Rare Book Monthly

Articles - March - 2005 Issue

Energy in the Auction Rooms

Even between sales the back row looked ready to bid.

Even between sales the back row looked ready to bid.


A few of the important items, both of which sold at the reserve, were the William Heartsill which brought $30,000 and the David Woodman which brought $15,000. Here are how they were described:

28. HEARTSILL, W. W. Fourteen Hundred and 91 Days in the Confederate Army.... [Marshall: Privately printed, 1876]. 61 original albumen photographs (portraits, including Heartsill in his leopard-skin britches). 8vo, original black cloth with silver lettering and ruling on spine. First edition, limited edition (100 copies). Basic Texas Books 89: "The rarest and most coveted book on the American Civil War... One of the most vivid and intimate accounts of Civil War battle-life that has survived." Howes H380. ($30,000-50,000)

64. WOODMAN, David. Guide to Texas Emigrants. Boston, 1835. Copper-engraved plate, folding copper-engraved map with original hand-coloring. 12mo, modern three-quarter morocco over marbled boards. First edition. Fifty Texas Rarities 12. Graff 4737. Howes W647. Phillips, Sporting Books, p. 413. Sabin 105111. Streeter 1177. Vandale 197. ($15,000-30,000)

The second Sloan sale, No. 15, was 225 lots of Californiana, the collection of Dan Volkmann of San Francisco. Two hundred and five lots sold at auction and in the following few days. The aggregate hammer price was $914,335 and the average lot realization $4,460. Lot 132, an unsold lot from the Volkmann Zamorano sale two years ago again failed to find a buyer at the $225,000 reserve which Ms. Sloan acknowledged after the sale, was set by the consignor, not by the auction house and was linked to what he paid rather than to the current market value. Even as the lot went unsold, Ms. Sloan asked for offers from the floor. None were forthcoming although three offers, after the sale, have since been reported. Mr. Volkmann will apparently continue to own this item. An example of this map is featured in Schwartz and Ehrenberg's "The Mapping of America" on page 277 [1980 edition].

Ms. Sloan, veteran auctioneer and book dealer, expressed satisfaction. "We sold 89% of the lots in both sales. This suggests our estimates and the market are in sync." In 2004, on average among the almost 400 auctions AE covered, 75% of lots offered in book sales sold.

Rare Book Monthly

  • High Bids Win
    Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines
    and Machine Manuals
    December 24 to January 9
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Ellis Smith Prints unsigned. 20” by 16”.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: United typothetae of America presidents. Pictures of 37 UTA presidents 46th annual convention United typothetae of America Cincinnati 1932.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec signed Paper Impressionism Art Prints. MayMilton 9 1/2” by 13” Reine de Joie 9 1/2” by 13”.
    High Bids Win
    Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines
    and Machine Manuals
    December 24 to January 9
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Aberle’ Ballet editions. 108th triumph, American season spring and summer 1944.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Puss ‘n Boots. 1994 Charles Perrult All four are signed by Andreas Deja
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Specimen book of type faces. Job composition department, Philadelphia gazette publishing company .
    High Bids Win
    Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines
    and Machine Manuals
    December 24 to January 9
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: An exhibit of printed books, Bridwell library.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur Court By Mark Twain 1889.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: 1963 Philadelphia Eagles official program.
    High Bids Win
    Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines
    and Machine Manuals
    December 24 to January 9
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: 8 - Esquire the magazine for men 1954.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: The American printer, July 1910.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Leaves of grass 1855 by Walt Whitman.
  • Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: William Shakespeare.
    The Poems and Sonnets of William Shakespeare, 1960. 7,210 USD
    Sotheby’s: Charles Dickens.
    A Christmas Carol, First Edition, 1843. 17,500 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Golding.
    Lord of the Flies, First Edition, 1954. 5,400 USD
    Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: Lewis Carroll.
    Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, Inscribed First Edition, 1872. 25,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien.
    The Hobbit, First Edition, 1937. 12,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: John Milton.
    Paradise Lost, 1759. 5,400 USD

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