Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 37: Archive of the pioneering woman artist Arrah Lee Gaul, most 1911-59. $3,000 to $4,000.
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 66: Letter describing the dropping water level at Owens Lake near Death Valley, long before it was drained, Keeler, CA, 26 July 1904. $3,000 to $4,000
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 102: To Horse, To Horse! My All for a Horse! The Washington Cavalry, illustrated Civil War broadside, Philadelphia, 1862. $4,000 to $6,000
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 135: Album of cyanotype views of the Florida panhandle and beyond, 224 photographs, 174 of them cyanotypes, Apalachicola, FL and elsewhere, circa 1895-1896. $1,200 to $1,800
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 154: Catalogue of the Library of the United States, as acquired from Thomas Jefferson, Washington, 1815. $15,000 to $25,000
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 173: New Englands First Fruits, featuring the first description of Harvard in print, London, 1643. $40,000 to $60,000
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 177: John P. Greene, Original manuscript diary of a mission to western New York with Joseph Smith, 1833. $60,000 to $90,000
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 243: P.E. Larson, photographer, Such is Life in the Far West: Early Morning Call in a Gambling Hall, Goldfield, NV, circa 1906. $2,500 to $3,500
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 261: Fred W. Sladen, Diaries of a WWII colonel commanding troops from Morocco to Italy to France, 1942-44. $3,000 to $4,000
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 309: Los mexicanos pintados por si mismos, por varios autores, a Mexican plate book. Mexico, 1854-1855. $2,000 to $3,000
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 8: Diaries of a prospector / trapper in the remote Alaska wilderness, 5 manuscript volumes. Alaska, 1917-64. $1,500 to $2,500.
Finarte, Nov 20-21: Alighieri, Dante - La Commedia, [col commento di Jacopo della Lana e Martino Paolo Nidobeato, curata da Martino Paolo Nidobeato e Guido da Terzago. Aggiunto Il Credo], 1478
Finarte, Nov 20-21: Alighieri, Dante - La Commedia [Commento di Christophorus Landinus, edita da Piero da Figino. Aggiunte le Rime diverse; Marsilius Ficinius, Ad Dantem gratulatio], 1491
Finarte, Nov 20-21: Lactantius, Lucius Coelius Firmianus - Opera, 1465
Finarte, Nov 20-21: Alighieri, Dante - Le terze rime di Dante, 1502
Finarte, Nov 20-21: Boccaccio, Giovanni - Il Decamerone. Di messer Giouanni Boccaccio, 1516
Finarte, Nov 20-21: Giordano Bruno - Candelaio comedia del Bruno nolano achademico di nulla achademia; detto il fastidito. In tristitia hilaris: in hilaritate tristis, 1582
Finarte, Nov 20-21: Petrarca, Francesco - Le cose volgari di Messer Francesco Petrarcha, 1504
Finarte, Nov 20-21: Legatura - Manoscritto - Medici - Cosimo III de' Medici / Solari, Giuseppe - I Ritratti Medicei overo Glorie e Grandezze della sempre sereniss. Casa Medici..., 1678
Finarte, Nov 20-21: Alighieri, Dante - La Divina Commedia di Dante Alighieri con varie annotazioni, e copiosi Rami adornata, 1757
Finarte, Nov 20-21: Lot containing 80 printed guides and publications dedicated to travel and itineraries in Italy
Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20): Lot 51. Ortelius' Influential Map of the New World - Second Plate in Full Contemporary Color (1579) Est. $5,500 - $6,500
Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20): Lot 165. Reduced-Size Edition of Jefferys/Mead Map with Revolutionary War Updates (1776) Est. $4,750 - $6,000
Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20): Lot 688. Blaeu's Superb Carte-a-Figures Map of Africa (1634) Est. $3,000 - $3,750
Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20): Lot 105. Striking Map of French Colonial Possessions (1720) Est. $2,750 - $3,500
Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20): Lot 98. Rare First Edition of the First Published Plan of a Settlement in North America (1556) Est. $3,000 - $3,750
Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20): Lot 181. Important Map of the Georgia Colony (1748) Est. $2,750 - $3,500
Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20): Lot 547. Ortelius' Map of Russia with a Vignette of Ivan the Terrible in Full Contemporary Color (1579) Est. $1,400 - $1,700
Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20): Lot 85. Homann's Decorative Map of Colonial America (1720) Est. $1,600 - $1,900
Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20): Lot 642. Blaeu's Magnificent Carte-a-Figures Map of Asia (1634) Est. $3,000 - $3,750
Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20): Lot 748. The Martyrdom of St. John in Contemporary Hand Color with Gilt Highlights (1520) Est. $1,000 - $1,300
Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20): Lot 298. Scarce Early Map of Chester County (1822) Est. $2,750 - $3,500
Based in Asheville, North Carolina, Brunk Auctions has been offering sales of fine and decorative art for over thirty years. Their upcoming sale, running from Thursday, July 16th to Saturday, July 18th, spans 1,176 lots, but for Rare Book Hub members, the selection of applicable material—books, maps, manuscripts, and ephemera—is a small portion of the sale. This preview will cover some of the categories of material and provide some examples of items for sale.
Beginning with lot 110, an excellent selection of natural history is offered. Various selections from Audubon, including a complete seventh edition of The Birds of America (lot 110, est. $10,000 – 15,000), and an autographed letter signed to his engraver, Robert Havell (lot 116, est. $4,000 – 6,000), are included. A set of three botanical prints by Basilius Besler, lots 133 through 136 are also standouts.
Americana is a particular strongpoint of the sale, featuring autographs from the likes of Washington (lot 141, est. $20,000 – 30,000), Jefferson (lot 142, est. $15,000 – 25,000), and Lincoln (lot 147, est. $4,000 – 6,000), as well as several others. Also present is a run of American maps. Included among these is a very significant item: a German copy of Thomas Hariot’s Virginia or Wunderbarliche doch Warhafftige Erklarung, von der Gelegenheit und Sitten der Wilden in Virginia (lot 190, est. $50,000 – 70,000). This edition contains the first map by an Englishman of any portion of North America. Other interesting items are lot 197, being the first English edition of Lewis and Clark’s Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean (est. $12,000 – 16,000), and lot 203, Carey and Lea’s A Complete Historical, Chronological, and Geographical American Atlas, Being a Guide to the History of North and South America and the West Indies (est. $3,000 – 5,000).
Further on in the sale, and closing out the portion of the sale featuring printed material are premium copies of various selections of literature. A veritable who’s who of important 19th and 20th century authors are present here: Robert Louis Stevenson, Jack Kerouac, Truman Capote, Joseph Heller, James Joyce, Herman Melville, Arthur Miller, and John Steinbeck, to name a few.
The entire catalog of Brunk Auctions’ sale can be found on their website here.
Bidding can be done in person in Asheville, North Carolina, as well via absentee bid, online, and telephone. Please visit Brunk Auctions’ bidding page for more information.