- At the Christie's Travel, Science and Natural History sale on 15 October (previewed here), the signed Heart of the Antarctic made £15,000, but the paintings were the high spots. A 1615 globe made £44,450 (more than its estimate). The Douglas Adams library globes and the early Spanish equinoctial dial apparently didn't sell.
- At the Heritage rare books sale on 16-17 October (previewed here), it was the day for The Federalist. The second volume of the first edition, in a contemporary sheep binding, made $77,675; the first volume, in a Rivière & Son binding, made $71,700 (estimates had suggested the first volume would make more than the second; both about tripled the estimates). Both were sold to phone bidders (or a phone bidder). A signed copy of Casino Royale fetched $50,787.50, and a set of the first four Winnie the Pooh books, each signed by Milne, sold for $23,900. A first edition of Johnson's Dictionary made $14,340. The early Cotton Mather book from Joshua Gee's library didn't sell.
- At Heritage's historical manuscripts sale (also 16-17 October and previewed here) the Lafayette letter was the highlight as expected, selling for $31,070 (the same price as a John Coffee order book). The John Adams presidential letter bettered its estimate, making $28,680.
- At the Bonhams Fine Books and Manuscripts sale (19 October, previewed here) the Hawaiian mission primer made $7,320; the Herman Melville letter didn't sell. An inscribed first edition Grapes of Wrath was the high spot, selling for $45,750.
Upcoming
- Sotheby's London will sell Books and Manuscripts from the English Library of the 5th Earl of Rosebery on 29 October. They've got a cool new e-catalogue feature, too (which unfortunately makes it tricky to link to the lots). Highlights are expected to include a trove of Byron letters to his friend Francis Hodgson (lot 19, estimated at £150,000-180,000); John Speed's The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain (1676) (lot 107, estimated at £50,000-60,000); Christopher Saxton's 1579 atlas of England and Wales (lot 199, estimated at £40,000-60,000); John Rocque's 1763 Set of Plans and Forts in America (lot 95, estimated at £7,000-10,000).
