High Bids Win, Nov. 20 – Dec. 5: Quarter Case with Lead Penline Flourishes.
High Bids Win, Nov. 20 – Dec. 5: Quarter Case with Lead Cents and Pound Signs.
High Bids Win, Nov. 20 – Dec. 5: Wooden type cabinet 27” w by 19” d by 38” h.
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
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.
If you were pleased with the results of sales in the books and paper field at auction in 2021, you should be happy with those for 2022 as well. It was almost a carbon copy. When we reported these results last year, there had been a large increase in the median price and the number of lots offered. Prices had gained by 8.8%, lots offered by 22%. This time, the price increase was under 1% while the number lots offered declined slightly, by 1.6%. Since the previous year had smashed all records for prices and lots offered, 2022 was another very good year from a historical perspective.
The sell through rate also declined slightly, from 82% to 81%. This, too, is a high number by historical standards.
When all is added up, the total sales revenue came to $1.057 billion. That was $100 million less than in 2021. That shortfall mainly came from a few very high priced items. Almost half was attributed to the single $43 million sale of a first printing of the U. S. Constitution in 2021.
Interestingly, median sales prices declined during the first half of 2022. By summer, they were down 3%. However, prices rallied in the fall, leading to the small increase for the year. It will be interesting to see if the rising momentum continues into 2023.
For the second year in a row, over 50% of lots sold for over the high estimate, repeating 2021's 51%. That was the first year over 50% since we have been tracking results. Only 15% sold under the low estimate, though 19% did not sell at all. That leaves 16% that sold within the estimated range or had none.
The fourth quarter is usually the busiest of the year. It was busy again in 2022, with 28.3% of the lots offered from October through December, but it was not the busiest. The second quarter exceeded it for only the second time since we have been tracking sales with 29.0% of lots offered. Next came the first quarter with 22.0% while the slowest was the third quarter with 20.7% The reason the third quarter was so slow was August, which accounted for only 4.7% of the lots offered. On the other end, May was busiest with 11.3% of lots.
The highest average order for houses with at least 100 lots sold in the field was Christie's London South Kensington at $41,350. Close behind was Sotheby's New York at $40,222. They were followed by Christie's New York – $33,464, Arader Galleries - $21,981, Sotheby's London - $21,230, Christie's London King Street - $20,941, Freeman's - $17,973, Bonhams Los Angeles - $15,496, Sotheby's Paris - $15,415, Sotheby's Cologne - $13,515, Christie's Paris - $10,245, Aguttes - $9,060, and Bonhams New York $8,454. At the other end, for those on a more limited budget, there were the Mennonite Life auctions at $43, EV Stamps (with numerous comic books) - $50, Purcell Auctioneers - $98, One Source Auctions $100, William H. Bunch Auctions - $101, Keys Fine Arts - $104, and Sydney Rare Book Auctions - $115. There is something for everyone's budget.
As for volume of lots offered, no one is even close to the number from Heritage Auctions of Dallas. They offered 211,073 lots in the field and sold 207,000 of them, 98%. Next came Catawiki with 15,982, Kiefer Buch – 15,683, RR Auction - 13,817, PBA Galleries – 12,624, Forum – 11,053, Trillium – 10,600, Vermot de Pas – 10,000, Bubb Kuyper 9,887, and Holabird Kagin Americana - $9,315.
At the high end, 3% of all lots sold for over $10,000, while at the low end, 18% sold for under $100.
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.