Rare Books &c. at Auction This Week

Another busy week coming up in the salerooms:

Forum Auctions sells 160 lots of Maps and Atlases on Tuesday, February 22. George Bickham the Younger's Curious Antique Collection of Birds-Eye Views of the Several Counties in England & Wales (1796) rates the top estimate at £4,000–6,000. A rare 1818 map of India, this a presentation copy from the director of the East India Company at the time of its publication, could sell for £1,500–2,000. The same estimate has been assigned to three 1847 panoramic views of Hong Kong by Lieutenant Leopold Heath.

At Ader on Tuesday and Wednesday, Lettres et Manuscrits Autographes. Lots 1–303 will be sold on Tuesday, and include the manuscript of Caraccio, long proposed as a manuscript copy of an unpublished novel by Madame de Lafayette, which is estimated at €10,000–15,000. A rare late 1790s French edition of Bach's L'art de la Fugue a Quatre Parties is expected to sell for €4,000–5,000. On Wednesday Lots 304–572 will be sold: they include three volumes of letters written to his family members by diplomat Théodose, comte de Lagrené (1800–1862), which is estimated at €6,000–8,000. And a 1626 letter by mathematician and astronomer Pierre Gassendi could sell for €4,000–5,000.

Hindman sells African Americana on Wednesday, February 23, in 315 lots. A 400-item collection of documents from the Rice family of Roanoke, Virginia, covering the end of the nineteenth century through the 1950s, are estimated at $8,000–10,000. A period copy of the c.1863 CDV of "Gordon" displaying his extensive scars could sell for $3,000–4,000.

On Thursday, February 24 at Forum Auctions, 295 lots of Modern Literature at Forum Auctions on 24 February.

Swann Galleries sells Vintage Posters on Thursday, in 420 lots. Three Toulouse-Lautrec designs are expected to lead the sale: his La Revue Blanche (1895) and Divan Japonais (1893) are each estimated at $15,000–20,000, and Babylone d'Allemagne (1894) could sell for $12,000–18,000. Much in this sale for the Alphonse Mucha collector as well.

At PBA Galleries on Thursday, 541 lots of Americana – Travel – Natural History – Maps, including a c.1656 Jansson-Visscher Dutch map of what is now the northeastern United States, which shares the top estimate of $8,000–12,000 with an Ortelius world map dated to around 1588. Sclater and Slavin's Exotic Ornithology (1866–69), is estimated at $5,000–8,000.

To round out the week, 617 lots of Fine Books & Manuscripts at Potter & Potter Auctions on Saturday, February 26. The rare second edition of Ethan Allen's Narrative (1779), the Clarence H. Clark copy, is expected to sell for at least $40,000–60,000. Tocqueville's De la Democratie en Amerique, this copy comprising a first edition of the first part and a second edition of the second part, is estimated at $30,000–40,000. A second edition of Hakluyt's Principal Navigations (1599–1600) is estimated at $25,000–35,000.