Back

Swann Galleries: Illustration Art

Auction Reports


Auction Name	Illustration Art	Total Sales (USD)	715,017.00
Auction Date	January 28, 2021 - January 28, 2021	Low Estimate of Lots Sold (USD)	376,960.00
Sale Number	#2556	High Estimate of Lots Sold (USD)	554,290.00
Total Lots	280
Sold Lots	228	Low Estimate of All Lots (USD)	439,910.00
% of Lots Sold	81.43%	High Estimate of All Lots (USD)	646,340.00
Unsold Lots	52	Total Sales as a % of High Est.	110.63%

Top twenty-five by sale price

Lot Number	Author Name	Book Title	Year Published	Estimate	Actual Price
211	JOSEPH F. KERNAN	"College Football." Cover of The Saturday Evening Post, published October 15, 1932.	1932	USD 25,000.00 - 35,000.00	USD 75,000.00
216	LESLIE THRASHER	"Conference on the Mound." Cover for The Saturday Evening Post, published June 8, 1912.	1912	USD 8,000.00 - 12,000.00	USD 37,500.00
244	JOSEPH CHRISTIAN LEYENDECKER	Golfer Lighting a Cigarette. Probable study for cigarette advertisement, possibly unpublished, circa 1920.	circa 1920.	USD 7,000.00 - 10,000.00	USD 30,000.00
68	EDMUND DULAC	"They overtook him just as he reached the steps of the main porch." Illustration of Fatima's two brothers murdering Bluebeard, for the tale of Bluebeard, published in The Sleeping Beauty and Other Fairy Tales. From the Old French, retold by Sir Arthur Qu	1910	USD 6,000.00 - 9,000.00	USD 18,750.00
89	ROCKWELL KENT	"Rockwell / Alaska MCMXVIII" Frontispiece illustration to Wilderness: A Journal of Quiet Adventure in Alaska.		USD 3,500.00 - 5,000.00	USD 15,000.00
199	CHARLES SCHULZ	"I'll have to go back to the house...I forgot my rubbers..." Original 4-panel "Peanuts" comic strip featuring Linus and Lucy,	1960	USD 8,000.00 - 12,000.00	USD 15,000.00
159	CONSTANTIN ALAJALOV	Family Tree. Cover illustration for The New Yorker, published February 12, 1938.	1938	USD 3,000.00 - 4,000.00	USD 11,875.00
222	RUTH EASTMAN	Hitting the Links of Palm Beach. Proposed cover for The Saturday Evening Post, circa mid-1920s.	circa mid-1920s.	USD 5,000.00 - 7,500.00	USD 11,875.00
124	N.C. WYETH	Captain John Alden / Heading Canto IV. Illustration for page 51 of The Courtship of Miles Standish, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow	1920	USD 3,000.00 - 4,000.00	USD 11,250.00
158	CHARLES ADDAMS	One Pin. Cartoon for The New Yorker, published June 16, 1962, with their stamp on verso.	1962	USD 6,000.00 - 9,000.00	USD 11,250.00
191	[OTTO MESSMER].	"I'll sneak in and snatch a snooze." * "How can I sleep?" Together, two original "Felix the Cat" Sunday comics, published September 10 and December 24, 1933, respectively, with King Features Syndicate pastedowns.	1933	USD 4,000.00 - 6,000.00	USD 11,250.00
123	N.C. WYETH	Standish Reading / "Heading Canto II". Illustration for page 17 of The Courtship of Miles Standish, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow	1920	USD 5,000.00 - 7,500.00	USD 10,000.00
172	BARBARA SHERMUND	A Day at the Beach. Cover for The New Yorker, published August 5, 1944.	1944	USD 2,000.00 - 3,000.00	USD 9,375.00
192	[OTTO MESSMER].	"Shucks!! It's too high for me to reach." * "You've got to be an aviator to hunt for wild geese..." Together, two original "Felix the Cat" Sunday comics, published January 14 and 21, 1934	1934	USD 4,000.00 - 6,000.00	USD 9,375.00
19	BRIAN FROUD	"The Mountain." Published in Once Upon a Time: Some Contemporary Illustrators of Fantasy, by David Larkin	1976, plate 22 and in Fantastic People by Allan Scott	USD 2,500.00 - 3,500.00	USD 8,125.00
218	MICHAEL BROWN	Leven Links.	circa early 20th century.	USD 4,000.00 - 6,000.00	USD 8,125.00
57	FRANKLIN BOOTH	"Mount Holyoke College Today." Illustration for an article of the same title by Charles Selden, published in The Ladies Home Journal, Vol. 43 no. 8, August 1926, page 21.	1926	USD 4,000.00 - 6,000.00	USD 7,280.00
114	NORMAN ROCKWELL	Portrait of Whitney Darrow, Jr. as an old man.		USD 2,000.00 - 3,000.00	USD 7,250.00
125	N.C. WYETH	Teepees by the Forest / Headpiece Canto VII. Illustration for page 105 of The Courtship of Miles Standish, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow	1920	USD 4,000.00 - 6,000.00	USD 7,250.00
33	WILLIAM PÈNE DU BOIS	William's Doll. Together, 16 storyboard illustrations for an alternate cover and nearly complete interior pages of book of the same name by Charlotte Zolotow	1972. Watercolor and graphite on paper, most with applied text. Image sizes vary, sheets each measure 275x375 mm; 11x14 3/4 inches. Several signed "William Pène du Bois" in image area. Hinged to boards with paper mattes, with the exception of the alternat	USD 4,000.00 - 6,000.00	USD 7,000.00
11	ERIC CARLE	Black Cat. Collage, ink and gouache on board. 305x241 mm; 12x9 1/2 inches. Signed "Eric Carle" in ink, lower right image and inscribed "For Hens with best wishes!" Hens Gettmer was the publisher of Carle's books in The Netherlands		USD 2,000.00 - 3,000.00	USD 6,750.00
52	LUDWIG BEMELMANS	Couple in Lamp Light.	[19]33	USD 2,000.00 - 3,000.00	USD 6,750.00
25	EZRA JACK KEATS	Drawing of Peter from The Snowy Day, prominently featured on a charming Typed Letter Signed to a young boy named Matthew.		USD 800.00 - 1,200.00	USD 6,500.00
12	ERIC CARLE	"THAT Lion!" A recreation of the lion in Carle's book Do You Want to Be My Friend?	1971. Paper collage with ink, watercolor, chalk, and fixative on board. 280x355 mm; 11x14 inches. Captioned, signed "Eric Carle" and inscribed to a young fan "For Matt with my very best wishes," lower margin.	USD 2,500.00 - 3,500.00	USD 6,250.00
20	BRIAN FROUD	Peering elf. Frontispiece to The Land of Froud, edited by David Larkin	1977. Mixed media with watercolor, graphite, gouache, and ink on paper. 23 1/4x12 1/4 inches	USD 2,000.00 - 3,000.00	USD 6,250.00

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
Geek Week
2-17 July | New York

Sotheby’s, July 15: Buzz Aldrin's FLOWN Apollo 11 Crew-Signed NASA Manned Spacecraft Center Cover. $15,000 to $20,000.

Sotheby’s, July 15: Lunar Surface Flown Mission Emblem Presented to Tom Stafford by John Young. $8,000 to $12,000.

Sotheby’s, July 17: Albert Einstein. Typed Letter Signed ("A. Einstein."), to Ann Morrisett, Affirming a Pacifist's Right to Self-Defense, March 21, 1952. $10,000 to $15,000.

Sotheby’s
Geek Week
2-17 July | New York

Sotheby’s, July 17: Operating and Maintenance Manual for the BINAC Binary Automatic Computer Built for Northrop Aircraft Corporation. Philadelphia, 1949. $30,000 to $50,000.

Sotheby’s, July 17: Steve Jobs Apple Computer Business Card, c. 1977. $5,000 to $8,000.

Sotheby’s, July 15: Extensive Chronology of Spacecraft From Apollo to Skylab, Signed by a Member of Every Crewed Apollo Flight and the Commanders of Each Skylab Mission. $5,000 to $8,000.
Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!