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University Archives: Rare Autographs, Manuscripts, and Books

Auction Reports

Auction Name Rare Autographs, Manuscripts, and Books Total Sales (USD) 636,362.85
Auction Date September 30, 2020 - September 30, 2020 Low Estimate of Lots Sold (USD) 535,470.00
Sale Number #93020 High Estimate of Lots Sold (USD) 653,470.00
Total Lots 357
Sold Lots 325 Low Estimate of All Lots (USD) 789,470.00
% of Lots Sold 91.04% High Estimate of All Lots (USD) 1,018,120.00
Unsold Lots 32 Total Sales as a % of High Est. 62.50%

Top twenty-five by sale price

Lot Number Author Name Book Title Year Published Estimate Actual Price
250

Edgar Allan Poe Signed Receipt for Printing of "The Raven" An Exceptional Literary Rarity

 April 16, 1845 USD 60,000.00 - 70,000.00 USD 75,000.00
226

Sir Isaac Newton Superb Important Autograph Manuscript: Heresy, Expounding Religious Views that Colored His Scientific Works Including Principia!

 C. 1700 USD 50,000.00 - 60,000.00 USD 50,000.00
58

Superb Albert Einstein Photo, Among the Finest Known

Ca. 1927 USD 20,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD 22,500.00
61

Albert Einstein ALS Re: Unified Field Theory, Complete with 12 Formulas & Lines of Calculations in His Hand, & Unpublished!

 May 2, 1950 USD 24,000.00 - 26,000.00 USD 22,500.00
62

Albert Einstein Signed Copy of 2 Important Works Incl. His Doctoral Thesis, "A New Determination of Molecular Dimensions" -- Extraordinarily Rare!

 Ca. 1950 USD 30,000.00 - 40,000.00 USD 19,000.00
46

Charles Darwin ALS Referring to his Mentor, Scottish Geologist Sir Charles Lyell, as "the old master, to whom I am so deeply indebted under a scientific point of view"

 November 20, 1881 USD 20,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD 16,250.00
71

Benjamin Franklin Signed Document, Gorgeously Presented

 May 9, 1786 USD 8,000.00 - 9,000.00 USD 12,500.00
113

Thomas Jefferson ALS to His Future VP Clinton, About “A man of literature and a genuine republican”

 June 1, 1793 USD 13,000.00 - 14,000.00 USD 11,875.00
193

President-Elect Lincoln Gets Back-Channel Update from Fort Sumter

 January 24, 1861 USD 10,000.00 - 12,000.00 USD 10,000.00
304

Walter Schirra Complete Set of His Flight Log Books, From Fighter Pilot to Space Program

 Mid 20th Century USD 8,000.00 - 9,000.00 USD 10,000.00
340

George Washington Approves Purchase of Leather and Sugar for Potomac Company. Fantastic DS

 June 13, 1786 USD 4,000.00 - 5,000.00 USD 9,375.00
114

Thomas Jefferson Superb Signed Act of Congress, Fabulous Display

 October 24, 1791 USD 7,000.00 - 8,000.00 USD 8,750.00
344

George Washington Signed Soc. of Cincinnati Doc Nominating Harvard Alum & Veteran of Battles of Lexington & Concord, Bunker Hill, Trenton, Princeton & Saratoga--MONUMENTAL Display!

 May 5, 1784 USD 7,000.00 - 8,000.00 USD 8,750.00
57

Einstein Appreciates a Birthday Gift that Causes Him to Recall – and Sketch – a Childhood Dexterity Game, "Pigs into the Sty"

 March 22, 1947 USD 12,000.00 - 14,000.00 USD 7,500.00
52

Declaration of Independence Printed on Cambric 1821

 ca. 1821 USD 6,000.00 - 7,000.00 USD 6,875.00
183

Jack Kerouac's Personally Owned Monumental Porcelain Statue of Guanyin, Nearly 28" High

 20th Century USD 1,000.00 - 1,200.00 USD 6,875.00
195

Abraham Lincoln Signed Civil War-Dated Appointment Displayed with Rare Engraving

 February 21, 1862 USD 4,000.00 - 5,000.00 USD 6,875.00
59

Albert Einstein TLS Re: Reflections on the 200th Anniversary of Sir Isaac Newton's Death

 March 19, 1927 USD 5,000.00 - 6,000.00 USD 6,250.00
112

Thomas Jefferson & James Madison Signed Scalloped Ship's Passport

 Ca. 1801-1809 USD 3,000.00 - 4,000.00 USD 5,937.50
33

"Damn the torpedoes..." Riveting 24pp ALS of Admiral Farragut's Steward Describing the "Battle of Mobile Bay"

 August 5, 1864 USD 6,000.00 - 7,000.00 USD 5,625.00
77

James Garfield Signed Check as President, One of Only Two Known, Ex-Sang

 June 16, 1881 USD 8,000.00 - 9,000.00 USD 5,625.00
327

Harry S. Truman Signed Super Rare Stock Certificate

 July 15, 1930 USD 2,000.00 - 2,400.00 USD 5,625.00
60

Albert Einstein ALS & Snapshot on Hamburg-American Line Postcard

Ca. 1931-1932 USD 4,000.00 - 5,000.00 USD 5,312.50
12

Humphrey Bogart Signed Deal Re: Maltese Falcon and Treasure of Sierra Madre

 December 20, 1954 USD 4,000.00 - 5,000.00 USD 5,000.00
234

Lee Harvey Oswald ALS to His Mother from Russia, Warren Commission Evidence

 October 22, 1959 USD 6,000.00 - 7,000.00 USD 5,000.00
  • Doyle, May 1: Thomas Jefferson expresses fears of "a war of extermination" in Saint-Dominigue. $40,000 to $60,000.
    Doyle, May 1: An exceptional presentation copy of Fitzgerald's last book, in the first issue dust jacket. $25,000 to $35,000.
    Doyle, May 1: The rare first signed edition of Dorian Gray. $15,000 to $25,000.
    Doyle, May 1: The Prayer Book of Jehan Bernachier. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Doyle, May 1: Van Dyck's Icones Principum Virorum Doctorum. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Doyle, May 1: The magnificent Cranach Hamlet in the deluxe binding by Dõrfner. $7,000 to $10,000.
    Doyle, May 1: A remarkable unpublished manuscript of a voyage to South America in 1759-1764. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Doyle, May 1: Bouchette's monumental and rare wall map of Lower Canada. $12,000 to $18,000.
    Doyle, May 1: An rare original 1837 abolitionist woodblock. $8,000 to $12,000.
    Doyle, May 1: An important manuscript breviary in Middle Dutch. $15,000 to $25,000.
    Doyle, May 1: An extraordinary Old Testament manuscript, circa 1250. $20,000 to $30,000.
  • Leland Little, Apr. 26: First Edition of Piccolomini's De La Sfera del Mondo (The Sphere of the World), 1540.
    Leland Little, Apr. 26: First Edition of Vellutello's Commentary on Petrarch, With Map, 1525.
    Leland Little, Apr. 26: Finely Bound Definitive, Illustrated Edition of I Promessi Sposi, 1840.
    Leland Little, Apr. 26: Rare First Edition of John Milton's Latin Correspondence, 1674.
    Leland Little, Apr. 26: Giolito's Edition of Boccaccio's The Decamerone, with Bedford Binding, 1542.
    Leland Little, Apr. 26: First Edition of the First Biography of Marie of the Incarnation, with Rare Portrait, 1677.
    Leland Little, Apr. 26: First Aldine Edition of Volume One of Cicero's Orationes, 1540.
    Leland Little, Apr. 26: First Edition of Bonanni's Illustrated Costume Catalogue, with Complete Plates, 1711.
    Leland Little, Apr. 26: An Important Incunable, the First Italian Edition of Josephus's De Bello Judaico, 1480.
    Leland Little, Apr. 26: First Edition of Jacques Philippe d'Orville's Illustrated Book of the Ruins of Sicily, 1764.
    Leland Little, Apr. 26: An Incunable from 1487, The Contemplative Life, with Early Manuscript.
    Leland Little, Apr. 26: Ignatius of Loyola's Exercitia Spiritualia, 1563.
  • Jeschke Jadi
    Auction 151
    Saturday, April 27, 2024
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 546. Christoph Jacob Trew. Plantae selectae, 1750-1773.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 70. Thomas Murner. Die Narren beschwerung. 1558.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 621. Michael Bernhard Valentini. Museum Museorum, 1714.
    Jeschke Jadi
    Auction 151
    Saturday, April 27, 2024
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 545. Sander Reichenbachia. Orchids illustrated and described, 1888-1894.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 1018. Marinetti, Boccioni, Pratella Futurism - Comprehensive collection of 35 Futurist manifestos, some of them exceptionally rare. 1909-1933.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 634. August Johann Rösel von Rosenhof. 3 Original Drawings, around 1740.
    Jeschke Jadi
    Auction 151
    Saturday, April 27, 2024
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 671. Jacob / Picasso. Chronique des Temps, 1956.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 1260. Mary Webb. Sarn. 1948. Lucie Weill Art Deco Binding.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 508. Felix Bonfils. 108 large-format photographs of Syria and Palestine.
    Jeschke Jadi
    Auction 151
    Saturday, April 27, 2024
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 967. Dante Aligheri and Salvador Dali. Divina Commedia, 1963.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 1316. Tolouse-Lautrec. Dessinateur. Duhayon binding, 1948.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 1303. Regards sur Paris. Braque, Picasso, Masson, 1962.
  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD
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