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Sothebys: Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana

Auction Reports

Auction Name Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana Total Sales (USD) 1,539,621.00
Auction Date December 16, 2025 - December 16, 2025 Low Estimate of Lots Sold (USD) 743,000.00
Sale Number #N11899 High Estimate of Lots Sold (USD) 1,103,200.00
Total Lots 99
Sold Lots 71.0 Low Estimate of All Lots (USD) 1,565,000.00
% of Lots Sold 71.72% High Estimate of All Lots (USD) 2,319,200.00
Unsold Lots 28 Total Sales as a % of High Est. 66.39%

Top twenty-five by sale price

Lot Number Author Name Book Title Year Published Estimate Actual Price
1017

The Freedman's Primer; or First Reader.

1864 USD 25,000.00 - 50,000.00 USD 241,300.00
1011

The Votes and Proceedings of the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the Town of Boston, in Town Meeting Assembled, According to Law, the 5th and 18th days of November. 1773.

1773 USD 10,000.00 - 15,000.00 USD 107,950.00
1023 Jefferson, Thomas

Printed document signed ("ThJefferson") as Secretary of State, being an official printing of "An Act respecting the Government of the Territories of the United States North West and South of the River Ohio."

1792 USD 35,000.00 - 50,000.00 USD 82,550.00
1048 [Austen, Jane]

Sense and Sensibility, a Novel

1811 USD 60,000.00 - 80,000.00 USD 82,550.00
1079 Greenaway, Kate

An album of original drawings, mostly child studies or botanical illustrations, with a few other subjects, many finely hand colored.

Circa 1880-1890 USD 10,000.00 - 15,000.00 USD 63,500.00
1095 Thucydides.

Thoukydidis. Thucydides [Greek].

May 1502 USD 10,000.00 - 15,000.00 USD 57,150.00
1059 Fitzgerald, F. Scott

Tender is the Night.

1934 USD 35,000.00 - 50,000.00 USD 53,340.00
1043 Washington, George

Autograph letter signed ("Go: Washington"), one page (329 x 203 mm) on a leaf of laid paper, New Windsor, [New York] 14 May 1781, to Jonathan Trumbull;

14 May 1781 USD 20,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD 50,800.00
1094 Sendak, Maurice

Eight early drawings for Macbeth, made for Grace Warshauer's English class at Lafayette High School, Brooklyn, ca.1943, with a group of autograph letters signed (1960--1991)

ca.1943 USD 20,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD 48,260.00
1096 Vergilius Maro, Publius

Opera. Edited by Sebastian Brant

28 August 1502 USD 15,000.00 - 25,000.00 USD 48,260.00
1003 Anonymous 19th-Century American Maritime Artist

Album of 17 pen-and-ink, watercolor and wash drawings of American subjects (one of Canada)

circa 1816-1827 USD 30,000.00 - 50,000.00 USD 38,100.00
1049 [Austen, Jane]

Emma, A Novel. In Three Volumes. By the Author of "Pride and Prejudice", &C. &C

1816 USD 30,000.00 - 50,000.00 USD 38,100.00
1002 Pennsylvania. House of Representatives.

Instructions for Inlisting Rifle-Men, in the Service of Pennsylvania.

ca.March 1776 USD 15,000.00 - 20,000.00 USD 31,750.00
1040 Simon, John

Tee Yee Neen Ho Ga Row

N.D. circa 1755 USD 25,000.00 - 35,000.00 USD 31,750.00
1024 Jefferys, Thomas

The West-India Atlas; or, a Compendious Description of the West-Indies: Illustrated with forty correct charts and maps, taken from actual surveys.

1775 USD 25,000.00 - 35,000.00 USD 25,400.00
1042 Washington, George

Autograph letter signed ("Go: Washington"), one page (232 x 188 mm) on a bifolium, Mount Vernon, 15 February 1774, to the Rev. Mr. Jonathan Boucher in Prince George County

15 February 1774 USD 15,000.00 - 20,000.00 USD 22,860.00
1057 Fitzgerald, F. Scott

Tender Is the Night, A Romance.

1934 USD 20,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD 21,590.00
1077 Dulac, Edmund

Caricature of John Singer Sargent

USD 7,000.00 - 10,000.00 USD 21,590.00
1020 Grant, Ulysses S., Eighteenth President, as Major General, United States Army

Autograph letter signed ("U. S. Grant | Maj. Gen."), 3 pages (244 x 193 mm) on a bifolium, Head Quarters, Dept. of the Tenn., Holly Springs, Mississippi, 28 December 1862, to Brigadier General Isaac F. Quinby

1862 USD 12,000.00 - 18,000.00 USD 20,320.00
1026 Lee, Robert E., as Confederate General

Autograph letter signed ("R E Lee") 1 page (247 x 196 mm) on blue paper, Camp Fredericksburg, 8 January 1863, to Mrs. Sarah A. Lawton;

1863 USD 20,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD 20,320.00
1060 Hemingway, Ernest

Death in the Afternoon.

1932 USD 8,000.00 - 12,000.00 USD 20,320.00
1083 Maxwell, James Clerk

A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism. Oxford

1873 USD 10,000.00 - 15,000.00 USD 20,320.00
1044 Washington, George

Document signed ("Go: Washington") as President of the Society of the Cincinnati, being a membership certificate for William Munson

USD 8,000.00 - 12,000.00 USD 19,050.00
1071 Bemelmans, Ludwig

Illustration of a chef

USD 4,000.00 - 6,000.00 USD 17,780.00
1074 Bunting, Heinrich

Itinerarium Sacrae Scripturae Das ist Ein Reisebuch Uber die Gantze Heilige Schrifft.

1588 (1588) USD 8,000.00 - 12,000.00 USD 17,780.00
  • 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.