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Bonhams: Islamic and Indian Art

Auction Reports

Auction Name Islamic and Indian Art Total Sales (USD) 144,960.00
Auction Date May 21, 2026 - May 21, 2026 Low Estimate of Lots Sold (USD) 83,600.00
Sale Number #32276 High Estimate of Lots Sold (USD) 117,300.00
Total Lots 71
Sold Lots 30.0 Low Estimate of All Lots (USD) 312,400.00
% of Lots Sold 42.25% High Estimate of All Lots (USD) 439,100.00
Unsold Lots 41 Total Sales as a % of High Est. 33.01%

Top twenty-five by sale price

Top Sale Price Lots
Lot Number Author Name Book Title Year Published Estimate Actual Price
15

Excised leaf from a manuscript of Persian poetry

circa mid-17th Century USD 15,000.00 - 20,000.00 USD 19,200.00
6 Mahmud

Turkish Jaghatai manuscript

992/July-August 1584; 1018/16th February 1610 USD 6,000.00 - 8,000.00 USD 17,920.00
11

Persian manuscript

second half of the 16th Century USD 4,000.00 - 6,000.00 USD 10,880.00
12

Persian manuscript

circa 1570 USD 3,000.00 - 5,000.00 USD 10,880.00
64

Italian text

1878 USD 2,000.00 - 3,000.00 USD 7,680.00
148

pen and ink and watercolour on watermarked paper

late 18th Century USD 6,000.00 - 8,000.00 USD 7,680.00
103

printed with use of colour, street names and other text in Persian

1924 USD 3,000.00 - 4,000.00 USD 6,400.00
264 Charles T. Scowen; G. W. Lawrie; Apothecaries Co. Ltd (Ceylon); Bourne and Shepherd Studio (Calcutta)

Various professional and amateur photographers

c. 1870-90 USD 2,500.00 - 3,500.00 USD 6,400.00
8

Persian manuscript

circa 1480-90 USD 1,500.00 - 2,000.00 USD 5,376.00
16

Pencil drawing on illuminated album page

17th Century USD 4,000.00 - 6,000.00 USD 4,864.00
9

Manuscript leaf

circa 1580 USD 5,000.00 - 7,000.00 USD 4,480.00
7

Persian manuscript

circa 1480-90 USD 1,500.00 - 2,000.00 USD 4,096.00
89

pen and ink, gouache and gold on paper laid down on card

early 17th Century USD 2,000.00 - 3,000.00 USD 3,840.00
26

Arabic manuscript

1867-68 USD 1,500.00 - 2,000.00 USD 3,584.00
281

Kapurthala, Patiala, Lahore and Lodhiana

1917-1944 USD 2,000.00 - 3,000.00 USD 3,584.00
23

Arabic manuscript

17th Century; late 19th Century USD 1,500.00 - 2,000.00 USD 2,816.00
4

Two text panels excised from a Persian manuscript of the Shahnama

circa 1580 USD 4,000.00 - 6,000.00 USD 2,560.00
187

Persian manuscript on paper

second quarter of the 19th Century USD 600.00 - 800.00 USD 2,560.00
258

H. Bailliere, London, 1852

1852 USD 2,000.00 - 3,000.00 USD 2,560.00
234

lithographed text in Persian

1881 USD 1,500.00 - 2,000.00 USD 2,176.00
17

Pencil drawing on illuminated album page

17th Century USD 1,500.00 - 2,000.00 USD 2,048.00
154

manuscript on paper; Humble Petition; leather-bound box

1825; 1829 USD 1,500.00 - 2,000.00 USD 1,920.00
236

gouache and gold on paper

c. 1740 USD 2,000.00 - 3,000.00 USD 1,920.00
81

Lithograph frontispiece portrait of Nasr al-Din Shah

1880 USD 1,500.00 - 2,000.00 USD 1,664.00
242

vol. I, pp. 1-336, vol. II, pp. 337-634, vol. III, pp. 635-944, vol. IV, pp. 945-1351

1960-64 USD 1,500.00 - 2,000.00 USD 1,664.00
  • Sotheby’s
    Shelf Life: Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper from the Library of Stanley J. Seeger and Christopher Cone
    25 June – July 7
    Sotheby’s, July 7: Ludwig van Beethoven. Autograph sketches for the overture "Die Weihe des Hauses", op.124, [1822], UNPUBLISHED. £150,000 to £200,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 7: Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice, 1813, first edition, 3 volumes, contemporary half calf. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 7: Walt Whitman. Leaves of Grass, Brooklyn, 1855, first edition, first issue, original green cloth, the Doheny copy. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 7: Binding—Sangorski & Sutcliffe—Omar Khayyam. Rubaiyat, London, 1872, third edition, in a magnificent jewelled Peacock binding. £15,000 to £20,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 7: George Eliot. Middlemarch, Edinburgh and London, 1871, first edition in the original parts. £20,000 to £30,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    The Private Library:
    Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
    July 9, 2026
    Forum, July 9: Hassall (Joan) A large collection of over 300 original woodblocks of engravings for various books, v.d., with Hassall's engraver's glass water-globe (Qty) - Est. £10,000-15,000
    Forum, July 9: Eragny Press.- [Bradley (Katherine Harris) & Edith Emma Cooper], "Michael Field." Whym Chow, Flame of Love, one of only 27 copies, inscribed by Bradley, the rarest book from the press, 1914. - Est. £3,000-4,000
    Forum, July 9: [Moore (Thomas Sturge)] [Wood Engravings], 71 wood-engravings printed by David Chambers from the original blocks, the only set on Japanese Hosho paper, from an edition of 5 sets, [1970]. - Est. £3,000-4,000
    Forum Auctions
    The Private Library:
    Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
    July 9, 2026
    Forum, July 9: La Fontaine (Jean de) Contes et Nouvelles en vers, 2 vol., engraved plates after Eisen, fine early 19th century blue morocco, gilt, by Bradel l'ainé, Amsterdam [Paris], 1762. - Est. £2,000-3,000
    Forum, July 9: Erotica.- Prostitution.- Pretty Women of Paris (The); Their Names and Addresses, Qualities and Faults..., [Paris], privately printed at the Press of the Prefecture de Police, 1883. - Est. £3,000-4,000
    Forum, July 9: Vale Press.- Ricketts (Charles) & Lucien Pissarro. De la Typographie et de l'Harmonie de la Page Imprimée…, [one of 216 copies], bound in dark blue morocco tooled in gilt, by Sarah T.Prideaux, 1898. - Est. £1,000-1,500
    Forum Auctions
    The Private Library:
    Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
    July 9, 2026
    Forum, July 9: Martin (John) Illustrations of the Bible, complete set of 20 mezzotints, good impressions, rarely found in early states, [c.1831-1835]. - Est. £1,000-1,500
    Forum, July 9: Golden Cockerel Press.- Four Gospels of the Lord Jesus Christ (The), one of 500 copies, Mary Gill's copy, Waltham St. Lawrence, 1931 with a signed proof of engraving on japon numbered 10/10 (2) - Est. £5,000-7,000
    Forum, July 9: Boccaccio (Giovanni) The Decameron, 3 vol., vol.1 extra-illustrated by John Buckland Wright with c.150 erotic original drawings in pen & ink and pencil, 1886 [extra-illustrated c.1940]. - Est. £10,000-15,000
    Forum Auctions
    The Private Library:
    Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
    July 9, 2026
    Forum, July 9: Cox (Morris) Collection of Gogmagog Press Books, 35 vol., rare complete collection of printed books issued by the press, limited editions, most signed by Cox, 1957-83. - Est. £10,000-15,000
    Forum, July 9: Wynkyn de Worde.- [Terentius Afer (Publius)] [Comedie...], [Paris, Josse Badius: sold in London by Wynkyn de Worde, & others], [15 July 1504]. - Est. £4,000-6,000
    Forum, July 9: Mosley (James) Ornamented Types. Twenty-Three Alphabets from the Foundry of Louis John Pouchée, 2 vol., one of 10 copies for presentation, from an edition of 210, 1992-93. - Est. £1,000-2,000
  • Forum Auctions
    The 10th Anniversary Sale
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    July 16, 2026
    Forum, July 16: Inundation papyrus. P.Michael 4, the ‘Inundation papyrus’, a geographical account of the Nile near Canopus, in Greek, remains of two columns from a manuscript scroll on papyrus, Egypt, second century CE. £12,000-18,000
    Forum, July 16: Book of Hours, use of Sarum, manuscript on vellum, 6 full-page miniatures, with famous Middle English inscriptions, Southern Netherlands for the English market, [c.1430]. £30,000-50,000
    Forum, July 16: Qu'ran, Arabic manuscript on burnished, stencilled, and gold-flecked paper, 447ff., Sultanate Gujarat, Ahmadabad, [after 1411 but no later than 1442]. £15,000-20,000
    Forum Auctions
    The 10th Anniversary Sale
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    July 16, 2026
    Forum, July 16: Turner (William). A New boke of the natures and properties of all wines that are commonly vsed here in England, rare first edition of the first English book on wine, By William Seres, 1568. £20,000-£30,000
    Forum, July 16: Spenser (Edmund). The Faerie Queene. first edition, Printed [by John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, 1590. £30,000-40,000
    Forum, July 16: Shakespeare (William). The Comedie of Errors, extracted from the first folio, Isaac Jaggard and Edward Blount, 1623. £15,000-20,000
    Forum Auctions
    The 10th Anniversary Sale
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    July 16, 2026
    Forum, July 16: Fleming (Ian). Casino Royale, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1953. £40,000-60,000
    Forum, July 16: d'Agoty (Jacques-Fabien Gautier). Anatomie de la Tête, first edition, Paris, chez le Sieur Gautier, 1748. £10,000-15,000
    Forum, July 16: Martial Arts.- Lee (Bruce). 'Praying Mantis style' Kung Fu book, containing numerous annotations, diagrams and graphs in Bruce Lee's hand, c. 1960. £50,000-70,000
    Forum Auctions
    The 10th Anniversary Sale
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    July 16, 2026
    Forum, July 16: Warre (Capt. Henry James). Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory, first edition, rare hand-coloured issue, 1848. £30,000-40,000
    Forum, July 16: Norie (John William). The Marine Atlas, or Seaman's Complete Pilot for all the principal places in the known world..., 1826. £30,000-50,000
    Forum, July 16: Mao Tse-tung.- Kim Il-sung.-[Note book for visitors from China to Korea], signed by Mao and Kim, [Beijing, 1954]. £10,000-15,000