Rare Book Monthly

Articles - March - 2023 Issue

To understand Collectible Paper Auctions Click here

One of the interesting ways to follow the auctions is to select Upcoming Auctions and voila and the first option on the down bar:  Auction Home,  There are the most recently posted auction results with an option to View Auction Report.

 

The most recently posted completed auction as of 7:07 pm PST on 2/25/23 was Leland Little Auctions, a report on 33 lots that fell into the categories we cover; books, manuscripts, maps and ephemera.  Those 33 lots were offered and 32 sold for a total of $10,100.00.  With each lot under Book Title is a full description.  Simultaneously, when this information is posted to this report of Recent Auction Results they move into Transactions+.

 

Once you have scanned the full details for the present sale there is another link to the upper right corner that takes you to the next most recently completed sale, and so on, and on.

 

The second sale recently was completed by Heritage, their The Thrillingly Exciting Heroes of Nedor Comics Showcase Auction.  They offered 151 lots and sold them all for $116,235.20.

 

The third sale posted and completed was Heritage’s The Estate of Veronique and Gregory Peck’s Hollywood & Entertainment Signature Auction.  Mr. Peck, was famous for his role as Atticus Finch in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird.  Heritage sold 147 of the 149 lots offered and when you scan the list for the realizations you may notice a few things you might wish you had bid on.  In Boomers heaven, Mr. Peck’s Personal book-bound presentation script To Kill a Mockingbird (Universal, 1962) would fit nicely on a nearby shelf.  The action overall brought $718,291.50.

 

The fourth sale was held by Stair & Co. of Hudson, New York:  The Matisse Legacy, Part II:  Property from the Collection of Jacquelyn Miller Matisse.  82 lots brought $138,432.00.

 

Bonhams’ Prints & Multiples sale on 23 February brought $346,487.63.  The four sales I’ve already mentioned all sold close to 100% of their lots.  Not every sale is in the high cotton.

 

On the same day, the 23rd, Aste Bolaffi in Italy held a Comics auction, offering 244 examples and sold 213.  That worked out to be a 87.3% success rate.  The norm, for the field anymore is the sell-through percentage to push into the low 80%s.

 

Swann Galleries sold Fine Photographs on the 23rd.  They offered 192 lots and sold 80.21% of them for $658,250.

 

PBA, otherwise known as Pacific Book Auction Galleries, offered Fine Bindings and Small Press material on the 23rd and sold 369 of their 431 posted lots.  They sold 86.61% of their lots and raised $237,275.00 for their consignors.

 

Forum Auctions’ Online Sale: Books and Works on Paper also wrapped up on the 23rd, as they offered 313 lots and sold 261 for an 83.39% success rate.  Their sales, in GBP, registered as 117,374.75.

 

On the 23rd, Doyle New  York offered Sports and Travel Books providing 258 lots and sold 240 of them for a 93.02% success rate.  Their material raised $101,466.00

 

And I could go, and on.  Typically 50 auctions close each week and we capture their outcomes, post them to Recent Completed sales and enter them into Transactions+.

 

Net-net, the auctions tend to look like this every time you check.  This is the pulse of the auction marketplace. It’s a free service for anyone and everyone.  Make a point once or twice a week to click on the Upcoming Auctions, then Auction Home and then click on the Recent Results and then click, on and on..

 

You’ll understand the active market quickly.

 

So click here and start to use this exceptional tool:  www.rarebookhub.com/auctions

 

Rare Book Monthly

  • Heritage Auctions
    Rare Books Signature Auction
    December 15, 2025
    Heritage, Dec. 15: John Donne. Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death. London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.
    Heritage, Dec. 15: Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
    Heritage, Dec. 15: F. Scott Fitzgerald. Tender is the Night. A Romance.
    Heritage, Dec. 15: Bram Stoker. Dracula. Westminster: Archibald Constable & Co., 1897.
    Heritage, Dec. 15: Jerry Thomas. How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion, Containing Clear and Reliable Directions for Mixing All the Beverages Used in the United States…
  • Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!
  • Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("Martinus Luther") to His Friend the Theologian Gerhard Wiskamp ("Gerardo Xantho Lampadario"). $100,000 - $150,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: An Exceptionally Fine Copy of Austenís Emma: A Novel in Three Volumes. $40,000 - $60,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Presentation Copy of Ernest Hemmingwayís A Farewell to Arms for Edward Titus of the Black Mankin Press. $30,000 - $50,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript Signed Integrally for "The Songs of Pooh," by Alan Alexander. $30,000 - $50,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript of "Three Fragments from Gˆtterd‰mmerung" by Richard Wagner. $30,000 - $50,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Preliminary Artwork, for the First Edition of Snow Crash. $20,000 - $30,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("T.R. Malthus") to Economist Nassau Senior on Wealth, Labor and Adam Smith. $20,000 - $30,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Finely Bound by Michael Wilcox. $20,000 - $30,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: First Edition of Lewis and Clark: Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean. $8,000 - $12,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Artwork for the First Edition of Neal Stephenson's Groundbreaking Novel Snow Crash. $100,000 - $150,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: A Complete Set Signed Deluxe Editions of King's The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. $8,000 - $12,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("John Adams") to James Le Ray de Chaumont During the Crucial Years of the Revolutionary War. $8,000 - $12,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Book Week
    December 9-17, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Francesco Colonna. Hypnerotomachie, Paris, 1546, Parisian calf by Wotton Binder C for Marcus Fugger. €200,000 to €300,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Nausea. De principiis dialectices Gorgias, and other works, Venice, 1523, morocco gilt for Cardinal Campeggio. €3,000 to €4,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Billon. Le fort inexpugnable de l'honneur, Paris, 1555, Parisian calf gilt for Peter Ernst, Graf von Mansfeld. €120,000 to €180,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Book Week
    December 9-17, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Salinger, J.D. The Graham Family archive, including autographed letters, an inscribed Catcher, a rare studio photograph of the author, and more. $120,000 to $180,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of Sense and Sensibility, the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Massachusetts General Court. A powerful precursor to the Declaration of Independence: "every Act of Government … without the Consent of the People, is … Tyranny." $40,000 to $60,000.

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