Sotheby's Fine Books, Manuscripts & More Available for Immediate Purchase
Sotheby’s: William Shakespeare. The Temple Shakespeare. Housed in Custom Bookcase. $6,365.
Sotheby’s: Frederick Douglass. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Boston: Anti-Slavery Office, 1845. $14,000.
Sotheby’s: Charles Dickens. A Christmas Carol. London: William Heinemann, 1915. $2,900.
Sotheby’s: F. Scott Fitzgerald. First Edition Set, Including This Side of Paradise, The Great Gatsby, and others. Charles Scribner's Sons. 1920 – 1941. $24,180.
Sotheby’s: Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], John Tenniel. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland First Edition. Macmillan & Co., 1866. $15,000.
Dominic Winter Printed Books & Maps, Geology & Charles Darwin 5th November, 2025
Dominic Winter, Nov. 5: Darwin (Charles). Geological Observations on the Volcanic Islands, 1st edition, 1844. £4,000 to £6,000.
Dominic Winter, Nov. 5: Rashleigh (Philip). Specimens of British Minerals, 2 parts in 1, 1797 & 1802. £3,000 to £5,000.
Dominic Winter, Nov. 5: Murchison (Roderick Impey). The Silurian System, 1st edition, 1839. £3,000 to £5,000.
Dominic Winter Printed Books & Maps, Geology & Charles Darwin 5th November, 2025
Dominic Winter, Nov. 5: Darwin (Charles). The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs, 1st edition, 1842. £3,000 to £5,000.
Dominic Winter, Nov. 5: Darwin (Charles). Geological Observations on South America, 1st edition, 1846. £3,000 to £5,000.
Dominic Winter, Nov. 5: Sowerby (James). The Mineral Conchology of Great Britain, 6 volumes, 1812-29. £2,000 to £3,000.
Dominic Winter Printed Books & Maps, Geology & Charles Darwin 5th November, 2025
Dominic Winter, Nov. 5: Emerson (William). Cyclomathesis: or an Easy Introduction to ... Mathematics, 10 vols. in 9, 1770. £1,500 to £2,000.
Dominic Winter, Nov. 5: Robinson (Thomas). New observations on the Natural History of This World of Matter, 1696. £800 to £1,200.
Dominic Winter, Nov. 5: Aquinas (Thomas). [Summa Theologica], Secunda Parte, Venice, 1496. £700 to £1,000.
Dominic Winter Printed Books & Maps, Geology & Charles Darwin 5th November, 2025
Dominic Winter, Nov. 5: Parfit (Cliff). Tesuki Washi. Handmade Papers of Japan, 1981-1988. £400 to £600.
Dominic Winter, Nov. 5: Herbert (Thomas). A Relation of some yeares Travaile... Into Afrique and the greater Asia, 1634. £800 to £1,200.
Dominic Winter, Nov. 5: Lindbergh (Charles A.). The Spirit of St. Louis, 1955, signed. £200 to £300.
Swann Autographs November 6, 2025
Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 93: Autograph album containing 29 autograph letters signed by each president from Washington to Coolidge, 1785-1945.
Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 166: Franz Schubert, Autograph Musical Manuscript, fragment from Die Taucher, 1813.
Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 111: Thomas Jefferson, holograph plat drawing: map of field near Monticello, 1790s.
Swann Autographs November 6, 2025
Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 208: George Sand, Autograph Manuscript Signed, draft of her one-act play, Francia, ca. 1872.
Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 218: Walt Whitman, Manuscript Signed, draft of three complete poems from Leaves of Grass, 1891.
Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 8: James Dean, Photograph Signed and Inscribed, still from Giant, 1955.
Swann Autographs November 6, 2025
Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 20: John Lennon, Typescript Signed, interview discussing Paul, Linda, and Yoko, 1971.
Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 215: Mark Twain, engraved portrait Signed, "Mark Twain / SL. Clemens," 1890s.
Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 81: Vaslav Nijinsky, reproduction of an artwork by Léon Bakst Inscribed and Signed, 1916.
Swann Autographs November 6, 2025
Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 73: Malcolm X, The Harvard Crimson Signed and Inscribed: his street address and phone number, 1961.
Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 11: Lou Gehrig, Photograph Signed and Inscribed, ca. 1939.
Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 153: George Gershwin, Photograph Signed and Inscribed, portrait by Renato Toppo.
Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: Presentation Copy of a Whitman "Holy Grail." Whitman, Walt. $10,000-$15,000.
Bonhams, Nov. 3-13:Endymion in Original Boards. Keats, John. $8,000-
Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: Association Copy of the Privately Printed Edition of The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Potter, Beatrix. $8,000-$12,000
Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: Christina Rossetti's Own Copy of Her First Book. Rossetti, Christina G. $8,000-$12,000
Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: The Borden Copy of The Life of Merlin in an Elaborate Binding by Riviere. Heywood, Thomas, Translator. $6,000-$8,000
Auction records will be categorized. They won't be going back.
Categories are Improving
Years ago we were asked to differentiate sales of baseball memorabilia from books and manuscripts because, occasionally, baseball cards dominated our weekly Top 25 lists. We stuck with that for years to convey the increasing strength of what was slowly becoming the field of collectable paper. For the past 4 years CP has become a billion-dollar sector that has become a family of categories as the number of auctions and lots have increased. Last year CP brought in $1.37 billion dollars at auction.
We recently added Top 25s for an increasingly long list of auction Categories. Currently we’re providing a dozen categories:
Top 25 by Dollars
Top 25 for Maps
Top 25 for Music
Top 25 for Manuscripts
Top 25 for Poetry
Top 25 for Newspapers
Top 25 for Southern Newspapers
Top 25 for Photography
Top 25 for Art and Arts
Top 25 for Graphics and Illustrations
Top 25 for Science
Top 25 for Vermont and New Hampshire
The lots that land within these categories are chosen because their descriptions included terms that fit there (in our view). Auction houses describe their lots uniquely. While accurately describing their lots, all descriptions aren’t always going to be picked up by our evolving criteria for selection.
To reduce the misses, we’ll study what should have been included. Those misses will give us the tools to tune them.
As well, while we are developing a dozen categories, we have already identified many others that can be added. They will be added over the next few months.
Because of the emergence of Categories, we believe the field will become broader and more self-confident. Often the big news relates to price and it’s interesting. But most collectors and collecting institutions glory in meaningful obscurities that make collecting spiritually, intellectually, and occasionally financially rewarding. Categories are going to attract auction house, consignor and bidder concentration.