The Historical Auction Series No.1 The Henry C. Murphy Sale March 3-March 8, 1884
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The Murphy Sale took place from March 3rd through March 8th, 1884 and was a highly anticipated and covered event. Here is what The Brooklyn Eagle shows:
A small but well placed ad on page 1 in the Saturday, March 1, 1884 issue announces “The Murphy Library/Now on Exhibition” and gives the auctioneer’s address, date of sale, and other necessary details. On Monday the 3rd the sale commenced and the coverage
Then the Murphy Sale commenced and The Eagle and other newspapers begin mostly daily coverage in The New York Times, The New York Herald Tribune, and The Brooklyn Eagle.
On Monday March 3, 1884, a front page headline in 4 pm edition of The Brooklyn Eagle for that day screamed: “H.C. Murphy/His Library Under the Hammer.” His library is described as “An immense collection of rare manuscripts and valuable books at action today…” The article then restates the intro to the catalogue on the variety of material(s) available in the Murphy Sale, and closes with “The library abounds in the rarest works, but those mentioned above will bring the largest prices. It is expected that the net proceeds of the sale will reach $50,000.”
On Tuesday, March 4, 1884, there is yet another front page headline about the Murphy Sale in The Brooklyn Eagle: “Rare Books/Some of the Works Disposed of at the/Murphy Library Sale.” This article talks excitedly about preliminary results, as encapsulated in the sub-sub headline: “A Large Attendance of Bibliophiles – Vicarious Purchases Which Suggested the Interest of Gould and Vanderbilt – The Prices Paid for the Principal Volumes.” The gist of the selling frenzy was described this way:
“The sale of the library of the late Henry C. Murphy was commenced yesterday in the auction room of George A. Leavitt & Co., Clinton Hall, New York. …It is one of the most important collections in the country to the lovers of the rare in literature, and the works will make their way, judging by the buyers at the first sale, into many celebrated libraries and colleges, while a few of the more rare books, noted for their great antiquity, will be bought for private parties. The library numbers, according to the printed catalogue, 5,000 volumes…[but actually only 3,142 lots]. It consists to the greater part of works exclusively relative to America, as it had been the pride of Mr. Murphy in his lifetime, while he loved rare books pertaining to every subject, to spare no expense in making his library the most complete in the world…..”
“It is expected that the sale of works on this subject will largely determine the value of…rare books on American subjects; and as there was lively competition between representatives from various universities for the possession of these treasures, dear to enthusiastic bibliophiles, who vied with each other by paying good prices; It is judged by experts that the books will find their way into institutions which will preserve them as long as they last, that they will become so scarce that for a single inferior copy an extraordinary price will be demanded and obtained.”
Two days later The Brooklyn Eagle, on Wednesday, March 6th 1884 notes on its front page: “MURPHY SALE/Some Rare Volumes Disposed of Yesterday.” This article, whose sub-sub headline reads: “Bids Received from the British Museum – A Book Which Sold for $3,600 – Jay Gould’s Estimate of His Own Literary Labor. High Prices for Ancient Works,” concentrates as much on the dramatic goings-on at the action than on the prices realized.
Freeman’s | Hindman Western Manuscripts and Miniatures July 8, 2025
Freeman’s | Hindman Western Manuscripts and Miniatures July 8, 2025
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 17th July 2025
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 17th July 2025
Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 17th July 2025
Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.
DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800