Fine Printing, Confucius in English, Freud Letter: Auction Preview
Opening from the Cranach Press edition of Hamlet (1930), offered at PBA Galleries this week.
Here's what I'll be watching this week:
At New England Book Auctions on Tuesday, August 20, 199 lots of 15th-18th Century Printing, Americana & Fine Books, including a 1682 edition of Grotius' Rights of War & Peace ($1,500–2,500); the 1829 Philadelphia New General Atlas ($1,000–1,500); and the 1557 Estienne edition of Aeschylus ($800–1,200).
On Wednesday, August 21 (check your local times) Australian Book Auctions sells 170 lots of Books, Historical Art, Militaria, Prints, Ephemera, Literature. A complete set of James Cook's voyage accounts in eight volumes rates the top estimate at $20,000–30,000 AUD. David Collins' Account of the English Colony in New South Wales (1798–1802) is estimated at $8,000–12,000 AUD, and John MacGillivray's Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake (1852) could sell for $5,000–7,000 AUD.
Chiswick Auctions sells 287 lots of Books & Works on Paper on Thursday, August 22. McKenney & Hall's History of the Indian Tribes of North America (1837–1844) is estimated at £16,000–18,000; deluxe issues of 21st: The Journal of Contemporary Photography in six volumes (1998–2004) could sell for £6,000–8,000. A copy of the 1691 Morals of Confucius, the first edition in English, is estimated at £4,000–6,000.
On Thursday at Forum Auctions, Travel Books, Maps and Atlases, in 322 lots. John Poyntz' 1683 Present Prospect of the Famous and Fertile Island of Tobago shares the top estimate of £2,000–3,000 with a 1745 two-sheet engraved panoramic view of Jerusalem. A 1780 engraved map of Grenada by William Faden could sell for £800–1,200.
Swann Galleries sells 446 lots of LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History on Thursday, including a deluxe edition of Jean Genet's Querelle de Brest (1947) with illustrations by Jean Cocteau in a lavish design binding by Devauchelle ($8,000–12,000). A 1928 Sigmund Freud letter praising the work of Magnus Hirschfeld is estimated at $7,000–10,000.
At PBA Galleries on Thursday, Photography & Fine Art; Fine Press & Fine Bindings, in 351 lots. The Cranach Press Hamlet (1930) and Eric Gill's copy of his Engravings by Eric Gill (1929) are expected to lead the way at $12,000–18,000. An extensive group of 84 pieces by Félicien Rops is estimated at $10,000–15,000.
At Tennants Auctioneers on Friday, August 23, 143 lots of Books, Maps & Manuscripts, including first editions of the Lord of the Rings trilogy (£4,000–6,000); a fourth impression copy of The Hobbit (£3,000–5,000); George Murray's Antarctic Manual (1901), estimated at £1,500–2,000. The 1727 Designs of Inigo Jones is expected to sell for £1,000–2,000.
