Rare Book Monthly

Articles - June - 2017 Issue

June 7: Fine Books & Manuscripts at Bonhams

Less than a week from the time of Rare Book Monthly’s June 2017 release, a Bonhams’ sale on June 7th will be taking place in New York. With 359 lots, Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Illustration Art is split into morning and afternoon sessions beginning at 11am and 2pm EDT respectively. The first morning session is devoted to art, artists’ books, and illustrated works from the 18th through the 21st centuries, and the afternoon includes a Nobel Prize, natural history and travel, literature, Americana, and a collection of New York Yankees material from former Yankees co-owner Daniel Topping. A full breakdown of the categories and their lots follows:

Session 1

Lots 1 - 28: Art and Architecture Before 1880

Lots 29 - 95: Modern Artists’ Books

Lots 96 - 131: [Arthur] Rackham and His Contemporaries

Lots 133 - 181: Illustration Art and Children’s Books

Session 2:

Lot 182: Nobel Prize [for Physics] of Victor Hess

Lots 183 - 202: Natural History and Travel

Lots 203 - 222: Literature to 1900

Lots 223 - 267: Modern Literature, Film and the Performing Arts

Lots 268 - 312: Americana

Lots 314 - 359: Daniel Topping Collection of the New York Yankees 

With the first session focused on art, there are many highlights that still span a wide range of subjects, from Colen Campbell’s Vitruvius Britannicus, or the British Architect (1715-1725), an exhaustive catalog of the architectural style of great British buildings of the time, to a complete set of Ed Ruscha’s sixteen artist’s books, many of which are signed and/or inscribed by Ruscha, the quality of material is consistently high. One particular standout, lot 80, is a jeweled binding by Sangorski & Sutcliffe of Lord George Gordon Byron’s Ode to Napoleon, which includes six illuminated miniatures illustrating historic events during Napoleon’s career.

In 1936, Victor Franz Hess was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for his discovery of cosmic radiation—the discovery that radiation in the atmosphere comes from space and not from the Earth itself as it was previously thought; it was a pivotal moment for 20th century research about the universe. The lot, #182, for this Nobel Prize includes of course the medal in gold itself, 65.8 mm in diameter and weighing 206.2 grams, but it also includes the Nobel Prize Diploma, on two leaves, signed by Carl Benedicks, the President of the Royal Academy, and Henning Pleyel, the Secretary of the Royal Academy.

Under the heading of Natural History and Travel, Daniel Giraud Elliot’s The New and Heretofore Unfigured Species of the Birds of North America, a first edition and one of 200 copies printed, represents the “last great color plate bird book to be produced in America” (Bonhams). If travel (and maps) are of greater interest, La Geografia di Tolomeo nuovamente tradotta di Greco in Italiano, da Ruscelli, con espositioni del medesimo, a 3-parts-in-one volume atlas featuring maps by Ptolemy and Girolamo Ruscelli that includes two world maps and seven others relating to the Americas, is a lot worth considering. 

The section on Modern Literature, Film and the Performing Arts contains several noteworthy items. Two archives from producer Charles Feldman stand out, one archive on the production of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie, which includes a series of typed letters and edits to the script by Williams, and another archive on the production of Nelson Algren’s Walk on the Wild Side, also containing one of a kind material. Another archive, one of correspondences by Harper Lee, includes 35 autograph letters signed by the author.

Americana is strongly represented as well. A series of six letter descended through the family of founding father Gouverneur Morris includes a letter from George Washington, addressing Morris’ plan to attack New York. McKenney and Hall’s History of the Indian Tribes of North America is also on offer, being a subscriber’s copy in early state.

For collectors of baseball, and specifically the Yankees, the closing section of the sale made up of the collection of former Yankees co-owner Daniel Topping is a dream come true. Everything from behind the scenes documents, to photographs, to of course baseballs is here. One immediate highlight is a framed presentation for the 1961 World Champion New York Yankees, including a photograph of the team, two special information panels, and 31 signatures of players and staff mounted below. The year 1961 is also significant as it was during this season that Roger Maris surpassed Babe Ruth’s 60 home run record.

Bonhams’ sale of Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Illustration Art takes place Wednesday, June 7, with the morning session beginning at 11am and the afternoon session at 2pm EDT. The entire catalog is viewable here on Bonhams’ website.

Rare Book Monthly

  • DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE, July 23: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
    DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
    DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
    DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
    DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
  • Freeman’s | Hindman
    Western Manuscripts and Miniatures
    July 8, 2025
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.
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