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Heritage Auctions: The David Aronovitz Collection of Important Science Fiction and Fantasy, Part I Rare Books Signature® Auction

Auction Reports

Auction Name The David Aronovitz Collection of Important Science Fiction and Fantasy, Part I Rare Books Signature® Auction Total Sales (USD) 3,346,751.25
Auction Date May 13, 2026 - May 13, 2026 Low Estimate of Lots Sold (USD) 2,137,360.00
Sale Number #6336 High Estimate of Lots Sold (USD) 3,206,040.00
Total Lots 268
Sold Lots 252.0 Low Estimate of All Lots (USD) 2,250,960.00
% of Lots Sold 94.03% High Estimate of All Lots (USD) 3,376,440.00
Unsold Lots 16 Total Sales as a % of High Est. 99.12%

Top twenty-five by sale price

Top Sale Price Lots
Lot Number Author Name Book Title Year Published Estimate Actual Price
45216 J. R. R. Tolkien

J. R. R. Tolkien. The Hobbit, or There and Back Again.

1937 USD 120,000.00 - 180,000.00 USD 450,000.00
45219 J. R. R. Tolkien

J. R. R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: comprising The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King.

1954; 1955 USD 128,000.00 - 192,000.00 USD 325,000.00
45142 Robert A. Heinlein; Robert Cornog; Frederic Brown; Philip Jose Farmer

Robert A. Heinlein. A complete set of the THREE DEDICATION COPIES OF HIS MASTERPIECE, STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND.

1961 USD 96,000.00 - 144,000.00 USD 118,750.00
45217 J. R. R. Tolkien

J. R. R. Tolkien. The Hobbit, or There and Back Again.

1937 USD 128,000.00 - 192,000.00 USD 100,000.00
45005 Isaac Asimov; Edd Cartier

Isaac Asimov. I, Robot.

1950 USD 40,000.00 - 60,000.00 USD 87,500.00
45221 J. R. R. Tolkien

J. R. R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: comprising The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King.

1954; 1955; 1956 USD 64,000.00 - 96,000.00 USD 81,250.00
45150 Frank Herbert

Frank Herbert. Dune. Philadelphia and New York: Chilton Books, [1965].

1965 USD 48,000.00 - 72,000.00 USD 75,000.00
45166 Stephen King

Stephen King. Firestarter.

1980 USD 32,000.00 - 48,000.00 USD 75,000.00
45161 Stephen King

Stephen King. 'Salem's Lot.

1975 USD 48,000.00 - 72,000.00 USD 68,750.00
45264 Eugene Zamiatin [Yevgeny Zamyatin]

Eugene Zamiatin [Yevgeny Zamyatin]. We. Translated by Gregory Zilboorg. New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, [1924].

1924 USD 19,200.00 - 28,800.00 USD 52,500.00
45002 August Derleth; Clark Ashton Smith; Ray Bradbury; Robert Bloch; A. E. van Vogt

[Arkham House]. A complete run of 165 books published by the Arkham House and Mycroft & Moran Imprints from 1939-1980.

1939-1984 USD 64,000.00 - 96,000.00 USD 50,000.00
45101

[Fantasy Press]. 43 volumes published by the Fantasy Press, from the collection of its publisher, Lloyd Arthur Eshbach.

1947-1955 USD 56,000.00 - 84,000.00 USD 43,750.00
45049 Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury. Fahrenheit 451.

1953 USD 4,800.00 - 7,200.00 USD 42,500.00
45091 Philip K. Dick

Philip K. Dick. Publishers file containing 7 typed letters signed from Dick to Lawrence P. Ashmead, his editor at Doubleday & Co., Inc., , Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? San Rafael, 1966-69.

ND (1966-69) USD 12,800.00 - 19,200.00 USD 40,000.00
45229 Jules Verne

Jules Verne. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas. Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1873 [but 1872].

1872 USD 16,000.00 - 24,000.00 USD 40,000.00
45092 Philip K. Dick

Philip K. Dick. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Garden City: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1968.

1968 USD 12,800.00 - 19,200.00 USD 37,500.00
45006 Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov. I, Robot.

1950 USD 16,000.00 - 24,000.00 USD 35,000.00
45169 Stephen King; Michael Whelan; Phil Hale; Ned Dameron; Dave McKean; Bernie Wrightson; Darrel Anderson; Jae Lee

Stephen King. The Dark Tower Series. Comprising first limited editions of The Dark Tower I-VII, The Little Sisters of Eluria, and The Wind Through the Keyhole.

1982 – 2012 USD 24,000.00 - 36,000.00 USD 35,000.00
45008 Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov. Inscribed copies of the Foundation Trilogy, comprising: Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation.

1951; 1952; 1953 USD 16,000.00 - 24,000.00 USD 32,500.00
45155 Aldous Huxley

Aldous Huxley. Brave New World. London: Chatto & Windus, 1932.

1932 USD 12,800.00 - 19,200.00 USD 32,500.00
45189 George Orwell

George Orwell. Nineteen Eighty-Four.

1949 USD 16,000.00 - 24,000.00 USD 32,500.00
45249 H. G. Wells

H. G. Wells. The Time Machine: An Invention.

1895 USD 24,000.00 - 36,000.00 USD 32,500.00
45097 Philip K. Dick

Philip K. Dick. A group of 23 paperback editions, including 22 First Editions, ALL BUT ONE VOLUME SIGNED OR INSCRIBED BY DICK. 1956-1981.

1956-1981 USD 16,000.00 - 24,000.00 USD 31,250.00
45164 Stephen King

Stephen King. The Stand: The Complete and Uncut Edition.

1990 USD 40,000.00 - 60,000.00 USD 31,250.00
45218 J. R. R. Tolkien

J. R. R. Tolkien. The Hobbit, or There and Back Again.

1938 USD 12,800.00 - 19,200.00 USD 30,000.00
  • Sotheby’s Geek Week
    14-15 July
    Sotheby’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, 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