Doyle Auctions: Rare Books, Autographs & Maps May 1st!
- by Announcement, Rare Book Hub staff
Quality and well described complexity
Doyle will hold an auction of Rare Books, Autographs & Maps on Wednesday, May 1, 2024 at 10am. The sale offers a broad range of material ranging from the 12th to 20th centuries. The first thirty-five lots comprise a diverse group of early printed books, English and Continental, with a number of items of Shakespearian interest (lots 3-6) in the first category, and a fine copy of Van Dyke’s Icones (lot 24), an exceptional collection of portraits of artists, patrons and collectors, heading the Continental portion. Following this, lots 35-46 are an exceptionally interesting selection of text and illuminated manuscripts. This group includes the Prayer Book of Jehan Bernachier, a 15th century manuscript with extensive illumination (lot 38), as well as a 15th century vernacular breviary in Middle Dutch, likely written at a Delft convent, with elaborate penwork initials (lot 42) and a 14th century Rules of St. Augustine from an English priory near the Welsh border (lot 44). Succeeding this are bound sets and individual fine bindings, lots 47-61. These are highlighted by a remarkable extra-illustrated set of Shakespeare from the library of Irving Berlin (lot 57), and a set of the classic Art deco fashion periodical, the Journal des Dames et des Modes (lot 61).
Following this comes a change of theme; lots 62-106 are all focused on natural history. These include the ornithological library of Ken Harte. There are many important color plate books here, including those by Audubon (lots 64-66), Dresser (lots 78-80), Elliot (lot 81) etc. This section also has some interesting travel, including Henderson and Hume’s Lahore to Yarkand; the succeeding work from the second mission (lot 105); Pollen and Van Dam’s travels to Madagascar (lot 93) etc. From there the sale moves on to maps and travel (lots 107-139). These incorporate Bouchette’s great wall map of Lower Canada (136) and other maps of American appeal. Lot 108 is a significant unpublished manuscript account of South America travels in 1759-1764, written by a French traveler.
Private press and book arts are the next section, lots 140-152, and these include the Cranach Press Hamlet (lot 143) and some interesting Rockwell Kent volumes (lots 148-151). Then comes literature and children’s books, lots 153-219, with A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh books, both in signed and unsigned state (lots 194-198), an inscribed work by the elusive Thomas Pynchon (lot 200), a Tolkien calligraphic quotation (lot 210) and much else of appeal.
Americana comprises lots 220-227, which includes a copy of Marshall’s Life of Washington annotated by Washington’s aide-de-camp James McHenry with an account of the Battle of Monmouth (lot 227). The important Rotondaro collection of material pertaining to slavery and emancipation and books on the Black experience extends from lots 228 through 269. This is aptly followed by lot 270, an extraordinary Thomas Jefferson letter written as President, in which Jefferson writes on Toussaint Louverture and expresses his fears of “a war of extermination” on Saint-Domingue, now Haiti. Accompanied by two related letters, this occupies the following two lots (lots 271-272). Then follows a selection of American presidential signatures (lots 273-299). General autograph material comes next (lots 300-317), with some attractive Churchill pieces (lots 303-306) and a signed Einstein (lot 307). A selection of costume designs by Edith Head runs from lots 318 to 326, and the sale concludes with a selection of 19th and 20th century art and architecture, lots 327-356.
Edward Ripley-Duggan Vice-President, Rare Books and Manuscripts Department
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.
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
Books & Autographs Wednesday 25 March
Koller, Mar. 25: KAFKA, FRANZ, SCHRIFTSTELLER. Eigenh. Brief mit Unterschrift. Prag, 20. Oktober [19]15. CHF 30,000-40,000.
Koller, Mar. 25: EINSTEIN, ALBERT. Zwei eigenhändige Briefe an Ernst Gabor Straus, unterschrieben "A.E" bzw. "A. Einstein". [Princeton], [19]45. und [1950]. CHF 30,000-40,000.
Koller, Mar. 25: HORTENSE DE BEAUHARNAIS, MUTTER VON NAPOLEON III. Album aus ihrem Besitz mit 69 Aquarellen und Pinselzeichnungen in Sepia oder Grau… CHF 14,000-18,000.
Koller, Mar. 25: ZOOLOGIE - ORNITHOLOGIE - Seligmann, Johann Michael. Verzameling van uitlandsche en zeldzaame Vogelen. Teile 1-8 (von 9) in 2 Bänden. Mit 421 prächtig altkolorierten Kupfertafeln. CHF 14,000-20,000
Koller, Mar. 25: BOTANIK - Berlèse, Lorenzo und Johann Jakob Jung. Iconographie du genre camellia... 3 Bände. Mit 300 Farbstichtafeln "a la poupée.” Paris, [1839-]1841-1843. CHF 12,000-18,000.
