Rare Books &c. at Auction This Week
Three auctions I'll be watching this week:
At Dorotheum in Vienna on April 4, a sale of Antique Scientific Instruments, Globes and Cameras, in 636 lots. A c.1500 sundial known as a "navicula de Venetiis," or "little ship of Venice," and a c.1400 brass astrolabe quadrant rate the joint top opening price, at ??10,000. An armillary sphere from around 1840, identified as probably the work of Charles Dien in Paris, starts at ??2,400. Among the globes, a celestial example from Vienna, c.1845, has an opening price of ??1,500.
The following day, PBA Galleries holds a sale of Fine & Rare Books, in 459 lots. At $5,000-8,000, the top-estimated lot is Coleridge's Christabel, Kubla Khan, The Pains of Sleep (London: John Murray, 1816). A copy of the 1534 Aldine Tacitus could fetch $3,000-5,000. An elaborately-bound copy of William Blake's (not that William Blake) 1670 charity publication The Ladies Charity School-house Roll of Highgate is estimated at $1,500-2,000. For the printing historian, there's a copy of the 1650 publication arguing that Johann Mentelin should be credited as the developer of printing rather than Gutenberg ($1,000-1,500). Lots 355 to 459 are being sold without reserve.
Finally, on April 7, Potter & Potter sells Entertainment Memorabilia, in 856 lots. An unrestored poster for Casablanca (1942; pictured) opens at $20,000 and is estimated at $40,000-60,000. Also on the block are Greta Garbo's monogrammed mink coat ($9,000-12,000), Cole Porter's backgammon set ($4,000-8,000). A few books are include, among them a copy of the Southern Treasury of Life and Literature inscribed by Margaret Mitchell to producer David Selznick $3,500-4,500).
Image courtesy of Potter & Potter
