One of the Sutherlands on the cover of Antiquariat Banzhaf's catalogue.
Antiquariat Banzhaf has issued a catalogue of Architektur und Kunst. We will assume that English speakers do not need “architektur” translated. “Kunst,” in English, is “art.” Actually, English speakers do not have to fear this catalogue. Descriptions are provided in the English language, even if most of the books are not. There are, naturally, many in German, and many more in French and some other tongues. Architecture is the primary focus here, but there are other subjects which fit well with the term “art,” such as books about furniture and landscaping. Speaking of artistic beauty, we will start with the young lady on the cover of the catalogue.
Sadly, I do not know her name. She was evidently one of the Sutherland family, likely a duchess, and certainly of great means. Her picture can be found in Stafford House, by Lord Ronald Sutherland Gower, who grew up there. It is about as magnificent a house as one could ever imagine. Supposedly on visiting, Queen Victoria remarked that she lived in a house, but this was a palace. She may not have been exaggerating that much. Certainly, it was the finest private residence in London. It was originally built by the Duke of York, the famous “grand old” one. Naturally, he called it York House. He sold it to the Marquess of Stafford, hence the new name, although it stayed that way even when the Marquess was elevated to the Duke of Sutherland a few years later. It remained in the family for another 80 years, being sold in 1913, three years after this publication. As a result of the sale, it became Lancaster House, which it is today, though now owned by the government. The “house” opens into a great central hall, more reminiscent of Grand Central Station than a room in a house, with an enormous and magnificent grand stairway. This book displays the structure's magnificence. Item 36. Priced at €2,200 (euros, or US $2,892).
Item 2 is an early look at the concept of subways from France: Les chemins de fer dans les villes, by E. Jacqueline, published in 1856. It looks specifically at the ideas of civil engineer Edouard Brame, who proposed a freight transportation system for Paris which included underground rails. London had approved the building of a subway system only a short time earlier, but the actual operation of such a system was still several years away. Brame proved to be a bit ahead of his time as far as Parisians were concerned. Disputes over whether to put the rails under or above ground, who should run them, and such prevented Paris from following through with the same speed as London. It would not be built and opened in Paris until 1900. €2,000 (US $2,638).
Item 72 is Die Siedlung der Heimstatten-Genossenschaft zu Jena, published in 1927. This documents a Garden City Movement housing development in the city of Jena in Germany. The Garden City Movement was a turn of the century version of urban renewal, before that term became a synonym for unpleasant housing projects. Garden cities were designed to replace run-down inner cities where working people lived with nice, clean, thoughtfully designed communities. They included clusters of homes surrounded with open areas, combining city with country living. This book includes mounted pictures of Jena's Garden City and of the old housing in the city that it was replacing. €5,000 (US $6,595).
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
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