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Sotheby's
Sell Your Fine Books & ManuscriptsSotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USDSotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USDSotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USDSotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USDSotheby's
Sell Your Fine Books & ManuscriptsSotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USDSotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBPSotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBPSotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR -
Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: BELLEFOREST (François de). La cosmographie universelle de tout le monde. €12,000 to €15,000.Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: DESNOS (Louis Charles). Mappe-monde, ou Carte Generale de la Terre. €5,000 to €6,000.Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: BLAEU (Willem Janszoon & Joan). Theatrum Sabaudiae. €18,000 to €20,000.Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: LINASSI. Ferdinando Ie Maria Anna Carolina nel Litorale in Settembre 1844. €4,000 to €5,000.Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: AMBROSOLI (Francesco). Monumento a Francesco Primo in Vienna. €3,000 to €4,000.Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: Plano de la plaza de Mesina y de su ciudadel y castiglios. €5,000 to €6,000.Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: ROCKSTUHL (Alois Gustav), GILLE (Florent A.). 78 Lithographies du Musée de Tzarskoe-Selo. €1,000 to €1,500.Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: Chtchedrovski, Ignatiy Stepanovitch. €2,000 to €3,000.Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: DE BRUYN (Cornelis). Voyage au Levant. €3,000 to €5,000.Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: ABI ISHAQ AHMAD B. IBRAHIM AL-THAʿLABI (M. 1035) : TROISIÈME VOLUME DU KASHF WA-L-BAYAN ʻAN TAFSIRI AL-QURʼAN. €3,000 to €5,000.Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: DESNOS (Louis Charles). L’Afrique. €3,000 to €4,000.Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: DE BRUYN (Cornelis). Voyages de Corneille Le Brun par la Moscovie, en Perse, et aux Indes orientales. €1,500 to €2,000.Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: DESNOS. (Louis Charles). Amérique septentrionale et Méridionale. €4,000 to €5,000.Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: ÉLIOT (J.B.) ; MONDHARE (Louis Joseph). Carte du théatre de la guerre actuel entre les anglais et les treize Colonies Unies de l'Amérique Septentrionale. €5,000 to €6,000.
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Old World Auctions (April 23):
Lot 748. Second volume of Blaeu's atlas featuring 89 maps of the Americas and Asia (1642) Est. $12,000 - $15,000Old World Auctions (April 23):
Lot 12. A world map with popular cartographic myths and unique embellishments (1788) Est. $3,000 - $3,750Old World Auctions (April 23):
Lot 30. One of the most sought-after charts from Cellarius' work (1708) Est. $1,200 - $1,500Old World Auctions (April 23):
Lot 38. Anti-Vietnam War persuasive cartography on a velvet poster (1971) Est. $350 - $425Old World Auctions (April 23):
Lot 43. Ortelius' influential map of the New World - second plate (1584) Est. $4,750 - $6,000Old World Auctions (April 23):
Lot 95. Scarce German map illustrating the French & Indian War (1755) Est. $8,000 - $9,500Old World Auctions (April 23):
Lot 149. Bachmann's dramatic view of the Mid-Atlantic region (1864) Est. $1,200 - $1,500Old World Auctions (April 23):
Lot 373. De Jode's very rare map of Europe with costumed figures (1593) Est. $6,000 - $7,500Old World Auctions (April 23):
Lot 674. De Bry's Petits Voyages, Part VII with all plates and map of Sri Lanka (1606) Est. $1,400 - $1,700Old World Auctions (April 23):
Lot 704. The first printed map devoted to the Pacific in full contemporary color (1589) Est. $7,500 - $9,000Old World Auctions (April 23):
Lot 734. Superb hand-colored image of the Tree of Jesse (1502) Est. $700 - $850 -
University Archives
Rare Autographs, Books & Photos; Abraham Lincoln Collection
April 23, 2025University Archives, Apr. 23: Best Image of Abraham Lincoln: "Closest… to ‘seeing' Lincoln… A National Treasure" Original Hesler/Ayres Interpositive. $800,000 to $1,000,000.University Archives, Apr. 23: Einstein, 3pp of Unified Field Theory Equations: “I want to try to show that a truly natural choice for field equations exists.” Formalizing His Final Approach, Association to Theory of Relativity. $80,000 to $120,000.University Archives, Apr. 23: Marilyn Monroe's Best Personally Owned & Annotated Script for Unfinished Last Film, "Something's Got to Give" (1962). $75,000 to $100,000.University Archives
Rare Autographs, Books & Photos; Abraham Lincoln Collection
April 23, 2025University Archives, Apr. 23: David Ben-Gurion ALS: "The Jewish people have attained the epitome...the State of Israel is born," 1 Day After Signing Israeli Declaration of Independence, Best Ben-Gurion Ever! $80,000 to $100,000.University Archives, Apr. 23: Lincoln ALS to Youth: "A young man, before the enemy has learned to watch him...votes... shall redeem the county" Evocative of Famous "Work" Letter. $70,000 to $100,000.University Archives, Apr. 23: Lincoln Appointment for Cabinet Member With Largest, Boldest, Full Signature! Important Content: Detente with England. $10,000 to $15,000.University Archives
Rare Autographs, Books & Photos; Abraham Lincoln Collection
April 23, 2025University Archives, Apr. 23: Abraham Lincoln Rare Signed Check To Law Partner W.H. Herndon, Perhaps Unique as Such! $20,000 to $25,000University Archives, Apr. 23: Tokyo War Crimes Files of Prosecuting Attorney For POW Camp Atrocities, 500+ Pages, Unpublished Court Documents, Photos and More. $25,000 to $35,000.University Archives, Apr. 23: 1698 South Carolina Slavery Archive Huguenot Planters Earliest Rare Plat Maps for Plantations 41 Docs 107 pp. Most Colonial. $25,000 to $35,000.University Archives
Rare Autographs, Books & Photos; Abraham Lincoln Collection
April 23, 2025University Archives, Apr. 23: Adam Smith ALS While Revising “The Wealth of Nations” - A New Discovery Documenting Meeting with Influential Editor. $18,000 to $24,000.University Archives, Apr. 23: Margaret Mitchell Rare ALS to Her Editor as Epic Film "Gone With the Wind" Gains Heat "Forgive this scrawl. I haven't written a letter in long hand in years and I've almost forgotten how it's done." $3,000 to $4,000.University Archives, Apr. 23: Einstein 1935 TLS, Hopes to Warn Non-Jews of "The true nature of the Hitler regime.” $8,500 to $10,000.
Rare Book Monthly
Google Plans To "Sell" Books
By Michael Stillman
Google took another step this past month to work its way into the world of books, and even more significantly, into the business of books. This is not the first such step, and we highly doubt it will be the last. Google appears determined to insert itself into this world that most of us who visit this site inhabit. The only question that remains is just how deeply and in what ways Google intends to become involved.
Last year we saw the development of the Google Print project. This involves the digitization of millions of old books from the collections of several important libraries. These records are placed into a database which can be searched in a manner similar to the way Google searches the internet. While a great many, probably the majority of these books have seen their copyrights expire, others are still protected. This resulted in much consternation on the part of some copyright holders, who were not satisfied by Google's pledges to show only snippets from their books, rather than the complete text. Nor were all satisfied with Google's willingness to point searchers to places where they could buy these texts. This debate shows no sign of abating, and meanwhile, Google plows ahead with its digitization project.
In November, Google took another step, more verbal than physical, but potentially very meaningful. They changed their program's name from the more scholarly sounding Google Print to the more active Google Book Search. We have heard that traffic has increased substantially since the name change, but are not able to verify this.
Now, Google has made a new offer to book publishers. The monster search engine has offered to put their books up online through Google Book Search and sell access to the text. Publishers could choose what books to make available (including newer ones), how much to charge, what type of access to provide, and whether the customer could print a copy of the book. Details of the program have not been spelled out, but it might work like this: customer finds a book through Google Book Search. They give Google their credit card number, and thereby receive access to view the book online, perhaps forever. The means for preventing others from piggybacking on that access is not spelled out, but perhaps the online text could only be seen if accessed through the customer's IP address.
No division of revenue has been stated, other than the majority will go to the publisher. One website stated the split would be 70-30, but we cannot confirm this. Nor do we know what, if any, credit card processing fee Google might charge, but those who have followed recent developments at Abebooks understand this can be a contentious issue.
This development certainly isn't going to be a threat to booksellers who deal in collectible works. We doubt that it will have much impact on those who buy used books for casual reading. However, it could have some impact on the fringes. Perhaps students who purchase used books as part of a school assignment will opt for online access instead, particularly if it is cheaper. Copyright holders of out-of-print books should welcome this program. Right now, they receive nothing from the resale of their old books. Now, they can once again sell their old books despite their being out of print. They will have a decided price advantage, since they do not have to charge shipping and handling, and have no associated costs. They can simply sell access, which costs them nothing, for less than the cost of shipping and have a guaranteed price advantage every time.
Stay tuned for further developments. We do not know what Google's long-term intentions are for the book trade. Perhaps they do not know yet either. What we do believe is their involvement will, in time, be quite substantial, and we will not be surprised if it touches the old and collectible trade as well.