Sothebys: Fine Manuscript and Printed Americana, N12016, New York

Auction Details

Auction Report
Auction Date
January 27, 2026 - January 27, 2026
Page Size: 15 items in 1 pages
Lot Number Author Name Book Title Place Printed Year Published Estimate Actual Price
501 Adams, John

Establishing an American Army: John Adams introduces a congressional committee charged with meeting with General Washington "concerning various Matters of Importance"

Philadelphia, 30 September 1775 USD 150,000.00 - 250,000.00 Not Sold
502 Adams, John

A learned disquisition on the common law and natural rights and the roles those concepts played in Adams's own contributions to the Declaration of Independence and the founding of the United States

Quincy, 12 March 1802 USD 120,000.00 - 180,000.00 Not Sold
503 (Gettysburg)

"Genl. Doubleday has taken charge of the battle": Abner Doubleday's autograph witness to the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, illustrated by fourteen insightful maps and plans

New York, ca. 1875--1885 USD 200,000.00 - 300,000.00 Not Sold
504 (Hamilton, Alexander, James Madison, and John Jay)

Bushrod Washington's Federalist, praised by George Washington as a "work [that] will merit the notice of Posterity"

New York: 1788 USD 120,000.00 - 150,000.00 USD 317,500.00
505 Jefferson, Thomas

In a widely discursive letter, Jefferson announces that he is joining Washington's cabinet and expresses great relief at the recovery of the President from a serious illness

New York, 27 May 1790 USD 60,000.00 - 80,000.00 Not Sold
506 Lincoln, Abraham

The President's letter to John Key---sent just four days after he issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation

Washington, D.C., 26 September 1862 USD 200,000.00 - 300,000.00 USD 203,200.00
507 Lincoln, Abraham

The President refutes rebel press propaganda about the siege of Vicksburg

Washington, D.C., 4 June 1863 USD 80,000.00 - 120,000.00 Not Sold
508 Lincoln, Abraham

The President thanks a schoolboy on behalf of "all the children of the nation for his efforts to ensure "that this war shall be successful, and the Union be maintained and perpetuated."

Washington, D.C., 6 September 1864 USD 200,000.00 - 300,000.00 USD 241,300.00
509 McKenney, Thomas L., and James Hall

History of the Indian Tribes of North America, a royal subscriber's copy

Philadelphia: 1838 [Vol. 1], 1838, 1844 USD 70,000.00 - 100,000.00 USD 120,650.00
510 Smith, John

The General History of Virginia... 1624

London: 1624 USD 150,000.00 - 200,000.00 USD 190,500.00
511 Virginia House of Delegates

The genesis of the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights

Williamsburg: [1776] USD 350,000.00 - 500,000.00 USD 406,400.00
512 Washington, George

An extraordinary pair of books from George Washington's field library, marking the conjunction of three of the most consequential military figures of eighteenth-century America: Robert Rogers, George Washington, and Henry Knox

London: 1765 USD 1,200,000.00 - 1,800,000.00 Not Sold
513 Washington, George

The commander in chief orders that Redcoat prisoners be treated "with humanity, and Let them have no reason to Complain of our Copying the brutal example of the Brittish Army"

"Headquarters Morristown," 8 January 1777 USD 80,000.00 - 100,000.00 USD 215,900.00
514 Washington, George

An extraordinary letter marking the conjunction of three of the most consequential figures of the American Revolution: George Washington, the Marquis de Lafayette, and Benjamin Franklin

Philadelphia, 28 December 1778 USD 1,000,000.00 - 1,500,000.00 USD 1,016,000.00
515 [World War II -- 21st Army Group]

An important archive of maps and files documenting the allied campaign in Europe, from the early stages of planning for D-Day and Operation Overlord, to the German surrender

1943-1945 USD 150,000.00 - 250,000.00 USD 139,700.00
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