AbeBooks Announces Top 10 Highest Prices for Third Quarter of 2019
- by Michael Stillman
The Caterbury Tales.
AbeBooks has released their list of the Top 10 highest prices paid on their book selling website during the months of July-September. They fall into three categories: books or authors you know, very old books, and beautiful books. Most books aren't worth a lot of money, but if you have the right ones, the money still flows. Here are those ten most expensive items.
10. Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, by Isaac Newton. This is a third edition from 1726 of what some consider the greatest science book ever written. It covers Newton's laws of motion and of universal gravity. This was the last edition published during his lifetime. $8,847.
9. The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis. A complete set of first editions of the Chronicles. Maybe not as important as Newton's Principia, but many more people have read these books. $9,138.
8. La Geografia di Claudio Tolomeo Alessandrino. This is Alessandrino's geography as translated to Italian by the 16th century Italian cartographer Girolamo Ruscelli. Contains a double hemisphere world map. $9,193.
7. Antarctic Days. Sketches of the Homely Side of Polar Life by Two of Shackleton's Men, by James Murray and George Marston. These two gentlemen accompanied Shackleton on the Nimrod Expedition 1907-1909. They didn't quite make it to the South Pole but came the closest of anyone at that time. Shackleton provided an introduction and this copy was signed by Shackleton, Murray and Marston. $9,500.
6. Hieronymi Cardani Mediolanensis, by Gerolamo Cardano. With a title like that, it is safe to say this is a very old book. Cardano was a 16th century polymath, knowledgeable in philosophy, mathematics, medicine, astronomy, astrology, physics, and probably everything else. This is a 17th century edition of his work. $10,991.
5. Toni Morrison Collection. Thirty books written by Toni Morrison, including signed first editions, proofs and review copies. $11,000.
4. Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. Second edition in three volumes, published in 1813, the same year as the first edition. $12,740.
3. Les Oeuvres de Monsieur de Molière. Eight volumes of the works of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, better known as Molière. Published in 1682. $13,309.
2. History of the Royal Residences of Windsor Castle, St. James's Palace, Carlton House, Kensington Palace, Hampton Court, Buckingham House, and Frogmore by W.H. Pyne. Three volumes published in 1819 containing 100 engravings of various palatial residences, including the one with a lot of frogs nearby. $15,000.
1. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. This is a facsimile of the New Ellesmere early 15th century illuminated manuscript housed at the Huntington Library. This is a lot of money for a 1995 facsimile but it is a spectacular reproduction of an incredibly beautiful work. $19,752.
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
Fonsie Mealy’s Rare Books & Collectors’ Sale April 30th & May 1st
Fonsie Mealy’s Rare Books & Collectors’ Sale April 30th & May 1st
Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Taylor (Geo.) & Skinner (A.) Maps of the Roads of Ireland, Surveyed 1777. Lond. & Dublin 1778. €500 to €750.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Messingham (Thos.) Florilegium Insulae Sanctorum seu Vitae et Acta Sanctorum Hibernia, Paris 1624. €350 to €500.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Heaney (Seamus). The Haw Lantern, L. (Faber & Faber) 1987, First Edn., Signed and dated. €225 to €350.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Valencey (Lt. Col. Chas.) Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis, Vols. I-IV, 4 vols. Dublin 1786. €400 to €600.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Powerscourt (Viscount). A Description and History of Powerscourt, Lond. 1903. €350 to €500.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Moryson (Fynes). An Itinerary ... Containing His Ten Yeeres Travel Through the Twelve Dominions of Germany, Bohermerland, Sweitzerland…, Lond. (John Beale) 1617. €700 to €1,000.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: After Buffon, Birds of Europe, c. 1820. Approx. 120 fine hd. cold. plts., mor. backed boards. €125 to €250.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Dunlevy (Andrew). An Teagasg Criosduidhe De Reir Ceasda agus Freagartha... The Catechism or Christian Doctrine by Way of Question and Answer, Paris (James Guerin) 1742. €400 to €700.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1:The Georgian Society Records of Eighteen-Century Domestic Architecture in Dublin, 5 vols. Complete, Dublin 1909-1913. €500 to €750.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Scale (Bernard). An Hibernian Atlas or General Description of the Kingdom of Ireland, L. (Robert Sayer & John Bennet) 1776. €625 to €850.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: [Johnson (Rev. Samuel)]. Julian the Apostate Being a Short Account of his Life, together with a Comparison of Popery and Paganism,L. (Langley Curtis) 1682. €300 to €400.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Nichlson (Wm.) Illustrator. An Almanac of Twelve Sports, Lond. 1898. €300 to €400.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Heaney (Seamus) trans. The Light of the Leaves, 2 vols., Mexico (Imprenta de los Tropicos/Bunholt) 1999. €1,500 to €2,000.
Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Fleming (Ian). Moonraker, L. (Jonathan Cape) 1955. €1,500 to €2,000.
![Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: [Johnson (Rev. Samuel)]. Julian the Apostate Being a Short Account of his Life, together with a Comparison of Popery and Paganism,L. (Langley Curtis) 1682. €300 to €400.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/e08f39b2-647e-4890-9a6d-b744e07a6c91.jpg "<b>Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1:</b> [Johnson (Rev. Samuel)]. <i>Julian the Apostate Being a Short Account of his Life, together with a Comparison of Popery and Paganism,</i>L. (Langley Curtis) 1682. €300 to €400.")
