Rare Book Monthly

Articles - January - 2018 Issue

AbeBook Lists Their Top 10 Most Expensive Items for 2017

Salvador Dali's even weirder take on Rabelais' images.

Salvador Dali's even weirder take on Rabelais' images.

"I am" seem to be the magic words for the AbeBooks annual Top 10. Last year, it was "Sam I am," this year "I think, therefore I am." Who knew Dr. Seuss and Rene Descartes had so much in common? We don't know how many books are sold on AbeBooks' website each year, but it is many millions. Most are inexpensive, reading or studying copies. However, some of what you will find there are collectible, expensive volumes, for a following of serious book and paper collectors who inhabit their virtual stores. Here are what the most serious, or at least those with the largest budgets, bought last year. These are the ten highest prices reached among the millions of books sold on the AbeBooks website during 2017.

 

10. Principia Philosophiae + Specimina Philosophiae, by Rene Descartes. First edition of Descartes' major work on physics and philosophy. Source of the the familiar quote, "I think, therefore I am." $14,535.

 

9. Lord of the Rings Trilogy, by J. R. R. Tolkien. First editions of The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King. $14,546.

 

8. Ueber die vierfache Wurzel des Satzes vom zureichenden Grunde. Ein philosophische Abhandlung, by Arthur Schopenhauer. This translates to "On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason. A Philosophical Dissertation," which probably doesn't tell English speakers much more than does the title in German. Schopenhauer in the years ahead developed many followers, but when this first edition was printed in 1813 in just 500 copies, most still had to be trashed for want of sales. $15,000.

 

7. Quadragesimale Aureum, by Leonardo de Utino. Forty-two sermons by de Utino, but the book is probably more notable for its early date than its sermons – 1471. $16,016.

 

6. Songes Drolatiques de Pantagruel, by Salvador Dali. This is Dali's 1973 adaptation of Francois Rabelais' illustrations of seriously grotesque monsters from his 1565 book. $16,840.

 

5. Les Passions de l'Ame, by Rene Descartes. Descartes is back again, this time looking at the connection between the soul and body. $17,500.

 

4. Speculum Historiale, by Vincent of Beauvais. There are not so many titles in English this year. This was something of an encyclopedia for its time, the thirteenth century. That was when it was written by Dominican Friar Vincent of Beauvais, but this edition was published in 1473. $18,900.

 

3. A Voyage Round Great Britain, Undertaken in the Summer of the Year 1813, and Commencing from the Land's-End, Cornwall, by Richard Ayton & William Daniell. Eight volume work, noted for its engravings of the British coastline. $19,300.

 

2. Warhol vs Basquiat Paintings Exhibition Poster. Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat are dressed and gloved as boxers preparing for a fight. However, what was really happening is they were promoting a joint exhibition by the painters who collaborated in 1984-85, in time for this fall 1985 exhibition in New York. The poster is signed by both artists. $20,700.

 

1. Nine Stories, by J. D. Salinger. Little Brown & Company's only file copy of Salinger's second work, with a penciled word count calculation. This was before there were computer word counters. Someone must have done this by hand (or eye). For the record, it says 61,823. $22,500.

 

The complete AbeBooks Top 20 for 2017 and more can be found at this link: www.abebooks.com/collectibles/most-expensive-sales/2017/.

Rare Book Monthly

  • RareBookBuyer.com
    We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide
    ABAA Dealer
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    Specialized in Purchasing
    Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
    RareBookBuyer.com
    We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide
    ABAA Dealer
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    Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
    RareBookBuyer.com
    We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide
    ABAA Dealer
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    Specialized in Purchasing
    Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
    RareBookBuyer.com
    We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide
    ABAA Dealer
    RareBookBuyer.com
    Specialized in Purchasing
    Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
    RareBookBuyer.com
    We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide
    ABAA Dealer
  • Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. 11,135 USD
    Sotheby’s: Edgar Allan Poe. The Raven and Other Poems, 1845. 33,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Leo Tolstoy, Clara Bow. War and Peace, 1886. 22,500 USD
    Sotheby’s: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1902. 7,500 USD
    Sotheby’s: F. Scott Fitzgerald. This Side of Paradise, The Great Gatsby, and Others, 1920-1941. 24,180 USD
  • Freeman’s | Hindman
    Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana
    November 14
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: LEROUX, Gaston. The Phantom of the Opera. FIRST AM. ED, FIRST ISSUE IN THE VERY RARE DUST JACKET. 1911. $6,000 – 8,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: GOULD, John. A Monograph of the Trochilidae...Humming-Birds. L., [1849-] 1861. $60,000 – 80,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: A COMPLETE RUN of Limited Editions Club publications, v.p. [mostly New York], 1929-2010. $50,000 – 60,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: ORWELL, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. Lon., 1949. FIRST EDITION IN A VERY FINE DUST JACKET. $6,000 – 8,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: GOULD. A Monograph of the Ramphastidae...Toucans. L., [1852-] 54. SECOND ED. $35,000 – 45,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: The Federalist. NY, 1788. FIRST EDITION, THICK PAPER COPY. $60,000 – 80,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: SELBY. Plates to Selby’s Illustrations of British Ornithology. Edin., [1833-] 34. $20,000 – 30,000.
  • Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    APRES DE MANNEVILLETTE
    Le Neptune Oriental
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    CASSAS
    Eaux fortes de la Sicile et quelques vues d’Espagne
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    CASSINI DE THURY
    Carte générale et particulière de la France.
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    JOUY; GARNERAY
    Vues des côtes de France dans l'Océan et dans la Méditerranée
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    LA PÉROUSE
    Voyage autour du monde
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    LE GENTIL DE LA GALAISIERE
    Voyage dans les Mers de l’Inde
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    LICENT
    Hoang Ho, Pai Ho, Loan Ho, Leao Ho. Itinéraires suivis dans le bassin du golfe du Pei Tcheuly
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    FRENCH SCHOOL FROM THE 19th CENTURY
    Panorama d’Athènes
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    PEETERS
    Description des principales villes, havres et isles du golfe de Venise
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    PÉRON; FREYCINET
    Voyage de découverte aux terres australes
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    STACKELBERG
    La Grèce : vues pittoresques et topographiques.
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    VALENTINER
    Atlas des Sonnensystems.
  • Forum Auctions
    Online Sale:
    The Detective Fiction Collection of John Cooper
    Ending 7th November, 2024
    Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). The Thirteen Problems, first edition, The Crime Club, 1932. £15,000 to £20,000.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Dumb Witness, first edition, 1937. £3,000 to £4,000.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Cards on the Table, first edition, The Crime Club, 1936. £2,000 to £3,000.
    Forum, Nov. 7: [Carr (John Dickson)], "Carter Dickson" and John Rhode. Drop to his Death, first edition, Heinemann, [1939]. £600 to £800.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Berkeley (Anthony). Jumping Jenny, first edition, Hodder and Stoughton, 1933. £800 to £1,200.
    Forum Auctions
    Online Sale:
    The Detective Fiction Collection of John Cooper
    Ending 7th November, 2024
    Forum, Nov. 7: Marsh (Ngaio). Overture to Death, first edition, The Crime Club, 1939. £600 to £800.
    Forum, Nov. 7: [Day-Lewis (Cecil)] "Nicholas Blake". The Beast Must Die, first edition, 1938. £750 to £1,000.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Brand (Christianna). Green for Danger, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, John Lane the Bodley Head, 1945. £600 to £800.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Murder is Easy, first edition, signed by the author, 1939. £3,000 to £4,000.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Sayers (Dorothy L.) Lord Peter Views the Body, first edition, Gollancz, 1928. £6,000 to £8,000.

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