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Sothebys: Important Judaica

Auction Reports

Auction Name Important Judaica Total Sales (USD) 3,038,381.00
Auction Date December 17, 2025 - December 17, 2025 Low Estimate of Lots Sold (USD) 2,366,500.00
Sale Number #N11907 High Estimate of Lots Sold (USD) 3,888,500.00
Total Lots 45
Sold Lots 34.0 Low Estimate of All Lots (USD) 2,617,500.00
% of Lots Sold 75.56% High Estimate of All Lots (USD) 4,308,500.00
Unsold Lots 11 Total Sales as a % of High Est. 70.52%

Top twenty-five by sale price

Lot Number Author Name Book Title Year Published Estimate Actual Price
63

A Rare Hebrew Bible with Micrographic Masorah, Spain c. 1300

c. 1300 USD 1,500,000.00 - 2,500,000.00 USD 1,514,000.00
64

Complete Cycle of Haftarot (Prophetic Readings), [Spain, 14th century]

14th century] USD 200,000.00 - 300,000.00 USD 241,300.00
73

AN IMPORTANT ESTHER SCROLL, WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED BY ARYEH LEIB BEN DANIEL OF GORAY, ITALY, CIRCA 1740

CIRCA 1740 USD 20,000.00 - 40,000.00 USD 215,900.00
92

A Rare Monumental Ashkenazic Torah Scroll, [Northern Italy, ca. 1400]

ca. 1400] USD 100,000.00 - 200,000.00 USD 215,900.00
66

Hebrew Bible printed on parchment, Naples, 1492

1492 USD 150,000.00 - 250,000.00 USD 190,500.00
84

Autograph Manuscript of Theodor Herzl's "The Family Affliction"

USD 50,000.00 - 70,000.00 USD 95,250.00
93

A Historic Yemenite Torah Scroll

USD 70,000.00 - 100,000.00 USD 69,850.00
68

MINHAGIM, SIMEON HA-LEVI GUNZBURG, AMSTERDAM: ELIJAH ABOAB [AND MENASSEH BEN ISRAEL], 1645

1645 USD 40,000.00 - 60,000.00 USD 60,960.00
65

Pentateuch (Humash), with Targum Onkelos and Rashi's Commentary, Printed on Parchment

USD 6,000.00 - 8,000.00 USD 44,450.00
91

Fourteenth-Century Scroll of Esther (Megillat Esther) on Carved Wooden Roller

USD 15,000.00 - 25,000.00 USD 38,100.00
85

Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State), Theodor Herzl

USD 6,000.00 - 8,000.00 USD 35,560.00
60

Two Leaves from a Samaritan Pentateuch

USD 30,000.00 - 50,000.00 USD 31,750.00
62

Hebrew Biblical Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Autograph of the Last Maimonidean Nagid, David II ben Joshua Maimonides

USD 14,000.00 - 18,000.00 USD 31,750.00
67

Latter Prophets (Nevi'im Aharonim), with the Commentary of Don Isaac Abarbanel (1437--1508)

USD 15,000.00 - 20,000.00 USD 31,750.00
89

An Illustrated Traveler's Prayer and Bedtime Shema (Tefilat ha-Derekh and Kriyat Shema 'al ha Mitah) [Germany,] 1757

1757 USD 30,000.00 - 50,000.00 USD 25,400.00
75

An Illustrated Shehitah Kabbalah (license to perform ritual slaughter) granted to Daniel ben Moses David Terni

USD 6,000.00 - 10,000.00 USD 20,320.00
72

Medical Diploma for Rabbi-Physician Leon Cantarini (Yehudah ha-Kohen Katz), Granted by the University of Padua, Padua, October 1623.

October 1623. USD 8,000.00 - 12,000.00 USD 19,050.00
94

MINIATURE TORAH SCROLL, [EASTERN EUROPE: LATE 19TH-EARLY 20TH CENTURIES]

LATE 19TH-EARLY 20TH CENTURIES] USD 20,000.00 - 40,000.00 USD 17,780.00
61

Siddur (Prayerbook), [Persia, 13th century]

13th century] USD 4,000.00 - 6,000.00 USD 16,510.00
6

An Italian Silver Book Binding, Gaspare Vanneschi, Rome, Circa 1760-70

Circa 1760-70 USD 10,000.00 - 15,000.00 USD 15,240.00
77

First edition of the correspondence between George Washington and the American Jewish communities, 1796

1796 USD 6,000.00 - 8,000.00 USD 12,065.00
71

Seder Tefilot, Zolkiew, 1761, Bound in a Contemporary Silver Binding

1761, USD 8,000.00 - 12,000.00 USD 11,430.00
90

Central European Regulations on the Taxation of Jews and Kosher Food, Composite Register of Printed and Manuscript Instructions for Tax Collectors

USD 5,000.00 - 7,000.00 USD 11,430.00
88

A Rare Mizrah Papercut, Circa 1900

Circa 1900 USD 4,000.00 - 6,000.00 USD 9,525.00
69

Passover Haggadah According to the Ashkenazic and Sephardic Rites, with the Rare Map of the Holy Land.

USD 6,000.00 - 8,000.00 USD 8,890.00
  • Sotheby’s
    Fine Manuscript and Printed Americana
    27 January 2026
    Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: An extraordinary pair of books from George Washington’s field library, marking the conjunction of Robert Rogers, George Washington, and Henry Knox. $1,200,000 to $1,800,000.
    Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: An extraordinary letter marking the conjunction of George Washington, the Marquis de Lafayette, and Benjamin Franklin. $1,000,000 to $1,500,000.
    Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: Virginia House of Delegates. The genesis of the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. $350,000 to $500,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Fine Manuscript and Printed Americana
    27 January 2026
    Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: (Gettysburg). “Genl. Doubleday has taken charge of the battle”: Autograph witness to the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, illustrated by fourteen maps and plans. $200,000 to $300,000.
    Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: President Lincoln thanks a schoolboy on behalf of "all the children of the nation for his efforts to ensure "that this war shall be successful, and the Union be maintained and perpetuated." $200,000 to $300,000.
    Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: [World War II]. An archive of maps and files documenting the allied campaign in Europe, from the early stages of planning for D-Day and Operation Overlord, to Germany’s surrender. $200,000 to $300,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    29th January 2026
    Forum, Jan. 29: Plato. [Apanta ta tou Platonos. Omnia Platonis opera], 2 parts in 2 vol., editio princeps of Plato's works in the original Greek, Venice, House of Aldus, 1513. £8,000-12,000
    Forum, Jan. 29: Book of Hours, Use of Rome, In Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum, [Southern Netherlands (probably Bruges), c.1460]. £6,000-8,000
    Forum, Jan. 29: Correspondence and documents by or addressed to the first four Viscounts Molesworth and members of their families, letters and manuscripts, 1690-1783. £10,000-15,000
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    29th January 2026
    Forum, Jan. 29: Shakespeare (William). The Dramatic Works, 9 vol., John and Josiah Boydell, 1802. £5,000-7,000
    Forum, Jan. 29: Joyce (James). Ulysses, first edition, one of 750 copies on handmade paper, Paris, Shakespeare and Company, 1922 £8,000-12,000
    Forum, Jan. 29: Powell (Anthony). [A Dance to the Music of Time], 12 vol., first editions, each with a signed presentation inscription from the author to Osbert Lancaster, 1951-75. £6,000-8,000
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    29th January 2026
    Forum, Jan. 29: Chaucer (Geoffrey). Troilus and Criseyde, one of 225 copies on handmade paper, wood-engravings by Eric Gill, Waltham St.Lawrence, 1927. £3,000-4,000
    Forum, Jan. 29: Borges (Jorge Luis). Luna de Enfrente, first edition, one of 300 copies, presentation copy signed by the author to Leopoldo Marechal, Buenos Aires, Editorial Proa, 1925. £3,000-4,000
    Forum, Jan. 29: Nolli (Giovanni Battista). Nuova Pianta di Roma, Rome, 1748. £6,000-8,000
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    29th January 2026
    Forum, Jan. 29: Roberts (David). The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, & Nubia, 3 vol., first edition, 1842-49. £15,000-20,000
    Forum, Jan. 29: Blacker (William). Catechism of Fly Making, Angling and Dyeing, Published by the author, 1843. £3,000-4,000
    Forum, Jan. 29: Herschel (Sir John F. W.) Collection of 69 offprints, extracts and separate publications by Herschel, bound for his son, William James Herschel, 3 vol., [1813-50]. £15,000-20,000
  • Dominic Winter
    Books, Maps, Documents & Autographs
    Ornithology, Music, Bookplates
    28th January 2026
    Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 26. Company School. An album of 85 Indian mica paintings, Madras, c. 1852. £700-1,000
    Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 28. Ross & Hooker. Notes on the Botany of the Antarctic Voyage, 1st edition, 1843. £4,000-6,000
    Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 44. Gould (John). The Birds of Great Britain, 5 volumes, 1st edition, 1862-73. £30,000-40,000
    Dominic Winter
    Books, Maps, Documents & Autographs
    Ornithology, Music, Bookplates
    28th January 2026
    Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 72. Edwards (George). A Natural History of Uncommon Birds… [and] Gleanings of Natural History, 7 volumes, 1st edition, 1743-64. £7,000-10,000
    Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 87. Walcott (Charles D. et al.). Geologic Atlas of the United States, 227-volume set, U.S. Geological Survey, 1894-1945. £500-800
    Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 236. A New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew…, By B. E. Gent., 1st edition, [1699]. £3,000-4,000
    Dominic Winter
    Books, Maps, Documents & Autographs
    Ornithology, Music, Bookplates
    28th January 2026
    Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 245. Frost Fair Broadside. Upon the Frost in the Year 1739-40, Printed on the Ice upon the Thames at Queen-Hithe, 1739/40. £1,500-2,000
    Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 270. Micheli (Antonino di). La Nuova Chitarra di Regole…, 1st edition, Palermo, 1680. £10,000-15,000
    Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 280. Elgar (Edward). Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, [1910], signed presentation copy. £500-800
    Dominic Winter
    Books, Maps, Documents & Autographs
    Ornithology, Music, Bookplates
    28th January 2026
    Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 286 - Walton (William, 1902-1983). Autograph manuscript full score for Belshazzar’s Feast, [1930-31]. £20,000-30,000
    Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 304. Churchill (Winston). A terracotta maquette of Churchill by Oscar Nemon, c. 1955. £1,500-2,000
    Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 364 - Russian Imperial Archaeological Commission. Mecheti Samarkanda..., Fascicule I Gour-Emir, St. Petersburg, 1905. £2,000-3,000