Shakespeare's first folio, #1 on the AE 500 for 2006. Courtesy of Sotheby's.
2. One of only 31 known copies, just two in private hands, of the first atlas, a 1477 printing of Ptolemy's Cosmographia, with 26 hand-colored maps, printed by Dominicus de Lapis in Bologne. $3,930,240.
1. What could be more suitable for number one than the greatest piece of English literature ever published, more collectible than any book except the Gutenberg Bible? This is the legendary 1623 first folio edition of William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies. Eighteen of the 36 plays in this book would have been lost forever were it not for this printing put together by a few of Shakespeare's friends after his death. Among the plays which would otherwise have been lost are Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Henry VIII, All's Well That Ends Well, The Taming of the Shrew, Antony and Cleopatra, and Twelfth Night. This copy was obtained by Dr. Daniel Williams in the 17th century, and had resided in the library he formed since 1729. $5,166,720.
You may find the entire AE Top 500 at http://www.americanaexchange.com/newae/auction/stats/2006/2006aetop500.asp.
Footnote: What qualifies for a list of books and book-related ephemera? You might think this is easy to answer. It is not. Not even what constitutes a book is always obvious. Are loose portfolios of sheets, perhaps issued serially, maybe all at once, perhaps intended to be bound together, maybe optional, a book? The aforementioned Audubon folio was shipped out in separate sheets, for the purchaser to bind together (or not) himself. Was that a book? We think so. So how about a collection of prints from an artist, or a group of photographs? Is this a book?
The problem here is that if you start counting prints as related ephemera, the list quickly becomes dominated by "authors" such as Picasso and Rembrandt, or photographers Steiglitz and even Mapplethorpe. Shakespeare and Twain aren't even in the same league with Warhol. This isn't right. And yet, this was the year when the long-lost Blake artwork, intended for the 1808 edition of The Grave, was rediscovered after over a century and a half in hiding. While a Blake drawing may appear similar to one by Andy Warhol, we consider the former a piece of book-related ephemera, the latter not.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 156: Cornelis de Jode, Americae pars Borealis, double-page engraved map of North America, Antwerp, 1593.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 206: John and Alexander Walker, Map of the United States, London and Liverpool, 1827.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 223: Abraham Ortelius, Typus Orbis Terrarum, hand-colored double-page engraved world map, Antwerp, 1575.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 233: Aaron Arrowsmith, Chart of the World, oversize engraved map on 8 sheets, London, 1790 (circa 1800).
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 239: Fielding Lucas, A General Atlas, 81 engraved maps and diagrams, Baltimore, 1823.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 240: Anthony Finley, A New American Atlas, 15 maps engraved by james hamilton young on 14 double-page sheets, Philadelphia, 1826.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 263: John Bachmann, Panorama of the Seat of War, portfolio of 4 double-page chromolithographed panoramic maps, New York, 1861.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 265: Sebastian Münster, Cosmographei, Basel: Sebastian Henricpetri, 1558.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 271: Abraham Ortelius, Epitome Theatri Orteliani, Antwerp: Johann Baptist Vrients, 1601.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 283: Joris van Spilbergen, Speculum Orientalis Occidentalisque Indiae, Leiden: Nicolaus van Geelkercken for Jodocus Hondius, 1619.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 285: Levinus Hulsius, Achtzehender Theil der Newen Welt, 14 engraved folding maps, Frankfurt: Johann Frederick Weiss, 1623.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 341: John James Audubon, Carolina Parrot, Plate 26, London, 1827.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue, inscribed by the author pre-publication. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Autograph sketchleaf including a probable draft for the E flat Piano Quartet, K.493, 1786. £150,000 to £200,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000.
![<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 11:</b> Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] <i>Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society,</i> Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/00d5fd41-2542-4a80-b119-4886d4b9925f.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 11:</b> Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] <i>Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society,</i> Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.")
