<i>In The News</i>: Magna Carta Back in Washington, Abe's Latest Top 10
- by Michael Stillman
1297 Magna Carta, recently auctioned by Sotheby's, is back on display in Washington.
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).
Bonhams, Apr. 8: First report outside of the colonies of the American Revolution, from American accounts. Printed broadsheet, The London Evening-Post, May 30, 1775. $20,000 - $30,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Joyce, James. The earliest typescript pages from Finnegans Wake ever to appear at auction, annotated by Joyce, 1923. $30,000 - $50,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Joyce's Ulysses, 1923, one of only seven copies known, printed to replace copies destroyed in customs. $10,000 - $15,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: ATHANASIUS KIRCHER'S COPY, INSCRIBED. Saggi di naturali esperienze fatte nell' Accademia del Cimento, 1667. $2,000 - $3,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Bernoulli's Ars conjectandi, 1713. "... first significant book on probability theory." $15,000 - $25,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Aristotle's Politica. Oeconomica. 1469. The first printed work on political economy. $80,000 - $120,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: John Graunt's Natural and political observations...., 1662. The first printed work of epidemiology and demographics. $20,000 - $30,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: William Playfair's Commercial and Political Atlas, 1786. The first work to pictorially represent information in graphics. $15,000 - $25,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Anson's A Voyage Round the World, 1748. THE J.R. ABBEY-LORD WARDINGTON COPY, BOUND BY JOHN BRINDLEY. $8,000 - $12,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: La Perouse's Voyage de La Perouse autour du monde..., 1797. LARGE FINE COPY IN ORIGINAL BOARDS. $8,000 - $12,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Charles Schulz original 8-panel Peanuts Sunday comic strip, 1992, pen and ink over pencil, featuring Charlie Brown, Snoopy and Lucy as a psychiatrist. $20,000 - $30,000
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
