Varied Items from Hungarian Bookseller Foldvari Books
- by Michael Stillman
Xantus Janos from America.
Next we have another foreign writer about the U.S., though this one spent a decade living in America. Janos Xantus (John Xantus de Vesey) was a Hungarian nationalist who fled the country in the late 1840s after being arrested. In 1850, he arrived in America. He plied his trade at a variety of occupations, including the military, where he met a collector for a notable zoologist. He became a collector himself. In 1860, he went to Baja California, where he collected plant and animal specimens for what is now the Smithsonian Institution. However, after obtaining a consular position in Mexico, the consul was closed, leading to his returning to Hungary. He spent most of the remainder of his life as the Director of the Budapest Zoo and Botanical Gardens. Item 21 is his Xantus Janos levelei Ejszakamerikabol (Janos Xantus letters from America), published in 1858. €2,300 (US $3,073).
Item 12 is a Mercator work, though not the Mercator with whom you are likely familiar. Breves in Sphaeram Meditatiunculae is the work of Bartholmaus Mercator, not his more famous father, Gerardus. Gerardus Mercator was a notable map and atlas maker (he is credited with coining the term “atlas”), most notably maps using the Mercator Projection. The Mercator Projection allowed him to place even world maps on a flat surface, the concession being distortion (enlarging of land masses) near the poles. Bartholomaus, unfortunately, never got to make his mark. He did help his father on one or two maps and was an assistant to his father teaching mathematics at the University of Duisberg. Unfortunately, he died suddenly shortly after his graduation. This was his only book and it has some references to America though it does not appear in major American bibliographies such as Sabin. It was published in 1563. €10,000 (US $13,359).
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Francesco Colonna. Hypnerotomachie, Paris, 1546, Parisian calf by Wotton Binder C for Marcus Fugger. €200,000 to €300,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Nausea. De principiis dialectices Gorgias, and other works, Venice, 1523, morocco gilt for Cardinal Campeggio. €3,000 to €4,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Billon. Le fort inexpugnable de l'honneur, Paris, 1555, Parisian calf gilt for Peter Ernst, Graf von Mansfeld. €120,000 to €180,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Salinger, J.D. The Graham Family archive, including autographed letters, an inscribed Catcher, a rare studio photograph of the author, and more. $120,000 to $180,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of Sense and Sensibility, the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Massachusetts General Court. A powerful precursor to the Declaration of Independence: "every Act of Government … without the Consent of the People, is … Tyranny." $40,000 to $60,000.
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Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("Martinus Luther") to His Friend the Theologian Gerhard Wiskamp ("Gerardo Xantho Lampadario"). $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: An Exceptionally Fine Copy of Austenís Emma: A Novel in Three Volumes. $40,000 - $60,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Presentation Copy of Ernest Hemmingwayís A Farewell to Arms for Edward Titus of the Black Mankin Press. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript Signed Integrally for "The Songs of Pooh," by Alan Alexander. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript of "Three Fragments from Gˆtterd‰mmerung" by Richard Wagner. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Preliminary Artwork, for the First Edition of Snow Crash. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("T.R. Malthus") to Economist Nassau Senior on Wealth, Labor and Adam Smith. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Finely Bound by Michael Wilcox. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: First Edition of Lewis and Clark: Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Artwork for the First Edition of Neal Stephenson's Groundbreaking Novel Snow Crash. $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: A Complete Set Signed Deluxe Editions of King's The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("John Adams") to James Le Ray de Chaumont During the Crucial Years of the Revolutionary War. $8,000 - $12,000.
![<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 16:</b> [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of <i>Sense and Sensibility,</i> the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/9a74d9ff-42dd-46a1-8bb2-b636c4cec796.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 16:</b> [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of <i>Sense and Sensibility,</i> the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.")
