Suffrage Collection, Middle English Manuscript Roll, Jane Eyre: Auction Preview

Here are the sales I'll be watching through the rest of November:

At Bonhams London on Wednesday, November 19, 236 lots of Books, Atlases and Manuscripts, including a 1633 Mercator-Hondius atlas in French (£25,000–35,000); a set of first impression copies of the three Lord of the Rings books £20,000–30,000); and a partial, unrecorded copy of an anthology of English nursery rhymes published before 1767 (£20,000–30,000). Sharing the same estimate range is a fifteenth-century Middle English amulet roll found during home renovations in Suffolk. More than 280 volumes of scientific books from the library of Peter Higgs (1919–2024) are expected to sell for £15,000–25,000.

University Archives sells 497 lots of Rare Autographs, Manuscripts & Books on November 19, with a Bob Dylan autograph manuscript of the lyrics to "Just Like a Woman" (dated 2013) rating the top estimate at $40,000–50,000. A short Isaac Newton manuscript fragment about Judaism and Christianity could sell for $30,000–40,000. Also on offer is a carte-de-visite photograph of Edgar Allen Poe from about 1861, expected to sell for $3,000–4,000.

At Forum Auctions on Thursday, November 20, 267 lots of Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper, with a first edition of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre (1847) rating the top estimate at £18,000–22,000. Inscribed first edition copies of Ian Fleming's Dr. No (1958) and For Your Eyes Only (1960) are each estimated at £15,000–20,000. Dr. No is inscribed by Fleming to poet Edith Sitwell, and For Your Eyes Only to writer Nancy Cunard.

Bonhams London sells Deeds Not Words: A Women's Suffrage Collection on November 20, in 80 lots. A wide range of artifacts, memorabilia, manuscripts and printed material will be on offer, including a group of about fifty letters written to militant suffragette Mary Phillips (£15,000–30,000), including several from Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst.

At Sotheby's Paris on November 20, 95 lots of Livres & Manuscrits, dont une collection de lettres de Kafka à Gauguin, with a daguerreotype of Victor Hugo rating the top estimate at €20,000–30,000. A copy of Joseph Kessel's Le Lion (1958) could sell for €18,000–22,000.

Also at Sotheby's Paris on November 20, Bibliothèque Jean-Paul Morin, in 160 lots. Audubert and Vieillot's Oiseaux dorés à reflets métalliques (1801–1802) rates the top estimate at €40,000–60,000.

Swann Galleries sells 360 lots of Printed & Manuscript Americana on November 20, with an unpublished Revolutionary War diary recording the 1776 invasion of Quebec expected to lead the way at $70,000–100,000. A January 1777 George Washington letter to Robert Morris about the forthcoming British campaign against Philadelphia is estimated at $60,000–90,000. Some early Mormon material is also included in this sale.

On November 20 at Potter & Potter Auctions, 641 lots of Fine Books & Artworks from the George D. Lacy & Louis A. Irmo Collections. Among the books, a first edition copy of Frank Herbert's Dune (1965) is expected to sell for more than $18,000, and a first edition of Isaac Asimov's I, Robot (1950) will fetch more than $6,000.

PBA Galleries sells 383 lots of Photography; Art & Illustration; Movie Posters; Fine Press & Fine Bindings; Miniature Books on November 20, including a large group of art, ephemera and photographs by Albert and Mary Stevens ($4,000–6,000).

At RR Auction on November 20, Decoding History: Kryptos, Enigma, and the Rosetta Stone, in 21 lots. Sculptor Jim Sanborn's collection of papers and photographs about the Kryptos sculptures is expected to sell for more than $300,000, and a group of working papers of British attempts to translate the Rosetta Stone could fetch more than $200,000. A 1826 Champollion letter to English archaeologist William Gell is estimated at more than $40,000.

On Saturday, November 22, Arader Galleries hold their November 2025 auction.

At Freeman's on Monday, November 24, 362 lots of American Historical Ephemera & Early Photography.

Doyle sells 342 lots of Rare Books, Autographs & Maps on Tuesday, November 25, with a copy of Shelley's Prometheus Unbound (1820) in a bejeweled binding by Sangorski & Sutcliffe rating the top estimate at $30,000–50,000. A 1953 Peanuts comic strip original drawing could sell for $20,000–30,000. A Hardouyn printed book of hours from about 1512 is estimated at $12,000–18,000.

At Swann Galleries on November 25, 310 lots of Rare & Important Travel Posters, with Leslie Ragan's 1939 poster for the New 20th Century Limited train expected to sell for $15,000–20,000.

On Wednesday, November 26, Forum Auctions sells Books and Works on Paper, in 358 lots. A signed copy of Shelley's Anacreontis Odaria (1813) rates the top estimate at £2,000–3,000. The half-title containing the signature has been tipped in from another copy.