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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 - January - 2009 Issue
Capri and Other Places from Elysium Books
We think we can spot the title "Capri" in this latest catalogue from Elysium Books.
By Michael Stillman
Elysium Books recently issued a new catalogue which we believe is entitled Capri. Believe because the title page has no title, but "Capri" can be found lightly shaded on the word search cover (click the image to the left to see). This catalogue is in no way limited to items related to the island off the Italian coast, though it frequently appears. However, Capri may be symbolic of the type of material you will find. Capri was noted as an open place in long ago eras when most locations were not so free. It attracted an art colony and a thriving gay community. Most of the works in this catalogue pertain to the gay community, and most come from a time when it was subject to persecution and condemnation. Capri was a place where gay men could live in relative freedom. Here are a few of the works offered in this Caprian catalogue.
We will start with the earliest item, Anecdotes pour servir à l'histoire secrete des ebugors... This 1733 work is a thinly veiled account of the life of Benjamin Deschauffours, burned at the stake for sodomy in France in 1726. Deschauffours was guilty of more than just sodomy, though that would have been enough in itself to get him some form of punishment. Deschauffours ran a business of procuring boys from the streets of Paris and selling them for their favors to French aristocrats. He was deserving of punishment, though this was a bit extreme. This pamphlet treats his character sympathetically, as someone championing the cause of these oppressed boys. Elysium notes that while the pamphlet was reprinted many times, this first edition is quite scarce. It is herein bound with several other works. Item 147. Priced at $4,500.
Many of the items in this catalogue come from the personal collection of Norman Douglas. Douglas wrote on controversial themes, and his at times controversial personal life often kept him moving around. He spent much of his time on Capri, more hospitable to his behavior than England, where he was educated. He is best known for the 1917 novel South Wind, a lightly disguised account of life on an island amazingly similar to Capri. Elysium offers several collections of monographs Douglas kept on various subjects, such as Naples, Calabria, and herpetology (the study of reptiles and amphibians). The latter includes 56 monographs and offprints. For Douglas, we will start at the conclusion rather than the beginning. Item 69 is his Footnote on Capri, his last book. It contains 48 photographs by his close friend Islay Lyons. It was published in 1952, the year Douglas died (he died on Capri). It comes with several items from Douglas or Lyons. $275.
Henry Miller may not have shared sexual orientation with Norman Douglas, but he did share controversy and condemnation, along with an interest in sexual themes. Item 127 is a Paris first edition of Miller's most notable work, Tropic of Cancer, inscribed to Douglas in 1934, the year of publication. $27,500.
