For a recap of sales earlier in the month, see this post.
- At the Christie's London sale of Valuable Printed Books and Manuscripts on 23 November 68 of 83 lots sold, for a total of £1,959,825. The first edition Vesalius took the top spot, fetching £265,250. A 14th-century manuscript of English verse texts sold for £205,250. Maria Sibylla Merian's Der rupsen begin (1713-1717) made £193,250, and the New York "second folio" edition of Audubon's Birds of America fetched £121,250. Pedro de Medina's Arte de navegar (1545) failed to sell.
- Results for the 23 November Bonhams London sale of Books, Maps, Manuscripts and Historical Photographs, including the Property of the late Michael Silverman are here. The top lot was an album of 170 photographs by the early amateur photographer Thomas Honywood, which sold for £58,850.
- Just 292 of the 442 lots at Christie's London's 28 November sale of Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts including a selection from the Malcolm S. Forbes Jr. Churchill Collection and Photobooks from the Calle Collection found buyers. Alexander II's copy of Pushkin's works was the highest-selling lot, fetching £126,050. Quite a tremendous leap down to the next lot: a fragmentary leaf from a 10th-century Coptic bible made £21,250. The 17th-century English manuscript of recipes and remedies that I liked sold for £3,000.
- Full results for the Bonhams Oxford sale of Books, Maps, Manuscripts and Photographs are here. Top lot was a first edition of Casino Royale, which fetched £13,500.
- Bloomsbury sold Important Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper on 29 November, in 527 lots. Results are here. The top lot was an Aitken Bible, selling for £105,000.
- At the Christie's Paris Importants livres anciens, livres d'artistes et manuscrits sale on 29 November, 231 of 306 lots sold, for a total of £1,409,875. The 1540 Jean Girard Bible sold for €85,000 but was not the top lot: a Paul Verlaine letter far surpassed estimates, selling for €121,000. The set of Nikolai Koutepov's works on Russian hunting did not sell.
- The month closed with a bang! Sotheby's London sold Music and Continental Books and Manuscripts on 30 November, with 118 of 180 lots selling for a total of £3,317,725. The first edition of Copernicus' De revolutionibus (1543) sold for £825,250, while Schumann's manuscript of Szenen Aus Goethes "Faust" fetched £713,250. Three other lots did better than £100,000.
December preview coming soon.
