Rare Book Monthly

Articles - December - 2009 Issue

Auctions in December

Sloan- Lot 49, Bird’s-Eye View of New York in 1848

Sloan- Lot 49, Bird’s-Eye View of New York in 1848


By Bruce McKinney

Who said fireworks are reserved for the fourth of July. In France the day for fireworks is July 14th. In China it's the Lunar New Year. At auction it's whenever serious consignors take a deep breath and quote Gary Gilmore, "let's do it." Then it's a race to organize, collate, photograph and describe, publish, post and circulate all with the goal of attracting sufficient bidding interest. In the hands of gifted men and women the process can be magic. What with market uncertainty rampant commitments to sell this year have been down but bucking the trend are a group of sales with very good material reaching the rooms this month. They will provide a test of a market that has been seeking a new direction since summer. In these sales the line between real objects and objects of desire blurs to indistinguishable.

Books, manuscripts and ephemera at auction have been busy this fall [60 sales in November, 45 this month] but consignors reluctant to send their best material into the rooms. Since August the market has been improving and the consequences three important auctions to be sold in December that may signal the year ahead: The De Orbe Novo Collection of very Early European Americana on the 3rd, the William A. Herz Library of Important Voyages and Travels at Christies on the 9th, and Dorothy Sloan's Auction Twenty-Two featuring high spots of Texas, the West, Borderlands & Mexico on December 11-12. If these sales do well there is certain to be renewed confidence. The market is poised, many hopeful. Two thousand and eight has been a difficult year.

The de Orbe Novo Collection at Bloomsbury in New York on the 3rd and has been discussed elsewhere in AE Monthly. The focus of this article is the Herz and Sloan sales. Both should draw wide attention. The Sloan sale extends the definition of presentation to encompass meticulous detail, elaborated description and extensive photography. Auction houses, for a decade have been inching into ever more elaborate online presentations while maintaining strong catalogue presences. For Sale 22 Ms. Sloan reverses the approach. While maintaining the printed catalogue at her always high standard she provides a further elaboration online - an extensive photographic presentation that, if the sale is successful, will be quickly emulated. For buyers the online presentations can be downloaded into purchase records to become the rock solid compliment to book ownership - spotless, easily transported and transferred descriptive record. The sale itself is appealing and will be discussed later in this article, the methodology a step into the future.

The Herz sale at Christie's is a throwback to collections of two generations ago when collecting was broad and intense. In the hands of Christie's, who set new standards for book auction performance with the Frank Streeter sale in 2007, they wave their descriptive wands over a collection that will have appeal to all elements of the travel and voyages collecting community. The material is diverse and extensive. Wolfgang A. Herz was an inveterate collector for whom books were a stage he lived through from 1971 into the mid 1980s. He later devoted himself to works on paper, drawings and prints as well as paintings.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Gros & Delettrez
    Livres & Manuscrits Arméniens
    Jeudi 12 juin 2025
    Paris, Francis
    Gros & Delettrez, June 12: BIBLE, Venise 1733, reliure arménienne
    Gros & Delettrez, June 12: CHARAKNOTS, manuscrit XVIIe-XVIIIe siècle
    Gros & Delettrez, June 12: CHARAKNOTS, manuscrit daté 1606, reliure arménienne
    Gros & Delettrez, June 12: CHARAKNOTS, manuscrit début XVIIIe siècle, reliure arménienne
    Gros & Delettrez, June 12: CHARAKNOTS, Amsterdam 1664
    Gros & Delettrez, June 12: CHARAKNOTS, Amsterdam 1702, reliure arménienne
    Gros & Delettrez, June 12: DICTIONNAIRE arménien, manuscrit XVIIe-XVIIIe siècle.
    Gros & Delettrez, June 12: EVANGILE, manuscrit 1735-1737, reliure arménienne
    Gros & Delettrez, June 12: LIVRE DE PRIERES, Grégoire de Narek, manuscrit
    Gros & Delettrez, June 12: GEOGRAPHIE, Ghoukas INDJIDJIAN, Venise 1802-1806
    Gros & Delettrez, June 12: MANUSCRIT THEOLOGIQUE, XVIe-XVIIe siècle
    Gros & Delettrez, June 12: MASHTOTS, manuscrit XVIIIe-XIXe siècle, reliure arménienne
    Gros & Delettrez, June 12: LETTRE ENCYCLIQUE, manuscrit XIXe siècle
    Gros & Delettrez, June 12: NOUVEAU TESTAMENT, Amsterdam 1668, reliure arménienne
  • Rose City Book & Paper Fair
    June 14-15, 2025
    1000 NE Multnomah, Portland
    ROSECITYBOOKFAIR.COM
  • Swann, June 12: Lot 3:
    Thomas McKenney and James Hall, History of the Indian Tribes of North America, 1848-1854. Estimate $3,000 to $4,000.
    Swann, June 12: Lot 8:
    Invoice to the Town of Boston for advertising pre-revolutionary content in the Boston Post Boy, manuscript document, Boston, July 1768. Estimate $5,000 to $7,500.
    Swann, June 12: Lot 13:
    Clairac and Nicola, L'Ingenieur de Campagne; or, Field
    Swann, June 12: Lot 81:
    Journals of Major Robert Rogers . . . of the Several Excursions he Made . . . upon the Continent of North America, London, 1765. Estimate $4,000 to $6,000.
    Swann, June 12: Lot 99:
    Photograph albums and papers from the family of W.G. Fargo, photo albums containing 442 photographs, 1865-88. Estimate $3,000 to $4,000.
    Swann, June 12: Lot 112:
    Isaac Leeser, Discourses on the Jewish Religion, 10 volumes, Philadelphia: Sherman & Co., 1866-1868. Estimate $6,000 to $9,000.
    Swann, June 12: Lot 176:
    Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Boston, 1845. Estimate $4,000 to $6,000.
    Swann, June 12: Lot 190:
    Thomas Hariot, Admiranda narratio fida tamen, de commodis et incolarum ritibus Virginiae, 1590. Estimate $25,000 to $35,000.
    Swann, June 12: Lot 200:
    Correspondence of a regimental cavalry commander in Wyoming and Utah, July 1865 to February 1866. Estimate $4,000 to $6,000.
    Swann, June 12: Lot 226:
    Maturino Gilberti, Vocabulario en lengua de Mechuacan / Aqui comienca el vocabulario en la lengua Castellana y Mechuacana, 1559. Estimate $8,000 to $12,000.
  • Sotheby's
    Bibliothèque Jacques Dauchez - Autour de Dubuffet
    5-19 June
    Sotheby’s, June 5-19: Bissière, Roger. Cantique à notre frère soleil de saint François. 1954. 1,000 - 1,500 EUR
    Sotheby’s, June 5-19: Céline, Louis-Ferdinand. La vie & l’œuvre de Philippe Ignace Semmelweis. 1924. Rare édition originale, avec envoi. Joint : La Quinine en thérapeutique, 1925. 4,000 - 6,000 EUR
    Sotheby’s, June 5-19: Céline, Louis-Ferdinand. Mort à crédit. 1936. Édition originale. Bel exemplaire sur Hollande. 2,500 - 3,500 EUR
    Sotheby's
    Bibliothèque Jacques Dauchez - Autour de Dubuffet
    5-19 June
    Sotheby’s, June 5-19: Chillida, Eduardo ─ Emil Cioran. Face aux instants. 1985. Un des 100 exemplaires sur Arches. Eau-forte signée. 600 - 800 EUR
    Sotheby’s, June 5-19: Dubuffet, Jean. Ler dla canpane. L’Art Brut, 1948. Édition originale. 3,000 - 5,000 EUR
    Sotheby’s, June 5-19: Dubuffet, Jean. L'Herne Jean Dubuffet. 1973. Un des 100 exemplaires du tirage de luxe avec une sérigraphie originale en couleurs. 1,000 - 1,500 EUR

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