Rare Book Monthly

Articles - September - 2012 Issue

September Auctions

Setpember - a busy month

Setpember - a busy month

September arrives like a Hoyt Wilhelm or R. A. Dickey pitch, the speed slow, and the outcome uncertain.   But we have been here before and know, by the end of September, that the month will resolve itself nicely.  At this point we just don’t know how.

The number of events scheduled already ensures the month will set a September record.  Such records are now routine but it’s nevertheless encouraging that, as we head into the traditional new auction year – September to August – the schedule continues to filling in.  Over the past 9 years the number of September sales covered on AE has steadily increased. 

Year                Sales               Total Lots

2012               61 [currently] Not yet known

2011               57                   27,828

2010               37                   12363

2009               35                   20276

2008               40                   17193

2007               36                   11716

2006               37                   14847

2005               49                   9959

2004               25                   5915

Because September sales are often posted after Labor Day we estimate another half dozen will be posted over the next two weeks.  It seems that even while economic and political uncertainty in the United States and Europe prevails some fields do better than others.  Auctions seem to be holding their ground.  

Sales now posted to the September calendar are:

Sat. Sept. 1st              Bloomsbury Auctions.  Books and Autographs [ROMA-78].  137 lots

                                    Morton Casa de Subastas.  Books, Documents and Prints [641].  359 lots

Mon. Sept. 3rd             Christie’s.  The London Sale [7858].  51 lots

Tues. Sept. 4th                        Bruun Rasmussen.  Books [1236].  247 lots

Wed. Sept. 5th                        Old World Auctions.  Maps, etc. [141]

Thurs. Sept. 6th          AntiquarianAuctions.com     Rare Books – ending today.

                                    Heritage Auctions.  Rare Books.  Online bidding ending today.

Fri. Sept. 7th                Keys Fine Arts Auctioneers.  Prints [1044]

                                    Skinner, Inc.  Fine Prints [2609B]

Sat.  Sept. 8th              Clars Auction Gallery.  Prints, Photographs [90812]

                                    Neal Auction Company.  Fall Estates Auction [90812]

Sun. Sept. 9th              Clars Auction Gallery.  Prints, Photographs ending [90812]

                                    National Book Auctions.  Books, Art, Ephemera and Collectibles [90912]                      Neal Auction Company.  Fall Estates Auction ending [90812]

Wed. Sept. 12th          Dorotheum.  Posters, Advertising Art, Comics, Film and Photo History [9596]

                                    Heritage Auctions.  Estate Sale:  Prints and Photography [5101]

                                    Rupert Toovey and Co.  Prints [1068].

Thurs. Sept. 13th        Bloomsbury Auctions.  Bibliophile [35949]

                                    Heritage Auctions.  Estate Sale:  Prints and Photography [5101]

                                    Heritage Auctions.  Rare Books.  Online bidding ending today.

                                    PBA Galleries.  Rare Books and Manuscripts [488]

                                    Waddington’s.  Joyner-Waddington Online Auction of Post-War Canadian Art including Prints [91312]

Sat. Sept 15th             Alain & Evelyne Morel de Westgaver.  Books, etc. [91512]

Sun.  Sept. 16th          Bonhams.  Prints and Photographs [20041]

Wed. Sept. 19th          Bonhams.  Prints featuring British Pop [19786]

                                    Christie’s.  Prints [5705].

                                    Dominic Winter Book Auctions.  Printed Books, Maps & Documents [91912]

                                    Freeman’s [Samuel T. Freeman & Co.].  Photography and Photographic Books [1437].

                                    Sotheby’s.  Old Master, Modern and Contemporary Prints [L12161]

Thurs. Sept. 20th        Bloomsbury Auctions.  Children’s, Conjuring, Private Press and Modern First Editions [35952]

                                    Christie’s.  Etchings by James Ensor from an Important Private Collections [8258]

                                    Cowan’s Auctions.  The World at War [283].

                                    De Baecque & Associes.  Antiquarian and Modern Books [19666]

                                    Dominic Winter Book Auctions.  A Country House Library

[92012]

                                    Freeman’s [Samuel T. Freeman & Co.].  Books, Maps and Manuscripts [1438]

                                    Heritage Auctions.  Rare book – online bidding ending today [201238]

                                    Knotty Pine Auction Service.  Books and Ephemera [92012]

                                    Pierre Berge & Associes.  Books [19559]

                                    Swann Galleries.  19th and 20th Century Prints and Drawings [560]

Fri. Sept. 21st              Ferraton.  Books, Autographs and Manuscripts [92112]

                                    Galerie Koller Auctions.  Prints, Books [A162].

                                    Galerie Koller Auctions.  Master Prints [W234]

                                    Venator and Hanstein [Buch und Graphikauktionen].  Books, Prints, Drawings, Autographs [124].

Sat. Sept. 22nd                        Auxerre Encheres – Auxerre Estimations.  Books [89739]

                                    Galerie Koller Auctions.  Prints,  Books [A162]

                                    Venator and Hanstein [Buch und Graphikauktionen].  Modern and Contemporary Prints and Drawings; Modern Literature on Art [125]

Mon. Sept. 24th          Sotheby’s.  Property from the Estate of Brook Astor [NO8890]

Tues.. Sept. 25th         Sotheby’s.  Property from the Estate of Brook Astor, continued [NO8890]

                                    Bonhams.  Printed Books and Maps [19844]

Wed. Sept. 26th          Dorotheum.  Modern Prints [92612]

                                    Lyon and Turnbull Ltd.  International Sale:  Prints [360]

                                    Mealy’s Auctioneer’s.  Rare Book and Collectors Sale [92612]

                                    Tajan.  Books [9740]

Thurs. Sept. 27th        Bloomsbury Auctions.  Modern and Contemporary Prints [35979]

                                    Central Mass Auctions.  Eliot Ness Memorabilia [92712]

                                    Christie’s.  Collection of Helene Rochas [3538]

                                    Heritage Auctions.  Rare Books online bidding ending today [201239]

                                    Mealy’s Auctioneer’s.  Rare Book and Collectors Sale continuing [92612]

                                    Morton Casa de Subastas.  Monclau Collection Antique Books [645]

                                    PBA Galleries.  Americana – Afri can American History – Travel and Exploration [489]

Sat. Sept. 29th             Neret – Minet & Tessier.  Comic Strips [13876]

There are certainly more to come.

Here is a link to the unified auction search.


Rare Book Monthly

  • Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("Martinus Luther") to His Friend the Theologian Gerhard Wiskamp ("Gerardo Xantho Lampadario"). $100,000 - $150,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: An Exceptionally Fine Copy of Austenís Emma: A Novel in Three Volumes. $40,000 - $60,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Presentation Copy of Ernest Hemmingwayís A Farewell to Arms for Edward Titus of the Black Mankin Press. $30,000 - $50,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript Signed Integrally for "The Songs of Pooh," by Alan Alexander. $30,000 - $50,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript of "Three Fragments from Gˆtterd‰mmerung" by Richard Wagner. $30,000 - $50,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Preliminary Artwork, for the First Edition of Snow Crash. $20,000 - $30,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("T.R. Malthus") to Economist Nassau Senior on Wealth, Labor and Adam Smith. $20,000 - $30,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Finely Bound by Michael Wilcox. $20,000 - $30,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: First Edition of Lewis and Clark: Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean. $8,000 - $12,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Artwork for the First Edition of Neal Stephenson's Groundbreaking Novel Snow Crash. $100,000 - $150,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: A Complete Set Signed Deluxe Editions of King's The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. $8,000 - $12,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("John Adams") to James Le Ray de Chaumont During the Crucial Years of the Revolutionary War. $8,000 - $12,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Book Week
    December 9-17, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000.
  • Heritage Auctions
    Rare Books Signature Auction
    December 15, 2025
    Heritage, Dec. 15: John Donne. Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death. London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.
    Heritage, Dec. 15: Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
    Heritage, Dec. 15: F. Scott Fitzgerald. Tender is the Night. A Romance.
    Heritage, Dec. 15: Bram Stoker. Dracula. Westminster: Archibald Constable & Co., 1897.
    Heritage, Dec. 15: Jerry Thomas. How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion, Containing Clear and Reliable Directions for Mixing All the Beverages Used in the United States…
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