Mar. 9: Shakespeare, manuscripts, and more at Bonham's New York
- by Thomas C. McKinney
Normally when I write previews of upcoming auctions for Rare Book Monthly, I can key in on a few highlights that top the estimates, and also look at the other end of the spectrum for material that doesn’t require millions of dollars of disposable income. The cut off for the high end material is often six digits. For Bonhams’ March 9th sale of Fine Books and Manuscripts, though, the six digit cut off doesn’t really work, with seven items carrying low estimates of at least $100,000. To go into detail on all of them would leave little room for anything else.
Technically, Bonhams is holding two consecutive sales on March 9th, one of Fine Literary Manuscripts at 1:00 pm EST, and another of Fine Books and Manuscripts at 1:30 pm EST. On Bonhams website, the two sales are combined into one online catalog of Fine Books and Manuscripts, and the lot numbers are organized as one sale, so I’m treating it as such.
The auction contains lots numbered through 326, though there are in fact 251 lots for sale (lots 28-99 and a few others are omitted).
The first twenty-seven lots which make up the literary manuscripts portion of the sale are of the highest quality for such material. The jewel is an autograph manuscript by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the Victorian era poet, which was the working notebook for the poems contained in The Seraphim and Other Poems. I’m no expert on Victorian poetry, but Bonhams describes her as “one of the most important poets of her age.” Evidently, a manuscript such as this notebook is one of a kind, and the last time it came up for sale was over thirty years ago (Sotheby’s, July 16, 1984). Estimated for $400,000 – 600,000 as lot 3, Browning’s notebook will be the masterpiece in a wealthy person or institution's collection of poetry and/or manuscripts. Three other autograph manuscripts by Browning are also on offer.
With only twenty-seven lots of literary manuscripts, the bar is set high for included material. Autograph material from well-known authors such as Louisa May Alcott, James Fenimore Cooper, Washington Irving, Henry Longfellow, A.A. Milne, Boris Pasternak, Jules Verne, Oscar Wilde, and Emile Zola make up an impressive offering.
The Fine Books and Manuscripts part of the sale carries a diverse array of material, including literature, natural history, scientific writings, and a final section dedicated to John F. Kennedy.
Another of the sale’s six digit estimate items is a first issue of the Second Folio of Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories and Tragedies, printed in 1632. This was the first appearance in print of John Milton, and the copy being auctioned, the Hawtrey-Sullivan-White-Perlman Copy, is an unusually large one with a detailed provenance. This instantly recognizable piece of history is estimated $200,000 – 300,000 as lot 164.
Another highly important work is one of a much different nature than the Second Folio. The Crowning of Nature, or Coronatio Naturae, is an undated alchemical manuscript (but listed elsewhere as created sometime between 1597 and 1602) that depicts chemical processes meant to create the ever sought after “Philosopher’s Stone.” The volume being auctioned is the only complete copy containing all 67 sequenced drawings in private hands. As lot 100, it is estimated $100,000 – 150,000.
More than 75 items related to John F. Kennedy make up the closing section of the auction. Material include manuscripts from both the President and his wife Jackie, signed photographs, his inaugural address from 1961 (lot 262, est. $4,000 – 6,000), and a campaign poster (lot 255, est. $800 – 1,200). What’s presented here would make equally for excellent additions to an existing collection or the basis of a new one.
Bonhams’ sale of Fine Book and Manuscripts is set to take place on March 9, 2017, at 1:00 pm EST. Registration is required and may be done so here. The entire online catalog is viewable on the Bonhams website here.
Leland Little, May 21: Signed Artist Proof of the Monumental G.O.A.T.: A Tribute to Muhammad Ali.
Leland Little, May 21: Assorted Rare Publications Related to H.P. Lovecraft, Including The Recluse Signed by Vincent Starrett.
Leland Little, May 21: Two Issues of The Vagrant, Including the First Appearance of H.P. Lovecraft's "Dagon" in Number Eleven.
Leland Little, May 21: Rare First Printing of Anne of Green Gables, With ALS from the Author.
Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, In First Issue Jacket.
Leland Little, May 21: The Limited Paumanok Edition of The Complete Writings of Walt Whitman.
Leland Little, May 21: Beautifully Bound Limited Flaubert Edition of The Works of Guy de Maupassant.
Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Bonaparte's Celebrated American Ornithology, With Spectacular Hand-Colored Plates.
Leland Little, May 21: A Rare Complete Set of Jardine's The Naturalist's Library, With Hand-Colored Plates.
Leland Little, May 21: Invitation to the Lincoln-Johnson National Inaugural Ball, March 4th, 1865.
Leland Little, May 21: A Scarce Inscribed First Edition of James Baldwin's Nobody Knows My Name.
Leland Little, May 21: Picasso's Le Goût du Bonheur, Limited Edition.
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
Gonnelli Auction 59 Antique prints, paintings and maps May 20th 2025
Gonnelli: Pietro Aquila, Psyche and Proserpina,1690. Starting price 140€
Gonnelli: Jacques Gamelin, Memento homo quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris, 1779. Starting price 300€
Gonnelli: Giorgio Ghisi, The final Judgement, 1680. Starting price 480€
Gonnelli Auction 59 Antique prints, paintings and maps May 20th 2025
Gonnelli Goya y Lucientes Francisco, Los Proverbios.1877. Starting price 1000 €
Gonnelli: Domenico Peruzzini, Long bearded old man, 1660. Starting price 2200€
Gonnelli: Enea Vico, Leda and the Swan,1542. Starting price 140€
Gonnelli Auction 59 Antique prints, paintings and maps May 20th 2025
Gonnelli: Andrea Del Sarto [school of], San Giovanni Battista, 1570. Starting price 25000€
Gonnelli: Carlo Maratta, Virgin Mary and Jesus, 1660. Starting Price 1200€
Gonnelli: Louis Brion de La Tour, Sphére de Copernic Sphere de Ptolemée / Le Systême de Ptolemée. Le Systême de Ticho-Brahe…, 1766. Starting price 180€
Gonnelli Auction 59 Antique prints, paintings and maps May 20th 2025
Gonnelli: Marc’Antonio Dal Re, Ville di Delizia o Siano Palaggi Camparecci nello Stato di Milano Divise in Sei Tomi Con espressevi le Piante…, Tomo Primo, 1726. Starting price 7000€
Gonnelli: Katsushika Hokusai, Bird on a branch, 1843. Starting price 100€
Ketterer Rare Books Auction May 26th
Ketterer, May 26: Th. McKenney & J. Hall, History of the Indian tribes of North America, 1836-1844. Est: €50,000
Ketterer, May 26:Biblia latina vulgata, manuscript on thin parchment, around 1250. Est: €70,000
Ketterer, May 26: M. Beckmann, Fanferlieschen Schönefüßchen, 1924. Est: €10,000
Ketterer Rare Books Auction May 26th
Ketterer, May 26: A. Ortelius, Theatrum orbis terrarum, 1574. Est: €50,000
Ketterer, May 26: M. S. Merian, Eurcarum ortus, alimentum et paradoxa metamorphosis, 1717-18. Est: €6,000
Ketterer, May 26:PAN, 9 volumes, 1895-1900. Est: €12,000
Ketterer Rare Books Auction May 26th
Ketterer, May 26: Breviarium Romanum, Latin manuscript, 1474. Est: €15,000
Ketterer, May 26: Quran manuscript from the Saadian period, Maghreb, 16th century. Est: €10,000
Ketterer, May 26: E. Hemingway, The old man and the sea, 1952. First edition in first issue jacket. Presentation copy. Est: €3,000
Ketterer Rare Books Auction May 26th
Ketterer, May 26: Flavius Vegetius Renatus, De re militari libri quatuor, 1553. Est: €3,000
Ketterer, May 26: K. Marx, Das Kapital, 1867. Est: €30,000
Ketterer, May 26: Brassaï, Transmutations, 1967. Est: €6,000