Doyle, Dec. 6: An extensive archive of Raymond Chandler’s unpublished drafts of fantasy stories.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.
Ketterer Rare Books Auction November 25th
Ketterer Rare Books, Nov. 25: H. Schedel, Liber chronicarum, 1493. Est: € 25,000
Ketterer Rare Books, Nov. 25: P. O. Runge, Farben-Kugel, 1810. Est: € 8,000
Ketterer Rare Books, Nov. 25: W. Kandinsky, Klänge, 1913. Est: € 20,000
Ketterer Rare Books Auction November 25th
Ketterer Rare Books, Nov. 25: W. Burley, De vita et moribus philosophorum, 1473. Est: € 4,000
Ketterer Rare Books, Nov. 25: M. B. Valentini, Viridarium reformatum seu regnum vegetabile, 1719. Est: € 12,000
Not so much. Transactions+ is the history of printed paper at auction and it’s tough for new terms to break in. Covid is still very new and there are only 336 appearances of the estimated 2 billion words in this database so far. In time Covid collections will enter into the auction rooms and fresh references will pile up. For me, that will be left to future hands while I continue to mask-up and keep my fingers crossed.
Other terms are literally dying out. Five hundred years ago plague and pestilence were probably front page stories too and we can tell the number of appearances is declining, as pestilence weighs in at 594 and plague at 8,052.
Other trends are holding. References to major publishing locations are still increasing:
London: 1,901,468
New York: 1,356,234
Paris: 1,011,739
Philadelphia: 280,769
Washington: 272,701
Chicago: 133,115
Rome: 100,043
In time there will be places on this list we’ve never thought about.
As to subjects that appear in Transactions+ they appear to be the raw material of a serious study.
Often old books focus on life’s downsides. A search for war in Transactions+ finds 504,027 records while peace finds 47,825. On the other hand love finds 110,628 while hate has 3,354. Interestingly future and past are about equal: 43,411 versus 47,329. Certainty tops uncertainty although neither term has been widely used, shows up with 2,061 versus 1,445.
Another way to challenge Transactions+ is to run these two searches: religion and science. Religion wins big with 1,253,081 while science has a respectable showing with 304,075. I assume science will be gaining ground week by week into the future.
As well, life wins over death with 539,175 versus 169,957 while birth registers at 20,930. Searches for cure and disease have a slight positive bias; 9,573 versus 8,411.
As to other terms:
Manuscript: 395,683
Manuscripts: 773,725
Newspaper: 47,418
Ephemera: 120,005
Map: 487,144
Maps: 720,330
And finally two silly ones:
Hells-bells 6
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious 20
To personalize your experience run your own searches. Transactions+ is a mirror.
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 Bibliothèque médicale Arthur Tatossian December 11, 2024
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 Bibliothèque médicale Arthur Tatossian December 11, 2024
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 Bibliothèque médicale Arthur Tatossian December 11, 2024
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 Bibliothèque médicale Arthur Tatossian December 11, 2024
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.
Sotheby's Fine Books, Manuscripts & More Available for Immediate Purchase
Sotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. 11,135 USD
Sotheby’s: Edgar Allan Poe. The Raven and Other Poems, 1845. 33,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Leo Tolstoy, Clara Bow. War and Peace, 1886. 22,500 USD
Sotheby’s: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1902. 7,500 USD
Sotheby’s: F. Scott Fitzgerald. This Side of Paradise, The Great Gatsby, and Others, 1920-1941. 24,180 USD