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Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - March - 2003 Issue

Sold! Auctions Review

Printed wrapper of Hastings’ The Emigrant’s Guide, Zamorano  #41

Printed wrapper of Hastings’ The Emigrant’s Guide, Zamorano #41

In the Clifford sale, only one lot was bought in. In this sale, that number was fifteen out of the 146 offered. That number is somewhat deceiving, however, since only two of the truly important lots did not reach their minimums. Of the remaining unsold items, almost all were secondary works, such as later or scholarly editions, that were estimated at only a few hundred dollars for the most part. There were many such books in the sale, and they represented something of a democratic view in the auction room for this material. If a buyer could not afford to purchase an expensive first edition of an item, there was ample opportunity to purchase at least some copy of the text; in several instances, there were multiple opportunities to do so. Some of that material sold for prices rivaling or exceeding the first editions of lesser or more common titles. A couple of those books were, however, within the price range of even the most strapped graduate student. Both lots #37B, a modern English translation of Figueroa, and #66A, a second edition of Josiah Royce’s California, went for $23 each. Lot #68A, a modern scholarly edition of Shinn’s Mining Camps, went for $11.50 on an estimate of $10-20, thereby probably setting another Zamorano 80 auction record of sorts. In a Zamorano 80 sale, it is surprising to find such modest prices. In the Clifford sale, by contrast, the least expensive item at $34.50 was lot #26D, a scholarly edition of Dana’s novel accompanied by three more modern reprints. In its entirely, the Volkmann sale did very well, bringing just over $840,000 on low estimates of just over $609,000. By contrast, the Clifford sale brought about $269,600.

Estimating a sale such as The Zamorano 80 is certainly a challenge. Even without the potential complications caused by such things as the economy and the space shuttle disaster that occurred just before the sale, giving potential buyers realistic guidance about what they can expect to pay for such books in such a setting from such a collection is practically a unique exercise. There would be some guidance from previous sales for some of the material, but in the context of an entire Zamorano 80 collection, the bidding dynamics are probably a little tricky to predict.

For the Volkmann sale, Sloan altered her estimating technique. In the Clifford sale, she used traditional estimates that fell within fairly narrow bands (e.g., $300-450). For this sale, her estimates were almost always derived with an upper figure that was always twice the lower figure (e.g., $300-600). Taking the primary lots only, in the Clifford sale, 22 sold within their estimate range, 55 exceeded their high estimate, and only three (including the one bought in) went below their estimate. By contrast, in the Volkmann sale, 46 lots sold within their estimate range, only 29 exceeded their high estimate, and 5 (including the four bought in) went below their estimate. Of the fairly expensive lots in the Volkmann sale, nearly every one of them sold within the estimate range Sloan provided. Thus, over half the lots in this unique grouping of material sold for what Sloan predicted. The difficulty is ascertaining the low estimate, of course, and Sloan did a superb job of predicting that figure. Because such numbers probably depend on the dynamics of the bidders more than on traditional measures of value, nobody can predict such prices as Volkmann lot #17, the copy of Twain’s Jumping Frog that went for twice its already generous high estimate.

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  • DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE, July 23: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
    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
  • 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.

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