Doyle, Dec. 5: Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington (1876-1973). Yawning Tiger, conceived 1917. $3,000 to $5,000.
Doyle, Dec. 5: Robert M. Kulicke (1924-2007). Full-Blown Red and White Roses in a Glass Vase, 1982. $3,000 to $5,000.
Doyle, Dec. 5: Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). L’ATELIER DE CANNES (Bloch 794; Mourlot 279). The cover for Ces Peintres Nos Amis, vol. II. $1,000 to $1,500.
Doyle, Dec. 5: LeRoy Neiman (1921-2012). THE BEACH AT CANNES, 1979. $1,200 to $1,800.
Doyle, Dec. 5: Richard Avendon, the suite of eleven signed portraits from the Avedon/Paris portfolio. $150,000 to $250,000.
Doyle, Dec. 5: Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989). Flowers in Vase, 1985. $20,000 to $30,000.
Doyle, Dec. 5: Edward Weston (1886-1958). Nude, 1936. $20,000 to $30,000.
Doyle, Dec. 5: Edward Weston (1886-1958). Juniper, High Sierra, 1937.
Doyle, Dec. 5: Steven J. Levn (b. 1964). Plumage II, 2011. $6,000 to $8,000.
Doyle, Dec. 5: Steven Meisel (b. 1954). Madonna, Miami, (from Sex), 1992. $6,000 to $9,000.
ALDE, Dec. 9: BLAEU (JOAN) ET BORGOGNIO (GIO TOMASO). Theatre des Estats de son Altesse Royale le duc de Savoye…, La Haye, 1700. €25,000 to €30,000.
ALDE, Dec. 9: BROWNE (JAMES D. HOWE). Ten Scenes in the last Ascent of Mont Blanc including five Views from the Summit. London, 1853. €6,000 to €8,000.
ALDE, Dec. 9: FELLOWS (CHARLES). A Narrative of an Ascent to the Summit of Mont-Blanc. London, 1827. €30,000 to €40,000.
ALDE, Dec. 9: HACQUET (BELSAZAR). Physikalisch= Politische Reise aus den Dinarischen durch die Julischen…, Leipzig, 1785. €3,000 to €4,000.
ALDE, Dec. 9: HAWES (BENJAMIN). A Narrative of an Ascent to the Summit of Mont-Blanc made during the summer of 1827 by Mr. William Hawes and Mr. Charles Fellows, 1828.
ALDE, Dec. 9: MARTEL (PIERRE) ET WINDHAM (WILLIAM). An account of the glacieres or ice Alps in Savoy, in two letters…, London, 1744. €6,000 to €8,000.
ALDE, Dec. 9: PITSCHNER (WILHELM). Der Mont Blanc Darstellung des Besteigung desselben am 31 Juli, 1 und 2 August 1859…, Berlin, 1860-1864. €8,000 to €10,000.
ALDE, Dec. 9: SCHEUCHZER (JOHANN JACOB). Natur-Geschichte des Schweizerlandes, samt seinen Reisen über die Schweitzerische Gebürge. Zurich, 1746. €3,000 to €4,000.
ALDE, Dec. 9: STUMPF (JOANNES). Gemeiner loblicher Eydgnosschaft Stetten, Landen, und Völckeren Chronicwirdiger Thaatenbeschreybung. Zurich, Christoph Froschauer, 1548. €2,500 to €3,500.
ALDE, Dec. 9: WALTON (ELIJAH) ET BONNEY (THOMAS GEORGE). The Peaks and valleys of the Alps. London, 1868. €3,000 to €4,000.
ALDE, Dec. 9: WYTTENBACH (JACOB SAMUEL). Vues remarquables des montagnes de la Suisse, avec leur description. Amsterdam, 1785. €15,000 to €20,000.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 11-12: A Rare Complete Run of the Cuala Press Broadsides. €5,500 to €7,000.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 11-12: Rare First Edition of a Classic Work. [Stafford (Thos.)] Pacata Hibernia, Ireland Appeased and Reduced…, 1633. €1,500 to €2,000.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 11-12: Yeats (W.B.) The Poems of W.B. Yeats, 2 vols. Lond. (MacMillan & Co.) 1949. Signed by author, limited edition. €1,250 to €1,750.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 11-12: Fishing: Literal Translation into English of the Earliest Known Book on Fowling and Fishing, Written originally in Flemish and Printed at Antwerp in 1492. London (Chiswick Press) 1872. €1,500 to €2,000.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 11-12: Fishing: Blacker's - Art of Fly Making, etc., Comprising Angling & Dying of Colours..., Rewritten & Revised. Lond. 1855. €250 to €350.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 11-12: Joyce (James). Finnegans Wake,, London (Faber & Faber Ltd.) 1939, Lim. Edn. No. 269 (425) copies, Signed by the Author (in green pen). €3,000 to €4,000.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 11-12: Synge (J.M.) & Yeats (Jack B.) illus. The Aran Islands,, D. (Maunsel & Co. Ltd.) 1907, Signed Limited Edn. €4,000 to €5,000.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 11-12: Meyer (Dr. A.B.) Unser Auer -, Rackel-Und Birkwild und Seine Abarten, Wien (Verlag Von Adolph W. Kunast) 1887. €2,500 to €3,500.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 11-12: Carve (Thomas). Itinerarium R.D. Thomas Carve Tripperariensis, Sacellani Maioris in Fortisima iuxta…,, Moguntia (Mainz) impriemebat Nicolaus Heyll, 1639. €1,500 to €2,000.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 11-12: Grose (Francis). The Antiquities of Ireland, 2 vols. folio London (for S. Hooper) 1791. First Edition. €3,000 to €5,000.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 11-12: Heaney (Seamus) & Le Brocquy (Louis) artist. Ugolino, D. (Dolmen Press) 1979, Signed Limited Edition No. 87 (125) Copies. €3,500 to €4,500.
Doyle, Dec. 6: An extensive archive of Raymond Chandler’s unpublished drafts of fantasy stories. $60,000 to $80,000.
Doyle, Dec. 6: RAND, AYN. Single page from Ayn Rand’s handwritten first draft of her influential final novel Atlas Shrugged. $30,000 to $50,000.
Doyle, Dec. 6: Ernest Hemingway’s first book with interesting provenance. Three Stories & Ten Poems. $20,000 to $30,000.
Doyle, Dec. 6: Hemingway’s second book, one of 170 copies. In Our Time. $15,000 to $25,000.
Doyle, Dec. 6: A finely colored example of Visscher’s double hemisphere world map, with a figured border. $12,000 to $18,000.
Doyle, Dec. 6: Raymond Chandler’s Olivetti Studio 44 Typewriter. $10,000 to $20,000.
Doyle, Dec. 6: Antonio Ordóñez's “Suit of Lights” owned by Ernest Hemingway. $10,000 to $20,000.
Doyle, Dec. 6: A remarkable Truman archive featuring an inscribed beam from the White House construction. $8,000 to $12,000.
Doyle, Dec. 6: The fourth edition of Audubon’s The Birds of America. $8,000 to $12,000.
Doyle, Dec. 6: The original typed manuscript for Chandler’s only opera. The Princess and the Pedlar: An Entirely Original Comic Opera. $8,000 to $12,000.
Doyle, Dec. 6: A splendidly illustrated treatise on ancient Peru and its Incan civilization. $7,000 to $10,000.
Doyle, Dec. 6: A superb copy of Claude Lorrain’s Liber Veritatis from Longleat House. $5,000 to $8,000.
Mr. Babcock's first catalogue. Today he's at work on no. 130
By Bruce McKinney
Over the past three years I have acquired 2 to 3 million auction records and about 17,500 dealer catalogues from the period 1850 to the present. I have done so to build the Americana Exchange Database [AED]. Today we have 1,090,974 full text records online and continue to add material non-stop. We of course are also entering upcoming auction lots and adding realized prices after the sales.
In the process of sorting through the thousands of dealer catalogues I noticed that new dealers often "announced" their first catalogues and so I began to set aside such catalogues I could identify as "firsts." I now have more than 70 and undoubtedly there are many more among the thousands of catalogues I have yet to examine fully. I offer here, as an electronic file, this collection of firsts and some observations about catalogues in general. [Link to First Catalogues]
First catalogues are a remarkable achievement. Accumulate the reference books and the material and then research and write the descriptions. Choose a price, develop selling policies, choose a catalogue format and a printer, create a mailing list, mail the catalogue and pray. It's a wonder so many dealers have created catalogues at all. Failure is a possibility at any stage and success never certain.
In the 19th century bookseller catalogues were common. Even run-of-the-mill material was catalogued. With the 20th century came specialization and by the 1940s the general catalogue was disappearing, replaced by specialist presentations. Catalogues since have progressively mined the deepest levels of understanding, parsing the facts, the printers, the sequence, the events and all sort of hitherto less understood points of significance about printed materials. The best dealers have earned and are continuing to earn the premiums they charge for the research they do. Until the 1990s the system seemed to work. Then, with the advent of the internet, it became possible to easily find alternative copies. The dealer, who did the research, could no longer confidently expect to sell their material based on the work they did. Collectors would be motivated to purchase a copy but not necessarily their copy. In time the financial justification for the effort and expense of creating catalogues weakened. Today, fewer and fewer catalogues are issued because the financial underpinnings continue to erode.
High Bids Win, Nov. 20 – Dec. 5: Quarter Case with Lead Penline Flourishes.
High Bids Win, Nov. 20 – Dec. 5: Quarter Case with Lead Cents and Pound Signs.
High Bids Win, Nov. 20 – Dec. 5: Wooden type cabinet 27” w by 19” d by 38” h.
ALDE, Dec. 11: ALBINUS (BERNHARD SIEGFIED). Tabulæ Sceleti et Musculorum corporis humanum, Londres, 1749. €4,000 to €5,000.
ALDE, Dec. 11: BIDLOO (GOVARD). Anatomia humani corporis. Centum et quinque tabulis per artificiosiss. G. de Lairesse..., Amsterdam, 1685.
ALDE, Dec. 11: BOURGERY (JEAN-MARC) – JACOB (NICOLAS-HENRI). Traité complet de l’anatomie de l’Homme comprenant la médecine opératoire, Paris, 1832. €4,000 to €5,000.
ALDE, Dec. 11: CALDANI (LEOPOLDO MARCANTONIO ET FLORIANO). Icones anatomicae, Venice, 1801-14. €5,000 to €6,000.
ALDE, Dec. 11: CARSWELL (ROBERT). Pathological Anatomy. Illustrations of the elementary forms of disease, London, 1838. €5,000 to €6,000.
ALDE, Dec. 11: CASSERIUS (JULIUS) [GIULIO CASSERIO]. De vocis auditusq. organis historia anatomica singulari fide methodo ac industria concinnata tractatis duobus explicate, Ferrara, 1600-1601. €4,000 to €5,000.
ALDE, Dec. 11: ESTIENNE (CHARLES). De dissectione partium corporis humani libri tres, Paris, 1545. €8,000 to €10,000.
ALDE, Dec. 11: GAMELIN (JACQUES). Nouveau Recueil d'Ostéologie et de Myologie dessiné d'après nature... pour l’utilité des sciences et des arts, divisé en deux parties, Toulouse, 1779. €6,000 to €8,000.
ALDE, Dec. 11: ROESSLIN (EUCHER). Des divers travaux et enfantemens des femmes et par quel moyen l'on doit survenir aux accidens…, Paris, 1536. €3,000 to €4,000.
ALDE, Dec. 11: VALVERDE (JUAN DE). Anatome corporis humani. Nunc primum a Michaele Michaele Columbo latine reddita, et additis novis aliquot tabulis exornata, Venetiis, 1589. €2,000 to €3,000.
ALDE, Dec. 11: VESALIUS (ANDREAS). De humani Corporis Fabrica libri septem, Venetiis, 1568. €3,000 to €4,000.