Sothebys: Books, Manuscripts & Objects from Three Important Collections, L26401, London

Auction Details

Auction Report
Auction Date
April 17, 2026 - April 17, 2026
Page Size: 99 items in 4 pages
Auction Lot Books
Lot Number Author Name Book Title Place Printed Year Published Estimate Actual Price
26 Pedro Damiano da Odemira

Libro da imparare a giocare a scachi, con bellissimi sartiti, & molte suttilita. Revisto, et corretto... in lingua Spagnola, & Taliana, nuovamente Stampato

Venice ?1564 GBP 3,000.00 - 5,000.00 GBP 6,144.00
27 Jean Pierre Elme Leduc [Saint-Elme-le-Duc]

Two manuscript volumes, comprising:

N/A GBP 2,000.00 - 3,000.00 GBP 10,240.00
28 Benjamin Franklin

Chess made easy: New and comprehensive rules for playing the game of chess.

London 1797 GBP 3,000.00 - 5,000.00 GBP 16,640.00
29 Benjamin Franklin

Chess made easy. New and comprehensive rules for playing the game of chess.

Philadelphia 1802 GBP 3,000.00 - 5,000.00 GBP 14,080.00
30 Johannes Gallensis

Communiloquium, sive summa collationum.

Strassburg 25 May 1489 GBP 3,000.00 - 5,000.00 GBP 3,072.00
31 Jose Carlos Garces y de la Sierra Boil de Arenos

Libro nuevo, juego de damas dividido en tres tratados el primero de peones el segundo, para de dama a dama el tercero, para de dos a dos damas.

Madrid 1684 GBP 2,000.00 - 3,000.00 GBP 2,816.00
32 Christian Gottfried Heinrich Geissler and Johann Georg Richter

Spiele und Belustigungen der Russen aus den niedern Volks-Klassen. Jeux et divertissements du peuple russe.

Leipzig c.1802–1805 GBP 2,000.00 - 3,000.00 GBP 1,152.00
33 Martin Gosky

Arbustum vel Arboretum.

Wolfenbuttel 1650 GBP 2,000.00 - 3,000.00 GBP 16,640.00
34 Karl Gottlieb von Windisch

(i) Karl Gottlieb von Windisch. Lettres.... sur le joueur d'echecs de M. de Kempelen. Traduction libre de l'Allemand.

Basel 1783 GBP 2,000.00 - 3,000.00 GBP 17,920.00
35 Gioachino Greco

Trattato gioco de scacchi [...] Diviso in sbaratti & partiti.

12 February 1620 GBP 20,000.00 - 30,000.00 GBP 115,200.00
36 Gioachino Greco

Trattato del nobilissimo essercicio de’ Scacchi. Nel quale Sicontengono molti et bellissimi tratti e tavera scienza d’esso gioco.

Compose a Paris ... l'an 1624 GBP 12,000.00 - 18,000.00 GBP 76,800.00
37 Gioachino Greco

The royall game of chesse-play, sometimes the recreation of the late King with many of the nobility, illustrated with almost an hundred gambits, being the study of Biochimo.

London 1656 GBP 4,000.00 - 6,000.00 GBP 16,640.00
38 Emanuel Lasker

Autograph working manuscript entitled "Ye ancient game of chesse", in a notebook

N/A GBP 3,000.00 - 5,000.00 GBP 4,096.00
39 Emanuel Lasker

Three autograph manuscripts

N/A GBP 3,000.00 - 5,000.00 GBP 1,536.00
40 Emanuel Lasker

Three autograph manuscripts

N/A GBP 3,000.00 - 5,000.00 GBP 2,048.00
41 [Giambattista Lolli]

Two manuscript works on chess, believed to be in the autograph of Giambattista Lolli, with illustrative games

1762 GBP 3,000.00 - 5,000.00 GBP 6,400.00
42 Ruy Lopez de Sigura

Libro de la invencion liberal y arte del juego del Axedrez.

Alcala de Henares 1561 GBP 3,000.00 - 5,000.00 GBP 12,160.00
43 Ruy Lopez de Sigura

Il giuoco de gli scacchi di Rui Lopez (trans. Giovanni Domenico Tarsia).

Venice 1584 GBP 2,000.00 - 3,000.00 GBP 2,560.00
44 Ruy Lopez de Sigura

Le Royal jeu des eschets avec son invention, science et practique. Ou par un tres-docte & intelligible discours sont amplement descrits les moyens d'ordonner son jeu, tant pour l'offensive que la defensive.

Paris 1636 GBP 2,000.00 - 3,000.00 GBP 4,864.00
45 Ruy Lopez de Sigura

Le jeu des eschecs.

Bruges 1655 GBP 2,000.00 - 3,000.00 GBP 6,144.00
46 Johann Jacob Lowenthal

Two autograph manuscripts:

N/A GBP 2,000.00 - 3,000.00 GBP 7,040.00
47 Luis Ramirez de Lucena

Repeticion de Amores y Arte de Ajedrez.

Salamanca 1497 GBP 70,000.00 - 100,000.00 GBP 179,200.00
48 Philip Marinelli

Triple chess.

London 1826 GBP 2,000.00 - 3,000.00 GBP 640.00
49 Jakob Mennel

Schachtzabel spiel. Desz ritterlichen, kunstlichen Schachtzabel spiels Underweysung, Erclarung und Verstant wo here das kommen were das am ersten erfunden unnd auss was ursach es erdacht sey auch wie man das kunstlich lernen ziehen und spielen solle.

Oppenheim c.1520 GBP 4,000.00 - 6,000.00 GBP 14,080.00
50 Thomas Middleton

A game at chesse.

London 1628 GBP 10,000.00 - 15,000.00 GBP 40,960.00
  • Sotheby’s
    Shelf Life: Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper from the Library of Stanley J. Seeger and Christopher Cone
    25 June – July 7
    Sotheby’s, July 7: Ludwig van Beethoven. Autograph sketches for the overture "Die Weihe des Hauses", op.124, [1822], UNPUBLISHED. £150,000 to £200,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 7: Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice, 1813, first edition, 3 volumes, contemporary half calf. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 7: Walt Whitman. Leaves of Grass, Brooklyn, 1855, first edition, first issue, original green cloth, the Doheny copy. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 7: Binding—Sangorski & Sutcliffe—Omar Khayyam. Rubaiyat, London, 1872, third edition, in a magnificent jewelled Peacock binding. £15,000 to £20,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 7: George Eliot. Middlemarch, Edinburgh and London, 1871, first edition in the original parts. £20,000 to £30,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    The Private Library:
    Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
    July 9, 2026
    Forum, July 9: Hassall (Joan) A large collection of over 300 original woodblocks of engravings for various books, v.d., with Hassall's engraver's glass water-globe (Qty) - Est. £10,000-15,000
    Forum, July 9: Eragny Press.- [Bradley (Katherine Harris) & Edith Emma Cooper], "Michael Field." Whym Chow, Flame of Love, one of only 27 copies, inscribed by Bradley, the rarest book from the press, 1914. - Est. £3,000-4,000
    Forum, July 9: [Moore (Thomas Sturge)] [Wood Engravings], 71 wood-engravings printed by David Chambers from the original blocks, the only set on Japanese Hosho paper, from an edition of 5 sets, [1970]. - Est. £3,000-4,000
    Forum Auctions
    The Private Library:
    Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
    July 9, 2026
    Forum, July 9: La Fontaine (Jean de) Contes et Nouvelles en vers, 2 vol., engraved plates after Eisen, fine early 19th century blue morocco, gilt, by Bradel l'ainé, Amsterdam [Paris], 1762. - Est. £2,000-3,000
    Forum, July 9: Erotica.- Prostitution.- Pretty Women of Paris (The); Their Names and Addresses, Qualities and Faults..., [Paris], privately printed at the Press of the Prefecture de Police, 1883. - Est. £3,000-4,000
    Forum, July 9: Vale Press.- Ricketts (Charles) & Lucien Pissarro. De la Typographie et de l'Harmonie de la Page Imprimée…, [one of 216 copies], bound in dark blue morocco tooled in gilt, by Sarah T.Prideaux, 1898. - Est. £1,000-1,500
    Forum Auctions
    The Private Library:
    Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
    July 9, 2026
    Forum, July 9: Martin (John) Illustrations of the Bible, complete set of 20 mezzotints, good impressions, rarely found in early states, [c.1831-1835]. - Est. £1,000-1,500
    Forum, July 9: Golden Cockerel Press.- Four Gospels of the Lord Jesus Christ (The), one of 500 copies, Mary Gill's copy, Waltham St. Lawrence, 1931 with a signed proof of engraving on japon numbered 10/10 (2) - Est. £5,000-7,000
    Forum, July 9: Boccaccio (Giovanni) The Decameron, 3 vol., vol.1 extra-illustrated by John Buckland Wright with c.150 erotic original drawings in pen & ink and pencil, 1886 [extra-illustrated c.1940]. - Est. £10,000-15,000
    Forum Auctions
    The Private Library:
    Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
    July 9, 2026
    Forum, July 9: Cox (Morris) Collection of Gogmagog Press Books, 35 vol., rare complete collection of printed books issued by the press, limited editions, most signed by Cox, 1957-83. - Est. £10,000-15,000
    Forum, July 9: Wynkyn de Worde.- [Terentius Afer (Publius)] [Comedie...], [Paris, Josse Badius: sold in London by Wynkyn de Worde, & others], [15 July 1504]. - Est. £4,000-6,000
    Forum, July 9: Mosley (James) Ornamented Types. Twenty-Three Alphabets from the Foundry of Louis John Pouchée, 2 vol., one of 10 copies for presentation, from an edition of 210, 1992-93. - Est. £1,000-2,000
  • Freeman’s, June 30. Thomas Jefferson’s “Birth of the New Nation” letter, carried to Paris with the Treaty of Peace, by a Jewish patriot. $100,000-200,000.
    Freeman’s, June 30. “The rockets’ red glare.” A British midshipman’s log recording the bombardment of Fort McHenry. $60,000-80,000.
    Freeman’s, June 30. The Critical Promotion of a Naval Hero, Oliver Hazard Perry Commission signed by James Madison, 1812. $40,000-60,000.
    Freeman’s, June 30. Born in the USA: First Day of Printing in the United States, July 4, 1776. $15,000-25,000.
    Freeman’s, June 30. One of the Earliest Printed Announcements of American Independence, in the Exceedingly Rare Original Wrappers, 1776. $10,000-15,000.
    Freeman’s, June 30. "The Two Big Guns of the N.Y. Yanks": A Striking Type 1 Press Photograph of Lou Gehrig's Hands. $8,000-12,000.
    Freeman’s, June 30. A Unique Contemporary Manuscript Account of Joseph Smith's Final Words to His Followers, the Day Before his Violent Death. $8,000-12,000.
    Freeman’s, June 30. The State of Minnesota Officially Certifies the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution Of the United States. $8,000-12,000.
    Freeman’s, June 30. Extraordinarily Large Manuscript Petition Signed by a Who's Who of Colonial New York to Queen Anne from the Colony of New York. $8,000-12,000.
    Freeman’s, June 30. Mickey Mantle's First Cover: The Earliest Front-Page Newspaper Image of Mickey Mantle, "Something Good from Joplin". $8,000-12,000.
    Freeman’s, June 30. A Call to Arms in the Months Following the Declaration of Independence: An Early Continental Army Recruitment Poster. $6,000-9,000.
    Freeman’s, June 30. Samuel Jones, the Statesman Behind the Newly Discovered "Jones Declaration": His Annotated Set Used in His Working Law Library. $6,000-9,000.