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Bonhams: Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana

Auction Reports

Auction Name Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana Total Sales (USD) 1,045,696.00
Auction Date December 18, 2025 - December 18, 2025 Low Estimate of Lots Sold (USD) 551,300.00
Sale Number #31200 High Estimate of Lots Sold (USD) 842,700.00
Total Lots 261
Sold Lots 224.0 Low Estimate of All Lots (USD) 949,900.00
% of Lots Sold 85.82% High Estimate of All Lots (USD) 1,446,000.00
Unsold Lots 37 Total Sales as a % of High Est. 72.32%

Top twenty-five by sale price

Lot Number Author Name Book Title Year Published Estimate Actual Price
251 WAGNER, RICHARD. 1813-1883.

Autograph Manuscript in German, 7 1/2 pages,

1874-1875, USD 30,000.00 - 50,000.00 USD 40,960.00
168 HEMINGWAY, ERNEST. 1899-1961.

A Farewell to Arms.

1929 USD 30,000.00 - 50,000.00 USD 38,400.00
227 SHEPARD, ERNEST H. 1879-1976.

Preliminary drawing in pencil, Pooh gathering fir-cones to drop into the river, from The Pooh Story Book

1965 USD 6,000.00 - 9,000.00 USD 35,840.00
207 SAINT-EXUPERY, ANTOINE DE. 1900-1944.

Le Petit Prince.

1943 USD 8,000.00 - 12,000.00 USD 30,720.00
158 BURNS, ROBERT. 1759-1796.

Autograph Manuscript Poem, "Sketch. NewYearDay. To Mrs. Dunlop,"

USD 20,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD 28,160.00
232 LIBERALE DE VERONA. 1445-1526/29.

Illuminated manuscript on vellum, being David in prayer in an initial S, a historiated initial cut from a large-format choirbook,

USD 10,000.00 - 15,000.00 USD 23,040.00
90 LAFAYETTE, GILBERT DE MOTIER, MARQUIS DE. 1757-1834.

Autograph Letter Signed ("Lafayette") to Col Joseph Vose unnamed giving marching orders to head for Trenton where they will reunite,

USD 2,000.00 - 3,000.00 USD 21,760.00
164 GOETHE, JOHANN WOLFGANG VON. 1749-1832.

Die Leiden des jungen Werthers.

1774 USD 6,000.00 - 9,000.00 USD 21,760.00
208 SAINT-EXUPERY, ANTOINE DE. 1900-1944.

The Little Prince.

1943 USD 5,000.00 - 8,000.00 USD 21,760.00
119 THUCYDIDES. ca 460-400 BCE.

History of the Peloponnesian War.

1930 USD 20,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD 20,480.00
178 KING, STEPHEN. b. 1947.

A complete set of signed limited first editions of King's The Dark Tower series including:

USD 8,000.00 - 12,000.00 USD 20,480.00
254 EINSTEIN, ALBERT. 1879-1955.

Autograph letter signed ("Albert") to Hans Albert Einstein, Berlin, 21 January 1928. On physics and relativity.

21 January 1928 USD 10,000.00 - 15,000.00 USD 19,200.00
88 JONES, JOHN. 1729-1791.

Plain Concise Practical Remarks on the Treatment of Wounds and Fractures.

1776 USD 6,000.00 - 9,000.00 USD 17,920.00
246 SMITH, ADAM. 1723-1790

An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.

1778 USD 6,000.00 - 9,000.00 USD 17,920.00
114

Quatre Histoires de Blanc et Noir.

1926 USD 1,000.00 - 1,500.00 USD 16,640.00
219 WILDE, OSCAR. 1854-1900.

Autograph Manuscript, being a partial draft of an untitled prose-poem or tale: "Every morning the Poet person went out of the gate of the city, and went into the waste land and wandered through it..."

USD 7,000.00 - 10,000.00 USD 16,640.00
98 PRANG, LOUIS. 1824-1909; HOMER, WINSLOW. 1836-1910. et al.

American Card Album.

1864 USD 8,000.00 - 12,000.00 USD 15,360.00
95 ADAMS, JOHN. 1735-1826.

Autograph Letter Signed ("John Adams") to James Le Ray de Chaumont, whose father had provided Adams and Benjamin Franklin lodging in Passy at the Hotel Valentinois during the crucial years of the Revolutionary War,

USD 8,000.00 - 12,000.00 USD 14,080.00
199 NABOKOV, VLADIMIR. 1899-1977; NABOKOV, VERA. 1902-1991.

Archive of 28 typed letters signed or autograph notes signed ("V." or "V. and V." or "Vera" and "Volodya") to Peter and Joan De Peterson

USD 6,000.00 - 9,000.00 USD 14,080.00
215 STEIG, WILLIAM. 1907-2003.

58 original ink and wash drawings for About People, each individually titled by the artist in pencil with printers' notes on versos,

USD 8,000.00 - 12,000.00 USD 12,800.00
126 TERIADE, editor.

Verve: Revue Artistique et Litteraire, Nos 1-38.

1937-1960. USD 10,000.00 - 15,000.00 USD 12,160.00
205 RACKHAM, ARTHUR. 1867-1939.

Original watercolor, "All amidst the Gardens fair; Of Hesperus, and his daughters three; That sing about the golden tree, executed for his edition of Milton's Comus,

USD 8,000.00 - 12,000.00 USD 11,520.00
99 GARDNER, ALEXANDER, Photographer; TIMOTHY O'SULLIVAN, Assistant; ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

Large contemporary photograph captioned in a contemporary hand on the mount, "The execution of the conspirators of President Lincoln, Jail yard, Washington D.C. July 7

1865 USD 3,000.00 - 5,000.00 USD 10,880.00
159 CHEKHOV, MICHAEL. 1891-1955.

Illustrated Autograph Manuscript on paper, in Russian, "Skazka pro to, kak krivda chodko po zemle raspolzaetsia" in English, "A Tale About Lies and How Swiftly They Spread Across the Earth",

USD 8,000.00 - 12,000.00 USD 10,240.00
242 NEWTON, ISAAC 1643-1727.

Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica...Editio tertia aucta & emendata

1726 USD 7,000.00 - 10,000.00 USD 10,240.00
  • 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.