Sunday, November 11, 2012

Auction Report: November Sales

- Bloomsbury held a Bibliophile Sale on 1 November, in 415 lots.

- Doyle New York sold Books, Photographs & Prints on 5 November. A letter from George Washington to James McHenry sold for a whopping $362,500. An 18th-century tract volume from the library of Joseph Sewall sold for $28,125. Elizabethan titles went for pretty hefty prices as well.

- Leslie Hindman sold Books and Manuscripts on 7 November. A first edition in book form of the Gettysburg Address sold for $20,000.

- On 8 November at Bloomsbury, Sporting Books, in 488 lots. The top lot was a copy of the second issue of Blacker's Art of Angling, and Complete System of Fly Making (1842), which made £15,000.

- PBA Galleries sold Fine & Rare Books on 8 November. Results are here.

- Bonhams sells Books, Maps, Manuscripts and Photographs on 13 November.

- Bloomsbury sells Maps & Atlases, Watercolours and Prints on 14-15 November, in 583 lots.

- On 15 November, PBA Galleries sells Important Manuscripts and Archives, in 174 lots.

- Sotheby's sells Travel, Atlases, Maps & Natural History on 15 November, in 342 lots. An amazing collection of 18th-century ornithological watercolors is estimated at £300,000-500,000.

- Skinner, Inc. sells Books & Manuscripts on 18 November, in 698 lots. Watch the next FB&C for my take on this sale. Some really good bookseller and auction catalogs up for grabs here.

- At Sotheby's Paris on 19 November, Livres et Manuscrits, in 192 lots. A copy of Catesby rates the top estimate, at 280,000-320,000 EUR.

- On 21 November at Christie's, Valuable Manuscripts and Printed Books, in 162 lots. A ~1530 Paris Book of Hours rates the top estimate, at £250,000-350,000. A first edition Hypnerotomachia could fetch £80,000-120,000.

- At Bloomsbury on 27-28 November, Important Books & Manuscripts, in 413 lots. Some big-ticket items of early printing here, including a few copies that came through the Doheny sale. Also quite a selection of Nabokov works and some manuscripts.

- Bonhams sells Printed Books and Maps on 27 November, in 693 lots.

- On 27 November at Christie's, Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts, in 395 lots.

- Sotheby's sells Music, Continental and Russian Books and Manuscripts on 28 November, in 159 lots. Many interesting music manuscripts, and a first edition of Vesalius, which could fetch £120,000-180,000.

- Also at Sotheby's on 28 November, a collection of manuscripts, letters, and memorabilia from the family of Alberto Toscanini, in 87 lots.

- At Christie's on 29 November, An Important Collection of Russian Books & Manuscripts, in 149 lots. Quite an impressive selection of items here.

- PBA Galleries will sell Fine Americana on 29 November.