Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - September - 2012 Issue

Books on Fine and Decorative Arts from Sotheran's

Art from Sotheran's.

Art from Sotheran's.

Henry Sotheran Limited, or Sotheran's as they are best known, has issued a Catalogue of Books on the Fine and Decorative Arts. This is an extensive catalogue, with over 800 items offered. It includes antiquarian books, relatively recent titles, and some new ones. While targeted to the world of art, it includes many areas within the field. Works from the book arts are part of this collection, but so are many other types of art, from paintings to sculpture, ancient art, decorative art, collecting, and more. Images of most items are also provided. There is much to be found here from the world of art, these being some examples of what is available.

We will start with a catalogue of a collection of very old works of art, Collection of J. Pierpont Morgan. Bronzes, Antique Greek, Roman, Etc. Morgan was the extraordinarily wealthy industrialist and collector of the early 20th century, bronzes being just one of many things he collected (books was a notable other item). His wealth was such as to enable him to collect the best of whatever he wanted. Sir Cecil Harcourt Smith's book on the Morgan collection was published in 1913, the year Morgan died. There are numerous plates illustrating the antique bronzes in the collection. While no limitation is stated in this volume, two similar works covering other Morgan collections were printed in runs of 150 copies, which was likely true for this work as well. Item 653. Priced at £1,950 (English pounds, or roughly U.S. $3,063).

Here is an item that combines art with the greatest literature: Twenty-Two Plates Illustrative of Various Scenes in the Plays of Shakespeare. The artist was Henry William Bunbury, a skilled artist though one who made most of his money doing caricatures, for which he was well known in late 18th century England. The printseller Thomas Macklin commissioned the work of Bunbury. Macklin sold his prints individually in the 1790s, and the original art ended up in the collection of the Duchess of York (the Duke had been a patron of Bunbury). This elephant folio collection of the complete set was put together around 1811. Item 405. £2,500 (US $3,907).

Item 68 is a look at The Art-Makers of 19th Century America. Author Russell Lynes says that arts in the early 19th century were practically non-existent in America. Would-be artists had to go to Europe to learn their trade. However, as the years moved forward, American artists moved from being mere students of Europe to creators of their own, new art forms. The book was published in 1970. £33 (US $52).

Item 153 offers a look at ancient artifacts in Mexico and Central America by the 19th century French explorer Désiré Charnay. He moved to New Orleans in 1850 and became familiar with the work of American explorers to Mexico John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood. He undertook one mission to the area, with the backing of the French government, in 1858, and returned in 1880 under the sponsorship of French-American cigarette tycoon Pierre Lorillard. His account was published in 1885 in Paris under the title Les Anciennes villes du Nouveau Monde (an English translation was released in 1887). Charnay is noted for his extensive use of photography in documenting his findings. £250 (US $392).

Rare Book Monthly

  • Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Pietro Aquila, Psyche and Proserpina,1690. Starting price 140€
    Gonnelli: Jacques Gamelin, Memento homo quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris, 1779. Starting price 300€
    Gonnelli: Giorgio Ghisi, The final Judgement, 1680. Starting price 480€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli Goya y Lucientes Francisco, Los Proverbios.1877. Starting price 1000 €
    Gonnelli: Domenico Peruzzini, Long bearded old man, 1660. Starting price 2200€
    Gonnelli: Enea Vico, Leda and the Swan,1542. Starting price 140€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Andrea Del Sarto [school of], San Giovanni Battista, 1570. Starting price 25000€
    Gonnelli: Carlo Maratta, Virgin Mary and Jesus, 1660. Starting Price 1200€
    Gonnelli: Louis Brion de La Tour, Sphére de Copernic Sphere de Ptolemée / Le Systême de Ptolemée. Le Systême de Ticho-Brahe…, 1766. Starting price 180€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Marc’Antonio Dal Re, Ville di Delizia o Siano Palaggi Camparecci nello Stato di Milano Divise in Sei Tomi Con espressevi le Piante…, Tomo Primo, 1726. Starting price 7000€
    Gonnelli: Katsushika Hokusai, Bird on a branch, 1843. Starting price 100€
  • Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Th. McKenney & J. Hall, History of the Indian tribes of North America, 1836-1844. Est: €50,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Biblia latina vulgata, manuscript on thin parchment, around 1250. Est: €70,000
    Ketterer, May 26: M. Beckmann, Fanferlieschen Schönefüßchen, 1924. Est: €10,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: A. Ortelius, Theatrum orbis terrarum, 1574. Est: €50,000
    Ketterer, May 26: M. S. Merian, Eurcarum ortus, alimentum et paradoxa metamorphosis, 1717-18. Est: €6,000
    Ketterer, May 26: PAN, 9 volumes, 1895-1900. Est: €12,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Breviarium Romanum, Latin manuscript, 1474. Est: €15,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Quran manuscript from the Saadian period, Maghreb, 16th century. Est: €10,000
    Ketterer, May 26: E. Hemingway, The old man and the sea, 1952. First edition in first issue jacket. Presentation copy. Est: €3,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Flavius Vegetius Renatus, De re militari libri quatuor, 1553. Est: €3,000
    Ketterer, May 26: K. Marx, Das Kapital, 1867. Est: €30,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Brassaï, Transmutations, 1967. Est: €6,000
  • Leland Little, May 21: Signed Artist Proof of the Monumental G.O.A.T.: A Tribute to Muhammad Ali.
    Leland Little, May 21: Assorted Rare Publications Related to H.P. Lovecraft, Including The Recluse Signed by Vincent Starrett.
    Leland Little, May 21: Two Issues of The Vagrant, Including the First Appearance of H.P. Lovecraft's "Dagon" in Number Eleven.
    Leland Little, May 21: Rare First Printing of Anne of Green Gables, With ALS from the Author.
    Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, In First Issue Jacket.
    Leland Little, May 21: The Limited Paumanok Edition of The Complete Writings of Walt Whitman.
    Leland Little, May 21: Beautifully Bound Limited Flaubert Edition of The Works of Guy de Maupassant.
    Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Bonaparte's Celebrated American Ornithology, With Spectacular Hand-Colored Plates.
    Leland Little, May 21: A Rare Complete Set of Jardine's The Naturalist's Library, With Hand-Colored Plates.
    Leland Little, May 21: Invitation to the Lincoln-Johnson National Inaugural Ball, March 4th, 1865.
    Leland Little, May 21: A Scarce Inscribed First Edition of James Baldwin's Nobody Knows My Name.
    Leland Little, May 21: Picasso's Le Goût du Bonheur, Limited Edition.
  • Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR

Review Search

Archived Reviews

Ask Questions