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Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 567. One of the Earliest & Most Desirable Printed Maps of Arabia - by Holle/Germanus (1482) Est. $55,000 - $65,000Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 681. Zatta's Complete Atlas with 218 Maps in Full Contemporary Color (1779) Est. $27,500 - $35,000Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 347. MacDonald Gill's Landmark "Wonderground Map" of London (1914) Est. $1,800 - $2,100Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 1. Fries' "Modern" World Map with Portraits of Five Kings (1525) Est. $4,000 - $4,750Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 539. Ortelius' Superb, Decorative Map of Cyprus in Full Contemporary Color (1573) Est. $1,100 - $1,400Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 51. Mercator's Foundation Map for the Americas in Full Contemporary Color (1630) Est. $3,250 - $4,000Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 667. Manuscript Bible Leaf with Image of Mary and Baby Jesus (1450) Est. $1,900 - $2,200Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 226. "A Powerful Example of Color Used to Make a Point" (1895) Est. $400 - $600Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 290. One of the Most Decorative Early Maps of South America - from Linschoten's "Itinerario" (1596) Est. $7,000 - $8,500Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 62. Coronelli's Influential Map of North America with the Island of California (1688) Est. $10,000 - $12,000Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 589. The First European-Printed Map of China - by Ortelius (1584) Est. $4,000 - $5,000
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Forum Auctions
A Sixth Selection of 16th and 17th Century English Books from the Fox Pointe Manor Library
19th June 2025Forum, June 19: Euclid. The Elements of Geometrie, first edition in English of the first complete translation, [1570]. £20,000 to £30,000.Forum, June 19: Nicolay (Nicolas de). The Navigations, peregrinations and voyages, made into Turkie, first edition in English, 1585. £10,000 to £15,000.Forum, June 19: Shakespeare source book.- Montemayor (Jorge de). Diana of George of Montemayor, first edition in English, 1598. £6,000 to £8,000.Forum, June 19: Livius (Titus). The Romane Historie, first edition in English, translated by Philemon Holland, Adam Islip, 1600. £6,000 to £8,000.Forum Auctions
A Sixth Selection of 16th and 17th Century English Books from the Fox Pointe Manor Library
19th June 2025Forum, June 19: Robert Molesworth's copy.- Montaigne (Michel de). The Essayes Or Morall, Politike and Millitarie Discourses, first edition in English, 1603. £10,000 to £15,000.Forum, June 19: Shakespeare (William). The Tempest [&] The Two Gentlemen of Verona, from the Second Folio, [Printed by Thomas Cotes], 1632. £4,000 to £6,000.Forum, June 19: Boyle (Robert). Medicina Hydrostatica: or, Hydrostaticks Applyed to the Materia Medica, first edition, for Samuel Smith, 1690. £2,500 to £3,500.Forum, June 19: Locke (John). An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding in Four Books, first edition, second issue, 1690. £8,00 to £12,000. -
ALDE, June 18: CHAPPE D'AUTEROCHE (JEAN). Voyage en Sibérie fait par ordre du Roi en 1761 contenant les mœurs…, Paris, 1768. €4,000 to €5,000.ALDE, June 18: HENNEPIN (LOUIS). Description de la Louisiane nouvellement découverte au Sud-Ouest de la Nouvelle France…, Paris, 1688. €3,000 to €4,000.ALDE, June 18: LA BOULLAYE-LE GOUZ (FRANÇOIS DE). Les Voyages et Observations, Paris, 1653. €1,500 to €2,000.ALDE, June 18: LE BRUN (CORNELIS DE BRUYN DIT CORNEILLE). Voyage au Levant, c'est à dire dans les principaux endroits de l'Asie mineure..., Delft, 1700. €6,000 to €8,000.ALDE, June 18: SAINT-NON (J.-CL. RICHARD, ABBÉ DE). Voyage pittoresque ou description du royaume de Naples et de Sicile, Paris, 1781-1786. €3,500 to €5,000.ALDE, June 18: (CALVIN JEAN). SÉNÈQUE. Annei Senecae..., Paris, 1532. €2,000 to €3,000.ALDE, June 18: ADRIEN LE CHARTREUX. De remediis utriusque fortunæ, [Cologne, vers 1470]. €5,000 to €6,000.ALDE, June 18: GAZA (THÉODORE). [...] Introductivæ grammatices libri quatuor. Ejusdem de mensibus opusculum sanequampulchrum, Venise, 1495. €8,000 to €10,000.ALDE, June 18: LACTANCE. De divinis institutionibus. De ira Dei. De opificio Dei. De phoenice carmen, Rome, 1468. €30,000 to €40,000.ALDE, June 18: LUTHER (MARTIN). Der Erste [– Achte und letze] Teil aller Bücher und Schrifften des thewren, seligen Mans Doct. Mart. Lutheri, Iéna, 1555-1568. €5,000 to €6,000.ALDE, June 18: POLITIEN (ANGE). Omnia opera, et alia quædam lectu Digna, Venise, 1498. €8,000 to €10,000.ALDE, June 18: SIDOINE APOLLINAIRE. Poema aureum ejusdemque Epistole, Milan, 1498. €3,000 to €4,000.
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Sotheby’s
New York Book Week
12-26 JuneSotheby’s, June 25: Theocritus. Theocriti Eclogae triginta, Venice, Aldo Manuzio, February 1495/1496. 220,000 - 280,000 USDSotheby’s, June 26: Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby, 1925. 40,000 - 60,000 USDSotheby’s, June 26: Blake, William. Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Printed ca. 1381-1832. 400,000 - 600,000 USDSotheby’s, June 26: Lincoln, Abraham. Thirteenth Amendment, signed by Abraham Lincoln. 8,000,000 - 12,000,000 USDSotheby’s, June 26: Galieli, Galileo. First Edition of the Foundation of Modern Astronomy, 1610. 300,000 - 400,000 USD
Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - October - 2009 Issue
More "Books About Books" from Oak Knoll
By Michael Stillman
Oak Knoll Books has issued a new catalogue of "books about books" and bibliographies. This is Catalogue 291 of a series that began several decades ago. Oak Knoll specializes in books about the book trade or the various arts involved in producing books, such as binding, papermaking, illustration, and typefaces. You will also find many books from fine private presses. Additionally, you will see some very special books that may not quite fit the category of "books about books" as well. We'll take a look inside and describe a few of the books Oak Knoll has for us this time.
Here is a catalogue with two connections to the book-collecting world. Item 155 is an 1873 catalogue for Hoe & Co., Manufacturers of Type-Revolving, Perfecting, Single and Double Cylinder and Adams' Printing Machines... Hoe & Co. was formed in 1823 by Robert Hoe, who introduced steam presses to America. However, it was his son, Richard Hoe, who greatly advanced the process with his cylinder and rotary presses, which were much faster than the old flat sheet presses. Richard was in charge of the firm at the time of this catalogue, and the family was already very wealthy. Eventually, leadership would go to his nephew, Robert Hoe III, and this Robert would also become America's greatest bibliophile of the era. When his collection was auctioned in 1911, two years after his death, it was far and away the largest (in terms of value) American book auction in history. This rare catalogue of printing equipment is priced at $2,250.
Item 227 is an incunable work by a most surprising man, Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini: Epistolae Familiares, published in 1478. Aeneas was born in Siena in 1405 of a very large family. Aeneas was a roguish young man in his youth. He reportedly fathered two illegitimate children but nonetheless, after some time as a teacher, became a functionary of the Church. Still, his risqué ways continued with the writing of an erotic story, The Tale of Two Lovers, in 1444 (it would become very popular some years later thanks to the invention of printing). Who would have thought that such a man would be named Pope just 14 years later? Times were different then. Aeneas, who became Pope Pius II in 1458, managed to adjust himself to the times, and was a consummate diplomat. However, his evolution over the years was more than a cynical ploy for power. As his responsibilities grew, he grew into his roles, and he is remembered as a good pope, though his attempts to suppress his earlier books were unsuccessful. Item 227 is a copy of his respectable title Epistolae Familiares. $12,000.
Not everyone is a fan of book collecting. Item 42 is an 1892 Grolier Club translation of the Louis Bollioud-Mermet critique, Crazy Book-Collecting, or Bibliomania, Showing the Great Folly of Collecting Rare and Curious Books... Mermet was himself once a collector, but evidently became disenchanted as a result of skyrocketing prices of many older books. Mermet's belief was the books should be cherished for their content, the learning within, not for their rarity, age, or attractiveness. These were the factors that were driving up prices. Writes Mermet, "...to possess collections of books with neither the capacity nor the will to read and to study, is a strange Mania, a blind obsession. To heap up volumes without a use for them...is an absurd vanity, an idle extravagance." In its introduction, the Grolier Club notes, "Book-lovers...will not be influenced by anything Bollioud-Mermet wrote in the eighteenth...century." $125.
Here is another man with a grievance. Herman Hooker was not happy with churches publishing books, evidently because he thought it unseemly that they engage in such business, and because they competed with the book trade. Mr. Hooker expressed his view in 1849 in An Appeal to the Christian Public on the Evil and Impolicy of the Church Engaging in Merchandise; and Setting Forth the Wrong Done to Booksellers, and the Extravagance, Inutility, and Evil-Working, of Charity Publication Societies. Rather than publishing books and selling them below cost, he felt churches should use their money for more important activities. As best we can tell, Hooker's influence proved to be nil. Item 157. $325.
Oak Knoll Books may be reached at 302-328-7232 or orders@oakknoll.com. Their website is www.oakknoll.com.
You will find many of Oak Knoll's books listed in "Books For Sale" on this site. Click here.