Rare Books &c. at Auction This Week
Kiwis from John Gould's Birds of Australia, offered at Sotheby's London this week as part of the library of Henry Rogers Broughton, 2nd Baron Fairhaven.
At Aguttes on Tuesday, May 17, Lettres & Manuscrits Autographes, Livres, Estampes & Photographies, in 300 lots. A manuscript book of hours from around 1500 at Rouen, with miniatures by Robert Boyvin, is expected to lead the sale at €15,000–20,000. A first edition of Molière's Le Misantrope (1667) is estimated at €10,000–15,000.
Sotheby's London sells the first part of the Library of Henry Rogers Broughton, 2nd Baron Fairhaven on Wednesday, May 18, in 245 lots. A set of Thomas and William Daniells' Oriental Scenery printed about 1841 is estimated at £150,000–200,000, while Audubon's Quadrupeds could sell for £150,000–250,000. A first edition of John Gould's Birds of Australia is also estimated at £150,000–200,000. Mark Catesby's Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands (1731–43) could sell for £100,000–150,000. A great deal here to delight the natural history collector.
On Thursday, May 19 at ALDE, Un Siècle de Littérature 1918–2018, in 250 lots.
At Forum Auctions on Thursday, 281 lots of Books and Works on Paper. A copy of the "Peacock" Pride & Prejudice with the Hugh Thomson cover design (1895) is estimated at £750–1,000, and a small collection of drawings by John Guthrie for Pear Tree Press publications and some ephemera related to the press is estimated at £700–1,000. Some interesting maps in this one, too.
At Swann Galleries on Thursday, Graphic Design, in 266 lots. Adolphe Mouron Cassandre's striking 1928 poster L.M.S. Best Way is estimated at $40,000–60,000. A pencil and gouache maquette of Cassandre's 1930 poster for Triplex glass could sell for $25,000–35,000. Ten volumes of the German design journal Das Plakat dating between 1912 and 1921 are also estimated at $25,000–35,000.
Also on Thursday, Fine Literature, with Counterculture, Bukowski & the Beats at PBA Galleries, in 487 lots. A copy of Steinbeck's East of Eden (1952) with a letter by Elaine Steinbeck attesting that this is the first copy received from the publishers, is expected to lead the way at $15,000–25,000. A rare inscribed copy of L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables (1909) could sell for $10,000–15,000.
