Shem Tov Bible, Bastille Drawing, Einstein Letter about Nuclear Weapons: Auction Preview
Opening from the Shem Tov Bible, completed in Spain in 1312 and offered at Sotheby's this week.
Here are the sales I'll be watching this week:
At Sotheby's New York on Tuesday, September 10, the Shem Tov Bible, an illuminated Hebrew manuscript Bible completed in Soria, Spain in 1312 will be sold as a single-item sale: it is estimated at $5–7 million. The thorough descriptive essay makes for fascinating reading.
Freeman's | Hindman sells 154 lots of Books and Manuscripts in Philadelphia on Tuesday, including a 1789 drawing of the demolished Bastille, presented to George Washington by Lafayette ($500,000–800,000); Bushrod Washington's copy of the first volume of the 1788 thick paper issue of The Federalist ($40,000–60,000); and a first edition of Izaak Walton's Compleat Angler ($15,000–25,000).
Christie's New York sells 36 lots from the Paul G. Allen Collection on Tuesday, including the unsent alternative version of Albert Einstein's August 2, 1939 letter to FDR about the possibility of the development of nuclear weapons ($4–6 million); a 1976 Apple-1 computer from Steve Jobs' office ($500,000–800,000); a four-rotor Enigma cipher machine ($250,000–350,000); a sixteenth-century Italian portolan chart of the Mediterranean and north Atlantic ($70,000–100,000); and an 1867 Malling-Hansen "writing ball" typewriter ($50,000–80,000).
At Dominic Winter Auctioneers on Wednesday, September 11, Printed Books, Maps & Manuscripts, in 491 lots. A copy of the 1555 edition of Polydore Vergil's Anglicae historiae bound for Mary I rates the top estimate at £20,000–30,000. A 1632 second edition of Magini's atlas of Italy in a contemporary binding is expected to sell for £8,000–12,000.
Doyle sells 292 lots of Rare Books, Autographs & Maps on Thursday, September 12, including a 1783 military discharge form signed by George Washington ($10,000–15,000); Lewis & Clark's History of the Expedition (1814) without the folding map, estimated at $8,000–12,000; and a December 30, 1812 John Adams letter to his grandson about the War of 1812, estimated at the same range.
