Rare Book Monthly

Articles - October - 2020 Issue

Christies Announces its Fall Various-Owner Books & Manuscripts Sale Online

Christies Announces its Fall Various-Owner Books & Manuscripts Sale Online

Christie's New York is very pleased to announce its fall various-owner online sale, Fine Printed Books & Manuscripts Including Americana. The sale, which takes place over two weeks from October 1-16, 2020, has an aggregate high estimate of over $3 million and includes several lots expected to sell in the six figures.

The sale embraces five centuries of the written word, from Aldus Manutius's landmark edition of Aristotle (Venice, 1495-98) (estimate $200,000-300,000)—the first printed in the original Greek and the most important Greek-printing project of the 15th century—to a very rare set plans for the building of the Twin Towers/World Trade Center by Minoru Yamasaki and Emery Roth & Sons from 1968-72 ($20,000-30,000).

A major highlight of the sale is the rare 1777 broadside announcing the first National Thanksgiving ($500,000-800,000)—the first appearance of this broadside at auction in nearly a century. Declared to commemorate the American victory at Saratoga, the Continental Congress recommended “to the legislative or executive powers” that 18 December 1777 be set aside for “solemn thanksgiving and praise.” Only three copies of the broadside are confirmed extant in institutional collections: at the American Antiquarian Society, Boston Public Library, and the Library of Congress.

Other sale highlights include an attractive, richly decorated double portolan chart of the Mediterranean from Messina, Sicily (1617) ($40,000-60,000), and the original floorplan of the first U.S. Treasury Building ($50,000-80,000), designed by George Hadfield and signed and approved by George Washington, 1 March 1797, both lots from the collection of Nina R. and Arthur A. Houghton, Jr.; Chréstien Le Clercq’s Histoire des Colonies Françoises (Paris & Lyon, 1691-92) ($100,000-150,000), the first edition, with the suppressed dedication to Count Frontenac, of this controversial history of the Great Lakes and Niagara region; John Mitchell's 1755 map of the British and French dominions in North America ($70,000-100,000), widely regarded as the most important map in American history; Henry Pelham’s magnificent 1777 map of Boston under siege commissioned by British intelligence ($80,000-120,000), the first complete copy to appear at auction in 25 years; and John F. Kennedy’s notes taken during the Kennedy-Nixon debates on 20 September, 1960 ($30,000-50,000), the first televised presidential debate in American history.

The Fine Printed Books & Manuscripts Including Americana sale is now available for browsing on Christies.com. Bidding opens at 10 a.m. EST on October 1 and continues through October 16, 2020, when bidding will begin to close at 10 a.m. For more information on the sale, please contact: J. Fernando Peña, Senior Specialist and Head of Sale (jfpena@christies.com; tel. 212-636-2663).

Rare Book Monthly

  • DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE, July 23: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
    DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
    DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
    DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
    DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
  • Freeman’s | Hindman
    Western Manuscripts and Miniatures
    July 8, 2025
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.
  • Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!

Article Search

Archived Articles