Incunabula to Literary Classics at Swann Galleries' April Auction
New York—Swann Galleries’ annual spring auction of Fine Books will take place this year on April 12, which is also opening day of the New York Antiquarian Book Fair. The sale features the finest examples of incunabula and early printing, 19th & 20th century literature, press and illustrated books, decorative sets and bindings, travel books and more.
Early printed books account for several of the auction’s top lots, including the book with the highest pre-sale estimate, which contains the earliest map in a printed book to designate the new world as America, Joannis Camertis . . . In C. Julii Solini Polyistora enarrationes, 1520, which is bound with Pomponius Mela, Libri de situ orbis tres, 1518; bringing together two key early texts in the dispute over ancient and modern knowledge following the voyages of Columbus and others (estimate: $50,000 to $70,000).
Also among early printed treasures are Hans Holbein the Younger, Historiarum veteris testamenti icones, second edition of Holbein’s celebrated series of Bible illustrations, Lyon, 1539 ($12,000 to $18,000); a first complete edition of Michael Bernhard Valentini, Museum Museorum, a mammoth illustrated compendium of contemporary scientific knowledge based on the holdings of public and private cabinets of curiosities in Europe, Frankfurt, 1714 ($6,000 to $9,000); and a selection of incunabula, such as Werner Rolewinck, Fasciculus temporum, Venice, 1480 ($4,000 to $6,000); a first edition of Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus, Expositio in Psalterium, Basel, 1491 ($4,000 to $6,000); and two volumes from the first collected edition of the sermons of St. Augustine, Basel, 1495 ($3,000 to $5,000).
Two works of Jewish interest that span the centuries are a 1764 equestrian manual by Baron Wolf Ehrenfried von Reizenstein, which contains a Yiddish linguistics appendix with a glossary of more than 1500 transliterated Yiddish and Hebrew terms, intended as an aid for understanding the horse-trade dialect used by Jews, Uffenheim, 1764 ($6,000 to $9,000), and a first edition of Theodor Herzl’s Der Judenstaat, the book that crystallized the idea of a national home for the Jews, Leipzig and Vienna, 1896 ($6,000 to $9,000).
There are literary gems to be found in the sale as well. Ninety years after its publication is a first edition of James Joyce’s masterpiece, Ulysses, number 162 from the first edition of copies on vergé d’arches, and one of the “Giant Joyce” copies given to his patron Harriet Weaver, Paris, 1922, with a separate signed autograph inscription by Joyce ($25,000 to $35,000). Another literature highlight with the same estimate is a first edition of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, Brooklyn, 1855.
The sale is rich in visually compelling material, including modern art examples such as Das graphische Werk Emil Noldes bis 1910, with a signed etching and lithograph, Berlin, 1911 ($8,000 to $12,000); Sonia Delaunay and Jacques Damase’s L’Alphabet, signed by both, with 27 lithographed plates after original gouaches by Delaunay, Milan, 1969 ($3,000 to $4,000); and a signed limited edition of Salvador Dalí’s Memories of Surrealism, on Japan nacre, New York, 1971 ($12,000 to $18,000).
Dazzlingly illustrated travel books include first editions in book form of Luigi Mayer’s Views in Egypt, Views in Palestine, and Views in the Ottoman Empire, three volumes in one, London, 1804 ($6,000 to $9,000); Sir William Gell’s The Topography of Troy, and its Vicinity, with hand-colored plates and maps, London, 1804 ($3,000 to $4,000); Boydell’s Picturesque Scenery of Norway, with 80 hand-colored aquatint plates by John William Edy—considered the most important English color plate book on Norway, London, circa 1828 ($8,000 to $12,000); and Souvenirs de Constantinople, with 20 hand-colored lithographed views by or after Jean Brindesi, Paris, 1855-60 ($3,000 to $5,000).
There is also a group of five albums of Art Deco typography studies, with 259 leaves of hand-colored alphabets and numerals, which were likely sample books for a graphic design studio, advertising or sign company, Paris, circa 1930 ($10,000 to $15,000). And, from the same era is one of the most beautiful illustrated books of the 20th century, the Cranach Press’s Hamlet, one of 300 copies on handmade paper, Weimar, 1930 ($6,000 to $9,000).
Rounding out the sale are circa 1000 AD vellum Bible leaves, two Eugene Grasset calendars, ornate sets and bindings, examples of curiosa and more.
The auction will take place at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 12.
The books will be on public exhibition on Saturday, April 7, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Monday, April 9 to Wednesday, April 11, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Illustrated catalogues, with information on bidding by mail or fax, are available for $35 from Swann Galleries, Inc., 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, or online at www.swanngalleries.com.
For further information, and to make advance arrangements to bid by telephone during the auction, please contact Christine von der Linn (19th to 20th century books) at 212-254-4710, extension 20 or cvonderlinn@swanngalleries.com; or Tobias Abeloff (15th to 18th century books) at 212-254-4710, extension 18 or tabeloff@swanngalleries.com.
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Early printed books account for several of the auction’s top lots, including the book with the highest pre-sale estimate, which contains the earliest map in a printed book to designate the new world as America, Joannis Camertis . . . In C. Julii Solini Polyistora enarrationes, 1520, which is bound with Pomponius Mela, Libri de situ orbis tres, 1518; bringing together two key early texts in the dispute over ancient and modern knowledge following the voyages of Columbus and others (estimate: $50,000 to $70,000).
Also among early printed treasures are Hans Holbein the Younger, Historiarum veteris testamenti icones, second edition of Holbein’s celebrated series of Bible illustrations, Lyon, 1539 ($12,000 to $18,000); a first complete edition of Michael Bernhard Valentini, Museum Museorum, a mammoth illustrated compendium of contemporary scientific knowledge based on the holdings of public and private cabinets of curiosities in Europe, Frankfurt, 1714 ($6,000 to $9,000); and a selection of incunabula, such as Werner Rolewinck, Fasciculus temporum, Venice, 1480 ($4,000 to $6,000); a first edition of Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus, Expositio in Psalterium, Basel, 1491 ($4,000 to $6,000); and two volumes from the first collected edition of the sermons of St. Augustine, Basel, 1495 ($3,000 to $5,000).
Two works of Jewish interest that span the centuries are a 1764 equestrian manual by Baron Wolf Ehrenfried von Reizenstein, which contains a Yiddish linguistics appendix with a glossary of more than 1500 transliterated Yiddish and Hebrew terms, intended as an aid for understanding the horse-trade dialect used by Jews, Uffenheim, 1764 ($6,000 to $9,000), and a first edition of Theodor Herzl’s Der Judenstaat, the book that crystallized the idea of a national home for the Jews, Leipzig and Vienna, 1896 ($6,000 to $9,000).
There are literary gems to be found in the sale as well. Ninety years after its publication is a first edition of James Joyce’s masterpiece, Ulysses, number 162 from the first edition of copies on vergé d’arches, and one of the “Giant Joyce” copies given to his patron Harriet Weaver, Paris, 1922, with a separate signed autograph inscription by Joyce ($25,000 to $35,000). Another literature highlight with the same estimate is a first edition of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, Brooklyn, 1855.
The sale is rich in visually compelling material, including modern art examples such as Das graphische Werk Emil Noldes bis 1910, with a signed etching and lithograph, Berlin, 1911 ($8,000 to $12,000); Sonia Delaunay and Jacques Damase’s L’Alphabet, signed by both, with 27 lithographed plates after original gouaches by Delaunay, Milan, 1969 ($3,000 to $4,000); and a signed limited edition of Salvador Dalí’s Memories of Surrealism, on Japan nacre, New York, 1971 ($12,000 to $18,000).
Dazzlingly illustrated travel books include first editions in book form of Luigi Mayer’s Views in Egypt, Views in Palestine, and Views in the Ottoman Empire, three volumes in one, London, 1804 ($6,000 to $9,000); Sir William Gell’s The Topography of Troy, and its Vicinity, with hand-colored plates and maps, London, 1804 ($3,000 to $4,000); Boydell’s Picturesque Scenery of Norway, with 80 hand-colored aquatint plates by John William Edy—considered the most important English color plate book on Norway, London, circa 1828 ($8,000 to $12,000); and Souvenirs de Constantinople, with 20 hand-colored lithographed views by or after Jean Brindesi, Paris, 1855-60 ($3,000 to $5,000).
There is also a group of five albums of Art Deco typography studies, with 259 leaves of hand-colored alphabets and numerals, which were likely sample books for a graphic design studio, advertising or sign company, Paris, circa 1930 ($10,000 to $15,000). And, from the same era is one of the most beautiful illustrated books of the 20th century, the Cranach Press’s Hamlet, one of 300 copies on handmade paper, Weimar, 1930 ($6,000 to $9,000).
Rounding out the sale are circa 1000 AD vellum Bible leaves, two Eugene Grasset calendars, ornate sets and bindings, examples of curiosa and more.
The auction will take place at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 12.
The books will be on public exhibition on Saturday, April 7, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Monday, April 9 to Wednesday, April 11, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Illustrated catalogues, with information on bidding by mail or fax, are available for $35 from Swann Galleries, Inc., 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, or online at www.swanngalleries.com.
For further information, and to make advance arrangements to bid by telephone during the auction, please contact Christine von der Linn (19th to 20th century books) at 212-254-4710, extension 20 or cvonderlinn@swanngalleries.com; or Tobias Abeloff (15th to 18th century books) at 212-254-4710, extension 18 or tabeloff@swanngalleries.com.
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