Bryce Miniatures, Harry Potter, and Al Capone Letter: Auction Preview
Selections from a lot of some 201 miniature books published by David Bryce of Glasgow, offered at Bonhams London this week.
Quite a wide range of sales coming up this week: here's what I'll be watching:
Artcurial's online Books & Manuscripts sale ends on Tuesday, November 8. The 186 lots include an eight-volume set of the Froben edition of the works of Saint Augustine (1528–1529), which is expected to sell for €15,000–20,000. Picasso's Eaux-fortes originales pour des textes de Buffon (1942) is estimated at €12,000–15,000, and a 1539 printed book of hours on vellum could sell for €14,000–18,000.
At Hindman Auctioneers on Tuesday and November November 8–9, 717 lots of Fine Printed Books & Manuscripts, Including Americana. A first edition of James T. Palmatary's 1857 engraved bird's-eye view of Chicago, one of just five known copies, is expected to sell for $50,000–70,000. A June 1924 Al Capone letter to his friend Bill Sell about a bootlegger is estimated at $12,000–18,000 (other letters from this correspondence will also be sold in this sale). A signed manuscript fair copy of Katharine Lee Bates' "America the Beautiful" could sell for $10,000–15,000. A copy of the 1935 Limited Editions Club edition of Joyce's Ulysses, signed by both Joyce and Matisse, is expected to sell for $8,000–12,000. The same estimate range has been assigned to a presentation copy of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Stride Toward Freedom (1958) and a 1748 note from Benjamin Franklin to merchant Nathaniel Sparhawk.
Bonhams London sells Fine Books and Manuscripts on Wednesday, November 9, in 372 lots. A hardcover first printing of the first Harry Potter book has been pegged to lead the sale at £100,000–150,000, while a first issue copy of Darwin's Origin is estimated at £80,000–120,000. A collection of some 201 miniature books published by David Bryce of Glasgow could sell for £20,000–30,000. At the same estimate range are one of 170 complete copies of T.E. Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1926) inscribed, dated, and initialed by Lawrence; and one of just thirteen press copies of Joyce's Ulysses (1922), sent to the editor of the London Mercury.
On Thursday, November 10, Forum Auctions holds an online 280-lot sale of Books and Works on Paper.
At Swann Galleries on Thursday, Rare & Important Travel Posters: Featuring Highlights from the Victor Ryerson Collection, in 202 lots. Tom Purvis' 1931 six-poster set for the London North East Railway, "East Coast Joys," is expected to sell for $20,000–30,000.
