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Finarte: Books and Manuscripts

Auction Reports

Auction Name Books and Manuscripts Total Sales (EUR) 479,991.60
Auction Date June 25, 2026 - June 25, 2026 Low Estimate of Lots Sold (EUR) 26,003.00
Sale Number #52526 High Estimate of Lots Sold (EUR) 40,646.00
Total Lots 274
Sold Lots 195.0 Low Estimate of All Lots (EUR) 36,865.20
% of Lots Sold 71.17% High Estimate of All Lots (EUR) 56,681.80
Unsold Lots 79 Total Sales as a % of High Est. 846.82%

Top twenty-five by sale price

Top Sale Price Lots
Lot Number Author Name Book Title Year Published Estimate Actual Price
42 Polenton Sicco (1375-1476)

Sicconis Polentoni prefatio ad Modestum filium in Sancti Antonii confessoris de Padua vitam incipit

1476 EUR 25.00 - 30.00 EUR 50,160.00
33 Bertapaglia Leonardo

N Books, including: [Praticha]

1500 EUR 3.00 - 4.00 EUR 42,240.00
32 Becchi Guglielmo

Comentum in libros iconomicorum aristotelis

1467 EUR 15.00 - 20.00 EUR 39,600.00
39

Gradual

1470 EUR 6.00 - 8.00 EUR 31,680.00
34 Cicerone Marco Tullio

Rhetoricae

1470 EUR 2.50 - 3.50 EUR 26,400.00
40 Gratia Dei Johannes Baptista

De refutatione hebraicae sectae

1490 EUR 1.00 - 1.20 EUR 21,120.00
41 Plinio Caio Secondo

Epistles

1438 EUR 2.00 - 3.00 EUR 21,120.00
38

Pirotechnia figures reinvented

1730 EUR 1.50 - 2.00 EUR 18,480.00
49 Capella Martianus

De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii

1499 EUR 7.00 - 10.00 EUR 17,160.00
168 Fossati Giorgio (1705-1785)

Collection of various fables

1744 EUR 2.00 - 4.00 EUR 17,160.00
111 Magini Giovanni Antonio

Italia

1620;1642 EUR 8.00 - 10.00 EUR 15,840.00
44 Franciscus de Urbana

Latin Weekday Psalter

1488 EUR 10.00 - 12.00 EUR 14,520.00
45

Summa de casibus valid utilis; Decretum abreviaturum

1471 EUR 1.20 - 1.40 EUR 14,520.00
36 da Bergamo Gaspare;Vittorino Gaio Mario

Liber de definitionibus; Orationes

1450 EUR 2.00 - 2.20 EUR 13,200.00
43

Psalter - Book of Hours

1425 EUR 6.00 - 8.00 EUR 7,920.00
47 Curzio Rufo Quinto

De rebus gestis Alexandri Magni

1481 EUR 2.00 - 3.00 EUR 7,260.00
2 Borromeo Carlo

Holographic letter

1584 EUR 3.50 - 4.50 EUR 6,600.00
237 Campana Dino

Orphic Songs

1914 EUR 5.00 - 7.00 EUR 6,600.00
35

Congress of the Whores

1670 EUR 2.00 - 3.00 EUR 5,940.00
30 Puccini Giacomo; Zingarelli Italo; Pareto Vilfredo

Correspondence and documents

1920-1970 EUR 4.00 - 6.00 EUR 5,280.00
156 Dal Re Marc'Antonio (1697-1766)

Very precise drawing of the sumptuous and pompous ball

1747 EUR 2.00 - 2.20 EUR 5,280.00
182 Tasso Torquato

Jerusalem Delivered

1745 EUR 1.80 - 2.00 EUR 5,280.00
213 Manzoni Alessandro

The Betrothed

1825-1827 EUR 3.00 - 5.00 EUR 5,016.00
48 Brant Sebastian; Locher Jacobus

Stultifera navis

1497 EUR 2.00 - 3.00 EUR 4,356.00
110 Galilei Galileo

Works of Galileo Galilei

1655-1656 EUR 1.00 - 2.00 EUR 3,960.00
  • 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
  • Forum Auctions
    The 10th Anniversary Sale
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    July 16, 2026
    Forum, 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. £12,000-18,000
    Forum, 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]. £30,000-50,000
    Forum, July 16: Qu'ran, Arabic manuscript on burnished, stencilled, and gold-flecked paper, 447ff., Sultanate Gujarat, Ahmadabad, [after 1411 but no later than 1442]. £15,000-20,000
    Forum Auctions
    The 10th Anniversary Sale
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    July 16, 2026
    Forum, 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-£30,000
    Forum, July 16: Spenser (Edmund). The Faerie Queene. first edition, Printed [by John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, 1590. £30,000-40,000
    Forum, July 16: Shakespeare (William). The Comedie of Errors, extracted from the first folio, Isaac Jaggard and Edward Blount, 1623. £15,000-20,000
    Forum Auctions
    The 10th Anniversary Sale
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    July 16, 2026
    Forum, July 16: Fleming (Ian). Casino Royale, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1953. £40,000-60,000
    Forum, July 16: d'Agoty (Jacques-Fabien Gautier). Anatomie de la Tête, first edition, Paris, chez le Sieur Gautier, 1748. £10,000-15,000
    Forum, 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. £50,000-70,000
    Forum Auctions
    The 10th Anniversary Sale
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    July 16, 2026
    Forum, July 16: Warre (Capt. Henry James). Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory, first edition, rare hand-coloured issue, 1848. £30,000-40,000
    Forum, July 16: Norie (John William). The Marine Atlas, or Seaman's Complete Pilot for all the principal places in the known world..., 1826. £30,000-50,000
    Forum, 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