Rare Books &c. at Auction This Week
A big week in the book-auction world, with a set of Birds of America on the block this Thursday.
At Bonhams New York on Tuesday, June 12, Fine Books and Manuscripts, in 287 lots. Top-estimated lots include an autograph manuscript of Beethoven's "Emperor Concerto" ($250,000-350,000); a c.1489 Basel edition of Aesop, the first printed in Switzerland ($60,000-80,000); a first edition of Ortelius' Theatrum Orbis Terrarum ($50,000-80,000); and Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, extracted from the First Folio ($50,000-80,000). Audubon's autograph manuscript of the description of the Crested Titmouse for his Ornithological Biography is estimated at $10,000-15,000
PBA Galleries sells 205 lots of Rare Books & Manuscripts on Thursday, June 14. Among the expected highlights are a signed copy of the 1972 George Allen & Unwin edition of The Lord of the Rings ($8,000-12,000); the 1858 volume of The Zoologist containing the second printing of Darwin and Wallace's first papers on natural selection ($8,000-12,000); and a complete set of Dickens' Christmas Books, all first editions ($7,000-10,000).
Christie's New York will sell The Portland Audubon on Thursday, June 14, at 2 p.m. This is a truly great copy of Birds of America, being sold by the Knobloch Family Foundation; it last sold at Christie's on January 10, 2012, for $7,922,500. It is estimated at $8-12 million this time around. For the many Audubonophiles out there (myself included), this will be the one to watch this week. Following the Audubon set are 212 additional lots of Fine Printed Books & Manuscripts, Including Americana, and there are definitely some great lots in this part of the sale as well: a 1468 illuminated portolan atlas on vellum ($1.2-1.8 million), a first edition of Audubon's Quadrupeds ($200,000-300,000), one of just six known proof copies on wove paper of the Stone facsimile of the Declaration of Independence ($200,000-300,000), and a Shakespeare Second Folio ($150,000-200,000). There's also a copy of the first issue of MacWorld, signed by Jobs and Wozniak ($40,000-60,000).
