Item 101 is a hand-colored engraving of a famous oil painting by American-born artist Benjamin West - The Death of General Wolfe. West was born in Pennsylvania, where he learned his trade, but moved to England after the French and Indian War, where he became a portrait painter to the King. Of course, England and America were close allies at that time, and this patriotic painting would have appealed to English-speakers on both sides of the Atlantic. It depicts the death of General James Wolfe, who led British forces to victory over the French in Quebec. It was a major event in England's victory over France in the French and Indian War, driving France from North America and making Canada a British possession. Sadly, General Wolfe himself wasn't around to enjoy the victory, dying on the field of battle. This engraving was produced in, of all years, 1776, the original having been painted five years earlier. €2,250 (US $3,266).
Item 90 is a guide for ship's doctors, though you will need to read Dutch to follow it, as that is the language of this first and only edition: Geneeskonstderheelmeesterstotdienstderzeevaart. Published in 1752 and compiled by Abraham Titsingh, it is a practical guide written by doctors who served on board Dutch war ships sailing from the Netherlands to Curaçao. The Dutch are not known for major possessions in the Americas, especially after the British kicked them out of New Amsterdam, but possessed a few small Caribbean islands in what was until recently known as the Netherlands Antilles. One of these is Curaçao, just off the Venezuelan coast, and it is still a semiautonomous part of the Netherlands today. This book is based on case studies onboard between 1743 and 1750, including an account of sicknesses and treatments employed, along with a commentary evidently from Titsingh, surgeon to the naval fleet. €3,500 (US $5,080).
Item 1 is a remnant from the days the Dutch were a force in New York. Though they were officially long gone by the time this church was built in Albany in 1715, their descendants remained as leading figures in the state indefinitely (example: the Roosevelts). Item 1 is a photo-lithographic plate of the Protestant Dutch Church on State Street in downtown Albany. You won't see the church there anymore - it was torn down in 1805, but this circa 1900 reprint of an 1806 engraving recreates that moment lost to history over two centuries ago. €65 (US $94).
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 Geek Week 2-17 July | New York
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.
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