Chocolate Debates, Illustrated Dante, and Beekeeping: Auction Preview
Design binding by Christopher Clarkson on a copy of Hobson's Bindings in Cambridge Libraries (1929), accompanied by Clarkson's tools and designs, offered at Dominic Winter Auctioneers this week.
Here's what I'll be watching this week:
At ALDE on Tuesday, March 4, 253 lots of Livres anciens du XVe au XIXe siècle – Bibliothèque Jean Irigoin et à divers. Lots rating high estimates include a 1480 Parma edition of the letters of St. Jerome (€15,000–20,000); a 1487 Brescia edition of Dante's Divina Commedia (€10,000–12,000); and a rare c.1510 Paris edition of L'Hystoire et cronicque du noble et vaillant Baudouyn conte de Flandres lequel espousa le dyable (€10,000–12,000).
Ader sells 161 lots of Enluminures et Manuscrits, Livres Anciens et Modernes on Wednesday, March 5, including a thirteenth-century manuscript Bible from Spain (€80,000–90,000). A 1926 edition of Oscar Wilde's Deux Contes with illustrations by François-Louis Schmied and in a designer binding by Paul Legrain is estimated at €15,000–20,000, while a copy of the 1584 Paris edition of Pierre Ronsard's works could fetch €8,000–12,000.
At Dominic Winter Auctioneers on Wednesday, Printed Books, Maps & Playing Cards, Caricatures, Prints & Bewick Woodblocks, in 497 lots. A copy of John Parker Lawson's Scotland Delineated in a Series of Views (1854) shares the top estimate of £4,000–6,000 with a near-complete run of the Gentleman's Magazine from 1731 to 1852 (158 volumes) and a copy of Geoffrey Dudley Hobson's Bindings in Cambridge Libraries (1929) in a design binding by Christopher Clarkson. This is accompanied by Clarkson's tools used for this binding as well as designs and samples.
Forum Auctions sells 293 lots of Books and Works on Paper on Thursday, March 7, including Rev. Charles Butler's beekeeping treatise The Feminine Monarchie (1609), expected to sell for £2,000–3,000.
At PBA Galleries on Thursday, Photography & Art, Fine Press & Bindings, with Cocktail Manuals and Antiquarian & Collectible Books, in 366 lots. A group of Rockwell Kent publications, letters, keepsakes, &c. collected by Alex and Martha Geckler is expected to lead the sale at $12,000–18,000. A Chris Ranes scroll painting, "Reflections" (1980) could sell for $4,000–6,000. A 1636 Madrid publication about whether the use of chocolate and tobacco break Christian fasts is estimated at $3,000–5,000.
