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Sydney Rare Book Auctions: Australian, Asia-Pacific, Science & 1st Editions & Signed Book

Auction Reports


Auction Name	Australian, Asia-Pacific, Science & 1st Editions & Signed Book	Total Sales (AUD)	62,122.05
Auction Date	September 14, 2025 - September 14, 2025	Low Estimate of Lots Sold (AUD)	59,610.00
Sale Number	#A162	High Estimate of Lots Sold (AUD)	85,320.00
Total Lots	345
Sold Lots	228.0	Low Estimate of All Lots (AUD)	97,990.00
% of Lots Sold	66.09%	High Estimate of All Lots (AUD)	138,020.00
Unsold Lots	117	Total Sales as a % of High Est.	45.01%

Top twenty-five by sale price

Lot Number	Author Name	Book Title	Year Published	Estimate	Actual Price
147		Natural History of Central Asia		AUD 800.00 - 1,200.00	AUD 4,445.00
100		Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds: set of seven volumes in nine parts		AUD 3,000.00 - 4,000.00	AUD 2,286.00
42	FAULKNER, Henry.	Elephant Haunts: Being a Sportsman's Narrative of the Search for Doctor Livingstone, with Scenes of Elephant, Buffalo, and Hippopotamus Hunting.	1868	AUD 400.00 - 600.00	AUD 2,032.00
145		Herpetological Papers 1889-1940.		AUD 400.00 - 500.00	AUD 1,905.00
146		Central Asiatic Expeditions of the American Museum of Natural History under the leadership pf Roy Chapman Andrews. Preliminary Contributions in Geology Palaeontology, Archaeology and Zoology.		AUD 200.00 - 300.00	AUD 1,778.00
333		11 books on Maori culture, including topics such as Art, History and Carving.		AUD 150.00 - 250.00	AUD 1,397.00
48	McGRATH, Sandra.	Brett Whiteley.	1979	AUD 250.00 - 300.00	AUD 1,270.00
51	BRETON de la MARTINIERE (Jean Baptiste Joseph).	China: its Costume, Arts, Manufacturers, &c. edited principally from the originals in the Cabinet of the late M. Bertin: with Observations Explanatory, Historical, and Literary, by M. Breton.	1813	AUD 1,500.00 - 2,000.00	AUD 1,270.00
124	A C Kelly	The Vine in Australia	1861	AUD 1,500.00 - 1,750.00	AUD 1,206.50
60		BREE, Charles R. A History of the Birds of Europe, not Observed in the British Isles.		AUD 1,200.00 - 1,500.00	AUD 1,143.00
68		Photograph Album created by the London Missionary Society of Tonga, Samoa and surrounds. Entitled: Nieue Centennial 1846-1946 Barotonga. Samoa. Landscape album.		AUD 1,500.00 - 2,000.00	AUD 952.50
12	edited Harry Tatlock Miller and A.C. Jackson.	A wonderful run of the radical Australian literary journal, titled 'Manuscripts'		AUD 1,250.00 - 2,000.00	AUD 889.00
56		1820 Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser. Volume The Eighteenth Saturday October 21, 1820.	1820	AUD 1,000.00 - 2,000.00	AUD 889.00
59	DUNCAN, James.	Four books on Entomology, from the Naturalist's Library edited by William Jardine.	1852	AUD 500.00 - 750.00	AUD 762.00
110		Story of "Southern Cross" Trans Pacific Flight 1928 by Charles Kingsford-Smith & Charles Ulm.	1928	AUD 450.00 - 550.00	AUD 698.50
162	edited Andreas Fingernagel & Christian Gastgeber.	1) In The Beginning was the Word - The Power and Glory of illuminated Bibles	2003	AUD 200.00 - 300.00	AUD 698.50
105	Rev. Walter Weston.	A facsimile of: Mountaineering and Exploration in the Japanese Alps	1896	AUD 700.00 - 800.00	AUD 635.00
61	Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte.	The Works of Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte.	1893	AUD 400.00 - 500.00	AUD 603.25
293		Plunkett's Australian Magistrate: Containing the course of practice in all preliminary investigations by Justices of The Peace, together with all the various forms appertaining Thereto by JH Plunkett. Sydney: J Moore 1859. Original brown cloth in very goo		AUD 250.00 - 350.00	AUD 571.50
299	Edward Hutton.	Theocritos The Complete Poems Translated by Jack Lindsay with Wood Cuts by Lionel Ellis and an Introduction	No date but 1929	AUD 200.00 - 300.00	AUD 539.75
22	SENDAK, Maurice.	Where the Wild Things Are.	1967	AUD 300.00 - 400.00	AUD 476.25
26	THYER, Brigadier J. H. (introduction).	The Grim Glory of the 2/19 Battalion A.I.F. by various members of the Unit Association.	1975	AUD 750.00 - 1,000.00	AUD 476.25
54		The Sydney Herald for Monday, June 17, 1833 .	1833	AUD 750.00 - 800.00	AUD 476.25
65		A shelf of cricket books, including James Lillywhites Annuals for 1900 and 1897; ...		AUD 250.00 - 300.00	AUD 476.25
115	Joan Lindsay.	Picnic at Hanging Rock	1967	AUD 500.00 - 600.00	AUD 476.25

Heritage Auctions
Rare Books Signature Auction
December 15, 2025

Heritage, Dec. 15: John Donne. Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death. London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.

Heritage, Dec. 15: Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.

Heritage, Dec. 15: F. Scott Fitzgerald. Tender is the Night. A Romance.

Heritage, Dec. 15: Bram Stoker. Dracula. Westminster: Archibald Constable & Co., 1897.

Heritage, Dec. 15: Jerry Thomas. How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion, Containing Clear and Reliable Directions for Mixing All the Beverages Used in the United States…
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Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("Martinus Luther") to His Friend the Theologian Gerhard Wiskamp ("Gerardo Xantho Lampadario"). $100,000 - $150,000.

Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: An Exceptionally Fine Copy of Austenís Emma: A Novel in Three Volumes. $40,000 - $60,000.

Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Presentation Copy of Ernest Hemmingwayís A Farewell to Arms for Edward Titus of the Black Mankin Press. $30,000 - $50,000.

Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript Signed Integrally for "The Songs of Pooh," by Alan Alexander. $30,000 - $50,000.

Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript of "Three Fragments from Gˆtterd‰mmerung" by Richard Wagner. $30,000 - $50,000.

Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Preliminary Artwork, for the First Edition of Snow Crash. $20,000 - $30,000.

Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("T.R. Malthus") to Economist Nassau Senior on Wealth, Labor and Adam Smith. $20,000 - $30,000.

Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Finely Bound by Michael Wilcox. $20,000 - $30,000.

Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: First Edition of Lewis and Clark: Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean. $8,000 - $12,000.

Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Artwork for the First Edition of Neal Stephenson's Groundbreaking Novel Snow Crash. $100,000 - $150,000.

Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: A Complete Set Signed Deluxe Editions of King's The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. $8,000 - $12,000.

Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("John Adams") to James Le Ray de Chaumont During the Crucial Years of the Revolutionary War. $8,000 - $12,000.
Sotheby’s
Book Week
December 9-17, 2025

Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Francesco Colonna. Hypnerotomachie, Paris, 1546, Parisian calf by Wotton Binder C for Marcus Fugger. €200,000 to €300,000.

Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Nausea. De principiis dialectices Gorgias, and other works, Venice, 1523, morocco gilt for Cardinal Campeggio. €3,000 to €4,000.

Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Billon. Le fort inexpugnable de l'honneur, Paris, 1555, Parisian calf gilt for Peter Ernst, Graf von Mansfeld. €120,000 to €180,000.

Sotheby’s
Book Week
December 9-17, 2025

Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Salinger, J.D. The Graham Family archive, including autographed letters, an inscribed Catcher, a rare studio photograph of the author, and more. $120,000 to $180,000.

Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of Sense and Sensibility, the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.

Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Massachusetts General Court. A powerful precursor to the Declaration of Independence: "every Act of Government … without the Consent of the People, is … Tyranny." $40,000 to $60,000.