Cherokee Almanac, 1505 Avicenne, and Rutherford on the Neutron: The Week in Rare Books

This weekly auction result is provided by Spencer W Stuart, an independent collections advisor specializing in rare books and manuscripts as well as fine photography and prints. He is also the author of Contemporary Issues in Rare Books & Manuscript Collecting and host of the monthly webinar Collecting Insights.

These are the three lots that stuck out this week because of either uniqueness or exceeding expectations:

1851 Almanac in Cherokee

An early Almanac written in both English and Cherokee (Park Hill, OK, Mission Press, 1850), the only Native American language with a syllabary devised by one of is own people, Sequoyah, the Tennessee Cherokee. He devised 86 symbols for sounds in the Cherokee language and a special type font was cast for the syllabic characters. Original wrappers. Sold by Forum Auctions for £2,800 following an estimate of £300-£400.

Rutherford on the Neutron, Inscribed

A first edition of Ernest Rutherford's  famous lecture predicting the existence of the neutron Nuclear Constitution of Atoms (Royal Society, 1920), inscribed at front wrapper "With kind remembrances / Dec 12/22 ER" from the proceedings of the Royal Society, A, Vol. 97, 1920. Sold by PBA Galleries for $4,375 following an estimate of $200-$300.

1505 Compilation of Avicenne

A 1505 revised version of Liber Canonis Avicennae (printed by Ottaviano Scoto, with Boneto Locatello as publisher, with a colophone noting that this is the translation by Arnaldo de Villanova. Includes handwritten marginal notes, maniculae, and handwritten ex-libris inscriptions on the half-title page. The complete work of the Arab physician Avicenna was translated by Arnaldo de Villanova between the 13th and 14th centuries, opening the door for Arab medicine to reach the West. Sold by Solery y Llach for €14,500 following an estimate of €1,300.