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Swann Galleries: Printed and Manuscript Americana

Auction Reports


Auction Name	Printed and Manuscript Americana	Total Sales (USD)	715,831.00
Auction Date	November 20, 2025 - November 20, 2025	Low Estimate of Lots Sold (USD)	504,500.00
Sale Number	#2721	High Estimate of Lots Sold (USD)	745,500.00
Total Lots	360
Sold Lots	315.0	Low Estimate of All Lots (USD)	590,800.00
% of Lots Sold	87.50%	High Estimate of All Lots (USD)	872,200.00
Unsold Lots	45	Total Sales as a % of High Est.	82.07%

Top twenty-five by sale price

Lot Number	Author Name	Book Title	Year Published	Estimate	Actual Price
17	Benjamin Beal	(AMERICAN REVOLUTION--1776.) Unpublished diary of a lieutenant serving in the Invasion of Quebec	17 March to 6 December 1776	USD 70,000.00 - 100,000.00	USD 76,200.00
23	George Washington	(AMERICAN REVOLUTION--1777.) Letter anticipating the coming British campaign against Philadelphia	19 January 1777	USD 60,000.00 - 90,000.00	USD 69,850.00
193	Joseph Smith	(MORMONS.) Mortgage deed signed with Sidney Rigdon and Hyrum Smith	12 March 1840	USD 30,000.00 - 40,000.00	USD 48,260.00
156		(FREEMASONRY.) Manuscript of Connecticut Masonic rituals	circa 1797-1819	USD 600.00 - 900.00	USD 17,780.00
206	Ebenezer Rand	(MORMONS.) Letters with a non-Mormon perspective on Nauvoo in the 1840s and beyond	1865 and [1872?]	USD 20,000.00 - 30,000.00	USD 13,970.00
175	Jeremiah B. Taylor	(KANSAS.) Letterbook of a frontier missionary with tales of friendly Indians and unfriendly Confederate guerrillas	1839-1887	USD 6,000.00 - 9,000.00	USD 12,065.00
286	[Benjamin Rush]	(SPORTS--GOLF.) Sermons to Gentlemen upon Temperance and Exercise	1772	USD 10,000.00 - 15,000.00	USD 11,430.00
143	[Smith]	(EARLY AMERICAN IMPRINT.) A Declaration . . .	1764	USD 3,000.00 - 4,000.00	USD 9,525.00
78	William H. Tabb	(CIVIL WAR--CONFEDERATE.) Letters of a captain in the 14th Mississippi, at Fort Donelson, Jackson, Atlanta, and more	1861-1865	USD 4,000.00 - 6,000.00	USD 8,255.00
69	Charles M. Heaton	(CIVIL WAR.) Letters of a clerk in Washington through the war	1861-1864	USD 4,000.00 - 6,000.00	USD 7,620.00
9	George Catlin	(AMERICAN INDIANS.) O-Kee-Pa: A Religious Ceremony; and other Customs of the Mandans	1867	USD 4,000.00 - 6,000.00	USD 6,604.00
38	Herman Daggett	(ANIMAL RIGHTS.) The Rights of Animals: An Oration, Delivered at the Commencement of Providence-College	1792	USD 800.00 - 1,200.00	USD 6,604.00
194	J. Goldsmith	(MORMONS.) A Grammar of General Geography, with ownership signature of the prophet's brother William Smith	1822	USD 6,000.00 - 9,000.00	USD 6,604.00
255		(POLITICS.) [Elkanah Tisdale,] The Gerry-Mander, first appearance of this loathsome creature	26 March 1812	USD 1,500.00 - 2,500.00	USD 6,600.00
130		(DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.) Eleazar Huntington, In Congress July 4th. 1776	circa 1820-24	USD 2,000.00 - 3,000.00	USD 6,350.00
184		(MASSACHUSETTS.) Act of the Massachusetts Senate ordering a tax to suppress Shays's Rebellion	17 February 1787	USD 700.00 - 1,000.00	USD 6,350.00
291	Guy R.	(TRAVEL.) Love. Extensive letters and photographs of an American diplomat in Morocco and Ethiopia	1907-1910	USD 3,000.00 - 4,000.00	USD 6,350.00
256	[Theodorus Bailey]	(PRESIDENTS--1802.) Authentic Information Relative to the Conduct of the Present & Last Administrations	1802	USD 600.00 - 900.00	USD 6,096.00
209	John Taylor	(MORMONS.) Letter enclosing the clipped signature of Brigham Young and the First Presidency	7 January 1882	USD 2,000.00 - 3,000.00	USD 5,842.00
292	Brooke Russell [Astor]	(TRAVEL.) Diary as a young American girl in Peking and on the "grand tour."	1 January to 8 November 1913	USD 5,000.00 - 7,500.00	USD 5,334.00
311		(WEST--NEW MEXICO.) Hermann Stieffel, early watercolor view of the ruins of a Spanish mission in the Manzano Grant	circa 1860-1867	USD 1,000.00 - 1,500.00	USD 5,080.00
57	Maurice, Arthur and Sidney Robinson	(CANADA.) Diary of three English brothers seeking their fortune in the Klondike gold rush	1897-1898	USD 2,000.00 - 3,000.00	USD 4,826.00
107	Cornelius Agnew	(CIVIL WAR--MEDICINE.) Correspondence relating to his leadership of the Sanitary Commission during the war	1861-1865	USD 2,500.00 - 3,500.00	USD 4,826.00
210	Hiram Clawson	(MORMONS.) Letter arranging a 4th of July dinner for polygamist inmates	26 June 1886	USD 7,000.00 - 10,000.00	USD 4,826.00
332		(CUBA.) Estatutos de la Liga General de Base Ball de la Isla de Cuba	14 November 1889	USD 2,000.00 - 3,000.00	USD 4,826.00

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.
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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