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Forum Auctions: Online: Modern Literature

Auction Reports

Auction Name Online: Modern Literature Total Sales (GBP) 179,114.45
Auction Date September 18, 2025 - September 18, 2025 Low Estimate of Lots Sold (GBP) 78,830.00
Sale Number #1046 High Estimate of Lots Sold (GBP) 111,170.00
Total Lots 392
Sold Lots 345.0 Low Estimate of All Lots (GBP) 90,620.00
% of Lots Sold 88.01% High Estimate of All Lots (GBP) 127,780.00
Unsold Lots 47 Total Sales as a % of High Est. 140.17%

Top twenty-five by sale price

Lot Number Author Name Book Title Year Published Estimate Actual Price
361 Tolkien (J.R.R.)

The Two Towers; The Return of the King

1954-55. GBP 1,500.00 - 2,000.00 GBP 10,160.00
6 Eliot (T.S.)

East Coker, The New English Weekly (Supplement)

1940 GBP 1,000.00 - 1,500.00 GBP 6,096.00
11 Eliot (T.S.)

7 Autograph Letters signed "Tom Possum" or variants to Andrew Roberts

1944 GBP 600.00 - 800.00 GBP 5,334.00
8 Eliot (T.S.)

Little Gidding

GBP 1,000.00 - 1,500.00 GBP 4,826.00
13 Eliot (T.S.)

14 Christmas Cards signed by T.S. Eliot

GBP 1,000.00 - 1,500.00 GBP 3,556.00
211 Kavan (Anna)

4 unpublished short stories

[1960s] GBP 600.00 - 800.00 GBP 2,794.00
132 Eliot (T.S.)

The Rock

1934 GBP 600.00 - 800.00 GBP 2,540.00
305 Pym (Barbara)

Excellent Women

1952 GBP 150.00 - 200.00 GBP 2,540.00
304 Pym (Barbara)

Some Tame Gazelle

1950 GBP 300.00 - 400.00 GBP 2,032.00
210 Kavan (Anna)

Ice

1967 GBP 200.00 - 300.00 GBP 1,778.00
148 Forster (E.M.)

A Room With a View

1908 GBP 400.00 - 600.00 GBP 1,524.00
251 Lehmann (Rosamond)

A Note in Music

1930 GBP 200.00 - 300.00 GBP 1,524.00
138 Fitzgerald (F. Scott)

The Great Gatsby

1925 GBP 400.00 - 600.00 GBP 1,397.00
186 Herron (Mick)

Down Cemetery Road

2003 GBP 300.00 - 400.00 GBP 1,397.00
387 Woolf (Virginia)

To the Lighthouse

1927 GBP 300.00 - 400.00 GBP 1,397.00
68 Benchley (Peter)

Jaws

GBP 300.00 - 400.00 GBP 1,270.00
160 Green (Henry)

Party Going

1939 GBP 150.00 - 200.00 GBP 1,270.00
208 Kafka (Franz)

America

1938 GBP 400.00 - 600.00 GBP 1,270.00
7 Eliot (T.S.)

East Coker, extract from The New English Weekly

1940 GBP 300.00 - 400.00 GBP 1,206.50
61 Baring-Gould (Sabine)

Margery of Quether and other stories

1891 GBP 300.00 - 400.00 GBP 1,206.50
209 Kavan (Anna)

A Scarcity of Love

1956 GBP 300.00 - 400.00 GBP 1,206.50
16 MacNeice (Louis)

Blind Fireworks

1929 GBP 200.00 - 300.00 GBP 1,143.00
88 Camus (Albert)

The Myth of Sisyphus

1955 GBP 200.00 - 300.00 GBP 1,143.00
228 Le Carre (John)

The le Carre Omnibus

1964 GBP 400.00 - 600.00 GBP 1,143.00
29 Mitchell (David)

Ghostwritten

GBP 200.00 - 300.00 GBP 1,016.00
  • SD Scandinavian Art & Rare Book Auctions
    The Odfjell Collection
    Polar – History – Ornithology – Colour Plate Books
    Ending December 4th
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: ROALD AMUNDSEN: «Sydpolen» [ The South Pole] 1912. First edition in jackets and publisher's slip case.
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: AMUNDSEN & NANSEN: «Fram over Polhavet» [Farthest North] 1897. AMUNDSEN's COPY!
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: ERNEST SHACKLETON [ed.]: «Aurora Australis» 1908. First edition. The NORWAY COPY.
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: ERNEST SHACKLETON: «The heart of the Antarctic» + SUPPLEMENT «The Antarctic Book», 1909.
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: SHACKLETON, BERNACCHI, CHERRY-GARRARD [ed.]: «The South Polar Times» I-III, 1902-1911.
    SD Scandinavian Art & Rare Book Auctions
    The Odfjell Collection
    Polar – History – Ornithology – Colour Plate Books
    Ending December 4th
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: [WILLEM BARENTSZ & HENRY HUDSON] - SAEGHMAN: «Verhael van de vier eerste schip-vaerden […]», 1663.
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: TERRA NOVA EXPEDITION | LIEUTENANT HENRY ROBERTSON BOWERS: «At the South Pole.», Gelatin Silver Print. [10¾ x 15in. (27.2 x 38.1cm.) ].
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: ELEAZAR ALBIN: «A natural History of Birds.» + «A Supplement», 1738-40. Wonderful coloured plates.
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: PAUL GAIMARD: «Voyage de la Commision scientific du Nord, en Scandinavie, […]», c. 1842-46. ONLY HAND COLOURED COPY KNOWN WITH TWO ORIGINAL PAINTINGS BY BIARD.
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: JAMES JOYCE: «Ulysses», 1922. FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS.
  • 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.
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  • 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.