on wine, By William Seres, 1568. £20,000-£30,000
Forum, July 16: Spenser (Edmund). The Faerie Queene. first edition, Printed [by John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, 1590. £30,000-40,000
Forum, July 16: Shakespeare (William). The Comedie of Errors, extracted from the first folio, Isaac Jaggard and Edward Blount, 1623. £15,000-20,000
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Fleming (Ian). Casino Royale, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1953. £40,000-60,000
Forum, July 16: d'Agoty (Jacques-Fabien Gautier). Anatomie de la Tête, first edition, Paris, chez le Sieur Gautier, 1748. £10,000-15,000
Forum, July 16: Martial Arts.- Lee (Bruce). 'Praying Mantis style' Kung Fu book, containing numerous annotations, diagrams and graphs in Bruce Lee's hand, c. 1960. £50,000-70,000
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Warre (Capt. Henry James). Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory, first edition, rare hand-coloured issue, 1848. £30,000-40,000
Forum, July 16: Norie (John William). The Marine Atlas, or Seaman's Complete Pilot for all the principal places in the known world..., 1826. £30,000-50,000
Forum, July 16: Mao Tse-tung.- Kim Il-sung.-[Note book for visitors from China to Korea], signed by Mao and Kim, [Beijing, 1954]. £10,000-15,000
