Auctions 101: Consigning Your Rare Book Collection At Auction
How do you assess your rare book collection and know if it’s right for sale at auction? At Swann Galleries, we receive many inquiries from folks wondering what to do…
Articles and insights from our specialists can be found here, alongside behind-the-scenes perspectives, auction previews and post-sale reports. Subscribe to our semimonthly newsletter to get news about our sales in your inbox twice a month.
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How do you assess your rare book collection and know if it’s right for sale at auction? At Swann Galleries, we receive many inquiries from folks wondering what to do…
2024 was an eventful year for Swann that brought about exciting changes, including the reorganization of our Fine Art Department, which saw Nigel Freeman step in as the head of…
In the 2024 Winter-Spring season, Swann Galleries continued to provide high-quality auctions of unusual and rare material. Several single-owner collections were featured, including Illustration Art: Featuring Highlights from the Collection…
In celebration of the changing of the seasons we’re sharing a selection of works coming up for auction this month at Swann that are sure to inspire.
Swann Galleries continued to offer exceptional auctions of quality material in 2023. The year featured several collections, including a special selection of 100 works from the Stephen White collection in…
Autographs The spirits of conflict and exploration are intertwined in the autographs on offer. Among the most respected explorers of the unknown are scientists, each of whom must contend with…
Winter/Spring 2023 Brings a Record-Breaking Season for the Books & Manuscripts Department Books and manuscripts had a standout winter/spring season at Swann. “As a company whose origins are as a…
The house’s third iteration of Focus on Women on June 1, 2023, an auction dedicated to the contributions of women to art, life, and society, brought $361,090, a total more…
Our June Fine Books & Autographs sale features remarkable items signed by U.S. Presidents, musicians, and entertainers, as well as a special selection of autographs by historical figures who aspired…
John Larson, Swann’s nineteenth and twentieth century literature specialist, shares five exciting lots from the March 2, 2023 sale of Fine Books & Autographs. An Inscribed First Edition of Richard…
2022 was a historic year for Swann in more ways than one. The house celebrated its 80th year of auctions, bringing with it the 70th anniversary of the first photography…
The winter-spring auction season at Swann is a masterclass in marathon training, and the 2022 iteration proved no different with 20 auctions held between late January and the middle of August.
John Larson, Swann’s nineteenth and twentieth century literature specialist, shares five lots that are sure to draw interest in the June 16 sale of Fine Books & Autographs. First Edition…
In this year’s Focus on Women sale, we are pleased to offer several interesting epistolary novels written by women.
As we close out another successful year at Swann we look back at our record-filled sales.
Trolling ne plus ultra Gatsby in the Original Jacket Even those with but a passing familiarity with the rare book trade will likely be aware of the fabulous sums obtained…
Including autographs by Kurt Cobain, Pancho Villa, Mark Twain, as well as pristine first editions featuring Virginia Woolf and others; fine art books featuring Robert Indiana and Gustav Klimt.
Auction Brings $1.3M and Records Abound New Record for Tom of Finland, Shattering Top Price Set by Swann Last Year “Swann’s third annual auction of LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture &…
Early Printed Book, Archives, Vernacular and Fine Art Photography, Among other Material, Draws Interest Among Collectors The house’s inaugural Focus on Women sale on Thursday, July 15, 2021 brought $333,893…
What You Need to Know on Auction Day This auction will be held live and conducted remotely. There will not be bidding in the room, though we accept order bids,…
The house closed out February 2021 with an exceptional sale of Fine Books & Autographs, which saw a 90% sell-through rate and exceeded the total high estimate, bringing in $522,632.…
John Larson on the cinematic history of Jack Kerouac’s ‘On the Road’ An immediate success upon its publication in 1957, Jack Kerouac’s second book, On the Road, has maintained a…
In a year that was unlike any in our lifetimes, Swann’s specialists and staff proved to be as resilient and innovative as ever, bringing forward new and safe ways to…
Jane Austen Leads Fine Books & Manuscripts at Swann Our Tuesday, November 17, 2020, sale of Fine Books & Manuscripts saw great success across categories with a 90% sell-through rate…
October brings out the inner ghoul in all of us. Our Literature Specialist, John Larson, compiled a fantasy starter collection for those interested in fantasmagoria. The Vampyre; A Tale by…
Swann Galleries saw a successful sale of Fine Books & Manuscripts on Thursday, February 20 with literature and autographs bringing strong numbers.
For the first time in nearly a decade, first editions all six of Jane Austen’s major novels will be offered in our winter 2020 sale of Fine Books & Manuscripts on February 20. The novels are set to come across the block in exceedingly rare period bindings, just as Austen herself would have seen them published, with half-title pages. Here we touch on the offering and what makes a first edition Austen novel special.
Remarkable firsts in unrestored dust jackets by Barnaby Ross, Owen Wister, Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, plus well-loved titles by Margaret Atwood, Toni Morrison and Kurt Vonnegut Vonnegut comprise this fall 2019 selection of literature.
Rare Bond Titles Lead Literature at Swann John Larson: “The enduring appeal of inscribed first editions, particularly those with significant associations, was on full display and resulted in a number of high prices, including…
On May 14, 2019, we are brought a selection of 13 Ian Fleming first editions to auction. Fleming, a former intelligence officer and journalist, debuted the stylish James Bond in…
At Auction May 14 Complete Catalogue This sale features significant material by the man behind everyone’s favorite MI6 agent, James Bond, including a first edition of Casino Royale, Ian Fleming’s…
Signed & Inscribed Oscar Wilde Play Leads Literature Auction SciFi Works Continue to Prove to be Popular in Swann Literature Sales Book collectors from far and wide partook in…
“The Transcendental Club,” as it would come to be known, was founded in Massachusetts, in September of 1836, by prominent New England intellectuals. Ralph Waldo Emerson, the primary practitioner of the…
According to our Literature specialist John D. Larson, there are five first editions of Fahrenheit 451 of interest to collectors. As with all important modern first editions, a set of criteria…
Children’s literature is a perennially popular genre. We were all children once, and the antics of Willy Wonka and imagination of Max shaped our early lives in a way that…
One of the highlights in our November 10 sale of 19th & 20th Century Literature is a scarce first edition of The Prophet, signed by its author, Kahlil Gibran, in…
Through her poignant writing and tragic story, Anne Frank has become a source of inspiration for millions. Two of our upcoming auctions feature items related to Frank, including Anne and Margot’s…
Walt Whitman was in Boston overseeing the publication of his third edition of Leaves of Grass when he attended the trial of a man who was friendly with the Thoreaus, the…
Topping our June 19, 2014 auction of 19th & 20th Century Literature was a first American edition of Herman Melville’s seminal Moby-Dick, which brought $40,000 against a pre-sale estimate of $18,000…
To celebrate the life and literary oeuvre of James Joyce on the international holiday that is Bloomsday, we are looking back on some of the many editions of James Joyce’s…
Thanks to John D. Larson, Swann’s 19th & 20th Century Literature Specialist, for contributing this post: It’s a fine thing (call it geographic serendipity) to share a similar address with someone who…
Decadent! Erotic! Phantasmagoric! Fin-de-siècle grotesqueries! Gents and ladies disporting themselves, occasionally with a zealous attention by attending friends from the animal kingdom! The provocative work of Austrian artist Franz von…
Any collector knows that the reasons behind a particular collection are often just as fascinating as the collection itself. Otto Penzler, proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York, and…