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Sotheby’s
Fine Books and Manuscripts
8 December 2023Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: [Austen, Jane] — Isaac D'Israeli. Jane Austen's copy of Curiosities of Literature. 100,000 - 150,000 USDSotheby’s, Dec. 8: [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition in boards of the author's debut novel. 70,000 - 100,000 USDSotheby’s, Dec. 8: Brontë, Charlotte. "I am no bird; and no net ensnares me..." 100,000 - 150,000 USDSotheby’s, Dec. 8: Eliot, George. The author's magnum opus. 25,000 - 35,000 USDSotheby’s, Dec. 8: Whitman, Walt. Manuscript written upon the Death of Lincoln, 1865. 60,000 - 80,000 USD -
Sotheby’s
Important Modern Literature from the Library of an American Filmmaker
8 December 2023Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Kerouac, Jack. Typescript scroll of The Dharma Bums. Typed by Kerouac in Orlando, Florida, 1957, published by Viking in 1958. 300,000 - 500,000 USDSotheby’s, Dec. 8: Hemingway, Ernest. The autograph manuscript of "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber." [Key West, finished April 1936]. 300,000 - 500,000 USDSotheby’s, Dec. 8: Miller, Henry. Typescript of The Last Book, a working title for Tropic of Cancer, written circa 1931–1932. 100,000 - 150,000 USDSotheby’s, Dec. 8: Ruscha, Ed. Twentysix Gasoline Stations, with a lengthy inscription to Joe Goode. 40,000 - 60,000 USDSotheby’s, Dec. 8: Hemingway, Ernest. in our time, first edition of Hemingway’s second book. 30,000 - 50,000 USD -
Swann
Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
December 7, 2023Swann, Dec. 7: Samuel Augustus Mitchell, A New Map of Texas, Oregon and California with the Regions Adjoining, Philadelphia, 1846. $3,500 to $5,000.Swann, Dec. 7: 17th–19th-century case maps of various locations. $1,500 to $2,000.Swann, Dec. 7: Andreas Cellarius, Haemisphaerium Stellatum Boreale Cum Subiecto Haemisphaerio Terrestri, celestial chart, Amsterdam, 1708. $2,500 to $3,500.Swann
Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
December 7, 2023Swann, Dec. 7: Vincenzo Coronelli, Set of engraved gores for Coronelli’s monumental 42-inch terrestrial globe, Venice, circa 1688–97. $18,000 to $22,000.Swann, Dec. 7: Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer, group of four navigational charts, Antwerp, 1580s. $2,000 to $3,000.Swann, Dec. 7: Thomas Bros, Block Book of Berkeley, Oakland, 1920s. $800 to $1,200.Swann
Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
December 7, 2023Swann, Dec. 7: John Nieuhoff & John Ogilby, An Embassy from the East-India Company of the United Provinces, map of China, plan of Canton, London, 1673. $1,200 to $1,800.Swann, Dec. 7: Frederick Sander, Reichenbachia, St. Albans, 1888-1894. $5,000 to $7,000.Swann, Dec. 7: Two early illustrated works on horsemanship and breeding, Nuremberg, early 18th century. $700 to $800.Swann
Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
December 7, 2023Swann, Dec. 7: John Gould, A Monograph of the Ramphastidae, or Family of Toucans. Supplement to the First Edition, London, 1834; 1855. $40,000 to $60,000.Swann, Dec. 7: John Pinkerton, A General Collection of the Best and Most Interesting Voyages and Travels in All Parts of the World, London, 1808–14. $1,500 to $2,500.Swann, Dec. 7: Oakley Hoopes Bailey, Hackensack, New Jersey, Boston, 1896. $800 to $1,200. -
CHRISTIE’S
Valuable Books and Manuscripts
London auction
13 December
Find out moreChristie’s, Explore now
TREW, Christoph Jacob (1695–1769). Plantae Selectae quarum imagines ad exemplaria naturalia Londini in hortus curiosorum. [Nuremberg: 1750–1773]. £30,000–40,000Christie’s, Explore now
VERBIEST, Ferdinand (1623–88). Liber Organicus Astronomiae Europaeae apud Sinas restituate. [Beijing: Board of Astronomy, 1674]. £250,000–350,000Christie’s, Explore now
PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF ALICE & NIKOLAUS HARNONCOURT. Master of Jean Rolin (active 1445–65). Book of Hours, use of Paris, in Latin and French, [Paris, c.1450–1460]. £120,000–180,000Christie’s, Explore now
A SILVER MICROSCOPE. Probably by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723), c.1700. £150,000–250,000Christie’s, Explore now
AN ENGLISH HORARY QUADRANT
C.1311. £100,000–150,000
Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - September - 2010 Issue
Travel Books from Bernard J. Shapero Rare Books
Travel books from Bernard J. Shapero.
By Michael Stillman
Bernard J. Shapero Rare Books has published a catalogue of Travel 2010. The date is for the catalogue, not the travels, as these are primarily books from a time when travel was accomplished without the benefit of engines. Sails, animals, and feet were the primary modes of transportation. The catalogue is divided into four sections: Africa, America/Asia/Pacific, Mediterranean to the Himalayas, and Europe. They even manage to sneak some polar explorations in here, though they don't entirely fit one of those categories. These are overwhelmingly European-centric in the sense that most were journeys begun in Europe and represented expansion of knowledge of the world from the point of view of the natives of that continent. Here are a few of these 363 books of travels around the world.
This is one of those Arctic adventures: Farthest North. The Norwegian Polar Expedition, 1893-1896, by Fridtjof Nansen (1897 first edition in English). Nansen was hopeful of being the first to reach the North Pole. He concluded that the Arctic sea ice flowed on the ocean, so his aim was to get his ship frozen in the ice and ride it over the Pole. He had his ship, the Fram, especially built to withstand the extreme pressure of the packed ice. Instead of being monumentally strong, it was designed to slide up with the pressure, almost riding on top of the ice. While Nansen's theory was basically correct, once frozen in and moving, he realized the ice was not going to take him over the Pole. So, he and Hjalmar Johansen set out on foot. They were not able to reach the North Pole, though they did get farther north than anyone before. Nansen and Johansen were not able to find their way back to the ship, but later did find a British expedition, and both they and the Fram eventually made it home. The Fram was later used to carry Roald Amundsen's expedition to Antarctica, the first to reach the South Pole. Item 205. Priced at £135 (British pounds, or roughly $215 in U.S. dollars).
James Bruce made an early attempt to find the elusive source of the Nile River, which he described in Travels to discover the source of the Nile, in the years 1768...1773, published in 1790. Bruce had to learn the language and customs of the locals to make his journey in Abyssinia, where he believed the source would be found. Bruce did make it to the headwaters of the Blue Nile, but most consider the White Nile to be the main river, so credit for finding the true source would have to wait almost another century. Item 10. £7,750 (US $12,344).
The source would finally be discovered on an expedition led by Richard Burton, though Burton did not believe it. Item 15 is an 1860 first edition of Burton's The lakes regions of Central Africa. A picture of exploration. Both Burton and John Speke became very ill on this journey. Though temporarily blinded, Speke was able to travel farther, and discovered Lake Victoria. He believed it to be the source of the Nile; Burton did not. Burton attacks Speke's conclusion in this book, though Speke proved to be right. £1,500 (US $2,390).
Speke would confirm his beliefs in a second expedition, without Burton, in 1862. This he recounted in his 1864 book, What led to the discovery of the source of the Nile. Even at that point Burton was not convinced, and the two were scheduled to debate when Speke died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound that morning. Whether it was accidental or intentional is uncertain. Item 106. £3,250 (US $5,178).
