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Articles - May - 2023 Issue

The Codex Sassoon: Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow

- by Bruce E. McKinney

An exceptional survivor

An exceptional survivor

On May 17th the Codex Sassoon will be sold at Sotheby’s New York. Early and important manuscripts often achieve record outcomes.  This one provides the basis of Biblical translations used by Jews and Christians and is considered to be important to Islam as well. 

 

The estimates?:  $30,000,000 - $50,000,000

 

There is no Vegas line on the sale but the cognoscenti believe the over/under is $65,000,000 and few are comfortable to take the under.

 

The rare book field usually has to fight for the opportunity for their news to appear on front pages and to lead the news broadcasts.

 

Expect it to hear about it in your news feeds. 

Rare Book Monthly

  • <b><center>Sotheby's<BR>Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts</center></b> <b>Sotheby’s:</b> The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD <b>Sotheby’s:</b> Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD <b>Sotheby’s:</b> William Blake | <i>Songs of Innocence and of Experience.</i> Sold: 4,320,000 USD <b>Sotheby’s:</b> The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD <b><center>Sotheby's<BR>Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts</center></b> <b>Sotheby’s:</b> Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for <i>Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.</i> Sold: 1,920,000 USD <b>Sotheby’s:</b> Machiavelli | <i>Il Principe,</i> a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP <b>Sotheby’s:</b> Leonardo da Vinci | <i>Trattato della pittura,</i> ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP <b>Sotheby’s:</b> Henri Matisse | <i>Jazz,</i> Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
    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
  • <center><b>Gonnelli<br>Auction 59<br>Antique prints, paintings and maps<br>May 20th 2025</b></center> <b>Gonnelli:</b> Pietro Aquila, Psyche and Proserpina,1690. Starting price 140€ <b>Gonnelli:</b> Jacques Gamelin, Memento homo quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris, 1779. Starting price 300€ <b>Gonnelli:</b> Giorgio Ghisi, The final Judgement, 1680. Starting price 480€ <center><b>Gonnelli<br>Auction 59<br>Antique prints, paintings and maps<br>May 20th 2025</b></center> Gonnelli Goya y Lucientes Francisco, Los Proverbios.1877. Starting price 1000 € <b>Gonnelli:</b> Domenico Peruzzini, Long bearded old man, 1660. Starting price 2200€ <b>Gonnelli:</b> Enea Vico, Leda and the Swan,1542. Starting price 140€ <center><b>Gonnelli<br>Auction 59<br>Antique prints, paintings and maps<br>May 20th 2025</b></center> <b>Gonnelli:</b> Andrea Del Sarto [school of], San Giovanni Battista, 1570. Starting price 25000€ <b>Gonnelli:</b> Carlo Maratta, Virgin Mary and Jesus, 1660. Starting Price 1200€ <b>Gonnelli:</b> Louis Brion de La Tour, Sphére de Copernic Sphere de Ptolemée / Le Systême de Ptolemée. Le Systême de Ticho-Brahe…, 1766. Starting price 180€ <center><b>Gonnelli<br>Auction 59<br>Antique prints, paintings and maps<br>May 20th 2025</b></center> <b>Gonnelli:</b> 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€ <b>Gonnelli:</b> Katsushika Hokusai, Bird on a branch, 1843. Starting price 100€
    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€
  • <b><center>Dominic Winter Auctioneers<br>May 14<br>Printed Books & Maps, Travel, Atlases & Exploration</center></b> <b>Dominic Winter, May 14:</b> (Choiseul-Gouffier, Marie). <i>Voyage Pittoresque de la Grece,</i> 2 vols, 1st edition, 1782-1822. £2,000-3,000 <b>Dominic Winter, May 14:</b> <i>Gentlemen's Magazine and Historical Chronicle,</i> by Sylvanus Urban, 11 volumes. £700-1,000 <b>Dominic Winter, May 14:</b> Shackleton (Ernest). <i>The Heart of the Antarctic,</i> 2 vols, 1st ed, presentation copy, 1909. £2,000-3,000 <b><center>Dominic Winter Auctioneers<br>May 14<br>Printed Books & Maps, Travel, Atlases & Exploration</center></b> <b>Dominic Winter, May 14:</b> Drayton (Michael). <i>Poly Olbion...,</i> London: 1622. £2,000-3,000 <b>Dominic Winter, May 14:</b> Scheuchzer (Johann Jacob). <i>Ouresiphoites Helveticus,</i> 4 parts in 1, 2nd ed, 1723. £3,000-4,000 <b>Dominic Winter, May 14:</b> Roberts (Henry, after). <i>Chart of the NW Coast of America and NE Coast of Asia ...,</i> [1784]. £500-800 <b><center>Dominic Winter Auctioneers<br>May 14<br>Printed Books & Maps, Travel, Atlases & Exploration</center></b> <b>Dominic Winter, May 14:</b> World. Maffei (Giovanni), <i>Indiarum orientalium Occidentaliumque Descriptio...,</i> 1589. £1,200-1,500 <b>Dominic Winter, May 14:</b> World. Ortelius (Abraham), <i>Typus Orbis Terrarum,</i> [1598]. £2,000-3,000 <b>Dominic Winter, May 14:</b> Bible [English]. [<i>The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New...,</i> 1613]. £2,000-3,000 <b><center>Dominic Winter Auctioneers<br>May 14<br>Printed Books & Maps, Travel, Atlases & Exploration</center></b> <b>Dominic Winter, May 14:</b> Taylor (John). <i>All the Workes of John Taylor the Water-Poet...,</i> 1630. £1,000-1,500 <b>Dominic Winter, May 14:</b> Pierpont Morgan Collection. Catalogue of the Morgan Collection of Chinese Porcelains, 1904 & 1906. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    May 14
    Printed Books & Maps, Travel, Atlases & Exploration
    Dominic Winter, May 14: (Choiseul-Gouffier, Marie). Voyage Pittoresque de la Grece, 2 vols, 1st edition, 1782-1822. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Gentlemen's Magazine and Historical Chronicle, by Sylvanus Urban, 11 volumes. £700-1,000
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Shackleton (Ernest). The Heart of the Antarctic, 2 vols, 1st ed, presentation copy, 1909. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    May 14
    Printed Books & Maps, Travel, Atlases & Exploration
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Drayton (Michael). Poly Olbion..., London: 1622. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Scheuchzer (Johann Jacob). Ouresiphoites Helveticus, 4 parts in 1, 2nd ed, 1723. £3,000-4,000
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Roberts (Henry, after). Chart of the NW Coast of America and NE Coast of Asia ..., [1784]. £500-800
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    May 14
    Printed Books & Maps, Travel, Atlases & Exploration
    Dominic Winter, May 14: World. Maffei (Giovanni), Indiarum orientalium Occidentaliumque Descriptio..., 1589. £1,200-1,500
    Dominic Winter, May 14: World. Ortelius (Abraham), Typus Orbis Terrarum, [1598]. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Bible [English]. [The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New..., 1613]. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    May 14
    Printed Books & Maps, Travel, Atlases & Exploration
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Taylor (John). All the Workes of John Taylor the Water-Poet..., 1630. £1,000-1,500
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Pierpont Morgan Collection. Catalogue of the Morgan Collection of Chinese Porcelains, 1904 & 1906. £2,000-3,000

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