Bonhams, June 16-25: THE NORMAN COPY OF DOUGLASS'S EARLY AMERICAN WORK ON INNOCULATION AND SMALLPOX. 1722. $20,000 - $30,000
Bonhams, June 16-25: LIND'S FIRST TREATISE ON SCURVY. 1753. $15,000 - $20,000
Bonhams, June 16-25: RARE JENNER SIGNED CIRCULAR ON VACCINATION. 1821. $4,000 - $6,000
Bonhams, June 16-25: MOST BEAUTIFUL OF MEDICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. BRIGHT. Reports of Medical Cases... 1827-1831. $10,000 - $15,000
Bonhams, June 16-25: FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE PRESENTATION COPY TO HER MOTHER. 1860. $6,000 - $8,000
Bonhams, June 16-25: LORENZO TRAVER'S MANUSCRIPT JOURNAL OF BURNSIDE'S NORTH CAROLINA EXPEDITION. TRAVER, Lorenzo. $2,000 - $3,000
Bonhams, June 16-25: ONE OF THE EARLIEST PHOTOGRAPHIC BOOKS ON DERMATOLOGY. HARDY. Clinique Photographique... 1868. $3,000 - $5,000
Bonhams, June 16-24: KELMSCOTT PRESS. RUSKIN. The Nature of Gothic. 1892. $1,500 - $2,500
Bonhams, June 16-24: ASHENDENE PRESS. The Wisdom of Jesus. 1932. $2,000 - $3,000
Bonhams, June 16-24: CHARLOTTE BRONTE WRITES AS GOVERNESS. Autograph Letter Signed, 1851. $15,000 - $25,000
Bonhams, June 16-24: FIRST AMERICAN EDITION OF WUTHERING HEIGHTS. BRONTE, Emily. New York, 1848. $3,000 - $5,000
Bonhams, June 16-24: IAN FLEMING ASSOCIATION COPY. You Only Live Twice. London, 1964. $7,000 - $9,000
Bonhams, June 16-24: DELUXE EDITION WITH ORIGINAL PAINTING. BUKOWSKI, Charles. War All the Time. 1984. $3,000 - $5,000
Bonhams, June 16-24: EINSTEIN'S MOST POWERFUL STATEMENT ON THE ATOMIC BOMB. Original Typed Manuscript Signed, "On My Participation in the Atom Bomb Project," 1953. $100,000 - $150,000
Bonhams, June 16-24: EINSTEIN ON SCIENCE, WAR AND MORALITY. Autograph Letter Signed, 1949. $20,000 - $30,000
Bonhams, June 16-24: SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. WASHINGTON, George. Engraved document signed, 1786. $8,000 - $12,000
Bonhams, June 16-24: AN EARLY CHINESE-MADE 34-STAR U.S. CONSULAR FLAG. $8,000 - $12,000
Bonhams, June 16-24: SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH OF LINCOLN WITH HIS SON TAD. 1864. $60,000 - $90,000
Bonhams, June 16-24: MALCOLM X WRITES FROM KENYA. Postcard signed, 1964. $4,000 - $6,000
Case Antiques Two-Day Summer Auction July 12 & 13, 2025
Case Antiques, July 12-13: Winston Link Signed Photograph, Hotshot Eastbound, Iager, West Virginia, July 1957. $3,400 to $3,800.
Case Antiques, July 12-13: Alexander Hamilton ALS, Whiskey Rebellion. $2,800 to $3,200.
Case Antiques, July 12-13: Civil War Canteen and Letters, Thomas Tabb Jr. CSA. $1,800 to $2,200.
Case Antiques Two-Day Summer Auction July 12 & 13, 2025
Case Antiques, July 12-13: Archive of Capt. William Tabb of MS, CSA, Killed Atlanta. $1,000 to $1,400.
Case Antiques, July 12-13: Rudyard Kipling Collection, 29 Volumes, First Editions; Zaehnsdorf Bindings. $1,000 to $1,200.
Case Antiques, July 12-13: Artist Andrew Wyeth & Family Signed Letters, Cards. $1,000 to $1,200.
Case Antiques Two-Day Summer Auction July 12 & 13, 2025
Case Antiques, July 12-13: Augusta Resolves Silk Broadside, Revolutionary War RelateD. $800 to $1,000.
Case Antiques, July 12-13: 1894 Map of Nashville. $800 to $900.
Case Antiques, July 12-13: CSA Navy Appointment, Semmes and Mallory plus Photo of Lt. Armstrong. $600 to $800.
Case Antiques Two-Day Summer Auction July 12 & 13, 2025
Case Antiques, July 12-13:Slave Colonies of Great Britain, 1825, Macaulay, First Edition, plus Debate on Abolition, 1792. $600 to $800.
Case Antiques, July 12-13: Signed Photo of 3 Presidents: Nixon, Ford, Carter. $600 to $800.
Case Antiques, July 12-13: Slave Ledger, Merrill Plantations, Natchez, MS & Concordia, LA. $1,000 to $1,200.
Vaccine research at Oxford (Bodleian Libraries photo).
It is not unusual for people to collect items related to terrible events, like wars, but usually they are of past, historic events. Is this one a little early? The Oxford University History of Science Museum and the Bodleian Libraries recently announced that they are starting to collect documents and artifacts relating to the Covid 19 pandemic. It isn't even over yet, so at a minimum, we can say this collection will be incomplete for a while. They have described it as a two-year project so we certainly hope the pandemic will be over before it is completed.
Oxford has asked anyone associated with the university to contribute objects, documents, and personal stories. This is not just a random collection relating to Covid but they have a particular purpose, which could be described as preserving bragging rights. As described on the Bodleian website, “Material collected and professionally preserved now will enable future generations to understand how Oxford University rose to the challenge in its extraordinary response to the global pandemic.” They were deeply involved in the research to generate the Astra/Zeneca vaccine. Two new positions were opened for this project. There will be a dedicated Collecting Covid Curator at the Science Museum, along with a dedicated archivist at the Bodleian Libraries.
What are appropriate documents for the collection are more or less obvious. By personal stories, they are asking those involved with the Covid research at Oxford to share their memories. As for objects, that is probably the most interesting short term. Some examples they list are a vial used to deliver an early dose of the vaccine, a prototype ventilator, and a bottle of beer created by a local brewery to thank the Oxford Vaccine Group for their work. Other items include a glass cabinet for growing cells used in the trials and a one million times actual size sculpture of a single nanoparticle of the vaccine by artist Luke Jerram.
If this sounds a bit early to be collecting Covid 19 material, Head of Archives & Modern Manuscripts at the Bodleian Libraries Susan Thomas said, “The sorts of materials and memories we hope to uncover through this project are surprisingly vulnerable to loss. It is timely to start the process of gathering these things to make sure they survive to inform future research and reflection.”
While private collectors may not have the same incentive to collect so early as an institution trying to preserve recognition of its role in the event, there are obvious benefits to collecting early. Eventually, today's events will become historic, and at that point the best material will be far more expensive if not lost. Of course, that requires some prescience in knowing what will be valuable, but it is safe to say that an event of this magnitude all across the world will have its collectors. Get in early and be prepared to wait.
Sotheby’s, June 25: Theocritus. Theocriti Eclogae triginta, Venice, Aldo Manuzio, February 1495/1496. 220,000 - 280,000 USD
Sotheby’s, June 26: Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby, 1925. 40,000 - 60,000 USD
Sotheby’s, June 26: Blake, William. Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Printed ca. 1381-1832. 400,000 - 600,000 USD
Sotheby’s, June 26: Lincoln, Abraham. Thirteenth Amendment, signed by Abraham Lincoln. 8,000,000 - 12,000,000 USD
Sotheby’s, June 26: Galieli, Galileo. First Edition of the Foundation of Modern Astronomy, 1610. 300,000 - 400,000 USD
Finarte Books, Autographs & Prints June 24 & 25, 2025
Finarte, June 24-25: ALIGHIERI, DANTE / LANDINO, CRISTOFORO. Comento di Christophoro Landino Fiorentino sopra la Comedia di Danthe Alighieri poeta fiorentino, 1481. €40,000 to €50,000.
Finarte, June 24-25: ALIGHIERI, DANTE. La Commedia [Commento di Christophorus Landinus]. Aggiunta: Marsilius Ficinus, Ad Dantem gratulatio [in latino e Italiano], 1487. €40,000 to €60,000.
Finarte, June 24-25: ALIGHIERI, DANTE. Il Convivio, 1490. €20,000 to €25,000.
Finarte Books, Autographs & Prints June 24 & 25, 2025
Finarte, June 24-25: BANDELLO, MATTEO. La prima [-quarta] parte de le nouelle del Bandello, 1554. €7,000 to €9,000.
Finarte, June 24-25: LEGATURA – PLUTARCO. Le vies des hommes illustres, grecs et romaines translates, 1567. €10,000 to €12,000.
Finarte, June 24-25: TOLOMEO, CLAUDIO. Ptolemeo La Geografia di Claudio Ptolemeo Alessandrino, Con alcuni comenti…, 1548. €4,000 to €6,000.
Finarte Books, Autographs & Prints June 24 & 25, 2025
Finarte, June 24-25: FESTE - COPPOLA, GIOVANNI CARLO. Le nozze degli Dei, favola [...] rappresentata in musica in Firenze…, 1637. €6,000 to €8,000.
Finarte, June 24-25: SPINOZA, BARUCH. Opera posthuma, 1677. €8,000 to €12,000.
Finarte, June 24-25: PUSHKIN, ALEXANDER. Borus Godunov, 1831. €30,000 to €50,000.
Finarte Books, Autographs & Prints June 24 & 25, 2025
Finarte, June 24-25: LIBRO D'ARTISTA - LECUIRE, PIERRE. Ballets-minute, 1954. €35,000 to €40,000.
Finarte, June 24-25: LIBRO D'ARTISTA - MAJAKOVSKIJ, VLADIMIR / LISSITZKY, LAZAR MARKOVICH. Dlia Golosa, 1923. €7,000 to €10,000.
Finarte, June 24-25: LIBRO D'ARTISTA - MATISSE, HENRI / MONTHERLANT, HENRY DE. Pasiphaé. Chant de Minos., 1944. €22,000 to €24,000.