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Christies: Valuable Books and Manuscripts including Cartography
Auction Reports
| Auction Name | Valuable Books and Manuscripts including Cartography | Total Sales (GBP) | 12,519,919.00 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Auction Date | July 08, 2026 - July 08, 2026 | Low Estimate of Lots Sold (GBP) | 5,905,500.00 |
| Sale Number | #24546 | High Estimate of Lots Sold (GBP) | 8,116,000.00 |
| Total Lots | 166 | ||
| Sold Lots | 136.0 | Low Estimate of All Lots (GBP) | 7,065,500.00 |
| % of Lots Sold | 81.93% | High Estimate of All Lots (GBP) | 9,699,000.00 |
| Unsold Lots | 30 | Total Sales as a % of High Est. | 129.09% |
Top twenty-five by sale price
| Lot Number | Author Name | Book Title | Year Published | Estimate | Actual Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | Boron Robert de | The Clermont-Tonnerre Grail |
c.1290-1310 | GBP 1,500,000.00 - 2,000,000.00 | GBP 2,246,000.00 |
| 122 | Mercator Gerard (1512-1594) | Tabulae Geographicae |
1585-1589 | GBP 100,000.00 - 150,000.00 | GBP 1,016,000.00 |
| 139 | Newton Isaac (1642-1727) | Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica |
1687 | GBP 300,000.00 - 400,000.00 | GBP 889,000.00 |
| 54 | Einstein Albert (1879-1955) | Autograph letter signed to Michele Besso |
1912 | GBP 150,000.00 - 200,000.00 | GBP 609,600.00 |
| 53 | Einstein Albert (1879-1955) | Two autograph letters signed to Ludwig Hopf |
1912 | GBP 100,000.00 - 120,000.00 | GBP 508,000.00 |
| 66 | Ptolemaeus Claudius | In hoc opere haec continentur geographiae Cl. Ptolemaei |
1507; 1508 | GBP 150,000.00 - 200,000.00 | GBP 482,600.00 |
| 11 | Gherarducci Don Silvestro (1339-1399) | Sts Peter and Paul |
1371-1374 | GBP 150,000.00 - 200,000.00 | GBP 279,400.00 |
| 137 | Shakespeare William (1564-1616) | Comedies, Histories and Tragedies |
1664 | GBP 120,000.00 - 160,000.00 | GBP 279,400.00 |
| 64 | Einstein Albert; Straus Ernst Gabor | Verallgemeinerung der relativistischen Gravitationstheorie II |
1946 | GBP 60,000.00 - 80,000.00 | GBP 234,950.00 |
| 89 | Blaeu Joan (1596-1673); Blaeu Willem (1571-1638) | Le Grand Atlas, ou Cosmographie Blaviane |
1667 | GBP 200,000.00 - 300,000.00 | GBP 228,600.00 |
| 1 | Admonitio Generalis |
789 | GBP 40,000.00 - 60,000.00 | GBP 190,500.00 | |
| 168 | Darwin Charles Robert (1809-1882) | On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection |
1859 | GBP 100,000.00 - 150,000.00 | GBP 190,500.00 |
| 133 | Galilei Galileo (1564-1642) | Discorsi e dimostrazioni matematiche, intorno a due nuove scienze attenenti alla mecanica & i movimenti locali |
1638 | GBP 110,000.00 - 140,000.00 | GBP 177,800.00 |
| 145 | Catesby Mark (1682-1749) | The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands |
1754 | GBP 60,000.00 - 80,000.00 | GBP 177,800.00 |
| 69 | Russo Jacobo | Portolan Chart of the Mediterranean |
1588 | GBP 70,000.00 - 90,000.00 | GBP 165,100.00 |
| 84 | Ptolemaeus Claudius (c.100–c.178); Angelus Jacobus; Germanus Nicolaus (c.1420-c.1490) | Cosmographia |
1486 | GBP 70,000.00 - 90,000.00 | GBP 165,100.00 |
| 107 | Missale ad usum insignis ac preclare ecclesie Sarum |
1520 | GBP 70,000.00 - 100,000.00 | GBP 165,100.00 | |
| 26 | Illustrator B | The Firle Place Psalter-Hours |
c.1450 | GBP 60,000.00 - 80,000.00 | GBP 152,400.00 |
| 100 | Apocalypse |
c. 1465 | GBP 30,000.00 - 40,000.00 | GBP 139,700.00 | |
| 102 | Euclides | Elementa geometriae |
1482 | GBP 60,000.00 - 80,000.00 | GBP 139,700.00 |
| 158 | Fiorelli Giuseppe (1823-1896) | Monumenta epigraphica pompeiana ad fidem archetyporum expressa |
1854 | GBP 20,000.00 - 30,000.00 | GBP 139,700.00 |
| 17 | Innocent III (d. 1216); Riga Petrus (d. 1209); Durand Guillaume (d. 1296); Hispanus Laurentius (d. 1248) | A compendium of legal and biblical texts |
c.1220-c.1350 | GBP 100,000.00 - 150,000.00 | GBP 127,000.00 |
| 75 | Speed John (1552-1629) | The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine; A Prospect of the most famous Parts of the World |
1676 | GBP 60,000.00 - 80,000.00 | GBP 114,300.00 |
| 94 | Jaillot Hubert; de Hooghe Romeyn | Le Neptune Francois, ou Atlas Nouveau des Cartes Marines |
c.1703 | GBP 50,000.00 - 70,000.00 | GBP 114,300.00 |
| 115 | Camoes Luis de (c.1524-1580) | Os Lusiadas |
1584 | GBP 60,000.00 - 80,000.00 | GBP 114,300.00 |
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Sotheby’s Geek Week
14-15 JulySotheby’s, July 14: Henry De La Beche. "Awful Changes," 1830. $6,000 to $9,000.Sotheby’s, July 15: [Apollo 11]. Flight Plan, Complete Original Printing Signed by Buzz Aldrin. $5,000 to $8,000.Sotheby’s, July 15: Thomas Alva Edison. Documents Establishing and Ending the Edison Electric Railway Company. $20,000 to $30,000.Sotheby’s, July 15: Richard P. Feynman. Feynman's Lectures on Gravitation 1-16, Including the Original Transcriptions of Lectures 12-16 by Morinigo and Wagner, With Richard Feynman's Manuscript Notations, 1971. $12,000 to $18,000.Sotheby’s, July 15: [Apollo 9]. A Group of Manuals and Mission Documents used by Stuart Roosa as a member of the Astronaut Support Crew. $5,000 to $8,000.Sotheby’s, July 15: [BYTE: The Small Systems Journal]. A collection of early foundational issues of Byte: The Small Systems Journal, with rare hardcover editions. $5,000 to $8,000. -
Forum Auctions
The 10th Anniversary Sale
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
July 16, 2026Forum, July 16: Inundation papyrus. P.Michael 4, the ‘Inundation papyrus’, a geographical account of the Nile near Canopus, in Greek, remains of two columns from a manuscript scroll on papyrus, Egypt, second century CE. £12,000-18,000Forum, July 16: Book of Hours, use of Sarum, manuscript on vellum, 6 full-page miniatures, with famous Middle English inscriptions, Southern Netherlands for the English market, [c.1430]. £30,000-50,000Forum, July 16: Qu'ran, Arabic manuscript on burnished, stencilled, and gold-flecked paper, 447ff., Sultanate Gujarat, Ahmadabad, [after 1411 but no later than 1442]. £15,000-20,000Forum Auctions
The 10th Anniversary Sale
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
July 16, 2026Forum, July 16: Turner (William). A New boke of the natures and properties of all wines that are commonly vsed here in England, rare first edition of the first English book on wine, By William Seres, 1568. £20,000-£30,000Forum, July 16: Spenser (Edmund). The Faerie Queene. first edition, Printed [by John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, 1590. £30,000-40,000Forum, July 16: Shakespeare (William). The Comedie of Errors, extracted from the first folio, Isaac Jaggard and Edward Blount, 1623. £15,000-20,000Forum Auctions
The 10th Anniversary Sale
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
July 16, 2026Forum, July 16: Fleming (Ian). Casino Royale, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1953. £40,000-60,000Forum, July 16: d'Agoty (Jacques-Fabien Gautier). Anatomie de la Tête, first edition, Paris, chez le Sieur Gautier, 1748. £10,000-15,000Forum, July 16: Martial Arts.- Lee (Bruce). 'Praying Mantis style' Kung Fu book, containing numerous annotations, diagrams and graphs in Bruce Lee's hand, c. 1960. £50,000-70,000Forum Auctions
The 10th Anniversary Sale
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
July 16, 2026Forum, July 16: Warre (Capt. Henry James). Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory, first edition, rare hand-coloured issue, 1848. £30,000-40,000Forum, July 16: Norie (John William). The Marine Atlas, or Seaman's Complete Pilot for all the principal places in the known world..., 1826. £30,000-50,000Forum, July 16: Mao Tse-tung.- Kim Il-sung.-[Note book for visitors from China to Korea], signed by Mao and Kim, [Beijing, 1954]. £10,000-15,000