The Books and Manuscripts sale at Sotheby's Paris today (previewed here) brought in €3,278,375 (full results here). Highlights:
- The first edition of Thomas More's Utopia (1516) and the ten-volume set of St. Augustine's works (1528-1529) shared top estimates of €200,000-300,000, and they share the top prices realized - each made €324,750.
- In a surprise, Marshal Vauban's own copy of his 1707 book Project d'une Dixme Royale, with his autograph notes, did much better than expected, fetching €252,750 over estimates of €60,000-90,000.
- A Charles Baudelaire letter made €192,750.
- The six-volume Janssonnius atlas (1652-1657) made €174,750.
- A collection of letters between Flaubert and Guy de Maupassant fetched €168,750.
- A Simone de Beauvoir manuscript of Les Mandarins sold for €132,750, as did the Vesalius De Humani Corporis Fabrica and the 1575 edition of Paré's works.
