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
91 Lactantius

Opera. [Subiaco: Konrad Sweynheym and Arnold Pannartz, 29th October 1465]

N/A GBP 300,000.00 - 400,000.00 GBP 332,800.00
92 [Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun]

Le Roman de la Rose.

Geneva Gaspard Ortuin and Pierre Bouttlier GBP 200,000.00 - 300,000.00 GBP 332,800.00
93 W. H. Auden

Autograph manuscript poem, "Elegy for J.F.K.",

N/A GBP 3,000.00 - 5,000.00 GBP 1,536.00
94 Charles Darwin

Letter signed, with autograph postscript, to St George Mivart, defending the theory of Natural Selection

Down, Beckhenham, 23 January 1871 GBP 10,000.00 - 15,000.00 GBP 76,800.00
95 Charles Darwin

Letter signed, to J.J. Weir, asking for additional information on the flowering of distinctive specimen trees as part of his research for a new edition of The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication,

Down, Beckenham, Kent, 5 July 1875 GBP 5,000.00 - 7,000.00 GBP 6,400.00
96 Charles Darwin

Autograph letter signed, to “Dear Sir” [Arthur Claypon Horner], thanking him for his letter about his book on worms

Down, Beckenham, Kent, 25 December 1881 GBP 5,000.00 - 7,000.00 GBP 6,400.00
97 Charles Darwin

Autograph letter signed, to "Dear Sir" [Henry Yates Thompson], thanking him for sending information on the behaviour of lapwings to attract earthworms

Down, Beckenham, Kent, 23 January 1882 GBP 4,000.00 - 6,000.00 GBP 6,144.00
98 Charles Darwin

Autograph letter signed, to James Porter, Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University, on the campaign to procure a portrait of the Duke of Devonshire, Chancellor of the University

Down, Beckenham, Kent 18 April 1882 GBP 8,000.00 - 12,000.00 GBP 14,080.00
99 T.S. Eliot—WH. Auden and others

A series of 11 letters signed by writers (chiefly autograph), discussing the character of T.S. Eliot, to Michael Gonin

1965–72 but chiefly 1965 GBP 6,000.00 - 8,000.00 GBP 14,080.00
100 Ben Franklin

Autograph letter signed (“B. Franklin”), to William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, as American Peace Commissioner

Passy, 26 November 1782 GBP 15,000.00 - 20,000.00 GBP 21,760.00
101 M.K. Gandhi

Letter signed (“M.K. Gandhi”), to William Winstanley Pearson, praising the work of a fellow satyagrahi, reflecting on Pearson's recent arrest for his work in support of swaraj and celebrating its ultimate benign consequences

the Ashram, Sabarmati 30 October ?1918 GBP 7,000.00 - 10,000.00 GBP 17,920.00
102 Innocent IV

Contemporary notarial copy of a papal Bull issued on behalf of Pope Innocent IV at the Lateran,

20 March 1254 GBP 5,000.00 - 7,000.00 GBP 12,160.00
103 A.A. Milne

Autograph card signed, to Miss Smorley (“a not-very-well-girl”), photographic portrait by Coster of A.A. Milne, Christopher Robin Milne, and Winnie-the-Pooh, commenting on the photograph

?1928/9 GBP 4,000.00 - 6,000.00 GBP 5,120.00
104 Napoleon

Letter signed, as First Consul (“Bonaparte”), to an unnamed Bishop (“Monsieur l’Eveque”), justifying the resumption of war, which he blames on the bad faith of the British over the fate of Malta, and asking his blessing, with two countersignatures includi

7 June 1803 GBP 3,000.00 - 5,000.00 GBP 19,200.00
105 Horatio, Viscount Nelson

Autograph letter signed ("Nelson & Bronte"), to Emma Hamilton ("My Dearest Friend")

HMS St George, Bay of Rostock, 24–31 May 1801 GBP 6,000.00 - 8,000.00 GBP 8,960.00
106 Camille Pissarro

Autograph letter signed, to Hippolyte Heymann, asking him for an advance

Paris, 9 May 1887 GBP 1,500.00 - 2,000.00 GBP 1,024.00
107 William Pitt, the Elder

Letter signed, to William Lyttelton, Royal Governor of South Carolina, concerning a proposed attack on the colony of French Louisiana to be commanded by Admiral Edward Boscawen and General Amherst,

Whitehall, 7 March 1758 GBP 5,000.00 - 7,000.00 GBP 6,400.00
108 George Bernard Shaw

A collection, comprising:

N/A GBP 1,000.00 - 1,500.00 GBP 1,152.00
109 Oscar Wilde

Ravenna Recited in The Theatre, Oxford, June 26, 1878. 

Oxford 1878 GBP 5,000.00 - 7,000.00 GBP 33,280.00
110 Oscar Wilde

Signed inscription (“To Kenyon Fortescue from his friend Oscar Wilde.

Feby ’82. GBP 2,000.00 - 3,000.00 GBP 5,120.00
111 Oscar Wilde

Two illustrated theatre programmes for the first production of The Importance of Being Earnest, at the St James’s Theatre on King Street.

London 1895 GBP 3,000.00 - 5,000.00 GBP 8,960.00
112 Oscar Wilde—Lord Alfred Douglas

Autograph letter signed, to W.T. Stead, an exceptional and revealing letter thanking Stead for his support in the aftermath of Oscar Wilde’s trial

Villa Caso, Capri 15 November 1895 GBP 7,000.00 - 10,000.00 GBP 23,040.00
114 Woodrow Wilson

Letter signed, to Rev. R.B. Meyer, written during the Paris Peace Conference, reluctantly declining to participate in Meyer’s planned commemorative film for the tercentenary of the voyage of the Mayflower,

Paris 28 January 1919 GBP 800.00 - 1,200.00 GBP 1,024.00
115 W.B. Yeats

Autograph letter signed, to Florence Emery, on the aftermath of “this wild rising in Dublin”,

63 St James Street, London 1916-08-19 GBP 7,000.00 - 10,000.00 GBP 10,240.00
  • 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.