AbeBooks Lists Its Most Expensive Sales Prices for July-September
- by Michael Stillman
The Sistine Chapel.
AbeBooks has issued their list of the most expensive sales on their website for the third quarter of 2022, July through September. The visual plays an increasing role this time. As AbeBooks explains, “Our list is dominated by fine art in various forms and includes an illustrated book of poetry, a portfolio of surreal lithographs, a new luxury book showcasing iconic Renaissance art, and a complete set of influential French art magazines.” Ever since television came along and won over hearts from radio, this has been becoming a more visual world. Here is AbeBooks list of the Top 15 prices from the third quarter.
15. Alcoholics Anonymous by Bill W. (Wilson), aka the “Big Book.” Anonymously written and first published in 1939 (this is a first edition), it has helped to save countless lives ever since. $11,500.
14. Spherical Trigonometry by Murray J. Leventhal & Charles Salkind, published in 1943. If you can understand this book you are smarter than I. Signed by famous British code breaker Alan Turing. $11,600.
12 (tie). A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, an 1843 first edition. Scrooge never would have paid this much. $12,000.
12 (tie). A typed and signed letter from Virginia Woolf, dated November 6, 1932. Addressed to essayist and critic Logan Pearsall Smith. Evidently about strained relations in Chelsea, everyone laughing behind each other's back. $12,000.
11. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling. Published in 1997, this is a first edition, fourth printing of the first Harry Potter book.
10. Coronation Gospels of the Holy Roman Empire, facsimile published in 2012. The original was created around the year 800 at the behest of Charlemagne, the empire's first emperor. Not surprisingly, it is a beautiful work of art. $15,200.
9. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, an 1873 first edition of a long journey underwater. $17,500.
8. Verve Magazine, a complete set of 38 issues from 1937-1960 of this French art periodical. $19,900.
7. A Journey to the Center of the Earth, a first American edition from 1874. This time, Jules Verne went deep into the earth rather than the sea. It included a laid-in Verne signature. $20,000.
6. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick, a 1968 first American edition. It included a letter by Dick. Do they? $21,275.
5. The Sistine Chapel by Vatican Museums, a three-volume elephant folio book (75 lbs. in weight) published in 2020. Compiled from 270,000 photographs it reproduces the images of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel. $22,000.
4. The Dark Tower by Stephen King, first editions of all nine books in the series, all signed by King, published 1985-2012. $24,000.
2 (tie). Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, a 1936 first edition signed by the author. I wish I was in Dixie. $25,000.
2 (tie). Les Vitraux by Salvador Dalí published in 1973. A folio of 24 loose colored lithographs by the surrealist artist, including the melting clock from his Persistence of Memory. $25,000.
1. Cantique des Cantiques de Salomon (Song of Songs) published in 1931. The French edition of the Cranach Press masterpiece, featuring the wood engravings of Eric Gill. Only eight copies were created in French. $35,000.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
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.
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 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.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 17th July 2025
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 17th July 2025
Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 17th July 2025
Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.