Punks, goths, mods, beatniks, club kids, and hippies: a shortlist of an endless supply of social factions that make up the fabled “underground.” In the grander societal context, they are…
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…
A question I am frequently asked by non-collectors or people new to collecting is, “How do you estimate the value of an autograph?” The question is not easy to answer…
Swann autographs specialist Marco Tomaschett visited the Schomburg Center to view their display celebrating James Baldwin’s centenary year. The exhibition is open through next year. Celebrating 100 Years of James…
In honor of the 400th anniversary of the founding of New York City, Swann Galleries is bringing back the New York sale.
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…
As a specialized auction house, Swann has the unique ability to connect collectors with their specific interests. This is especially true for aviation collectors; the auctions from our books and…
Devon Eastland, specialist for our Focus on Women auction, touches on the special nature of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights and the differences between Brontë’s female characters and those in Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield.
Collectors of Don Quixote have fastened on to the complex parameters of published editions like true bibliomaniacs. Tracking down each morsel of minutiae appeals to those of us with a…
Swann’s March 21, 2024 sale of Printed & Manuscript African Americana proved once again to be a success among institutions and collectors alike. The sale brought $967,061, closing well within…
One of our largest African Americana auctions to date includes important documentation of the abolition movement, catalogues and posters for exhibits by leading Black artists, previously unseen Black Panther material, and material on Black-owned businesses.
Nicholas D. Lowry shares his picks for The Subculture Sale. Bidding open now through February 8.
Highlights from the February 8 Subculture Sale
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…
Highlights from the December 7, 2023 auction of Maps & Atlases.
Devon Eastland shares her picks for the October 12, 2023, sale of Early Printed books. Gothic Novels If you’ve read through our offerings for the October 12, 2023, sale, you…
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…
One of the best-known modern Romanian historians, Nicolae Iorga, has the distinction of being one of the few scholars of his day or before to document the lives of educated…
One of the best-known modern Romanian historians, Nicolae Iorga, has the distinction of being one of the few scholars of his day or before to document the lives of educated…
The fall Early Printed Books auction on October 12, 2023, will feature lots from three important collectors, including more from Ken Rapaport, as well as works on the history of…
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…
Cartwright, Comedies, Tragi-Comedies, with Other Poems (1651): Books owned by Mary Kemeys Sarah Lindenbaum is an independent scholar currently working on a book about the life and library of 17th-century female…
The adventure, romance, and sometimes horror of the whaling industry have never ceased drawing the attention of collectors. Here, Rick Stattler, director of books and manuscripts, shares a selection of lots that have sold at Swann with a connection to the industry.
Spring has just about sprung, and Swann Galleries’ resident Americana specialist, and director of the house’s books and manuscripts department, is sharing a selection of lots from the 2023 auction schedule that will put you in the spirit for the season.
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…
Nineteeth Century America When thinking of autographs, the first thing to come to mind is famous signatures—John Hancock, Babe Ruth, Walt Disney, etc. Inscribed names with looping letters and distinct…
Middle Ages Through the Seventeenth Century When thinking of autographs, the first thing to come to mind is famous signatures—John Hancock, Babe Ruth, Walt Disney, etc. Inscribed names with looping…
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…
We asked Swann maps specialist Caleb Kiffer a few questions about what to consider when purchasing an antique map. How important is the map maker when considering a map? There…
The October 13, 2022 sale of Early Printed Books at Swann Galleries was the highest-gorssing auction of books in the auction house’s history at $1.1 million.
Swann Autographs specialist Marco Tomaschett shares the ins and outs of starting your own rare autograph collection If you’re new to autograph collecting, bearing in mind a few things while…
Swann’s fall 2022 auction of Printed & Manuscript Americana held on September 29 earned $960k. Civil War-era material earned nearly $470,000 of that total. Collectors joined the sale through the…
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…
Stattler explains the detective work that sometimes goes into researching an item’s history and provenance Auction houses keep one foot in the past, and one foot in the future. We are…
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.
Swann’s second annual Focus on Women sale, as its name suggests, is an opportunity to emphasize women’s experiences and contributions to literature, science, art, politics, and thought. With published and…
As we close out another successful year at Swann we look back at our record-filled sales.
The New Deal not only established a great legacy, but a greater generation of artists whose works defined the American spirit.
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,…
This past summer Swann held its first auction devoted to works by women. We are pleased to annouce another edition of this sale, to be held in June 2022, once again spearheaded by Devon Eastland, our Early Printed Books Specialist, but offering a wide assortment of material
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…
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…
Among the great American inventors, Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla are remarkable for having both collaborated and competed while developing some of the most transformative modern technologies. Although Edison is…
When I was an undergraduate, I only knew George Parker Winship’s name because of the series of lectures delivered in his honor at the Houghton Library. The topic of one…
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.
Pictured here is Marvin Newma