• Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
  • Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Pietro Aquila, Psyche and Proserpina,1690. Starting price 140€
    Gonnelli: Jacques Gamelin, Memento homo quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris, 1779. Starting price 300€
    Gonnelli: Giorgio Ghisi, The final Judgement, 1680. Starting price 480€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli Goya y Lucientes Francisco, Los Proverbios.1877. Starting price 1000 €
    Gonnelli: Domenico Peruzzini, Long bearded old man, 1660. Starting price 2200€
    Gonnelli: Enea Vico, Leda and the Swan,1542. Starting price 140€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Andrea Del Sarto [school of], San Giovanni Battista, 1570. Starting price 25000€
    Gonnelli: Carlo Maratta, Virgin Mary and Jesus, 1660. Starting Price 1200€
    Gonnelli: Louis Brion de La Tour, Sphére de Copernic Sphere de Ptolemée / Le Systême de Ptolemée. Le Systême de Ticho-Brahe…, 1766. Starting price 180€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Marc’Antonio Dal Re, Ville di Delizia o Siano Palaggi Camparecci nello Stato di Milano Divise in Sei Tomi Con espressevi le Piante…, Tomo Primo, 1726. Starting price 7000€
    Gonnelli: Katsushika Hokusai, Bird on a branch, 1843. Starting price 100€
  • Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    May 14
    Printed Books & Maps, Travel, Atlases & Exploration
    Dominic Winter, May 14: (Choiseul-Gouffier, Marie). Voyage Pittoresque de la Grece, 2 vols, 1st edition, 1782-1822. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Gentlemen's Magazine and Historical Chronicle, by Sylvanus Urban, 11 volumes. £700-1,000
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Shackleton (Ernest). The Heart of the Antarctic, 2 vols, 1st ed, presentation copy, 1909. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    May 14
    Printed Books & Maps, Travel, Atlases & Exploration
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Drayton (Michael). Poly Olbion..., London: 1622. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Scheuchzer (Johann Jacob). Ouresiphoites Helveticus, 4 parts in 1, 2nd ed, 1723. £3,000-4,000
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Roberts (Henry, after). Chart of the NW Coast of America and NE Coast of Asia ..., [1784]. £500-800
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    May 14
    Printed Books & Maps, Travel, Atlases & Exploration
    Dominic Winter, May 14: World. Maffei (Giovanni), Indiarum orientalium Occidentaliumque Descriptio..., 1589. £1,200-1,500
    Dominic Winter, May 14: World. Ortelius (Abraham), Typus Orbis Terrarum, [1598]. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Bible [English]. [The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New..., 1613]. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    May 14
    Printed Books & Maps, Travel, Atlases & Exploration
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Taylor (John). All the Workes of John Taylor the Water-Poet..., 1630. £1,000-1,500
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Pierpont Morgan Collection. Catalogue of the Morgan Collection of Chinese Porcelains, 1904 & 1906. £2,000-3,000
  • Swann, May 15: Lot 4: Helena Bochoráková-Dittrichová, Z Mého Detství Drevoryty, Prague: Obzina, 1929. First trade edition, signed by the artist. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 10: Nancy Cunard, Negro Anthology, with a tipped-in A.L.S. to Karl Marx's niece, 1934. First edition. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 14: Margaret Fuller, Woman in the Nineteenth Century, 1845. First edition. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 17: Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun, inscribed first edition, 1959. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 28: Margaret Hill Morris, Private Journal Kept during a Portion of the Revolutionary War, for the Amusement of a Sister, 1836. First edition. $3,000 to $4,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 38: Anna Sewell, Black Beauty: The Autobiography of a Horse, 1877. First edition. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 43: Gertrude Stein, Portrait of Mabel Dodge at the Villa Curonia, signed presentation copy with photograph of Stein, 1912. First edition. $8,000 to $12,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 48: Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse, first edition in the scarce dust jacket, 1927. $6,000 to $8,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 54: Katherine Dunham, large archive of material from her attorney, 1951-53. $20,000 to $30,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 55: Margaret Fuller Signed Autograph Letter, New York City, 1846. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 92: Sonia Delaunay, illus. & Tristan Tzara, Juste Present, deluxe edition with original gouache, 1961. $20,000 to $25,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 93: Flor Garduño, The Sonnets of Shakespeare, 2006. Limited edition. $6,000 to $8,000.

Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - December - 2011 Issue

Non-U.S. Books and Pamphlets from Garrett Scott, Bookseller

European oddities from Garrett Scott.

European oddities from Garrett Scott.

Garrett Scott, Bookseller, has issued a new selection of uncommon writings entitled, Catalogue 35 (A miscellany of non-U.S. Books and pamphlets). This is an atypical catalogue for the Ann Arbor bookseller who specializes in the atypical. His catalogues are usually filled with very strange American works, from eccentric writers whose minds worked in very strange ways. This collection of primarily European (including English) pamphlets includes much that is uncommon, though not so crazy as its American counterparts. One can't help but conclude that while Europe has its eccentrics, Europeans aren't quite so far out as their American cousins, a conclusion that Europeans undoubtedly share. And, they are probably right. Nonetheless, there are a few American-style oddballs in here to complement the more rational works of most authors from the Old World.

Item 8 is a satirical attack on the sexual morés of, The Duke of York. A Letter to His Royal Highness, or, A Delicate Inquiry into the Doubt Whether he be More Favoured by Mars or Venus, with Hints About DunkirkHollandThe Army... You remember the Grand Old Duke of York. He was the guy who marched his 10,000 men up the hill and then down again (“And when they were up, they were up. And when they were down, they were down.”). Obviously, as this old children's rhyme attests, this was not the first time Prince Frederick, Duke of York, was mocked. The Duke was the second son of King George III (the King George remembered most unfavorably by Americans). Though only second in line of succession, he was said to be his father's favorite. He was sent to military school and placed in charge of troops in the Low Countries during the French Revolution to protect England's interests. The young commander was routed, hence leading to the mocking nursery rhyme about his battlefield command. A later mission to the area under his command would be almost as unsuccessful, whereafter the Duke became more of a desk commander. In that role, he became commander-in-chief of British forces. It was during this period, 1807 specifically, that this satirical account of his sex and military life was published. The Duke, not alone among royalty, had his share of mistresses, and probably several illegitimate children. He was married, but it was not a happy one and the pair were separated early. In 1809, one of his mistresses claimed that she was able to sell military commissions as a result of their relationship. He was forced to resign his post for two years. However, for all the ridicule of his personal life and battlefield command, the Duke proved to be a master at reforming, reorganizing, and supplying the military, and the moves he made have since been recognized as a major factor in England's success defeating Napoleon. When George III died in 1820, and his brother succeeded their father, the Duke became first in line for the British throne, but he predeceased his older brother, dying in 1827. Priced at $85.

It is generally not a good idea to assassinate a king, even more so a popular one. Henry of Navarre was the natural successor to Henry III of France when the latter died in 1589. This was a problem, as Henry of Navarre was a Huguenot, while Henry III and most of France were Catholic. Navarre gained control over the south of France, but despite repeated attempts, was unable to secure Paris. It was from this situation that he supposedly made the comment, “Paris is well worth a Mass.” He converted to Catholicism, resolving the problem. However, despite his conversion, in 1598, he issued the Edict of Nantes, which provided civil rights to the country's Protestants. As King Henry IV, he also looked after the regular (i.e. poor) folks of France, becoming perhaps the most popular king France ever saw. Still, you can never please all of the people, and a few attempts were made on Henry's life. In 1610, one succeeded. François Ravaillac, a Catholic fanatic given to visions, concluded that Henry's attack on the Spanish Netherlands was really an attack on the Pope, and managed to enter the King's coach and assassinate him. Ravaillac was immediately captured, and, as one might expect under the circumstances, not treated kindly. Item 106 is Bibliotheca Curiosa. The Trial of Francis Ravaillac for the Murder of King Henry the Great, Together with an Account of his Torture and Execution... This account was edited by Edmund Goldsmid and published in 1885. Ravaillac had molten sulphur, lead, and boiling oil dumped on him, his skin pulled off with pincers, and finally, each of his limbs were roped to four horses, which pulled him apart. There was little mercy for regicides in those days. $50.

Felice Orsini did not get the message from Ravaillac's fate. A couple of centuries later, he would attempt the same with the French Emperor, Napoleon III. In January of 1858, Orsini and a couple of accomplices lay in wait as the Emperor and his wife rode their carriage to the theater. The would-be assassins threw three bombs at the carriage. Eight people were killed and scores wounded, neither the Emperor or Empress being among them. Orsini was captured the next day and sentenced to death a few weeks later. Fortunately for Orsini, France had become more merciful in its punishments by then, and he was executed by guillotine, the most humane form of execution available, rather than the more gruesome means of the 17th century. Item 159 is The Life, Trial, and Death of Felice Orsini; with his Letter to the Emperor. Orsini, in his letter, encouraged Napoleon III to support the cause of Italian independence, and this pamphlet is sympathetic to Orsini and his cause. $75.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 26: Th. McKenney & J. Hall, History of the Indian tribes of North America, 1836-1844. Est: €50,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 26: Biblia latina vulgata, manuscript on thin parchment, around 1250. Est: €70,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 26: M. Beckmann, Fanferlieschen Schönefüßchen, 1924. Est: €10,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 26: A. Ortelius, Theatrum orbis terrarum, 1574. Est: €50,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 26: M. S. Merian, Eurcarum ortus, alimentum et paradoxa metamorphosis, 1717-18. Est: €6,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 26: PAN, 9 volumes, 1895-1900. Est: €12,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 26: Breviarium Romanum, Latin manuscript, 1474. Est: €15,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 26: Quran manuscript from the Saadian period, Maghreb, 16th century. Est: €10,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 26: E. Hemingway, The old man and the sea, 1952. Presentation copy. Est: €3,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 26: Flavius Vegetius Renatus, De re militari libri quatuor, 1553. Est: €3,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 26: K. Marx, Das Kapital, 1867. Est: €30,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 26: Brassaï, Transmutations, 1967. Est: €6,000
  • Leland Little, May 21: Signed Artist Proof of the Monumental G.O.A.T.: A Tribute to Muhammad Ali.
    Leland Little, May 21: Assorted Rare Publications Related to H.P. Lovecraft, Including The Recluse Signed by Vincent Starrett.
    Leland Little, May 21: Two Issues of The Vagrant, Including the First Appearance of H.P. Lovecraft's "Dagon" in Number Eleven.
    Leland Little, May 21: Rare First Printing of Anne of Green Gables, With ALS from the Author.
    Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, In First Issue Jacket.
    Leland Little, May 21: The Limited Paumanok Edition of The Complete Writings of Walt Whitman.
    Leland Little, May 21: Beautifully Bound Limited Flaubert Edition of The Works of Guy de Maupassant.
    Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Bonaparte's Celebrated American Ornithology, With Spectacular Hand-Colored Plates.
    Leland Little, May 21: A Rare Complete Set of Jardine's The Naturalist's Library, With Hand-Colored Plates.
    Leland Little, May 21: Invitation to the Lincoln-Johnson National Inaugural Ball, March 4th, 1865.
    Leland Little, May 21: A Scarce Inscribed First Edition of James Baldwin's Nobody Knows My Name.
    Leland Little, May 21: Picasso's Le Goût du Bonheur, Limited Edition.

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