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…
Who was Gerda Wegener? Since its release, David Ebershoff’s debut novel The Danish Girl and its subsequent 2015 film adaptation have reintroduced artist couple Gerda Wegener and Lili Elbe to…
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…
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…
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…
A large assemblage of extraordinary Americana autographs includes a sweeping group of presidents, and many founding fathers. More than three items are signed by George Washington, including an autograph survey…
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.
Fine Autographs Sure to arouse curiosity, the summer Fine Books & Autographs sale shines a light into some of the most sparkling gemstones of history. Bidders can explore significant material…
As we close out another successful year at Swann we look back at our record-filled sales.
November Sales at Swann Bring $6.7M November at Swann Galleries featured a marathon of fine art auctions including a two-day sale of Old Master Through Modern Prints and Master Drawings,…
An astonishing single owner sale of Contemporary Artists’ Books, many known only via institutional copies, includes an abundance of deluxe issues produced in impossibly small limitations often out of the…
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.
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.…
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…
Our sale of Fine Books & Manuscripts on Thursday, July 30, 2020 boasted high prices across categories with early printed books leading the sale, two records being recorded for literature, and autograph material from world leaders garnering attention.
Swann Galleries saw a successful sale of Fine Books & Manuscripts on Thursday, February 20 with literature and autographs bringing strong numbers.
Before being moved to its permanent home at the University of Iowa Libraries Special Collections, a choice selection of works from the Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry—the most comprehensive collection of its kind—will be offered at Swann Galleries on October 10.
Fall 2019 promises a strong collection of exquisite artist’s books, and illustrated volumes, some unique and some from fine presses, including works by Arthur Rackham, William Blake and Jean Cocteau.
Georges Rouault’s Livres d’Artiste Lead Swann Galleries’ Fine Illustrated Books & Graphics We opened out 2019 season with Fine Illustrated Books & Graphics which boasted numerous auction records and several new buyers. …
The Richard Lee Callaway Collection of Alan James Robinson & the Cheloniidae Press The collection of the late Richard Lee Callaway forms the cornerstone of the fine printing and…
Visionary Yoko Ono created “event scores” as a way to encourage people to find art and beauty in their quotidian activities. A signed first edition of her seminal self-published book…
Nahui Olin, the pseudonym of Carmen Mondragón, was a Mexican Surrealist active in the 1920s and ’30s. She hailed from the upper echelons of Mexican society, and fraternized with the…
Bernhardt Wall was an American illustrator active in the first half of the twentieth century. A selection of fine, early or test examples of his work were given to his…
One unusual piece in our December 2016 auction of Art, Press & Illustrated Books was a six-volume folio of textiles designed and produced by the WPA Handicraft Project in Milwaukee,…
Before the holidays drive you up a wall, let an unusual piece in our December 1, 2016 sale of Art, Press & Illustrated Books soothe you with harmonious colors. Famed…
While the old adage tells us that we certainly shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, it’s hard to ignore the artistry that goes into binding books and creating dust…
On May 7, 2014 Swann will auction The Edward Gorey Collection of Samuel Speigel, and the catalogue for that sale opens with this charming recollection from Speigel himself: Collecting Edward…
On May 7, 2014, Swann will auction one of the top private collections of Edward Gorey books, illustrations and ephemera as part of our Art, Press & Illustrated Books sale.…
Thursday, May 9th, our sale of Art, Press & Illustrated Books will feature the inventory of the late Irving Oaklander, known to all who sought rare books about graphic design,…
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…
There is a sign tacked to the cork board of the Art & Illustrated Books Department clipped from a forgotten source years ago that states: “What’s the difference between artist’s…
The 1931 Golden Cockerel Press edition of the Four Gospels set the text of the King James Gospels into a masterly example of book design and is considered one of…
