Rare Books &c. at Auction This Week

I'll be keeping an eye on these sales this week:

Bonhams Los Angeles sells 183 lots of History of Science and Technology on Wednesday, November 3. A February 23, 1974 Steve Jobs letter to his friend Tim Brown, believed to be the first autograph letter by Jobs ever to appear at auction, is estimated at $200,000–300,000. Papers written by Dr. Stafford Warren about the Trinity Project atomic tests could sell for $50,000–70,000. A first-edition copy of Encyclopedie (1751–1765) is estimated at $30,000–50,000, and an early prototype version of the Macintosh computer may fetch $30,000–40,000.

ALDE's sale of Livres Anciens du XVe au XIXe Siècle (Part I, Part II) ends on Thursday, November 4.

Forum Auctions sells Books and Works on Paper on Thursday, in 205 lots. A copy of the 1909 edition of The Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm with illustrations by Arthur Rackham rates the top estimate at £800–1,200. An 1806 James Gillray print, "The Triumph of Quassia" consigned by the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists is estimated at £600–800. The rare 1573 Thomas Tusser volume Five Hundreth Points of Good Husbandry is estimated at £400–600. The Chiswick Press edition of Tagore's Gitanjali (1912) could sell in a similar range.

PBA Galleries has an interesting mix on Thursday: Art, Illustration & Dr. Seuss – British Prime Ministers – Antiquarian Books. The 260 lots include a copy of the first Italian edition of Winston Churchill's History of the English-Speaking Peoples (titled Storia), signed by Churchill on the half-title of the second volume. This is estimated at $5,000–8,000, as is a copy of the 1960 Tiber Press artist book pairing poets and artists. A first Swiss edition of Churchill's History (titled Geschichte), also signed by Churchill on the half-title of the second volume, is estimated at $4,000–6,000. The 2016 artist's book by Don Glaister 3 in Search of the Universe is also estimated at $4,000–6,000.

Heritage Auctions sells 314 lots of Historical Manuscripts on Saturday, November 6. These include an autograph manuscript leaf from The Hound of the Baskervilles, covering the beginning of Chapter XIII, which has a starting bid of $85,000. Other notable lots in this sale include a February 20, 1856 John Brown autograph letter written from Kansas to Ohio Congressman Joshua Giddings; a letter of introduction signed by George Washington; and ten letters from Albert Sabin to his cousin Sylvia Sidney.