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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 -
Finarte
Books, Autographs & Prints
June 24 & 25, 2025Finarte, June 24-25: ALIGHIERI, DANTE / LANDINO, CRISTOFORO. Comento di Christophoro Landino Fiorentino sopra la Comedia di Danthe Alighieri poeta fiorentino, 1481. €40,000 to €50,000.Finarte, June 24-25: ALIGHIERI, DANTE. La Commedia [Commento di Christophorus Landinus]. Aggiunta: Marsilius Ficinus, Ad Dantem gratulatio [in latino e Italiano], 1487. €40,000 to €60,000.Finarte, June 24-25: ALIGHIERI, DANTE. Il Convivio, 1490. €20,000 to €25,000.Finarte
Books, Autographs & Prints
June 24 & 25, 2025Finarte, June 24-25: BANDELLO, MATTEO. La prima [-quarta] parte de le nouelle del Bandello, 1554. €7,000 to €9,000.Finarte, June 24-25: LEGATURA – PLUTARCO. Le vies des hommes illustres, grecs et romaines translates, 1567. €10,000 to €12,000.Finarte, June 24-25: TOLOMEO, CLAUDIO. Ptolemeo La Geografia di Claudio Ptolemeo Alessandrino, Con alcuni comenti…, 1548. €4,000 to €6,000.Finarte
Books, Autographs & Prints
June 24 & 25, 2025Finarte, June 24-25: FESTE - COPPOLA, GIOVANNI CARLO. Le nozze degli Dei, favola [...] rappresentata in musica in Firenze…, 1637. €6,000 to €8,000.Finarte, June 24-25: SPINOZA, BARUCH. Opera posthuma, 1677. €8,000 to €12,000.Finarte, June 24-25: PUSHKIN, ALEXANDER. Borus Godunov, 1831. €30,000 to €50,000.Finarte
Books, Autographs & Prints
June 24 & 25, 2025Finarte, June 24-25: LIBRO D'ARTISTA - LECUIRE, PIERRE. Ballets-minute, 1954. €35,000 to €40,000.Finarte, June 24-25: LIBRO D'ARTISTA - MAJAKOVSKIJ, VLADIMIR / LISSITZKY, LAZAR MARKOVICH. Dlia Golosa, 1923. €7,000 to €10,000.Finarte, June 24-25: LIBRO D'ARTISTA - MATISSE, HENRI / MONTHERLANT, HENRY DE. Pasiphaé. Chant de Minos., 1944. €22,000 to €24,000. -
Bonhams, June 16-25: 15th-CENTURY TREATISE ON SYPHILIS. GRÜNPECK. 1496. $20,000 - $30,000Bonhams, June 16-25: THE NORMAN COPY OF BENIVIENI'S TREATISE ON PATHOLOGY. 1507. $12,000 - $18,000Bonhams, June 16-25: FRACASTORO. Syphilis sive Morbus Gallicus. 1530. $8,000 - $12,000Bonhams, June 16-25: THE FIRST PUBLISHED WORK ON SKIN DISEASES. MERCURIALIS. De morbis cutaneis... 1572. $10,000 - $15,000Bonhams, June 16-25: BIDLOO. Anatomia humani corporis... 1685. $6,000 - $9,000Bonhams, June 16-25: THE NORMAN COPY OF DOUGLASS'S EARLY AMERICAN WORK ON INNOCULATION AND SMALLPOX. 1722. $20,000 - $30,000Bonhams, June 16-25: LIND'S FIRST TREATISE ON SCURVY. 1753. $15,000 - $20,000Bonhams, June 16-25: RARE JENNER SIGNED CIRCULAR ON VACCINATION. 1821. $4,000 - $6,000Bonhams, June 16-25: MOST BEAUTIFUL OF MEDICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. BRIGHT. Reports of Medical Cases... 1827-1831. $10,000 - $15,000Bonhams, June 16-25: FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE PRESENTATION COPY TO HER MOTHER. 1860. $6,000 - $8,000Bonhams, June 16-25: LORENZO TRAVER'S MANUSCRIPT JOURNAL OF BURNSIDE'S NORTH CAROLINA EXPEDITION. TRAVER, Lorenzo. $2,000 - $3,000Bonhams, June 16-25: ONE OF THE EARLIEST PHOTOGRAPHIC BOOKS ON DERMATOLOGY. HARDY. Clinique Photographique... 1868. $3,000 - $5,000
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Bonhams, June 16-24: KELMSCOTT PRESS. RUSKIN. The Nature of Gothic. 1892. $1,500 - $2,500Bonhams, June 16-24: ASHENDENE PRESS. The Wisdom of Jesus. 1932. $2,000 - $3,000Bonhams, June 16-24: CHARLOTTE BRONTE WRITES AS GOVERNESS. Autograph Letter Signed, 1851. $15,000 - $25,000Bonhams, June 16-24: FIRST AMERICAN EDITION OF WUTHERING HEIGHTS. BRONTE, Emily. New York, 1848. $3,000 - $5,000Bonhams, June 16-24: IAN FLEMING ASSOCIATION COPY. You Only Live Twice. London, 1964. $7,000 - $9,000Bonhams, June 16-24: DELUXE EDITION WITH ORIGINAL PAINTING. BUKOWSKI, Charles. War All the Time. 1984. $3,000 - $5,000Bonhams, June 16-24: EINSTEIN'S MOST POWERFUL STATEMENT ON THE ATOMIC BOMB. Original Typed Manuscript Signed, "On My Participation in the Atom Bomb Project," 1953. $100,000 - $150,000Bonhams, June 16-24: EINSTEIN ON SCIENCE, WAR AND MORALITY. Autograph Letter Signed, 1949. $20,000 - $30,000Bonhams, June 16-24: SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. WASHINGTON, George. Engraved document signed, 1786. $8,000 - $12,000Bonhams, June 16-24: AN EARLY CHINESE-MADE 34-STAR U.S. CONSULAR FLAG. $8,000 - $12,000Bonhams, June 16-24: SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH OF LINCOLN WITH HIS SON TAD. 1864. $60,000 - $90,000Bonhams, June 16-24: MALCOLM X WRITES FROM KENYA. Postcard signed, 1964. $4,000 - $6,000
Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - January - 2010 Issue
Autographed Letters and Photographs from David Schulson Autographs
By Michael Stillman
David Schulson Autographs has issued their Catalog 143, a collection of 50 autographed documents, mainly letters and photographs. They come from American and European leaders in politics, war, music, art, literature, film, and science. These are people you know well, even if most died before you were born! Here are some of these signatures.
Winston Churchill is surely England's most notable leader of the last century, perhaps of any. He led his nation to victory in a war that seemed hopeless at the outset. He persevered, and taught his countrymen to persevere, until help finally arrived. However, all political careers have beginnings, usually small. In 1901, Churchill was serving his first term as a Member of Parliament, still 40 years away from greatness. On July 17 of that year, he wrote a friend that he heard the Chairmanship of the London Municipal Society had just opened up, and as a friend/politician, Churchill provided a heads-up to his correspondent. Churchill invites his friend to visit and points to various connections that might help him out. Item 6. Priced at $5,500.
Here is a letter from another great war leader, though this one was the instigator, not a defender. On August 22, 1810, Napoleon wrote his Secretary of War with plans for the Peninsular Campaign against Spain and Portugal. The French Emperor writes of creating a new regiment, and instructs his Secretary, "...you will gather a foot regiment in Turin put together in the following way: 120 men from the 13th regiment of riflemen, 40 men from the 14th, 150 men from the 19th, 130 men from the 23. A total of 440 men, whom you will march from Turin to Perpignan, where they will be incorporated into the new regiment (the 29th regiment of light cavalry). In Milan, gather together another squadron of foot troops made up of 100 men from the 8th regiment of riflemen, 100 men from the 25th, and 100 men from the 6th." Add another 300 from Perpignan, and Napoleon calculated he would have 1,040 men in the new 29th. Talk about micromanaging. Isn't this what you hire generals for? Item 32. $4,500.
Item 10 is an angry postcard from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the famed detective Sherlock Holmes. Doyle became a dedicated spiritualist later in life, absolutely convinced there was a world of departed spirits and that the right medium could contact them. Even questioning this certainty upset Doyle, who whipped off this postcard to H.S. Hodges, a writer for the Western Chronicle. Evidently Hodges must have challenged Doyle's beliefs, as the mystery writer pens that the "article seems to be the usual ignorant abuse. What is the gentleman's opinion worth compared to... (Doyle cites four "experts" who shared his views)." Hodges evidently further infuriated Doyle by referring to the spirits as "spooks," as Doyle adds, "The mere use of the word 'spooks' for the spirits of our beloved dead is offensive and odious..." $975.
Item 22 is a first day cover honoring the 25th anniversary of Admiral Robert Peary's expedition that is usually cited as the first to reach the North Pole. It is signed by Matthew Henson. The final assault on the Pole was accomplished by Peary, a couple of Eskimos, and Matthew Henson. Though Henson was one of the two Americans to first reach the North Pole, he got little credit back home. The year was 1909 and Matthew Henson was black. Some 35 years after the event, Congress finally awarded Henson the same medal given Peary, and he lived long enough to receive additional honors from Presidents Truman and Eisenhower. $600.
Item 31 is a letter from the pioneering French Impressionist painter Claude Monet. Written on March 21, 1883, Monet thanks Gustave Geffroy for a kind article he wrote about the artist's show. $7,500.
David Schulson Autographs may be reached at 973-379-3800 or schulson@aol.com. Their website is www.schulsonautographs.com.
You will find many of David Schulson's autographs listed in "Books For Sale" on this site. Click here.