To the Far Left and Right from Lorne Bair Rare Books
- by Michael Stillman
That is Angelika “Geli” Raubal in photo to the right.
Some books are surprising, at least by today's standards. Item 181 is Plutocracyor,AmericanWhiteSlavery.APolitico-SocialNovel. This obscure piece was the work of Thomas Manson Norwood. In this 1888 book, he assails the stock market, the trusts (the 19th century version of today's corporations), and the unequal distribution of wealth. What makes this surprising is that Norwood served as a senator and representative from Georgia. It is hard to imagine any senator from Georgia today attacking large corporations or unequal distribution of wealth. $85.
Item 104 is a hand-made photo album containing 60 photographs of Adolph Hitler and his inner circle. It was put together for his 44th birthday in 1933 by Heinrich Hoffmann, a close friend and personal photographer. Many of these informal photographs, taken from 1929-1931, appear not to be available elsewhere. Hitler shows up in 24 of the photographs, and his then closest aid, Joseph Goebbels, is also seen. However, what is remarkable is the presence of Angelika “Geli” Raubal in 55 of them. She was Hitler's half-niece, the daughter of his half-sister. His relationship with Geli remains a mystery. She came to his household when Hitler brought in his half-sister to manage it. He was controlling of his niece, either personally or through someone else keeping constant tabs on her. He forbid her from having normal relationships with men, and various other activities she wanted to pursue. Rumors spread that he was sexually involved with her. One of his opponents in the Nazi Party claimed some very deviant sexual practices he demanded of her. Whether this was politics or true is not known. Claims have been made that Hitler was homosexual, asexual, and heterosexual, so it is unclear whether she would have attracted him physically. Certainly, he was one of the more twisted personalities to ever emerge on the public stage, so it is hard to know exactly what was going on behind closed doors. Geli killed herself in 1931 at the age of 23, after some reputed heated arguments with Hitler. There were rumors that rather than suicide, he killed her. Again, what exactly happened is unknown. It is interesting that two years later, Hoffman would present Hitler with a photograph album filled with her images as a birthday present. Eva Braun was in the picture by this time. She obviously still was on his mind. Photographer Hoffman would later claim that the “seeds of inhumanity” were planted in Hitler after Geli's death, not that he was a nice guy before then. This album came to America as a result of being removed from Hitler's residence by a G.I. at the end of the war. $50,000.
DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 17th July 2025
Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 17th July 2025
Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.
Sotheby’s Geek Week 2-17 July | New York
Sotheby’s, July 15: Buzz Aldrin's FLOWN Apollo 11 Crew-Signed NASA Manned Spacecraft Center Cover. $15,000 to $20,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: Lunar Surface Flown Mission Emblem Presented to Tom Stafford by John Young. $8,000 to $12,000.
Sotheby’s, July 17: Albert Einstein. Typed Letter Signed ("A. Einstein."), to Ann Morrisett, Affirming a Pacifist's Right to Self-Defense, March 21, 1952. $10,000 to $15,000.
Sotheby’s Geek Week 2-17 July | New York
Sotheby’s, July 17: Operating and Maintenance Manual for the BINAC Binary Automatic Computer Built for Northrop Aircraft Corporation. Philadelphia, 1949. $30,000 to $50,000.
Sotheby’s, July 17: Steve Jobs Apple Computer Business Card, c. 1977. $5,000 to $8,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: Extensive Chronology of Spacecraft From Apollo to Skylab, Signed by a Member of Every Crewed Apollo Flight and the Commanders of Each Skylab Mission. $5,000 to $8,000.