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Forum Auctions
A Sixth Selection of 16th and 17th Century English Books from the Fox Pointe Manor Library
19th June 2025Forum, June 19: Euclid. The Elements of Geometrie, first edition in English of the first complete translation, [1570]. £20,000 to £30,000.Forum, June 19: Nicolay (Nicolas de). The Navigations, peregrinations and voyages, made into Turkie, first edition in English, 1585. £10,000 to £15,000.Forum, June 19: Shakespeare source book.- Montemayor (Jorge de). Diana of George of Montemayor, first edition in English, 1598. £6,000 to £8,000.Forum, June 19: Livius (Titus). The Romane Historie, first edition in English, translated by Philemon Holland, Adam Islip, 1600. £6,000 to £8,000.Forum Auctions
A Sixth Selection of 16th and 17th Century English Books from the Fox Pointe Manor Library
19th June 2025Forum, June 19: Robert Molesworth's copy.- Montaigne (Michel de). The Essayes Or Morall, Politike and Millitarie Discourses, first edition in English, 1603. £10,000 to £15,000.Forum, June 19: Shakespeare (William). The Tempest [&] The Two Gentlemen of Verona, from the Second Folio, [Printed by Thomas Cotes], 1632. £4,000 to £6,000.Forum, June 19: Boyle (Robert). Medicina Hydrostatica: or, Hydrostaticks Applyed to the Materia Medica, first edition, for Samuel Smith, 1690. £2,500 to £3,500.Forum, June 19: Locke (John). An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding in Four Books, first edition, second issue, 1690. £8,00 to £12,000. -
Sotheby’s
New York Book Week
12-26 JuneSotheby’s, June 25: Theocritus. Theocriti Eclogae triginta, Venice, Aldo Manuzio, February 1495/1496. 220,000 - 280,000 USDSotheby’s, June 26: Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby, 1925. 40,000 - 60,000 USDSotheby’s, June 26: Blake, William. Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Printed ca. 1381-1832. 400,000 - 600,000 USDSotheby’s, June 26: Lincoln, Abraham. Thirteenth Amendment, signed by Abraham Lincoln. 8,000,000 - 12,000,000 USDSotheby’s, June 26: Galieli, Galileo. First Edition of the Foundation of Modern Astronomy, 1610. 300,000 - 400,000 USD -
Finarte
Books, Autographs & Prints
June 24 & 25, 2025Finarte, June 24-25: ALIGHIERI, DANTE / LANDINO, CRISTOFORO. Comento di Christophoro Landino Fiorentino sopra la Comedia di Danthe Alighieri poeta fiorentino, 1481. €40,000 to €50,000.Finarte, June 24-25: ALIGHIERI, DANTE. La Commedia [Commento di Christophorus Landinus]. Aggiunta: Marsilius Ficinus, Ad Dantem gratulatio [in latino e Italiano], 1487. €40,000 to €60,000.Finarte, June 24-25: ALIGHIERI, DANTE. Il Convivio, 1490. €20,000 to €25,000.Finarte
Books, Autographs & Prints
June 24 & 25, 2025Finarte, June 24-25: BANDELLO, MATTEO. La prima [-quarta] parte de le nouelle del Bandello, 1554. €7,000 to €9,000.Finarte, June 24-25: LEGATURA – PLUTARCO. Le vies des hommes illustres, grecs et romaines translates, 1567. €10,000 to €12,000.Finarte, June 24-25: TOLOMEO, CLAUDIO. Ptolemeo La Geografia di Claudio Ptolemeo Alessandrino, Con alcuni comenti…, 1548. €4,000 to €6,000.Finarte
Books, Autographs & Prints
June 24 & 25, 2025Finarte, June 24-25: FESTE - COPPOLA, GIOVANNI CARLO. Le nozze degli Dei, favola [...] rappresentata in musica in Firenze…, 1637. €6,000 to €8,000.Finarte, June 24-25: SPINOZA, BARUCH. Opera posthuma, 1677. €8,000 to €12,000.Finarte, June 24-25: PUSHKIN, ALEXANDER. Borus Godunov, 1831. €30,000 to €50,000.Finarte
Books, Autographs & Prints
June 24 & 25, 2025Finarte, June 24-25: LIBRO D'ARTISTA - LECUIRE, PIERRE. Ballets-minute, 1954. €35,000 to €40,000.Finarte, June 24-25: LIBRO D'ARTISTA - MAJAKOVSKIJ, VLADIMIR / LISSITZKY, LAZAR MARKOVICH. Dlia Golosa, 1923. €7,000 to €10,000.Finarte, June 24-25: LIBRO D'ARTISTA - MATISSE, HENRI / MONTHERLANT, HENRY DE. Pasiphaé. Chant de Minos., 1944. €22,000 to €24,000.
Rare Book Monthly
<i>In The News</i>: Magna Carta Back in Washington, Abe's Latest Top 10
By Michael Stillman
A copy of the Magna Carta has found its way back home to the National Archives in Washington. Of course, this is not the original home for this document. It resided in England for almost 700 years after it was inscribed in 1297. However, while all but one other of the few remaining 13th century copies of this bill of rights, first created in 1215, remain in England, this one was brought to America in the 1980s by Ross Perot. His Perot Foundation purchased it, and almost immediately put it on display at the National Archives. It remained there until last year, when the Perot Foundation put it up for sale at Sotheby's. There it was purchased by investor David Rubinstein, a former advisor during the Carter administration and founder of the Carlyle Group, for $21.3 million.
Fortunately for Americans, Rubinstein believes a copy belongs in the U.S. for Americans to appreciate too. This is reasonable enough, for while this document is English in origin, the freedoms it guaranteed inspired America's Declaration of Independence and some of the rights enshrined in its Constitution. So, once again the Magna Carta is on view at the National Archives, and hopefully will remain so for a very long time.
AbeBooks announced its highest price sales for February, and as always, these lists provide a curious mix of titles. This list features an American novel classic, a rambunctious young lady, a Christian Science first, butterflies, and the man we used to be referring to when we said the name "Dylan."
10. Sketches in Architecture, written in 1798 by Bank of England architect John Soane. A second edition. $3,934.
9. Over Sea, Under Stone, a first British edition inscribed by author Susan Cooper. $4,000.
8. The Selected Writings of Dylan Thomas, inscribed in 1950 by the author from whom Bob Dylan took his name. $4,118.
7. Lepidoptera, Rhopaloceres and Heteroceres, Indigenous and Exotic, with Descriptions, an 1870s first work by leading North American butterfly expert Herman Strecker. $4,125.
6. Le Centaure, a limited edition of the work by French poet Maurice de Guerin with 73 wood engravings by Claudius Linossier. $4,200.
5. Science and Health, the true first edition from 1875 by Christian Science founder Mary Baker Eddy. $4,750.
4. Over Sea, Under Stone, this time a first American edition from 1966, inscribed by author Susan Cooper. $4,800.
3. Gone With the Wind, a signed first edition of Margaret Mitchell's southern classic. $5,500.
2. Eloise in Moscow highlights five volumes in the life of the precocious six-year-old, signed by author Hilary Knight and illustrator Kay Thompson. $5,852.
1. Sefarad: Revista del Instituto Arias Montano de Estudios Hebraicos y Oriente Próximo by Consejo Superior de Investigaciones. That's a mouthful, but then again, this consists of 63 volumes, from 1941-2003, covering the Bible and the history of the Jews in Spain. $7,265 (or just $115 per volume).