Rare Book Hub Announces the Top 500 Prices Paid at Auction in 2025
- by Michael Stillman
#330 Spicy Mystery Stories has seen a 62,400,000% increase in value since it was published in 1935.
Rare Book Hub has announced its annual list of the top 500 prices paid at auction for books and other paper collectibles in 2025. Prices at the top end backed off a bit in 2025, but not by much. The previous year's numbers had been record prices. The dollars of top collectors are still flowing freely as we enter a new year.
We measure the strength of high end prices by the price of lot #500. In other words, what is the minimum price at which at least 500 books and paper collectibles were sold at auction in 2025? The answer is $109,800. In 2024, that number was $119,700, almost $10,000 more, representing an 8.3% decline. But before you conclude the market was soft in 2025, in 2023, that number was only $81,250, so the two-year change was still an increase of 35%. Perhaps 2024 just got a little ahead of itself.
Similarly, 26 items sold for over $1 million in 2025. That was down from 29 in 2024. But, if you look back two years, we find that in 2023 only 12 items sold for over $1 million. The collectible book and paper market at auction remained quite strong in 2025 even if it did take a slight breather.
The main area we cover is the broad one of books, maps, manuscripts, posters, letters, documents and ephemera. Specific subsets include comic books and trading cards. We have not included paper currency in this list. We do include prints if they are of some historical or not strictly artistic purpose. Prints by great artists are not included, but by historic sources such as Currier and Ives are. Picasso and Warhol prints, which are quite numerous at higher prices, don't really fit in this type of 500 list. Illustrations are included only if used in books. Original artwork used for books is included. Artwork for comic book story lines is included, but not comic book cover art which gets a bit far afield of storytelling.
Now, here are the top 10 prices, and these items couldn't be much more different from each other. Following is the entire Top 500.
10. Songs of Experience by William Blake. One of four first issues known, with provenance from Blake patron Ozias Humphry all the way to Maurice Sendak. $1,865,000.
9. The Declaration of Independence. The Essex broadside, one of the very rare July 1776 printings. $2,400,000.
8. Famous Places in the Sixty-odd Provinces by Utagawa Hiroshige. Complete set of 69 woodblock prints and a contents page. Edo period (19th century). $2,436,777.
7. The Declaration of Independence. Manuscript in the hand of Samuel Jones, who is credited with securing New York's passage of the U.S. Constitution. $2,470,000.
6. An Epic Based on the Shahnama including the Garshaspnama and Samnama. Likely 18th century illustrated Persian manuscript. $2,789,163.
4. Emancipation Proclamation. “Authorized edition,” signed by President Lincoln and Secretary of State Seward. $4,442,000.
3. Superman #1. First Superman comic from 1939, rated 9.0. $9,120,000.
2. 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Dual Logoman Autographs Michael Jordan & Kobe Bryant. A very expensive basketball card. $12,932,000.
1. Manuscript copy of the 13th Amendment outlawing slavery in the United States. Signed by President Lincoln, Vice-President Hannibal Hamlin, 378 senators and 114 congressmen. It took the signatures of 494 government officials to beat out two basketball players for #1, but they did it! $13,697,500.
What have we learned? Comic books and sports cards are no longer for kids. Your parents have taken over. But, in the end, above Michael Jordan, Superman, and all the others, Abe Lincoln is still #1!
Sotheby’s Shelf Life: Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper from the Library of Stanley J. Seeger and Christopher Cone 25 June – July 7
Sotheby’s, July 7: Ludwig van Beethoven. Autograph sketches for the overture "Die Weihe des Hauses", op.124, [1822], UNPUBLISHED. £150,000 to £200,000.
Sotheby’s, July 7: Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice, 1813, first edition, 3 volumes, contemporary half calf. £50,000 to £70,000.
Sotheby’s, July 7: Walt Whitman. Leaves of Grass, Brooklyn, 1855, first edition, first issue, original green cloth, the Doheny copy. £50,000 to £70,000.
Sotheby’s, July 7: Binding—Sangorski & Sutcliffe—Omar Khayyam. Rubaiyat, London, 1872, third edition, in a magnificent jewelled Peacock binding. £15,000 to £20,000.
Sotheby’s, July 7: George Eliot. Middlemarch, Edinburgh and London, 1871, first edition in the original parts. £20,000 to £30,000.
Forum Auctions The Private Library: Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers July 9, 2026
Forum, July 9: Hassall (Joan) A large collection of over 300 original woodblocks of engravings for various books, v.d., with Hassall's engraver's glass water-globe (Qty) - Est. £10,000-15,000
Forum, July 9: Eragny Press.- [Bradley (Katherine Harris) & Edith Emma Cooper], "Michael Field." Whym Chow, Flame of Love, one of only 27 copies, inscribed by Bradley, the rarest book from the press, 1914. - Est. £3,000-4,000
Forum, July 9: [Moore (Thomas Sturge)] [Wood Engravings], 71 wood-engravings printed by David Chambers from the original blocks, the only set on Japanese Hosho paper, from an edition of 5 sets, [1970]. - Est. £3,000-4,000
Forum Auctions The Private Library: Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers July 9, 2026
Forum, July 9: La Fontaine (Jean de) Contes et Nouvelles en vers, 2 vol., engraved plates after Eisen, fine early 19th century blue morocco, gilt, by Bradel l'ainé, Amsterdam [Paris], 1762. - Est. £2,000-3,000
Forum, July 9: Erotica.- Prostitution.- Pretty Women of Paris (The); Their Names and Addresses, Qualities and Faults..., [Paris], privately printed at the Press of the Prefecture de Police, 1883. - Est. £3,000-4,000
Forum, July 9: Vale Press.- Ricketts (Charles) & Lucien Pissarro. De la Typographie et de l'Harmonie de la Page Imprimée…, [one of 216 copies], bound in dark blue morocco tooled in gilt, by Sarah T.Prideaux, 1898. - Est. £1,000-1,500
Forum Auctions The Private Library: Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers July 9, 2026
Forum, July 9: Martin (John) Illustrations of the Bible, complete set of 20 mezzotints, good impressions, rarely found in early states, [c.1831-1835]. - Est. £1,000-1,500
Forum, July 9: Golden Cockerel Press.- Four Gospels of the Lord Jesus Christ (The), one of 500 copies, Mary Gill's copy, Waltham St. Lawrence, 1931 with a signed proof of engraving on japon numbered 10/10 (2) - Est. £5,000-7,000
Forum, July 9: Boccaccio (Giovanni) The Decameron, 3 vol., vol.1 extra-illustrated by John Buckland Wright with c.150 erotic original drawings in pen & ink and pencil, 1886 [extra-illustrated c.1940]. - Est. £10,000-15,000
Forum Auctions The Private Library: Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers July 9, 2026
Forum, July 9: Cox (Morris) Collection of Gogmagog Press Books, 35 vol., rare complete collection of printed books issued by the press, limited editions, most signed by Cox, 1957-83. - Est. £10,000-15,000
Forum, July 9: Wynkyn de Worde.- [Terentius Afer (Publius)] [Comedie...], [Paris, Josse Badius: sold in London by Wynkyn de Worde, & others], [15 July 1504]. - Est. £4,000-6,000
Forum, July 9: Mosley (James) Ornamented Types. Twenty-Three Alphabets from the Foundry of Louis John Pouchée, 2 vol., one of 10 copies for presentation, from an edition of 210, 1992-93. - Est. £1,000-2,000
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
