Fine Books & Manuscripts at Bonhams New York, December 13, 2022
- by Announcement, Rare Book Hub staff
Kepler Investigates Planetary Motion
By Ian Ehling
Director, Fine Books & Manuscripts
Bonhams New York
In his autobiography The World of Yesterday, Stefan Zweig describes his interest in collecting manuscripts: “The one thing that can grant a slight inkling of this incomprehensible process of creation is the handwritten pages and particularly those not yet intended for the press, those sprinkled with corrections, the tentative first outlines, from which gradually the future valid form crystallizes … It was a pleasure to me to hunt them down at auctions, a joyous effort, to follow a scent to the most hidden places, and at the same time a kind of science….” The Kepler manuscript (lot 19) in the December 13 Fine Books & Manuscripts sale at Bonhams New York was part of Zweig’s famous collection and encapsulates his desire to find the best example of the author’s writing. The initial fragment of 3 leaves (4 pages each) was dispersed, with one leaf now in the Morgan Library in New York and the other in the Smithsonian collection in Washington DC. The best leaf – mentioning Copernicus – is still in private hands and is offered here for the first time since 1988. It is one of only two scientific Kepler manuscripts to come to market in the past 80 years.
Two of my favorite lots in the sale describe the ending of beloved stories. One is the final drawing of Winnie the Pooh and Piglet in the hundred-acre wood (lot 68). Pooh and Piglet walk home in the golden evening having said goodbye to their friends following Christopher Robin’s party for Pooh. Without a question this is to me the most important Winnie-the-Pooh drawing in existence. The other ending of equal importance is the bittersweet return of Mowgli to the world of man in the final Mowgli story. Lot 100 is the corrected and annotated typescript for “The Spring Running,” the last chapter in Kipling’s Jungle Book. Kipling’s holograph? manuscript is in the British Library and shows significant differences with these final edits.
The battle of Trafalgar ended Napoleon’s plans to invade England and solidified Britain’s dominance of the seas throughout the nineteenth-century. Nelson’s revolutionary battle plan for Trafalgar (lot 136) was transmitted in his famous secret memorandum. Dated 10 days before Nelson was killed in battle on October 21, 1805, this copy to Nelson's Vice-Admiral of his Blue fleet Robert Calder represents possibly the most important copy of the memorandum outside the holograph copy sent to the Vice Admiral of the Red fleet Collingsworth (which now resides at the British Library).
In addition to these extraordinary manuscripts and drawings you will find in the Bonhams sale a wonderful selection of early printed books, atlases, illustrated books, music, Dickensiana and literature. As Zweig observed, “the pride of owning a few such leaves was accompanied by the sporting desire to acquire them, to hunt for them at auctions or in catalogues. How many tense hours do I owe to that chase, how many exciting incidents…” You will have a chance to participate in our December 13 auction just like Stefan Zweig did one-hundred years ago: in person, through absentee bid, by telephone and now of course online.
Aste Bolaffi, June 17-18: Galileo Galilei. Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo tolemaico, e copernicano. Firenze, 1632
Aste Bolaffi, June 17-18: Saverio Manetti. Storia naturale degli uccelli. Firenze, 1771-76
Aste Bolaffi, June 17-18: Fortunato Depero. Depero futurista. Rovereto, 1927
Aste Bolaffi, June 17-18: Nicolas Visscher. Atlas minor sive totius orbis terrarum contracta delineat ex conatibus. Amsterdam, circa 1649-95
Aste Bolaffi, June 17-18: Andreas Vesalius. Anatomia. Addita nunc. Antiquorum Anatome. Venezia, 1604
Aste Bolaffi, June 17-18: Tristan Tzara and Salvador Dalì. Grains et Issues. Parigi, 1935
June 25, 2026
Doyle, June 25: Houdini's biography, boldly signed. $3,000 to $5,000.
Doyle, June 25: A volume from Abraham Lincoln's library, signed just before heading to Washington for his inauguration. $20,000 to $30,000.
Doyle, June 25: A very early Confederate recruiting manual belonging to the chief commissary in Lee's Army. $600 to $800.
Doyle, June 25: Rare hand-colored lithographs of the life of Napoleon. $20,000 to $30,000.
Doyle, June 25: The "Holster Atlas" of the American Revolution. $5,000 to $8,000.
Doyle, June 25: Jewish ceremonies in fine hand-colored engravings. $7,000 to $10,000.
Doyle, June 25: A very rare work on Turkish military costume. $1,000 to $1,500.
June 25, 2026
Doyle, June 25: The most important illustrated work on the Mexican-American War. $10,000 to $15,000.
Doyle, June 25: The finest illustrated book on Afghanistan. $10,000 to $15,000.
Doyle, June 25: Henry Justice Ford St. George rescues the Princess from the horrible Dragon. $2,000 to $3,000.
Doyle, June 25: A rare work of Prussian Army uniforms under Frederick William II, with exquisite hand-colored engravings. $800 to $1,200.
Doyle, June 25: Lenny Bruce typed letter signed to a Village bohemian during his obscenity trials, with a manuscript note and drawing. $300 to $500.
Doyle, June 25: Schiff's scarce Shanghai Sketchbook. $300 to $500.
Doyle, June 25: The first accurate published representation of the American flag. $2,000 to $4,000.
Old World Auctions (June 17): Lot 123. Celebrate 250 Years of Independence with Original Stars and Stripes (1790) Est. $1,400 - $1,700
Old World Auctions (June 17): Lot 20. Keulen's Spectacular Chart of the World Featuring California as an Island (1728) Est. $12,000 - $15,000
Old World Auctions (June 17): Lot 42. Schedel's Ancient World Map with Fantastic Humanoid Creatures (1493) Est. $14,000 - $17,000
Old World Auctions (June 17): Lot 591. Matching Set of 3 Stunning Globe Gores of Eastern Asia from Coronelli's 3.5 Foot Globe (1688) Est. $5,500 - $7,000
Old World Auctions (June 17): Lot 9. Speed's Popular World Map with Allegorical Representations of the Elements (1651) Est. $14,000 - $17,000
Old World Auctions (June 17): Lot 168. First Separate Map of Kansas & Nebraska Territories (1854) Est. $5,500 - $7,000
Old World Auctions (June 17): Lot 43. Only Macrobius Map with Britain Attached to Europe (1515) Est. $800 - $950
Old World Auctions (June 17): Lot 250. Rare Map of Boston and One of the Earliest Maps of the Revolutionary War (1775) Est. $2,000 - $2,300
Old World Auctions (June 17): Lot 79. Schenk's Uncommon Map Featuring Two Figurative Title Cartouches (1696) Est. $1,200 - $1,500
Old World Auctions (June 17): Lot 681. Hand-Colored Image of the Annunciation to the Shepherds (1502) Est. $800 - $950
Sotheby's Book Week 2 June - 9 July
Sotheby’s, June 25: Smith, Adam. The Wealth of Nations, on its 250th anniversary. $180,000 to $250,000.
Sotheby’s, June 17: Fontana, Lucio. Concetto Spaziale. 1967. Leporello en papier doré. Bel exemplaire signé. €4,000 to $€,000.
Sotheby’s, June 25: Fitzgerald, F. Scott. "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past”. $150,000 to $200,000.
Sotheby’s, June 25: Washington, George (as First President). Washington decries “an ostentatious imitation, or mimickry of Royalty” in his Presidency. $250,000 to $500,000.
Sotheby’s, June 17: Lope de Vega. Rare manuscrit autographe signé de la préface dédicatoire de "El Cardenal de Belen" (le cardinal de Bethléem), pièce composée en 1610. €40,000 to €60,000.
