Sothebys: Books, Manuscripts and Music, L25401, London

Auction Details

Auction Report
Auction Date
December 11, 2025 - December 11, 2025
Page Size: 162 items in 7 pages
Lot Number Author Name Book Title Place Printed Year Published Estimate Actual Price
77 Charles Darwin

On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life

London 1859 GBP 40,000.00 - 60,000.00 GBP 76,200.00
78 Charles Darwin

Two works, comprising:

GBP 6,000.00 - 8,000.00 GBP 8,889.00
79 Albert Einstein

Autograph letter signed, to Alfred Bucherer, ON HIS CONFIRMATION OF EINSTEIN'S THEORY OF SPECIAL RELATIVITY

Bern 12 September 1908, former folds and slight creasing, remains of mount GBP 20,000.00 - 30,000.00 GBP 27,939.00
80 Albert Einstein

Autograph letter signed ("A. Einstein"), to Alfred Bucherer

Bern, 25 November 1908, slight splitting at folds, fraying at outer edge, light creasing, remains of mount GBP 18,000.00 - 26,000.00 GBP 27,939.00
81 Albert Einstein

Autograph postcard signed, to Professor Alfred Bucherer

Berlin 24 October 1917, GBP 6,000.00 - 8,000.00 GBP 5,079.00
82 Albert Einstein

Autograph letter signed ("A. Einstein"), to Alfred Bucherer

Berlin, 29 October 1917, splitting at folds, small tear in upper corner, some creasing, remains of mount GBP 8,000.00 - 12,000.00 GBP 20,319.00
83 Albert Einstein.

Autograph letter signed ("A. Einstein"), to Margarete Lebach ("Frau Lebach")

Berlin, 28 June 1928, framed and glazed 395 x 305, minor nicks and tears neatly repaired, light soiling, second and third pages sunned GBP 5,000.00 - 7,000.00 GBP 6,349.00
84 Albert Einstein

Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatini,

Berlin 12 May 1929, with envelope, small nicks at folds GBP 6,000.00 - 8,000.00 GBP 7,620.00
85 Sangorski & Sutcliffe Binding---Edward Fitzgerald, translator

Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam translated into English verse by Edward Fitzgerald with an introduction by A.C. Benson...

1911 GBP 6,000.00 - 8,000.00 Not Sold
86 Ian Fleming (and others)

A James Bond collection, comprising:

GBP 5,000.00 - 7,000.00 GBP 7,620.00
87 Robert Fortune

Contract signed, also signed in Chinese by nine tea growers from Jiangxi with transliterations of their names into the roman alphabet,

1855 GBP 6,000.00 - 8,000.00 Not Sold
88

A silver teaspoon owned by Captain F.R.M. Crozier

GBP 8,000.00 - 12,000.00 GBP 35,559.00
89 William Lewin

The Birds of Great Britain, systematically arranged, accurately engraved, and painted from nature;

London 1795-1801 but c. 1812 GBP 2,000.00 - 3,000.00 GBP 3,810.00
90 Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace

Autograph letter, in the third person, to Alfred Bunn,

25 February 1841 GBP 6,000.00 - 8,000.00 GBP 7,620.00
91 John Tilton McClintock

Chart of West Coast of North America from Mt. St. Elias to Columbia River. Concord, New Hampshore or Dorchester, Massachusetts

1889 GBP 7,000.00 - 9,000.00 Not Sold
92 Louis Pasteur

Two autograph letters signed ("L. Pasteur"), CONCERNING HIS WORK ON THE RABIES VACCINE

GBP 3,000.00 - 4,000.00 GBP 6,984.00
93 Joseph Pennell

An archive of original pen-and-ink drawings used as illustrations in his book Charing Cross to Saint Paul's

London circa 1890 GBP 4,000.00 - 6,000.00 GBP 4,825.00
94

Photographs of India and the Himalayas titled 'Simla and Kashmir 1879'. [negatives c.1863-1870s]

1879 GBP 6,000.00 - 8,000.00 Not Sold
95 J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. London

Bloomsbury 1997 GBP 100,000.00 - 150,000.00 GBP 253,999.00
96 J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

London 1997 GBP 5,000.00 - 7,000.00 GBP 6,349.00
97 J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

London 1997 GBP 3,000.00 - 5,000.00 GBP 21,589.00
98 J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

London 1998 GBP 7,000.00 - 10,000.00 GBP 6,349.00
99 E.H. Shepard and A.A. Milne

Six Drawings by E.H. Shepard, Illustrating Poems from When We Were Very Young by A.A. Milne

London 1925 GBP 6,000.00 - 8,000.00 Not Sold
100 E.H. Shepard

Suite of three original illustrations for Now We Are Six, pen and ink drawings on paper, comprising:

1927 GBP 15,000.00 - 20,000.00 GBP 22,860.00
101

Bible, Old Testament, Mongolian. Translated by Edward Stallybrass, William Swan, and Robert Yuille. Siberia (Selenginsk and Khodon)

1834--1840 1834--1840 GBP 10,000.00 - 15,000.00 GBP 10,794.00
  • Sotheby’s
    Year in Review
    Sotheby’s Year in Review: A Rare Hebrew Bible with Micrographic Masorah. Sold: 1,514,000 USD
    Sotheby’s Year in Review: "The Freedman's Primer.” Sold: 241,300 USD
    Sotheby’s Year in Review: Smith, William. "The Map that Changed the World." Sold: 139,700 USD
    Sotheby’s Year in Review: Psalter, C13th. Illuminated Psalter. Sold: 330,200 GBP
    Sotheby’s Year in Review: Lincoln, Abraham. The abolition of slavery. Sold: 13,697,500 USD
    Sotheby’s Year in Review: Vergilius. Opera, Venice, Aldo Manuzio, 1501. Sold: 1,041,400 USD
  • Case Antiques
    2026 Winter Fine Art & Antiques
    January 31 and February 1, 2026
    Case Antiques, Jan. 31-Feb. 1: 1775 Map of Virginia, Fry and Jefferson, ex-John Tyler. $6,000 to $8,000.
    Case Antiques, Jan. 31-Feb. 1: Albrecht Durer Engraving, The Peasant Couple at Market. $3,400 to $3,800.
    Case Antiques, Jan. 31-Feb. 1: 1777 Map: Wm. Faden, British Colonies in N. America, ex. John Tyler. $2,000 to $2,400.
    Case Antiques
    2026 Winter Fine Art & Antiques
    January 31 and February 1, 2026
    Case Antiques, Jan. 31-Feb. 1: 30 Vols. George Eliot 1st Editions; Mill on the Floss, Silas Marner, Deronda, etc. $1,400 to $1,800.
    Case Antiques, Jan. 31-Feb. 1: Celestial Floor Globe c. 1800. $1,400 to $1,800.
    Case Antiques, Jan. 31-Feb. 1: Lewis Carroll: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, 1866 London MacMillan. $900 to $1,200.
    Case Antiques
    2026 Winter Fine Art & Antiques
    January 31 and February 1, 2026
    Case Antiques, Jan. 31-Feb. 1: President Andrew Jackson Signed Patent, 1831. $1,000 to $1,200.
    Case Antiques, Jan. 31-Feb. 1: Civil War Tintype of Calvin “Old Ballie” Walker, CSA 3rd TN Infantry, KIA, plus 3 Union Images. $800 to $1,000.
    Case Antiques, Jan. 31-Feb. 1: 1855 Georgia Pocket Map, W. G. Bonner. $800 to $1,000.
    Case Antiques
    2026 Winter Fine Art & Antiques
    January 31 and February 1, 2026
    Case Antiques, Jan. 31-Feb. 1: Audubon c. 1835 Birds of America Common Cormorant, Havell Edition. $800 to $900.
    Case Antiques, Jan. 31-Feb. 1: George Eliot, Middlemarch, 1st Edition in 8 Volumes. $600 to $800.
    Case Antiques, Jan. 31-Feb. 1: Four NASA Moon Survey Photos; 144M, 148M, 149M, 149H1. $400 to $600.