Rare Book Transaction History — 16,101,688 searchable records
The Rare Book Transaction History currently contains 16,101,688 bibliographic records and growing. Records come from current and historic auctions, recent and classic bookseller and collector catalogues and bibliographies. Bookseller catalogues include list prices while auction records include estimated and actual sales prices. Most records include full description provided at time. The database may be searched broadly for keywords appearing in any fields, or narrowly targeted by searching only specific or combination of specific fields such as author, title, year printed, place printed, etc.
Rare Book Transaction History access is included with the following memberships: Visitor, Research, Octavo and Folio
Visitors and Research members can access the Rare Book Transaction History from one device at a time, Octavo members from two devices at a time, folio members from 5 devices at a time.
Click here for a list of Sources in the Rare Book Transaction History database!
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Forum Auctions
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
28th May 2026Forum, May 28: Book of Hours.- Heures de nostre dame a l'usaige de Romme, Paris, Antoine Chappiel pour Germain Hardouin, [1504]. £6,000-8,000Forum, May 28: Colonna (Francesco). La Hypnerotomachia di Poliphilo, second edition, Venice, Sons of Aldus Manutius, 1545. £15,000-20,000Forum, May 28: The Christ Child holding a crystal orb and surrounded by banderoles with devotional exhortations, on a leaf most probably from a Book of Hours, [Southern Netherlands, last decades of the fifteenth century]. £2,000-3,000Forum Auctions
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
28th May 2026Forum, May 28: Jackson (Shirley). The Haunting of Hill House, first English edition, signed presentation inscription from the author to Claude Fredericks, 1960. £2,000-3,000Forum, May 28: Lennon (John). In His Own Write, first edition, first impression, signed by the author, 1964. £3,000-4,000Forum, May 28: Doves Press.- Keats (John). [Poems], one of 200 copies on paper, Doves Press, 1914. £5,000-7,000Forum Auctions
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
28th May 2026Forum, May 28: Rodrigues (João Barbosa). Sertum Palmarum Brasiliensium, 2 vol., first and only edition, Brussels, 1903. £8,000-12,000Forum, May 28: Newton (Sir Isaac). Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica…editio ultima, auctior et emendatior, Amsterdam, Sumptibus Societatis, 1714. £8,000-12,000Forum, May 28: Kepler (Johannes). Ad Vitellionem paralipomena, wuibus astronomiae pars optica traditur, first edition, Frankfurt am Main, 1604. £5,000-7,000Forum Auctions
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
28th May 2026Forum, May 28: Tagliacozzi (Gaspare). De Curtorum Chirurgia per insitionem, libri duo, first edition, Venice, Gasparo Bindoni, 1597. £7,000-10,000Forum, May 28: Lootsman (Jacobsz). The Lightning Colomne, or Sea-Mirrour, containing the Sea-Coasts of the Northern, Eastern and Western Navigation..., 1670. £8,000-12,000Forum, May 28: Ribelles y Helip (José), Attributed to. An album comprising 33 finely executed watercolours of Spanish costume, bull-fighting scenes, and other genre subjects, [circa 1830]. £10,000-15,000 -
Sotheby’s
Original Film Posters
Open for bidding 5-20 MaySotheby’s, May 5-20: King Kong (1933). Rare Czech poster for King Kong, 1933. £40,000 to £60,000.Sotheby’s, May 5-20: Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986). British One Sheet for Ferris Bueller's Day Off, 1986. £4,000 to £6,000.Sotheby’s, May 5-20: Goldfinger (1964). British Quad for Goldfinger, signed by Shirley Bassey, 1964. £7,000 to £10,000.Sotheby’s, May 5-20: Alice in Wonderland / Alice au Pays des Merveilles (1951). French Grande for Alice in Wonderland / Alice au Pays des Merveilles, 1951. £7,000 to £10,000.Sotheby’s, May 5-20: Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961). US poster for Breakfast at Tiffany’s, 1961. £15,000 to £20,000.Sotheby’s, May 5-20: Star Wars (1977). British Quad for Star Wars, 1977. £5,000 to £8,000. -
Ketterer Rare Books
Auction May 18thKetterer Rare Books, May 18: Linschoten, Navigatio ac itinerarium. 1599. Est: € 80,000Ketterer Rare Books, May 18: Basilius Besler, Hortus Eystettensis, 1640. Est: € 180,000Ketterer Rare Books, May 18: Alberto Giacometti, Paris sans fin, 1969. Est: € 15,000Ketterer Rare Books
Auction May 18thKetterer Rare Books, May 18:
J. Glogoviensis, Introductorium compendiosum in tractatum spere, 1513. Est: € 8,000Ketterer Rare Books, May 18:
G. W. Knorr, Verlustiging der oogen en van den geest, 1717-50. Est: € 5,000Ketterer Rare Books, May 18: Albert Einstein, Signifcant scientific letter to his Princeton colleague E. G. Straus, 1945. Est: € 10,000Ketterer Rare Books
Auction May 18thKetterer Rare Books, May 18: Ostrog Bible, 1581. Est: € 18,000Ketterer Rare Books, May 18: PAN, 10 volumes, 1895-1900. Est: € 12,000Ketterer Rare Books, May 18: Kurt Schwitters, Merz 11, 1924. Est: € 10,000Ketterer Rare Books
Auction May 18thKetterer Rare Books, May 18: H. Schedel, Liber chronicarum, 1493. Est: € 35,000Ketterer Rare Books, May 18: A.-E. Gautier d’Agoty, Cours complet d’anatomie, 1773. Est: € 8,000Ketterer Rare Books, May 18: Ch. Bukowski & K. Price, Heat Wave, 1995. Est: € 5,000 -
Freeman’s, May 15: William Shakespeare’s Fourth Folio, Printed by Robert Roberts, Robert Everingham, and John Macock for Henry Herringman, 1685. $60,000 – 80,000.Freeman’s, May 14: Tolkien, J.R.R.. The Lord of the Rings trilogy. All First Editions and First Impressions. 1955. $15,000 – 20,000.Freeman’s, May 15: A significant archive of works on communications theory, comprising foundational texts by leading mathematicians. $20,000 – 30,000.Freeman’s, May 15: ALS, Albert Einstein to President Hoover, Berlin, 1929. “I alone am but a grain-of-dust in the development of the human spirit.” $15,000 – 20,000.Freeman’s, May 14: William Shakespeare’s As You Like It and The Taming of the Shrew. First Printings of Two Complete Plays From Shakespeare's First Folio. 1623. $30,000 – 50,000.Freeman’s, May 14: Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four, 1949. First Edition with the Rare Publisher’s Printed Wrap-Around Band. $8,000 – 12,000.Freeman’s, May 15: Complete Set of 52 Tinted Lithographed Plates Containing Pre-Fire Chicago City Views by Louis Kurz and the Chicago Lithographing Company. $10,000 – 15,000.Freeman’s, May 14: Jefferson, Thomas. Notes on the State of Virginia. First London Edition. $10,000 – 15,000.Freeman’s, May 15: A significant archive of works on game theory, comprising foundational texts by leading mathematicians. $20,000 – 30,000.Freeman’s, May 14: Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Raven" in The American Review. Volume I, number II. February 1845. First Printing in Original Wrappers. $8,000 – 12,000.Freeman’s, May 14: Stoker, Bram. Dracula. First Edition, First Issue. $6,000 – 8,000.Freeman’s, May 15: A group of artifacts relating to the Pre-Fire Chicago courthouse bell, ca 1871-1877. $800 – 1,200. -
Lion Heart Autographs
Landmark Auction of Rare & Important Autograph Letters & Manuscripts—Fresh to the Market and Unseen for Decades
May 20, 2026Lion Heart, Ending May 20: Dr. King will “follow Christ to death” for Racial Equality & “the health of Democracy”. $12,000 to $14,000.Lion Heart, Ending May 20: 1775 George Washington Naval DS for a “Freind [sic.] to American Liberty”. $15,000 to $18,000.Lion Heart, Ending May 20: Marie Antoinette Orders Payment for Swiss Guard’s Elite “Cent-Suisses”. $10,000 to $12,000.Lion Heart Autographs
Landmark Auction of Rare & Important Autograph Letters & Manuscripts—Fresh to the Market and Unseen for Decades
May 20, 2026Lion Heart, Ending May 20: Einstein On the Mystery of the Unbelievable. $3,250 to $3,500.Lion Heart, Ending May 20: Brahms Signed Autograph Musical Manuscript Last Auctioned in 1938. $42,000 to $45,000.Lion Heart, Ending May 20: John Adams Signed Land Grant for the Army’s Quartermaster General. $3,500 to $4,000.Lion Heart Autographs
Landmark Auction of Rare & Important Autograph Letters & Manuscripts—Fresh to the Market and Unseen for Decades
May 20, 2026Lion Heart, Ending May 20: Darwin Letter Referring to a Photograph. $3,000 to $3,500.Lion Heart, Ending May 20: Rare Ltd. Ed. of Alfred Dreyfus’ Memoir Inscribed to French Politician and Dreyfusard. $12,000 to $15,000.Lion Heart, Ending May 20: Unique, Ten Year Post WWII Jazz Archive Including Brubeck, Desmond, Feather, Kenton, Paul, Taylor, Yaged, and Many Others. $1,000 to $1,200.Lion Heart Autographs
Landmark Auction of Rare & Important Autograph Letters & Manuscripts—Fresh to the Market and Unseen for Decades
May 20, 2026Lion Heart, Ending May 20: Detailed 8-Page Mendelssohn ALS Mentioning the Completion of his "Violin Concerto". $2,600 to $2,800.Lion Heart, Ending May 20: Rare, Signed Book from Susan B. Anthony’s Library with Remarkable Associations. $2,200 to $2,400.Lion Heart, Ending May 20: Unique Puccini ALS to His Lover Mentioning Five Operas and Two Great Sopranos. $2,200 to $2,500.