I have also broken with tradition by including source, year and price paid for each item. I know that this is important for the field but not yet certain how bidders will respond. Bloomsbury has over the four and half months we have been preparing this sale, moved week by week from "you're not serious" to "you're serious" to "it's your decision" to "we think it will be okay." I understand their concerns. This is an important sale but, as an auction house, they need new consignments all the time. Should the field raise an uproar, they will walk with me to death row but won't be holding my hand when the electric shock is delivered.
Stephen opens lot one. It's Breydenbach's 1490 "Peregrinatio in terram sanctam." It's not a new world item but was purchased as a view of the world in the final moments of the "world before Columbus." It's a hand colored copy I purchased from Richard Lan in 2000 for $145,000. It brings $108,000 in 90 seconds. Bloomsbury had estimated it at $70,0000 to $100,000.
Lot 2 is Hartmann Schedel's "Das Buch der Croniken und Geschichten" printed in 1493. The new world has been discovered but the news not reached Nuremberg. Nothing of course has changed today. News travels faster but acceptance still takes time. I bought this copy at Sotheby's London in 2000 for $176,720. Today, with an estimate of $100,000 to $150,000, it brings $180,000.
Lot 3 is Giuliano Dati's "Il Secondo Cantare del' India. Mr. Dati had the good sense to write about the new world before anyone but Columbus and his very brief pronouncements have come down to us as harbingers of the new world. I bought it from Stephane Clavreuil in Paris in 1998 for $110,000. It quickly changes hands at $102,000.
Lot 4 is Baptista Mantuanus's "De patientia aurei libri tres." I bought it from Bill Reese in 2000 for $7,000. Today it is estimated $5,000-$7,000 and brings $7,200.
I'm encouraged. I know that prices generally peaked around 2006, treaded water into early 2008 before evaporating in the fourth quarter. I have believed the market bottomed in 2009 and is, by category, recovering at different rates. This material falls into the strongest category because it is European-Americana and attracts old world interest from bidders whose currencies are much stronger than the dollar. Their dollar chips these days cost only 80 cents +/-.
Lot 5 is BERGOMENSIS FORESTI's 1497 "Nouissime historia omniu[m] repercussiones, nouiter [editae]... que Supplementum." Estimated at $5,000-$7,000 it brings $9,000. I bought it in 1995 at a New York Historical Society sale at Sotheby's for $2,587.
Lot 6 is another new world reference. This one, printed in 1497, is Johann Stamler's "Dyalogus ... de diversarum gencium sectis et mundi religionibus." I bought it at Swann in 2000 for $1,300. Today it is estimated at $1,500 to $2,500 and brings $4,560.
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.")
