BINAC Computer Manual, Shackleton Presentation Copy, Blue Paper Euclid: Auction Preview
Mammoth albumen print of Cairo taken by Francis Frith, 1858, offered at Bonhams London on July 15.
Here are the sales I'll be keeping an eye on over the next couple of weeks:
At New England Book Auctions on Tuesday, July 15, 220 lots of Fine Books & Ephemera.
Bonhams London sells 183 lots of Travel & Exploration on July 15, with a number of paintings expected to lead the way; among the books, manuscripts, and photographs are a copy of Francis Frith's 1858 "mammoth view" albumen print of Cairo (£8,000–12,000); a presentation copy of Ernest Shackleton's South (£4,000–6,000); and the logbook of Aubrey Howard Ninnis kept aboard the steam yacht Aurora during the Endurance expedition of 1914–1917 (£4,000–6,000).
On Wednesday, July 16, University Archives sells 460 lots of Rare Autographs, Books, Lincoln & Space Items, including a signed Alexander Gardner CDV portrait of Abraham Lincoln ($100,000–150,000). A November 1859 Lincoln letter about a congressional campaign is expected to sell for $40,000–50,000.
At Forum Auctions on Thursday, July 17, Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper, in 254 lots. Rating the top estimate is a blue paper copy of Euclid's De gli Elementi (Urbino, 1575), expected to sell for £12,000–18,000. A copy of the 1517 second issue of Lucian of Samosata's Dialogoi is estimated at £10,000–15,000, as is a copy of the 1516 Giunta edition of Boccaccio's Decameron.
Sotheby's New York holds a History of Science & Technology sale on July 17, with a working Apple-1 computer expected to lead the way at $400,000–600,000. The only known copy of the BINAC computer manual (1949) could sell for $30,000–50,000, and an album containing four signed photographs of Albert Einstein taken during his 1922 trip to Japan is estimated at $20,000–30,000.
At PBA Galleries on July 17, 536 lots of Fine Literature – Mysteries & Sci-fi – Bukowski, Beats & the Counterculture, with a copy of the anthology American Big Game Fishing (1935) inscribed by contributor Ernest Hemingway to his friends Michael and Helen Lerner expected to sell for $10,000–15,000. A lettered copy of Bukowski's Crucifix in a Deathhand (1965) is estimated at $6,000–8,000.
New England Auctions sells 201 lots in A Fine Miscellany on Tuesday, July 22.
Dominic Winter Auctioneers sells Printed Books, Maps & Decorative Prints, Autographs & Ephemera, Postcards & Records on Wednesday, July 23, in 522 lots. William Smith's geological map A Delineation of the Strata of England and Wales (1815) is expected to lead the way at £8,000–12,000.
At Potter & Potter on Thursday, July 24, 615 lots of Fine Books & Manuscripts, featuring Mystery & Detective Literature. McKenney and Hall's History of the Indian Tribes of North America (1836–1844) rates an estimate of $5,000–7,000.
