FIRST EDITION OF SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN’S LES VOYAGES DU SIEUR DE CHAMPLAIN SOARS PAST PRE-SALE HIGH ESTIMATE
The undoubted highlight of the sale was the stellar result achieved for Samuel de Champlains’s Les Voyages du Sieur de Champlain, Paris, 1613 (Lot 3). After competitive bidding, the first edition of the French explorer’s second book sold for $201,600—more than tripling its pre-sale high estimate.
ADDITIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
Other notable highlights included the sale of: Vladimir Nabokov’s Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle (Lot 99) which sold for $15,120, more than three times its pre-sale high estimate; Thomas Birch and J.H. Seymour’s, The Geographical Pastime, or the Complete Tour of Europe (Lot 48), which achieved $13,100, more than five times its pre-sale high estimate; Evening Clouds, East Side of the Sierra Nevada, California, a photograph by Ansel Adams (Lot 124), realized $10,710; and a complete deck of Harlequin Playing Cards from Chas E. Carryl (Lot 49), which sold for $8,820, more than seven times its pre-sale high estimate.
ABOUT FREEMAN’S BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS DEPARTMENT
Under the leadership of Darren Winston, who has served as the Head of Department since 2018, Freeman’s Books and Manuscripts department has grown and prospered. Recent successes including the sale of a 15th Century Books of Hours (sold for $87,500, November 2020); a first edition collection of Bell’s Edition: The Poets of Great Britain Complete from Chaucer to Churchill (sold for $30,000, October 2020); and a Leaf From the Gutenberg Bible (sold for $81,250, September 2020) are a testament to Winston’s impact on the department and Freeman’s as a whole.
The department is now inviting consignments for their May Books and Manuscripts auction which will include selections from a large collection of WWII posters deaccessioned by The Valentine museum, Richmond, Virginia.
