April 2015 | Rebecca Rego Barry

From the Private Library of Queen Elizabeth I...

M31162-1 copy.jpgComing up at Swann Galleries' April 9 auction of rare books is volume 1 of Cicero's Orationum volumen primum (1543), the contemporary calf binding of which shows the gilded ownership badge of Queen Elizabeth I: a crowned falcon holding a royal scepter. She adopted the falcon in honor of her mother, Anne Boleyn. Books from QE1's personal library are exceedingly scarce, and this one contains some early marginalia too. The estimate is $8,000-12,000.

Image: Courtesy of Swann Galleries.