Rare Books &c. at Auction This Week
On Tuesday, May 29, Christie's Paris sells Livres rare et manuscrits in 95 lots. An impressive set of the Description de l'Egypte (1809-[1830]) from the library of Jean-Marie Dubois-Aymé, a contributor to the work, is estimated at ??300,000-500,000. Maxime Du Camp's photographic book ?gypte, Nubie, Palestine et Syrie (1852) could sell for ??250,000-350,000, and a Debussy music manuscript rates a ??120,000-180,000 estimate.
Bonhams London sells Wassenaar Zoo: A Dutch Private Library on Wednesday, May 30, in 234 lots. Expected highlights include John Gould's Birds of Australia (£100,000-150,000) and his Mammals of Australia (£50,000-70,000), Edward Lear's Illustrations of the Family of Psitticidae (£40,000-60,000), and Daniel Giraud Elliot's A Monograph of the Phasanidae (£35,000-45,000). Watch a future issue of Fine Books & Collections for more on this sale.
Modern First Editions, Illustrated Books & Limited Editions are the order of the day at Chiswick Auctions on Wednesday, in 226 lots. A first edition of Hemingway's In Our Time (1924) is estimated at £15,000-18,000, with a first edition, first printing of Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1901; pictured) rates the second-highest estimate, £12,000-15,000. Some interesting editions of classic fiction, &c. available in this sale.
On Thursday, May 31, PBA Galleries holds a sale of Americana with Manuscript Material, Travel & Exploration, and Cartography, in 438 lots. A copy on "superfine royal paper" of the first collected edition of The Federalist (New York, 1788) is estimated at $80,000-120,000, while an early copy of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn later owned by Sir Hugh Walpole could sell for $15,000-25,000.
Skinner begins an online sale of Fine Books & Manuscripts on May 31, which runs until June 8. The two lots with the highest starting bids ($25,000) are an 1858 oversized map of the Mississippi River, and the May 9, 1754 issue of the Pennsylvania Gazette, which featured the first appearance of Franklin's "Join or Die" cartoon.
Image courtesy of Chiswick Auctions
