New York -- Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books are on the block at Swann Galleries on Thursday, December 17. The sale will feature a strong showing of world cartography, as well as a standout selection of historical prints and paintings of the natural sciences.

Natural history and color plate works shine, with John Woodhouse Audubon’s original life-size oil portrait of a California Gray Squirrel, circa 1853, leading the sale at $30,000 to $50,000. The Audubon name is synonymous with art of the natural world—most renowned for his iconic Birds of America, master naturalist John James Audubon expectantly encouraged and cultivated his two sons Victor Gifford and John Woodhouse to chase his passions for illustrating American wildlife. The work comes to auction by direct descent through the artist’s family. Works by John James Audubon feature in the sale with Night Heron or Qua Bird, offered at $25,000 to $35,000, and Black-Billed Cuckoo, at $4,000 to $6,000, both hand-colored aquatints and engraved plates from 1835 and featured in Audubon’s Birds of America.

Further works of the natural world include William Jardine’s The Naturalist’s Library, 1843, with over 1,200 hand-colored engraved plates of animals, birds, fish and insects ($2,000-3,000). A group of 30 uncolored folio engravings from Hortus Eystettensis, 1613, by Basilius Besler is present ($7,000-10,000), in addition to other floriculture works including Henry Andrews’s The Botanist’s Repository, for New, and Rare Plants, 1797 ($3,000-5,000), and Alfred Cogniaux and Alphonse Goossens’s Dictionnaire Iconographique des Orchidées, with 803 fine small chromolithographed plates printed between 1896 and 1907 ($2,500-3,500).

From 1511 is one of the earliest attainable printed maps to show the New World by Bernardus Sylvanus at $20,000 to $30,000. The modern geography is given stylish treatment with hachuring around the landmasses to add depth and with windheads surrounding the representation. Additional world maps feature Typus Cosmographicus Universalis, Basel, 1532, by Sebastian Münster with elaborate woodcut borders designed by Hans Holbein the Younger ($10,000-15,000); a prize example of Johannes Blaeu’s Nova et Accuratissima Totius Terrarum Orbis Tabula, 1662, one of the most striking seventeenth-century Dutch world maps ($8,000-12,000); and a circa-1504 Ptolemaic world map printed in Strasbourg with decorative windheads by Gregor Reisch ($3,500-5,500).

Regional cartography includes a scarcely seen 1785 complete set of five manuscript maps of Japan’s surrounding regions created after Hayashi Shihei ($4,000-6,000); also from Asia is a small archive from the later part of the nineteenth century comprising a manuscript map presenting the town on either side of the Min River in China, and four pencil sketches rendering a sampling of the local landscape, architecture, and river vessels ($800-1,200). Europe is present with a scarce first edition of Lievin Cruyl’s Pianta di Roma Come si Trova al Presente Colle Alzate Delle Fabriche Piu Nobili Cosi Antiche Come Moderne, Rome, 1665, a sweeping perspective view of seventeenth-century Rome ($3,000-4,000); and a finely detailed mid-nineteenth century English map of Armenia, circa 1870s ($800-1,200). Maps of America are featured in Henry Popple’s Map of the British Empire in America with the French and Spanish Settlements Adjacent Thereto, London, 1733 ($1,200-1,800); a scarce map of the United States from Matthew Carey’s General Atlas of 1796, the first of its kind to be engraved and published in America ($1,800-2,200); and W.J. Keeler’s National Map of the Territory of the United States from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, Washington, 1867 ($2,000-3,000).

Atlases and books containing maps are present with John Gibson and Emanuel Bowen’s Atlas Minimus, or a New Set of Pocket Maps of the Several Empires, Kingdoms and States of the Known World, London, 1758 ($2,500-3,500); a rare 1803 immigration guide offering prospective European settlers a frank account of the drawbacks and opportunities of pioneering within the wilderness of the eastern United States ($1,800-2,200); a scarce early-American geography manual with 25 of the 60 maps pertaining to the United States by Nathan Hale from 1830 ($500-750); and an example of Famiano Strada’s Famiani Stradae Romani e Societate Jesu de Bello Belgico, Rome, 1643–48, a historical compendium on the Dutch War of Independence against Spain ($1,000-1,500).

Historical prints of note include a rare series of seven large-format tinted lithographed plates from Isla de Cuba Pintoresca, circa 1865, showing panoramic landscapes of Cuban towns and harbors by Eduardo Laplante ($5,000-7,500). Currier & Ives is featured with Winter Morning. Feeding the Chickens, 1863, a large folio hand-colored lithograph of a mother and a young daughter tossing scratch to the chickens on a cold snowy morning ($1,200-1,800), as well as and an original box of Charles Currier No. 3 Lithographic Crayons, with nearly the entire gross of crayons intact in unopened individual packet wrappers ($500-750). William Hogarth’s first independently published work, Masquerades and Operas; or The Bad Taste of the Town, 1724, rounds out the offering ($1,200-1,800).

Additional treasures feature an astonishing large hand-drawn typographical devotional composition with over 150 engraved scenes of the Old and New Testament from the mid-nineteenth century Britain ($2,000-3,000); and Wagashi Seiho Koshu Roku Zokuhen, 1920, with 156 pages of color printed woodblock plates of traditional Japanese confectionary designs and recipes ($700-1,000).

Limited previewing (by appointment only) will be available through December 16, to be scheduled directly with the specialist in advance and conforming to strict safety guidelines. Swann Galleries staff will prepare condition reports and provide additional photographs of material on request. Advance order bids can be placed with the specialist for the sale or on Swann’s website, and phone bidding will be available. Live online bidding platforms will be the Swann Galleries App, Invaluable, and Live Auctioneers. The complete catalogue and bidding information is available at www.swanngalleries.com and on the Swann Galleries App.

Additional highlights can be found here.

Hamburg, Germany — With total proceeds of around € 2 million*, the Rare Books Auction at Ketterer Kunst in Hamburg on November 30 did not only realize an excellent result but also got ahead of the great spring sales figures by around € 200,000*. In the Evening Sale alone 90% of the objects on offer changed owners with in many cases enormous increases. The star of the night was Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer's "Sea Atlas.”

Top 5

€ 325,000* Starting price: € 135,000
No. 022: Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer - Speculum nauticum super navigatione maris. Leiden 1586

€ 143,750*  Starting price: € 14,000
No. 005: Biblia latina vulgata. - Presumably Southern France, 12th century

€ 81,250*  Starting price: € 60,000
No. 075: Marc Chagall. - Daphnis & Chloé. Paris 1961

€ 62,500* Starting price: € 6,000
No. 008: Ovidius Naso Publius. - Metamorphosen.1462

€ 57,500* Starting price: € 15,000
No. 001: Book of Hours - Rouen around 1490

Christoph Calaminus, auctioneer and head of the Rare Books Department in Hamburg, expresses his utter satisfaction: "It was a great auction with some excellent prices." He continues: "In times as demanding as these I am especially happy that we saw lively domestic and international participation despite the pandemic. Digital bidding options were well received. This was the first time that the number of online bids and the lot total were on par. Around 25% of all lots went to online bidders, while in many other cases the internet bids promted the final price."

Washington, D.C. — The Dwight D. Opperman Foundation is donating $1 million to reimagine and enhance the visitor experience at the Library of Congress with a new orientation gallery, exhibitions and learning lab, the Library announced today.

The Phoenix-based foundation’s donation to support design and construction of the Library’s visitor experience is one of several major gifts to the project in 2020 and was announced just after Giving Tuesday.

The Library is pursuing a multi-year plan to transform the experience of its nearly 2 million annual visitors, share more of its national treasures with the public and show how Library collections connect with visitors’ own creativity and research.

"The Library of Congress is, in my opinion, the nation's greatest cultural institution," said Julie Opperman, chairman of the Dwight D. Opperman Foundation. "I am pleased to help support this great initiative for people the world over to discover more of its unique and vast treasures."  

The Dwight D. Opperman Foundation was established by Dwight D. Opperman upon his sale of West Publishing Company where he was chairman and creator of WestLaw, the iconic legal information provider. Opperman, the most noted philanthropist of his day in the legal/judicial community, wished to continue his efforts in a private capacity. Prior to his passing in 2013, he appointed Julie Opperman as the sole controller of his self-funded charitable foundation.

“The Opperman Foundation’s support will help transform the way visitors experience our national library, and we are grateful,” said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. “Future visitors to the Library of Congress will discover the many treasures held here to document our nation’s history and creativity.”

After half a century of supporting legal education, institutions and the American judiciary, as well as establishing the Devitt Award 38 year ago – the nation's highest honor that is bestowed upon an Article III federal judge – Julie Opperman has extended that mission to the creation of the Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Woman of Leadership Award in early 2020. A decades-long friend of Dwight Opperman, Ginsburg had personally asked Julie to establish and carry out her sole legacy award. Honored to fulfill the request, she has selected the Library of Congress as the permanent home of the annual ceremony and gala. Dwight and Julie Opperman had been long-term donors of the Library and are delighted that this latest donation will further help the Library to be far more reaching and responsive to the public.  

Celebrating its 220th year as a center of knowledge and preservation of the nation’s cultural heritage, the Library aims to bring more of its collections out of the vaults and into public spaces and online presentations.

Three core components are central to the visitor experience plan. These include a new ground-level orientation gallery in the Thomas Jefferson Building to help visitors navigate the Library and understand its history, a new learning lab to engage and inspire visitors and new exhibitions to feature the Library’s treasures.

The Opperman gift will build on the significant investments of Congress and private philanthropy in the Library’s infrastructure. Earlier in 2020, philanthropist David Rubenstein announced a lead gift of $10 million to support the visitor experience plan, and the Annenberg Foundation donated $1 million, as well as a collection of photographic prints. Design work is now underway for the project.

The visitor experience project has continued to receive support from Congress, with $20 million appropriated so far as part of this public-private partnership.

While Congress has invested generously in the Library over its history since 1800, private philanthropy also has played an important role in the development of the Library and other cultural institutions. Private sector donors have funded exhibitions and programs, including the creation of the Library’s John W. Kluge Center and Kluge Prize for Achievement in the Study of Humanity, which is currently honoring political theorist Danielle Allen, as well as creation of the Library’s Packard Campus for Audio-Visual Conservation in Culpeper, Virginia.

Chicago — Potter & Potter Auctions' November 14, 2020 Vintage Posters, Prints, and Works on Paper sale captured the imagination of collectors worldwide.  When the hammer fell silent after a very long day of bidding, 122 lots realized $500-$999; 44 lots scored $1,000-$2,499; and seven lots made $2,500+. Prices noted include the company's 20% buyer's premium.

Posters promoting overseas destinations took several of the top slots in this exciting sale.

• Lot #220, a poster for the London Underground illustrated by Sybil Andrews (1898-1992) and featuring cricket players, traded hands at $2,040. From 1925 to 1935, Andrews designed nine posters for the London Underground.
• Lot #161, a stunning lithograph for Soviet Armenia by Sergey Igumnov (1900–1942), brought $2,040. Produced in 1935 in the USSR by Intourist, this poster touted the Soviet’s engineering skills and advanced modern machinery of the period.
• Lot #716, a 1930-era poster for the Moscow Theatre Festival, was estimated at $500-700 and made $3,120. This westernized Art Deco image was printed by the Soviet state travel agency to attract foreign visitors, especially those versed in English.
• Lot #366, Berlin Evening Near the Memorial Church for the German National Railway delivered $2,400 - six times its low estimate. This 1935 color lithograph by German illustrator Jupp Wiertz (1888-1939) featured a neon colored Berlin at night.
• Lot #368, a poster promoting the island of Bermuda was estimated at $900-1,200 and sold for $2,640. It was produced for Pan Am in the 1960s and was illustrated with two happy go lucky tourists on a moped.

As noted in previous Potter & Potter events, posters featuring Indian themes, destinations, and events generated spirited bidding - and results!

• Lot #153,  a color lithograph Fly Jet to India / Pan American World Airways travel poster from the 1950s was estimated at $250-350 and soared to $2,640. It featured the top of a majestic, many spired building against a vivid blue sky.
• Lot #157, Dorrie Newsome's colorful stone lithograph of an oceanside city in India was estimated at $300-500 and realized $1,920. It was printed in Calcutta by the E.I.R. Press in 1938.
• Lot #160, Sobha Singn's Kashmir / Indian Railways was estimated at $200-300 and made $1,560. This colorful lithograph of native people and animals against a hilly landscape, was printed in Bombay by G. Claridge.

20th century posters for iconic domestic travel destinations also produced first class results.

• Lot #279, an example illustrated with a bird's eye view of NYC's Rockefeller Center for New York Central Lines scored $6,000. This lithograph was rendered by artist Leslie Ragan (1897-1972) and produced in Long Island City, NY by Latham Litho. & Ptg. in 1936.
• Lot #141, Pan Am’s World / Hawaii USA from the 1970s was estimated at $250-350 and sold for $1,560. This photo-offset poster of palm trees silhouetted against a dusky sky was designed by Ivan Chermayeff’s agency, and was one of several posters from Pan Am featured at an exhibit held at the Museum of Modern Art.
• Lot #330, Squaw Valley / Lake Tahoe from the 1950s more than doubled its high estimate to make $3,360. This rare stone lithograph featured the ski resort's (at the time) “world’s largest ski lift."

Vintage postcards collections were another key category in this sale and truly delivered.

• Lot #766, a collection of 700+ Black Americana postcards sold for $2,040. This well curated collection included images of babies and young children, watermelon eating, cotton picking, leather postcards, French advertisements, trade cards, servants, chicken thieves, and many others.
• Lot #785, a collection 800+ postcards of diners and roadside stops from the 1930s/50s was estimated at $600-800 and made $2,400. Featured images included diners, Greyhound bus stops, motels, state parks, dealerships and service stops, gas stations, restaurants, and drive-ins.
• Lot #772, a collection of 200+ postcards devoted to Coney Island, was estimated at $125-225 and realized $1,200. Most of the cards were pre-1920; scenes and views included Luna Park, Dreamland, Shooting the Chutes, Japanese Café, views from the ocean, Surf Avenue, Dragon’s Gorge, and others.

Historical broadsides, product advertising posters, and works from modern masters brought this signature sales event full circle.

• Lot #563, Marc Chagall's (1887-1985) color litho Springtime in the Meadow, from Daphnis and Chloe, brought $2,880. This work was from an edition of 250, set in a gilt wooden frame with linen matting, and bore a gallery label of Phillip E. Freed to its verso.
• Lot #497, a South African WWI recruitment poster depicting a bust portrait of General Smuts was estimated at $100-200 and delivered $1,020.
• Lot #451, an original Jaguar showroom poster with a dramatic image of the XK120 shooting down a track under the pre-dawn sky was estimated at $200-300 and crossed the finish line at $1,920. This 1952 example, titled Dawn at Montlhery, was designed by Roy Nockolds (1911-1979), a British artist specializing in motoring images and advertising.

According to Gabe Fajuri, President at Potter & Potter Auctions, "This was our most successful poster sale to date, with an astonishingly high sell-through rate and results that speak for themselves. Our next auction of vintage posters is already in the works for 2021."

London — On 30 November 1900 in a rundown Paris hotel, the poet, dramatist, novelist, and society wit Oscar Wide died. Now, 120 years after his passing, Bonhams announces a major new exhibition dedicated to Wilde’s life and works to be staged at its London headquarters, 101 New Bond Street. Oscar Wilde: A Man for Our Times runs from 15-23 February 2021.

The exhibition features the collection of noted Wilde collector, bibliophile, and former dealer in Oriental antiques, Jeremy Mason, who has been collecting Wilde memorabilia for the last 55 years. The extensive collection of 500 books, files and boxes has been distilled to showcase the many facets of Wilde’s remarkable life and will present fascinating and rare highlights, including:

• Portrait of Oscar Wilde by the famous New York photographer Sarony taken in 1882. Wilde’s flamboyant attire, went viral: his velvet coat, knee-breeches, silk stockings, and patent leather shoes had one Midwest journalist wondering whether the fashionable young men of Milwaukee would “fear that their calves are wanting in symmetry”.
• Autograph letter signed to Ada Leverson, [February 1895]. Written to thank the critic Leverson – always known to Wilde as ‘The Sphinx’ – for her glowing review of the first night of The Importance of Being Earnest. “Dear Sphinx, You are more than all criticisms. I have merely to thank you again and again for your desire to sound in my honour a daffodil-shaped horn … Bosie sends sweet words, and so does our Scotch friend Ross.” By April Wilde was in prison awaiting trial.
• The bill for flowers at Oscar Wilde’s funeral, made out to Robert Ross, amounting to 77 francs, submitted by Maison Helbig of 10 Boulevard Malesherbes, Paris, 2 December 1900.
• Two delightful unpublished letters to a child, Beatrice Faudel-Phillips, in which Wilde warns that ‘People who break their engagements … eventually become so stout, that their waistcoats don’t fit them, and the Doctors don’t allow them to eat whipped cream, ices, or indeed sweet things of any description’ and describes himself as a “wall flower” who does not dance any more.

Jeremy Mason first entered the world of Wilde collecting when he purchased actor Ernest Thesiger’s first edition copy of The Importance of Being Earnest. As Jeremy himself explains: “The collection just grew from there and now contains books, letters and manuscripts from each period of Wilde’s life from childhood, school years, America, his fame as an author, the theatre ‘golden years’, and the tragedy and exile.”

“Most importantly the collection has been enhanced by the inclusion of evocative items of ephemera which have added colour to the Wilde story and were so important to me when deciding which other items to add.”

Bonhams Head of Fine Books and Manuscripts Matthew Haley said: “It’s a great privilege to be hosting this wonderfully exciting and rich collection. In the 120 years since his death, Wilde’s reputation has swung from moral degenerate to gay icon, but public interest in this complicated and talented man has never dimmed. This promises to be a once-in-a-lifetime show and the exhibition will be accompanied by a special catalogue, creating a permanent record of Jeremy Mason’s extraordinary collection.”