Rare Books &c. at Auction This Week
A busy week coming up in the salerooms:
Today at Bonhams New York, 405 lots from the Medical & Scientific Library of W. Bruce Fye. I'll have more on this sale in the next print issue, but some expected highlights include an important association copy of the first edition of Vesalius' De humani corporis fabrica (1543), from the library of Augsburg physician Achilles Pirmin Gasser ($300,000-500,000); a second edition of Vesalius (1555), estimated at $30,000-40,000; and a first issue of Hooke's Micrographia ($30,000-40,000). More from Rebecca's post last week.
The second part of Fye's library, consisting of 749 lots, will be sold in an online auction starting on Tuesday, March 12 and extending through March 21.
Bonhams New York will also hold a sale of Extraordinary Books and Manuscripts on Tuesday. A huge range of fascinating lots in this one, from the Estelle Doheny copy of Leaves of Grass, which is signed by Whitman and was used as his working copy ($200,000-300,000) to an Apple-1 motherboard ($100,000-150,000). Isaac Newton's copy of John Greaves' Pyramidographia (1646) could sell for $50,000-70,000, while a collection of Harper Lee drawings and letters is estimated at $20,000-30,000. There are any number of lots in this sale that I would be very unsurprised to see far exceed expectations, so it will be fascinating to see what happens.
Doyle New York's online sale of Travel & Sport in India from the Library of Arnold "Jake" Johnson (336 lots) ends on Wednesday, March 14, as does Bonhams' online auction of Treasures from the Eric C. Caren Collection (266 lots).
On Friday, March 15, Leslie Hindman Auctioneers sells a portion of the Adventure & Exploration Library of Steve Fossett, in 296 lots. A copy of the first London edition of Lewis & Clark's Travels (1814) is estimated at $6,000-8,000, and a first edition of James Bruce's Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile (1790), could sell for $3,000-5,000.
