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.
Gonnelli: Auction 55 Antique prints, paintings and maps November 26st 2024
Gonnelli: Stefano Della Bella, 23 animal plances,1641. Starting price 480€
Gonnelli: Stefano Della Bella, Boar Hunt, 1654. Starting price 180€
Gonnelli: Crispijn Van de Passe, The seven Arts, 1637. Starting price 600€
Gonnelli: Giuseppe Maria Mitelli, La Maschera è cagion di molti mali, 1688. Starting price 320€
AbeBooks, the world's largest used and rare book selling website, has compiled their list of the highest prices achieved on their site for the year 2019. There are 11 books and one letter in the top 12, but there are 83 volumes. This was a year when sets, some large, were popular. One major change among the most expensive of 2019 versus earlier years was the dominance of English language material. In recent years, the highest prices have become more European-centric, but for 2019, it was the English language and American and British books that dominated the top prices. Here is the Top 12 for 2019.
11 (tie). 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. This is a three-volume “stunning pictorial book” published in 1819. Over 100 engravings, including the interior of Windsor Castle before major alterations were made. $15,000.
11. Sierra Nevada: The John Muir Trail by Ansel Adams. This major work by the American natural history photographer contains 50 tipped-in halftone photographs. First edition published in 1938. $15,000.
10. The Novels and Tales of Henry James. Twenty-six volumes, published 1907-1917, bound in red half morocco by Sangorski and Sutcliffe. $15,922.
9. Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers by Denis Diderot & Jean le Rond d'Alembert. The Encyclopédie (Encyclopedia), written by Diderot and many other major French writers, is considered the most important work of the Enlightenment. Seventeen volumes published 1751-1772. $16,868.
8. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. A 1960 first edition of a work that needs no introduction. $17,000.
7. An autograph letter by Greta Garbo to friend Mimi Pollak. The great actress of the 1920s and 30s retired at age 35, living her last 50+ years in retirement. She had lots of time to write letters. This one came after her last film, which was not a success, and it expresses the depression and sorrow that plagued her entire life. “I am afraid for myself. Soon I really won't have the right to live the way I am mishandling my life.” $18,000.
6. Casino Royale by Ian Fleming. A 1953 first edition of Ian Fleming's first James Bond book. This may sound surprising to the uninitiated, but this is a good price for the first Bond book. They can go for much more than... $19,600.
5. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. Almost $20,000 for a facsimile? In this case, yes. This is the spectacular, 50 copy limited deluxe edition facsimile of the 15th century illuminated manuscript New Ellesmere Chaucer in the Huntington Library. $19,752.
3 (tie). The Writings of Mark Twain. Twenty-five volumes published 1899-1907, letter B of 12 lettered copies, vol. 1 signed “S. L. Clemens.” For those keeping score, the volumes in Twain's anthology went for $1,000 each vs. $615 for James. Score one for Twain. $25,000.
3. The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett. A 1930 first edition in the original dust jacket. Even Sam Spade would have a hard time finding one of these. $25,000.
2. Harry Potter Series, Deluxe Set by J.K. Rowling. Seven volumes, published by Bloomsbury, all signed by Rowling and artist Cliff Wright. At over $5,500 per volume, Rowling leaves Twain in the dust. $38,560.
1. The Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln. The 1905 Presidential edition, 12 volumes limited to 50 copies. At $3,333 per volume, not even honest Abe can match Harry Potter. That is wizardry. $40,000
Finarte, Nov 20-21: Alighieri, Dante - La Commedia, [col commento di Jacopo della Lana e Martino Paolo Nidobeato, curata da Martino Paolo Nidobeato e Guido da Terzago. Aggiunto Il Credo], 1478
Finarte, Nov 20-21: Alighieri, Dante - La Commedia [Commento di Christophorus Landinus, edita da Piero da Figino. Aggiunte le Rime diverse; Marsilius Ficinius, Ad Dantem gratulatio], 1491
Finarte, Nov 20-21: Lactantius, Lucius Coelius Firmianus - Opera, 1465
Finarte, Nov 20-21: Alighieri, Dante - Le terze rime di Dante, 1502
Finarte, Nov 20-21: Boccaccio, Giovanni - Il Decamerone. Di messer Giouanni Boccaccio, 1516
Finarte, Nov 20-21: Giordano Bruno - Candelaio comedia del Bruno nolano achademico di nulla achademia; detto il fastidito. In tristitia hilaris: in hilaritate tristis, 1582
Finarte, Nov 20-21: Petrarca, Francesco - Le cose volgari di Messer Francesco Petrarcha, 1504
Finarte, Nov 20-21: Legatura - Manoscritto - Medici - Cosimo III de' Medici / Solari, Giuseppe - I Ritratti Medicei overo Glorie e Grandezze della sempre sereniss. Casa Medici..., 1678
Finarte, Nov 20-21: Alighieri, Dante - La Divina Commedia di Dante Alighieri con varie annotazioni, e copiosi Rami adornata, 1757
Finarte, Nov 20-21: Lot containing 80 printed guides and publications dedicated to travel and itineraries in Italy
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.
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 37: Archive of the pioneering woman artist Arrah Lee Gaul, most 1911-59. $3,000 to $4,000.
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 66: Letter describing the dropping water level at Owens Lake near Death Valley, long before it was drained, Keeler, CA, 26 July 1904. $3,000 to $4,000
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 102: To Horse, To Horse! My All for a Horse! The Washington Cavalry, illustrated Civil War broadside, Philadelphia, 1862. $4,000 to $6,000
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 135: Album of cyanotype views of the Florida panhandle and beyond, 224 photographs, 174 of them cyanotypes, Apalachicola, FL and elsewhere, circa 1895-1896. $1,200 to $1,800
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 154: Catalogue of the Library of the United States, as acquired from Thomas Jefferson, Washington, 1815. $15,000 to $25,000
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 173: New Englands First Fruits, featuring the first description of Harvard in print, London, 1643. $40,000 to $60,000
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 177: John P. Greene, Original manuscript diary of a mission to western New York with Joseph Smith, 1833. $60,000 to $90,000
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 243: P.E. Larson, photographer, Such is Life in the Far West: Early Morning Call in a Gambling Hall, Goldfield, NV, circa 1906. $2,500 to $3,500
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 261: Fred W. Sladen, Diaries of a WWII colonel commanding troops from Morocco to Italy to France, 1942-44. $3,000 to $4,000
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 309: Los mexicanos pintados por si mismos, por varios autores, a Mexican plate book. Mexico, 1854-1855. $2,000 to $3,000
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 8: Diaries of a prospector / trapper in the remote Alaska wilderness, 5 manuscript volumes. Alaska, 1917-64. $1,500 to $2,500.
![<b>Finarte, Nov 20-21:</b> Alighieri, Dante - La Commedia, [col commento di Jacopo della Lana e Martino Paolo Nidobeato, curata da Martino Paolo Nidobeato e Guido da Terzago. Aggiunto Il Credo], 1478](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/45a90570-7486-4199-91da-bd2e9a044380.jpg "<b>Finarte, Nov 20-21:</b> Alighieri, Dante - La Commedia, [col commento di Jacopo della Lana e Martino Paolo Nidobeato, curata da Martino Paolo Nidobeato e Guido da Terzago. Aggiunto Il Credo], 1478")
![<b>Finarte, Nov 20-21:</b> Alighieri, Dante - La Commedia [Commento di Christophorus Landinus, edita da Piero da Figino. Aggiunte le Rime diverse; Marsilius Ficinius, Ad Dantem gratulatio], 1491](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/99566626-91f5-42da-8f8c-05fae35b4c67.jpg "<b>Finarte, Nov 20-21:</b> Alighieri, Dante - La Commedia [Commento di Christophorus Landinus, edita da Piero da Figino. Aggiunte le Rime diverse; Marsilius Ficinius, Ad Dantem gratulatio], 1491")
