Auction Report: June Wrapup

For other June sales, see this post. July coming soon; my apologies for the delay!

- Bonhams New York sold Fine Books and Manuscripts including Russian Literature on 19 June, in 450 lots. The of Lincoln's amnesty policy was the top lot, selling for $218,000. A first octavo edition of Audubon's Birds made $45,000. The first de Bry edition in German of Le Moyne's Florida fetched $31,250. The Revolutionary War diary of Timothy Newell did not sell.

- Christie's London's Fine Books and Manuscripts sale totaled £763,750. The top lot was a collection of autographed celebrity postcards, which sold for £27,500.

- Bonhams New York sale of The Gentleman's Library on 20 June saw a copy of the Johnson Reprint facsimile edition of Audubon's Birds fetch $23,750.

- PBA Galleries sold Rare Books & Manuscripts, Fine Press and Illustrated Books on 21 June. As expected, the 15th-century manuscript of Fasciculus temporum (the only known manuscript of this work in private hands) was the highest seller, at $102,000. The next-highest lot was a first edition of Make Way for Ducklings, which made $9,600.

- Swann Galleries sold 19th & 20th Century Literature on 21 June. The top lot was a copy of Ulysses, which made $15,600 (link currently not working).

- The 22 June Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts sale at Christie's New York realized a total of $2,015,718, even though a couple of the expected top lots (a Nuremberg Chronicle and an archive of Jefferson letters) failed to sell. The top lot proved to be Hans Christian Andersen's copy of Pickwick Papers, which fetched $122,500. An Elbridge Gerry manuscript from the Constitutional Convention sold for $68,500.

For info on the 22 June, sale of George Washington's copy of the first collection of the Acts of Congress, see this post.

- On 26 June, Bonhams Oxford sold Books, Maps, Manuscripts and Historical Photographs. The top lot was a copy of Samuel Beckett's Murphy, which sold for £15,000.

- The Bonhams Serendipity Shelf Sale on 26 June was something of a disappointment, the top lot going for just $400 (and the vast majority selling for less than $100).