Saturday, April 06, 2013

Auction Preview: April

Coming up in April:

- Christie's New York sells the first part of the Collection of Arthur & Charlotte Vershbow on 10 April, in 352 lots. Watch the new FB&C for my full preview of this sale, which contains some really, truly, amazing books and be will fascinating to watch.

- Also on 10 April, Christie's New York sells Dr. Francis Crick's "secret of life" letter to his son, which is estimated to fetch $1-2 million.

- On 11 April at PBA Galleries, South Sea: The Library of Dr. Richard Topel, Part I, in 365 lots. A first edition of Vancouver's Voyage of Discovery could sell for $25,000-35,000.

- Also on 11 April, at Bloomsbury, 169 lots of Books on Horology, Science, and Medicine.

- At Swann on 11 April, Fine Books Including Incunabula and Writing Manuals, in 148 lots. A Noble Fragment Gutenberg leaf is estimated at $40,000-50,000, while a first edition of Audubon's Quadrupeds could fetch $250,000-350,000. What is being described as the only presentation copy of Goldsmith's The Vicar of Wakefield is estimated at $6,000-9,000. Lots of fascinating things in this one.

- Swann sells Printed & Manuscripts Americana on 16 April, including items from Peter Scanlan's Theodore Roosevelt collection, in 434 lots. Little bit of everything here!

- Bloomsbury holds a Bibliophile Sale on 18 April, in 655 lots.

- Christie's London will sell Travel, Science, and Natural History items on 24 London, in 267 lots. A manuscript speech by Wilbur Wright is estimated at £50,000-80,000.

- PBA Galleries will sell Travel & Exploration, Cartography & Americana from the Library of Glen McLaughlin (with additions) on 25 April. No online catalog for that one yet.

- Christie's Paris holds a sale of Importants Lives Anciens, Livres d'artistes et Manuscrits on 29 April, in 243 lots. Some important manuscript material here by Balzac, Proust, and Hugo.

- At Sotheby's Paris on 29-30 April, the first part of the Bibliothèque des ducs de Luynes, Château de Dampierre, in 364 lots. A grand folio volume with Blondel watercolors produced to mark the wedding of the dauphin in 1745 is estimated at 200,000-300,00 Euros.