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Sothebys: Science | Books and Manuscripts - bidstart 5/11

Auction Reports

Auction Name Science | Books and Manuscripts - bidstart 5/11 Total Sales (GBP) 630,882.00
Auction Date May 25, 2021 - May 25, 2021 Low Estimate of Lots Sold (GBP) 231,100.00
Sale Number #L21413 High Estimate of Lots Sold (GBP) 327,500.00
Total Lots 58
Sold Lots 49 Low Estimate of All Lots (GBP) 436,100.00
% of Lots Sold 84.48% High Estimate of All Lots (GBP) 619,500.00
Unsold Lots 9 Total Sales as a % of High Est. 101.84%

Top twenty-five by sale price

Lot Number Author Name Book Title Year Published Estimate Actual Price
11 Copernicus

Copernicus | De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, Nuremberg, 1543, later boards, Rostock duplicate

1543 GBP 70,000.00 - 100,000.00 GBP 277,200.00
30 Kepler

Kepler | Astronomia nova, [Heidelberg], 1609, disbound

1609 GBP 30,000.00 - 40,000.00 GBP 60,480.00
17 De La Beche

De La Beche | Awful Changes, lithograph, 1830

1830 GBP 700.00 - 900.00 GBP 32,760.00
19 Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein | Autograph letter signed, to his son Albert, 4 November [1915]

1915 GBP 10,000.00 - 15,000.00 GBP 32,760.00
55 Vesalius

Vesalius | De humani corporis fabrica, Basel, 1555, modern crushed burgundy morocco

1555 GBP 15,000.00 - 20,000.00 GBP 30,240.00
12 Copernicus

Copernicus | Astronomia instaurata libri sex, Amsterdam, 1617, contemporary vellum

1617 GBP 8,000.00 - 12,000.00 GBP 17,640.00
9 Caus

Caus | Von Gewaltsamen bewegungen, Frankfurt, 1615, contemporary vellum

1615 GBP 10,000.00 - 15,000.00 GBP 12,600.00
2 Avenzohar

Avenzohar | Liber teisir, Venice, 1496, limp vellum, and other works

1496 GBP 8,000.00 - 10,000.00 GBP 11,970.00
23 Guazzo

Guazzo | Compendium maleficarum, Milan, 1608, contemporary vellum

1608 GBP 2,000.00 - 3,000.00 GBP 10,710.00
42 Elizabeth Philpot

Elizabeth Philpot | Autograph letter signed, to William Buckland, 26 June 1835

1835 GBP 2,000.00 - 3,000.00 GBP 10,710.00
25 Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking | Signed photograph, 1979

1979 GBP 5,000.00 - 7,000.00 GBP 9,450.00
14 Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin | Autograph letter signed, to Enrico Giglioli, on his research into chimpanzees, 1873

1873 GBP 8,000.00 - 12,000.00 GBP 8,820.00
46 Ramon y Cajal

Ramon y Cajal | Textura del sistema nervioso, Madrid, 1899-1904, 2 volumes, half calf

1899-1904 GBP 4,000.00 - 6,000.00 GBP 8,820.00
7 Georg Cantor

Georg Cantor | Contributions to the Founding of the Theory of Transfinite Numbers. Chicago, 1915

1915 GBP 1,500.00 - 2,000.00 GBP 8,190.00
56 Alessandro Volta

Alessandro Volta | autograph letter signed, to Canon Fromond, 12 August 1775

1775 GBP 7,000.00 - 9,000.00 GBP 8,190.00
5 Boyle

Boyle | Opera, Geneva, 1680-1695, 6 volumes, contemporary vellum

1680-1695 GBP 1,000.00 - 1,500.00 GBP 6,930.00
28 Jenner

Jenner | An inquiry into the causes and effects of the variolae vaccinae, London, 1800, half calf

1800 GBP 1,500.00 - 2,000.00 GBP 6,930.00
35 Maclaurin

Maclaurin | A treatise of fluxions, Edinburgh, 1742, contemporary calf, 2 volumes

1742 GBP 2,000.00 - 3,000.00 GBP 6,048.00
54 Valverde de Amusco

Valverde de Amusco | Historia de la composicion del cuerpo humano, Rome, 1556, later calf

1556 GBP 5,000.00 - 7,000.00 GBP 6,048.00
13 Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin | The Descent of Man, 1871, first edition, first issue, original cloth

1871 GBP 4,000.00 - 6,000.00 GBP 5,670.00
45 Psellus

Psellus | In physicen Aristotelis commentarii, Venice, Torresani, 1554, old vellum

1554 GBP 4,000.00 - 6,000.00 GBP 4,788.00
16 Henry de la Beche

Henry de la Beche | Duria Antiquior, lithograph, 1830

1830 GBP 4,000.00 - 6,000.00 GBP 4,410.00
8 Cardano

Cardano | Somniorum Synesiorum, Basel, 1562, limp vellum

1562 GBP 1,500.00 - 2,000.00 GBP 4,032.00
18 Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison | Inscribed photograph, undated

GBP 1,200.00 - 1,800.00 GBP 3,276.00
29 Johannes de Sacrobosco

Johannes de Sacrobosco | De sphaera, Venice, 1541, contemporary vellum, with other similar works

1541 GBP 2,000.00 - 3,000.00 GBP 3,276.00
  • Gonnelli
    Auction 51
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 14st 2024
    Gonnelli: Leonard Bramer, The descent from the cross, 1634. Starting price 3200€
    Gonnelli: Gustav Hjalmar de Morner Karel, Rome’s Carnival, 1820. Starting price 1000€
    Gonnelli: Various Authors, Mater Dolorosa, 1700. Starting price 200€
    Gonnelli: Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Carcere Oscura, 1790. Starting price 180€
    Gonnelli: Jan Brueghel, Marine fauna view, 1620 ca. Starting price 28000€
    Gonnelli: Ippolito Scarsella, Mary and Christ with Sant Rocco and Arch-Angel Michele,1615. Starting price 8000€
    Gonnelli: Hans Sebald Beham, Adam and Eve, 1543. Starting price 600€
    Gonnelli: Francesco Burani, Baccanale, 1630. Starting Price 280€
    Gonnelli: Giuseppe Maria Mitelli, Plance from Ventiquattr’ore, 1675. Starting price 800€
    Gonnelli: Giuseppe Angeli, Livorno’s Plan, 1793. Starting price 240€
    Gonnelli: XIV Century Artist, Capital “N” letter, 1350 ca. Starting price 340€
  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD
  • Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Isaac Newton on chemistry and matter, and alchemy, Autograph Manuscript, "A Key to Snyders," 3 pp, after 1674. $100,000 - $150,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Exceptionally rare first printing of Plato's Timaeus. Florence, 1484. $50,000 - $80,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: On the Philosophy of Self-Interest: Adam Smith's copy of Helvetius's De l'homme, Paris, 1773. $40,000 - $60,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: "Magical Calendar of Tycho Brahe" - very rare hermetic broadside. Engraved by Merian for De Bry. c.1618. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Author's presentation issue of Einstein's proof of Relativity, "Erklärung der Perihelbewegung des Merkur aus der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie." 1915. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: First Latin edition of Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed. Paris, 1520. $20,000 - $30,000.
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: De Broglie manuscript on the nature of matter in quantum physics, 3 pp, 1954. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Tesla autograph letter signed on electricty and electromagnetic theory. 1894. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Heinrich Hertz scientific manuscript on his mentor Hermann Von Helmholtz, 1891. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: The greatest illustrated work in Alchemy: Micheal Maier's Atalanta Fugiens. Oppenheim, 1618. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Illustrated Alchemical manuscript, a Mysterium Magnum of the Rosicurcians, 18th-century. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Rare Largest Paper Presentation Copy of Newton's Principia, London, 1726. The third and most influential edition. $60,000 - $90,000
  • Doyle, May 1: Thomas Jefferson expresses fears of "a war of extermination" in Saint-Dominigue. $40,000 to $60,000.
    Doyle, May 1: An exceptional presentation copy of Fitzgerald's last book, in the first issue dust jacket. $25,000 to $35,000.
    Doyle, May 1: The rare first signed edition of Dorian Gray. $15,000 to $25,000.
    Doyle, May 1: The Prayer Book of Jehan Bernachier. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Doyle, May 1: Van Dyck's Icones Principum Virorum Doctorum. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Doyle, May 1: The magnificent Cranach Hamlet in the deluxe binding by Dõrfner. $7,000 to $10,000.
    Doyle, May 1: A remarkable unpublished manuscript of a voyage to South America in 1759-1764. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Doyle, May 1: Bouchette's monumental and rare wall map of Lower Canada. $12,000 to $18,000.
    Doyle, May 1: An rare original 1837 abolitionist woodblock. $8,000 to $12,000.
    Doyle, May 1: An important manuscript breviary in Middle Dutch. $15,000 to $25,000.
    Doyle, May 1: An extraordinary Old Testament manuscript, circa 1250. $20,000 to $30,000.
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