Rare Books &c. at Auction This Week

Here are the sales I'll be watching this week:

Books and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on Tuesday, July 5. The 295 lots include a copy of James Dallaway's Constantinople Ancient and Modern (1797), estimated at £2,000–3,000. Several pieces of Stephen Hawking ephemera, including a 2016 magazine article signed by Hawking with his right thumbprint, are each estimated at £1,500–2,000 (Lots 280–282). A 1944 Japanese reissue of Bruno Taut's Alpine Achitektur could sell for £750–1,000. Two Gogmagog Press items, including one described as a one-off, will sell together and are estimated at £600–800. Pierre-Simon Fournier's Manuel Typographique (1764–66) is also estimated at £600–800. A 1769 Baskerville Bible with other Baskervilleana is estimated at £500–700.

At Bloomsbury Auctions on Wednesday, July 6, 130 lots of Western Manuscripts and Miniatures. The mid-thirteenth-century manuscript known as the Bishop Carr Bible is expected to lead the sale at £50,000–70,000. A French manuscript of the Summa Sententiarum from the twelfth century, ascribed to "Master Odo," is estimated at £40,000–60,000. Three cuttings from a manuscript of Paul the Deacon's Homiliary, written in the late eighth or early ninth centuries and formerly in the Schøyen Collection, could sell for £25,000–35,000.

Also on Wednesday, La Bibliothèque de Pierre Bergé – 6e Vente at Pierre Bergé & Associés. A number of Jean Genet manuscripts are expected to sell well, with Le Journal du Voleur estimated at €80,000–120,000.

One manuscript is among the 44 lots in Christie's Exceptional Sale on Thursday, July 7: a 77-page manuscript about the battle of Austerlitz, dictated by Napoleon to General Henri-Gatien Bertrand and corrected in Napoleon's hand. It is estimated at £250,000–350,000.

On Thursday at PBA Galleries, Books in All Fields with Literature, Americana & Maps, in 435 lots, all sold without reserve and a $10 starting bid.