Rare Book Monthly

Articles - January - 2016 Issue

And Now... The Top 500 Prices Paid at Auction in 2015 for Books and Works on Paper

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#492 – the Beatles' grisly "Butcher Cover," borderline but qualified (from Heritage Auctions).

10. The only manuscript of notes from British mathematician/logician Alan Turing ever to come on the public market, this one created during the Second World War. $1,025,000.

 

9. Calligraphic, handwritten poem Un Coup de Dés Jamais N'Abolira Le Hasard, by Stephane Mallarmé, designed to show the printer how it should look. $1,097,820.

 

8. The complete working manuscript for the song American Pie by Don McLean. $1,205,000.

 

7. Presentation copy of Opticks by Isaac Newton, inscribed by its recipient, astronomer Edmund Halley. $1,330,000.

 

6. Autograph draft manuscript of essay #4 of the Federalist Papers, this one written by John Jay. $1,445,000.

 

5. Boards for Tintin, le sceptre d'Ottokar, presumably a special adventure for the cartoon character Tintin and his dog Snowy (I think Tintin should have teamed up with Rin Tin Tin). $1,719,300.

 

4. Handwritten final passage of Lincoln's second inaugural address, including the timeless expression "with malice toward none; with charity for all," signed by the President, in a book with 74 additional signatures of important dignitaries of the time, including Vice-President Andrew Johnson, numerous political and military leaders, and other notable people. $2,213,000.

 

3. The Gospels of Queen Theutberga in Latin, an illuminated manuscript on vellum circa 825-850. She was married to King Lothair II of Lotharingia, an area today along the borders of France, Germany, and Switzerland. It was a political marriage, and Lothair spent most of his kingship trying to get rid of her. $3,098,940.

 

2. Hebrew Bible including the Torah and Haftarot created in England in 1189. It is the only surviving English Jewish manuscript from prior to the expulsion of the Jews in 1290. It came from the collection of the Valmadonna Trust Library. $3,610,000.

 

1. A complete Babylonian Talmud, printed by Daniel Bomberg in Venice, 1519-1539. Nine volumes, perhaps the finest copy extant. Also from the almost $15 million Valmadonna Trust Library sale at Sotheby's just over a week ago (Dec. 22). $9,322,000.

 

The complete Rare Book Hub Top 500 can be found here: RBH Top 500.

 

 

Note: What type of material qualifies for this list?

 

Essentially, it is material on paper that is of literary or historic significance, rather than works of art. Anything textual will qualify. Books, even those that are works of art, are textual too. We also include books of artworks where bound together, but as a loose portfolio, they are unlikely to make it without some accompanying text.

 

Posters and other forms of broadsides generally contain text, and even those mainly images, such as movie posters, are meant to convey information about a film, not provide an artistic experience. Borderline but included was the Beatles' album Yesterday and Today with the famed first issue "butcher cover" sleeve, showing the musicians in butcher smocks with pieces of meat and pieces of baby dolls. It was so grisly it was quickly recalled. Maps, which provide geographic information, always qualify. Paintings, on the other hand, rarely do. However, original artwork used in a book does qualify. E. H. Shepard is a regular on these lists. Once in awhile, the message of a painting or drawing is so compelling it makes the cut. This year, four drawings of flowers by Jacques Le Moyne sold by the Arader Galleries made the list. Le Moyne was the artist for the 16th century French settlement in Florida, one of the earliest visitors to what is today the United States. As a result, his drawings are among the very first images of America. A caricature watercolor of the crew on board the ship Beagle in 1832 also made the cut. Why? Because among that crew is the only image of Charles Darwin on the voyage that led to his discovery of the theory of evolution. This painting is important for historic, not artistic reasons.

 

Perhaps the trickiest area is photographs. In the early days, photographs, like books, conveyed information, only visually instead of textually. However, by the 20th century, photographers were becoming more like artists, like painters rather than journalists. The result is we include early, primarily 19th century photography, and photographs depicting historic events. If we included photo artists, just as if we included painters, our list would be dominated by them, including recent paintings and photographs. Perhaps the ultimate example of a quandary is Ansel Adams. His photographs captured both information and beauty. His books of photographs definitely qualify. His individual photographs do not. As for his portfolios, those in-between collections, that is a tough call. Perhaps we need a new word to describe the border between works on paper and art. How about calling it the "parmelian" line?

Rare Book Monthly

  • <b>Swann Auction Galleries Feb 20:</b> Jane Austen, <i>Sense and Sensibility: A Novel, By a Lady,</i> 3 volumes, London, 1811. $30,000 to $40,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Feb 20:</b> Virginia Woolf, <i>Kew Gardens,</i> limited edition, signed by Woolf & Bell, London, 1927. $5,000 to $7,500.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Feb 20:</b> <i>[Arabian Nights],</i> Calcutta II version, 4 volumes, Calcutta & London, 1839-1842. $12,000 to $18,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Feb 20:</b> Princess Diana, 6 ALS to <i>Harper’s Bazaar</i> editor, anticipating Christie’s sale of her dresses for charity, 1995-97. $6,000 to $9,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Feb 20:</b> Jane Austen, <i>Emma,</i> first edition, London, 1816. $15,000 to $20,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Feb 20:</b> Hirohito & Nagako, Emperor & Empress of Japan, 2 photographs signed, showing Nagako in kimono & obi bearing the imperial seal. $6,000 to $9,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Feb 20:</b> Princess Diana, 6 autograph letters signed to <i>Harper’s Bazaar</i> editor Elizabeth Tilberis, anticipating Christie’s announcement of a sale of her dresses for charity, 1995-97. $6,000 to $9,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Feb 20:</b> Sarojini Naidu, complete galley proof of <i>The Broken Wing</i> signed with several holograph pages & an autograph letter signed to writer Edmund Gosse, 1916. $6,000 to $9,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Feb 20:</b> Fernando Pessoa, <i>Mensagem,</i> first edition, presentation copy, signed & inscribed, Lisbon, 1934. $5,000 to $7,500.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Feb 20:</b> Graham Greene, <i>The Basement Room,</i> first edition, Greene’s personal copy, signed with annotations throughout, London, 1935. $4,000 to $6,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Feb 20:</b> Abraham Lincoln, partly-printed document signed, call for troops issued during America’s first national draft just days before the NYC draft riots, 1863. $15,000 to $25,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Feb 20:</b><br><i>Les Chansons de Bilitis</i> by Pierre Louÿs, illustrated by George Barbier & F.L. Schmied, Paris, 1922. $8,000 to $12,000.
  • <b>Bonhams, Mar. 6:</b> Helvelius. Two Autograph Letters Signed to Francis Aston, Royal Society Secretary, noting his feud with Robert Hooke, 5 pp total, 1685. $70,000 to $100,000.
    <b>Bonhams, Mar. 6:</b> Newton, Isaac. Autograph manuscript on God, 4 pp, c.1710, "In the beginning was the Word...."?$100,000 to $150,000.
    <b>Bonhams, Mar. 6:</b> Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. First edition, first issue. Untrimmed copy in contemporary boards. $30,000 to $50,000.
    <b>Bonhams, Mar. 6:</b> Lincoln, Abraham. Signed photograph, beardless portrait with Civil War provenance. $80,000 to $120,000.
    <b>Bonhams, Mar. 6:</b> IMPEACHMENT. Original engrossed copy of the first Andrew Johnson impeachment resolution vote. $120,000 to $180,000.
    <b>Bonhams, Mar. 6:</b> Mucha, Alphonse. 11 original pencil drawings for?<i>Andelicek z Baroku,</i> "Litte Baroque Angel," Prague, 1929. $10,000 to $15,000.
    <b>Bonhams, Mar. 6:</b> Einstein, Albert. Annotated Galley Proofs for <i>The Meaning of Relativity.</i> 1921. $25,000 to $35,000.
    <b>Bonhams, Mar. 6:</b> Silverstein, Shel. Original maquette for <i>The Giving Tree,</i> 34 original drawings. $10,000 to $15,000.
    <b>Bonhams, Mar. 6:</b> Roth, Philip. Typed Manuscript with substantial autograph corrections for an unpublished sequel to <i>The Breast.</i> $10,000 to $15,000.
    <b>Bonhams, Mar. 6:</b> Taupin, Bernie. Autograph Manuscript, the original draft of lyrics for Elton John's "Candle in the Wind," 2 pp, 1973. $100,000 to $150,000.
    <b>Bonhams, Mar. 6:</b> HARVEY, WILLIAM. <i>De Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus Anatomica Exercitatio.</i> Padua: 1643. $12,000 to $18,000.
    <b>Bonhams, Mar. 6:</b> CESALPINO, ANDREA. <i>Peripateticarum Quaestionum Libri Quinque.</i> Venice: 1571. $30,000 to $40,000.
  • <b>ALDE, Feb. 26:</b> Leon TOLSTOÏ. <i>Anna Karenina.</i> Moscou, 1878. First and full edition of the Russian novel, in the author’s language.<br>Est. 3 000 / 4 000 €
    <b>ALDE, Feb. 26:</b> Mark TWAIN. <i>Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom Sawyer's comrade).</i> New York, 1885. First American edition.<br>Est. 5 000 / 6 000 €
    <b>ALDE, Feb. 26:</b> Walt WHITMAN. <i>Leaves of Grass.</i> Brooklyn, New York, 1856. Second edition gathering 32 poems. Est. 3 000 / 4 000 €
    <b>ALDE, Feb. 26:</b> Karen BLIXEN. <i>Out of Africa.</i> Londres, 1937. First edition in the UK, before Danish translation and American release.<br>Est. 1 500 / 2 000 €
    <b>ALDE, Feb. 26:</b> Ernest HEMINGWAY. <i>A Farewell to Arms.</i> New York, 1929. First edition with $2.50 on the dust and A on the copyright page.<br>Est. 2 000 / 3 000 €
    <b>ALDE, Feb. 26:</b> James JOYCE. <i>Ulysses.</i> Paris, Shakespeare and Company, 1922. First edition published by Sylvia Beach. Est. 3 000 / 4 000 €
    <b>ALDE, Feb. 26:</b> James JOYCE. <i>Dubliners.</i> Londres, 1914. First edition. Nice copy in publisher’s cardboard. Est. 2 000 / 3 000 €
    <b>ALDE, Feb. 26:</b> Franz KAFKA. 8 novels in German first edition, published in München, Leipzig and Berlin 1916-1931. Est. from 300 / 400 to 2 000 / 3 000 €
    <b>ALDE, Feb. 26:</b> David Herbert LAWRENCE. <i>Lady Chatterley's Lover.</i> Florence, 1928. Privately printed first edition. Est. 4 000 / 5 000 €
    John STEINBECK. <i>The Grapes of Wrath.</i> New York, 1939. First edition. Nice copy with $2.75 on the cover. Est. 1 000 / 1 200 €
  • <center><b>Cowan’s Auctions<br>The Road West: The Steve Turner Collection of African Americana<br>February 20, 2020</b>
    <br>Cowan’s, Feb. 20:</b> Harriet Tubman Cabinet Card by H.S. Squyer, Auburn, NY, 1892. $10,000 to $15,000
    <br>Cowan’s, Feb. 20:</b> Scarce <i>Events of the Tulsa Disaster,</i> First Edition, 1922. $4,000 to $6,000
    <br>Cowan’s, Feb. 20:</b> Unpublished CDV of Frederick Douglass by Benjamin F. Smith, 1864. $3,000 to $5,000
    <center><b>Cowan’s Auctions<br>The Road West: The Steve Turner Collection of African Americana<br>February 20, 2020</b>
    <br>Cowan’s, Feb. 20:</b> California Imprint of <i>President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation</i> Broadside, 1864. $10,000 to $15,000
    <br>Cowan’s, Feb. 20:</b> John C.H. Grabill Cabinet Card of Buffalo Soldier Wearing Buffalo Coat, ca 1886. $8,000 to $10,000
    <br>Cowan’s, Feb. 20:</b> Rare <i>What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking,</i> 2nd Cookbook Published by African American. $6,000 to $8,000
    <center><b>Cowan’s Auctions<br>The Road West: The Steve Turner Collection of African Americana<br>February 20, 2020</b>
    <br>Cowan’s, Feb. 20:</b> Frederick Douglass Walking Stick, 1888. $3,000 to $5,000
    <br>Cowan’s, Feb. 20:</b> Only Known Slave Narrative Published Independently in California, <i>Life and Adventures of James Williams.</i> $2,000 to $4,000
    <br>Cowan’s, Feb. 20:</b> Rare First Edition of History of Black Literature, Abbé Grégoire <i>De La Littérature des Nègres</i>. $2,500 to $3,000
    <center><b>Cowan’s Auctions<br>The Road West: The Steve Turner Collection of African Americana<br>February 20, 2020</b>
    <br>Cowan’s, Feb. 20:</b> African American Soldier and Medal of Honor Winner Christian A. Fleetwood CDV, PLUS. $8,000 to $10,000
    <br>Cowan’s, Feb. 20:</b> Jack Johnson vs. Jim Jeffries Pennant, 1910 Reno, Nevada. $2,000 to $4,000
    <br>Cowan’s, Feb. 20:</b> Joe Gans Photograph at 1906 Goldfield, Nevada Fight by Percy Dana. $600 to $800

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