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Purcell Auctioneers: Sale of an Exceptional Library and other select Lots to include Incunabula, Early Printings, Early Manuscripts, Maps, Significant Books from the 16th to the 19th Centuries of Irish and World Interest

Auction Reports

Auction Name Sale of an Exceptional Library and other select Lots to include Incunabula, Early Printings, Early Manuscripts, Maps, Significant Books from the 16th to the 19th Centuries of Irish and World Interest Total Sales (EUR) 179,831.25
Auction Date May 27, 2026 - May 27, 2026 Low Estimate of Lots Sold (EUR) 80,870.00
Sale Number #52726 High Estimate of Lots Sold (EUR) 127,770.00
Total Lots 334
Sold Lots 253.0 Low Estimate of All Lots (EUR) 121,350.00
% of Lots Sold 75.75% High Estimate of All Lots (EUR) 184,390.00
Unsold Lots 81 Total Sales as a % of High Est. 97.53%

Top twenty-five by sale price

Top Sale Price Lots
Lot Number Author Name Book Title Year Published Estimate Actual Price
295

15th Century Medieval Legal Manuscript

N/A EUR 4,000.00 - 8,000.00 EUR 45,000.00
76

Ordnance Survey Maps- Co Louth

1836 EUR 3,000.00 - 5,000.00 EUR 13,125.00
257 Maurice O'Fehily; John Duns Scotus

Questiones Subtilissme Scoti Metaphysicam Aristotelis; Commentaria Doctoris Subtilis Joan. Scoti in. xij. li. Metaphysice Aristo.

1497; 1500 EUR 10,000.00 - 15,000.00 EUR 12,500.00
281 Nicolaus de Tudeschis (Panormitanus)

Lectura Super Secundo Libro Decretalium

1479 EUR 2,000.00 - 4,000.00 EUR 9,000.00
187

Hours for the Use of Rome - Hours of the Conception of Our Lady and the fifteen prayers of Saint Brigid

c.1512 EUR 3,000.00 - 6,000.00 EUR 4,750.00
109 W.B. Yeats

The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems

1889 EUR 2,000.00 - 3,000.00 EUR 4,500.00
294 Stafford

Pacata Hibernia Ireland Appeased and Reduced

1633 EUR 3,500.00 - 4,500.00 EUR 4,125.00
228 Desiderius Erasmus

Desiderius In Evangelium Lucae paraphrasis, des Erasmi Roterodami, per autorem recognita.

1540 EUR 300.00 - 600.00 EUR 4,000.00
214 Paulus Pergulensis

Magister Paulus Pergulensis Compendium Perclarum ad Introductionem Iuvenum in Facultate

1483 EUR 300.00 - 600.00 EUR 3,875.00
308 Nicholas Of Lyra (c1270-1349)

The Second Part of this Work containing the Glossa Ordinaria with the literal and moral exposition of Nicholas Of Lyra

c.1506-08 EUR 400.00 - 600.00 EUR 3,750.00
64 Nicholas Bernard

The Whole Proceedings of the Siege of Drogheda. To which is added, A True Account of the Siege of London-Derry

1736 EUR 400.00 - 600.00 EUR 2,625.00
146 James Joyce; Nora Joyce

Victoria and Albert Museum Brief Guide

1931 EUR 2,500.00 - 3,000.00 EUR 2,625.00
53 Boethius; Thomas Aquinas

De Consolatione Philosophiae

1497 EUR 1,500.00 - 2,500.00 EUR 2,312.50
108 W.B. Yeats

Poems

1895 EUR 1,800.00 - 2,000.00 EUR 1,875.00
111 Yeats W B

Poems

1895 EUR 2,500.00 - 3,500.00 EUR 1,875.00
142 Jane Austen; George Saintsbury; Hugh Thomson

Pride and Prejudice

1895 EUR 1,000.00 - 1,500.00 EUR 1,812.50
42 Kenneth Graham; Charles van Sandwyk

The Wind in the Willows

2008 EUR 300.00 - 600.00 EUR 1,250.00
19 Charles Vignoles; John Macneill

Railway Commission Maps

N/A EUR 200.00 - 400.00 EUR 1,125.00
299

All The Works Of The Divine And Great Basil, Archbishop Of Caesarea In Cappadocia

1551 EUR 400.00 - 600.00 EUR 1,062.50
301

The Irish Popish Plot, 1679-81

1679; 1680; 1681 EUR 1,000.00 - 1,500.00 EUR 1,000.00
58

Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters. From the earliest times to the year 1616

1848; 1849 EUR 800.00 - 1,200.00 EUR 937.50
221

A Pious Collection, Of Severall Profitable Directions Fitted For The English Poore Clares In Graveling (Gravelines, France). In order to the better observance of their Institute

1684 EUR 60.00 - 100.00 EUR 937.50
40 Pallas

Travels Through the Southern Provinces of the Russian Empire in the Years 1793 & 1794

1812 EUR 800.00 - 1,200.00 EUR 900.00
237 John Talbot CLIFTON

Fortune Telling by Japanese Swords.: From Old Japanese MSS

1905 EUR 1,000.00 - 1,500.00 EUR 875.00
106 W.B. Yeats

The Trembling of the Veil

1922 EUR 700.00 - 900.00 EUR 812.50
  • Freeman’s
    How History Unfolds on Paper: Important Americana from the Eric C. Caren Collection, Part X
    June 30
    Freeman’s, June 30: [Queen Anne's War] Extraordinarily Large Manuscript Petition Signed by a Who's Who of Colonial New York Accomplished to Queen Anne. $8,000/12,000
    Freeman’s, June 30: [Mormonism] A Unique Manuscript Account of Joseph Smith's Final Words Offered to His Congregation, the Day Before his Violent Death, 1844. $8,000/12,000
    Freeman’s, June 30: [Baseball] [Mantle, Mickey] Mickey Mantle's First Cover: The Earliest Front-Page Newspaper Image of Mickey Mantle, "Something Good from Joplin". $8,000/12,000
    Freeman’s, June 30: [Baseball] A Striking Type 1 Press Photograph of Lou Gehrig's Hands. $8,000/12,000
    Freeman’s, June 30: [Declaration of Independence] One of the First Printed Announcements of American Independence, Subscriber Ebenezer Hazard's Copy, in the Exceedingly Rare Original Wrappers, 1776. $10,000/15,000
    Freeman’s
    How History Unfolds on Paper: Important Americana from the Eric C. Caren Collection, Part X
    June 30
    Freeman’s, June 30: [American Revolution] Born in the USA: First Day of Printing in the United States, July 4, 1776! $15,000/25,000
    Freeman’s, June 30: [War of 1812] "We Have Met the Enemy and They are Ours": The Critical Promotion of a Naval Hero, Oliver Hazard Perry is Appointed Master Commandant in the United States Navy, 1812. $40,000/60,000
    Freeman’s, June 30: [Star-Spangled Banner] Eyewitness Account of the Shelling of Fort McHenry in the War of 1812, in a Manuscript Logbook from the HMS Trave, Present at the Battles of Baltimore and New Orleans, 1814-16. $60,000/80,000
    Freeman’s, June 30: [American Revolution] Thomas Jefferson at the Birth of a New Nation: An Important Letter Carried by a Jewish Patriot Communicating the Definitive Treaty of Paris, January 16, 1784. $100,000/200,000
    Freeman’s, June 30: [Colonial America] [Plymouth Colony] Plymouth Colony Seeks a Royal Charter: A Rare and Important Plymouth Colony Document, 1690/91. $6,000/9,000
  • Sotheby’s
    Selections from The Jay T. Snider Collection of Benjamin Franklin
    Live Sale 24 June
    Sotheby’s, June 24: (Benjamin Franklin). The founding—and funding—of the Pennsylvania Hospital. $150,000 to $200,000.
    Sotheby’s, June 24: Benjamin Franklin, "the Day of the Declaration of Independence is everywhere annually celebrated”. $80,000 to $120,000.
    Sotheby’s, June 24: Benjamin Franklin, “probably the most fundamental thing ever done in the field of electricity”. $75,000 to $125,000.
    Sotheby’s, June 24: Benjamin Franklin. One of Franklin's very earliest surviving letters. $40,000 to $60,000.
    Sotheby’s, June 24: Roger More and Benjamin Franklin. The only complete copy known of Poor Roger. $25,000 to $35,000.
    Sotheby’s, June 24: John Jerman. The American Almanack ... for 1731 — the only known copy in private hands. $25,000 to $35,000.