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Sydney Rare Book Auctions: Science and the Arts

Auction Reports


Auction Name	Science and the Arts	Total Sales (AUD)	96,589.85
Auction Date	September 28, 2025 - September 28, 2025	Low Estimate of Lots Sold (AUD)	93,180.00
Sale Number	#92825	High Estimate of Lots Sold (AUD)	134,390.00
Total Lots	309
Sold Lots	200.0	Low Estimate of All Lots (AUD)	124,120.00
% of Lots Sold	64.72%	High Estimate of All Lots (AUD)	177,820.00
Unsold Lots	109	Total Sales as a % of High Est.	54.32%

Top twenty-five by sale price

Lot Number	Author Name	Book Title	Year Published	Estimate	Actual Price
112		1890s Manuscript material from the estate of Ion Idriess concerning Jandamarra (or Pigeon as he was known to the white settlers of the Kimberley's).	1890s	AUD 10,000.00 - 20,000.00	AUD 26,670.00
113	Idriess one page Mostly Nature, Early Mounted Police, and Northern Territory Notes. Generally from about or just before 1930, onward.	Handwritten		AUD 15,000.00 - 20,000.00	AUD 9,525.00
98	HAWKESWORTH, John.	Captain James Cook, and others. An Account of the Voyages Undertaken	1773	AUD 5,000.00 - 6,000.00	AUD 3,175.00
148	Henry Lawson	While The Billy Boils With Eight Plates by Mahony.	1896	AUD 3,000.00 - 4,000.00	AUD 2,159.00
80		An excellent selection of books on Maori arts and culture.		AUD 500.00 - 750.00	AUD 2,032.00
99	KING, Phillip Parker.	Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia. Performed between the Years 1818 and 1822. With an Appendix, Containing Various Subjects Relating to Hydrography and Natural History.	1827	AUD 2,400.00 - 3,000.00	AUD 2,032.00
147	Arthur W Upfield	Winds Of Evil	1937	AUD 1,000.00 - 1,500.00	AUD 2,032.00
92	BOUGAINVILLE, Louis Antoine de.	A Voyage Round the World. Performed by John Reinhold Forster, F.A.S. by Order of His Most Christian Majesty, In the Years 1766, 1767, 1768, and 1769.	1772	AUD 2,400.00 - 3,000.00	AUD 1,778.00
183	SHACKLETON, E. H.	Aurora Australis.	1988	AUD 2,400.00 - 3,000.00	AUD 1,524.00
76	ETHERIDGE, Robert (curator and editor).	Scientific Results of the Trawling Expedition of H.M.C.S. "Thetis" off the Coast of New South Wales in February and March 1898.	1899- 1914	AUD 200.00 - 300.00	AUD 1,397.00
288	Captain Sir R.F. Burton.	Arabian Nights The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night. Translated from the Arabic	1897	AUD 2,000.00 - 3,000.00	AUD 1,270.00
250	AW Howitt	The Native Tribes of South-East Australia	1904	AUD 400.00 - 500.00	AUD 952.50
10	Jane Austen	Five novels	1907 to 1909	AUD 750.00 - 1,000.00	AUD 825.50
52	WILLIAMS, Thomas Walter.	Original Precedents in Conveyancing...	1790	AUD 200.00 - 300.00	AUD 825.50
287	J A H Murray	The Oxford English Dictionary: Second Edition, 20 Volumes Set Complete	1989	AUD 1,000.00 - 2,000.00	AUD 825.50
65	HALCOMBE, J. J. (editor).	The Emigrant and the Heathen; or sketches of Missionary life.	[1874].	AUD 400.00 - 500.00	AUD 762.00
47	ROSS, Malcolm.	A Climber in New Zealand.	1914	AUD 300.00 - 400.00	AUD 698.50
78		An outstanding lot of books on the history of New Zealand, including some scarce and desirable titles. All but two of the titles in this lot are hardcover octavo books, bound in the original cloth. Most have their dust-jackets, and the condition is overal	1887	AUD 500.00 - 750.00	AUD 698.50
88	BYRD, Richard Evelyn.	Little America. Aerial Exploration in the Antarctic. The Flight to the South Pole	1930	AUD 500.00 - 750.00	AUD 698.50
180	BLIGH, William.	Bligh's Voyage in the Resource, from Coupang to Batavia, together with the log of his subsequent passage to England in the Dutch packet "Vlydt" and his remarks on Morrison's Journal.	1937	AUD 600.00 - 800.00	AUD 698.50
289		A Fine complete 21 volume Set of the Oxford Library Works of Charles Dickens. .	1979	AUD 1,000.00 - 2,000.00	AUD 698.50
90	READ, Charles Rudston.	What I Heard, Saw, and Did at the Australian Gold Fields.	1853	AUD 1,000.00 - 1,200.00	AUD 635.00
175	OBAMA, Barak.	A Promised Land.	2020	AUD 1,000.00 - 1,200.00	AUD 635.00
179	BLIGH, William.	The Voyage of the Bounty's Launch as related in William Bligh's Despatch to the Admiralty and the Journal of John Fryer.	1934	AUD 600.00 - 800.00	AUD 635.00
181	BLIGH, William.	The Log of the Bounty. Being Lieutenant William Bligh's Log of the Proceedings of His Majesty's Armed Vessel Bounty in a Voyage to the South Seas, to take the Breadfruit from the Society Islands to the West Indies.	1937	AUD 1,000.00 - 1,200.00	AUD 635.00

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.