Records & Results: Early Printed, Medical, Scientific & Travel Books

Jean de Mandeville Reaches $100K in Early Printed Books Auction 

Philippine Imprint sets record

Our auction of Early Printed, Medical, Scientific & Travel Books garnered eager interest from bibliophiles, exceeding the sale’s high estimate and earning more than 750K. There was particularly active bidding for incunabula, Philippine imprints and works on science.

Incunabula

The top lot of the sale was a fifteenth-century edition of Reysen und Wanderschafften durch das Gelobte Land, Strassburg, 1488, by Jean de Mandeville, which sold for $106,250. The book, a seventh edition in German, translated by Otto von Diemeringen, is especially noteworthy as an account of the known world dating from the mid-fourteenth century and mentions the Holy Land, routes there from Europe, and Asia and Africa.

Lot 93: Jean de Mandeville, Reysen und Wanderschaften durch das Gelobte Land, Strassburg, 1488. Sold for $106,250

Additional incunables featured Giovanni Boccaccio’s De claris mulieribus, Louvain, 1487, the third edition of the first published work of female biography, as well as its first edition in Spanish, De las mujeres illustres en roma[n]ce, Zaragoza, 1494. The books reached $27,500 and $45,000, respectively.

Lot 83: Giovanni Boccaccio, De las mujeres illustres en roma[n]ce, first edition in Spanish, Zaragoza, 1494. Sold for $45,000.

Lot 82: Giovanni Boccaccio, De claris mulierbus, Louvain, 1487. Sold for $27,500.

A first edition of the rule of St. Benedict establishing guidelines for monastic life, published 1490, Venice, earned $7,500.

Lot 78: Saint Benedictus de Nursia, first edition of the Rule of St. Benedict establishing guidelines for monastic life, Venice, 1490. Sold for $7,500.

Philippine Imprints

Philippine imprints did exceptionally well with José Bueno Cabrera González’s Navegación Especulativa, y Prácica, Manila, 1734, bringing $55,000, a record for the work.

Lot 251: José González Cabrera Bueno, Navegación Especulativa, y Práctica, first edition, Manila, 1734. Sold for $55,000.

Other notable Philippine works included a first edition of a history of the Franciscan mission to the Far East by Juan Francisco de San Antonio. Price Realized: $18,750.

Lot 270: Juan de Francisco de San Antonio, first edition of a history of the Franciscan mission to the Far East, Sampaloc, 1738-41-44. Sold for $18,750.

Juan de la Concepción’s Historia General de Philipinas, Manila, 1788-92 sold for $16,250 and a first edition of Pedro S.J. Murillo Velarde’s Historia de la provincial de la Compañia de Jesús, Manila, 1749 earned $6,500.

Lot 246: Juan de la Concepción, Historia General de Philipinas, first edition, Sampaloc, 1788-92. Sold for $16,250.

Lot 265: Pedro S.J. Murillo Velarde, Historia de la Provincia de Philipinas, first edition, Manila, 1749. Sold for $6,500.

Science & Rocketry

A popular selection of scientific works was led by a first edition of James Clerk Maxwell’s classic A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, Oxford, 1873, which brought $7,800.

Lot 198: James Clerk Maxwell, A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, first edition, Oxford, 1873. Sold for $7,800.

A first edition of an account of Robert Hutchings Goddard’s early jet propulsion experiments, A method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes, Washington, D.C., 1919, garnered $7,500; and a first edition in English, from a limited 350 copies, of Sir Isaac Newton’s Two Treatises of the Quadrature of Curves, London, 1745, sold for $7,250.

Lot 182: Robert Hutchings Goddard, A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes, first edition, Washington, D.C., 1919. Sold for $7,500.

Lot 199: Sir Isaac Newton, Two Treatises of the Quadrature of Curves, first edition in English, London, 1745. Sold for $7,250.

Complete Results.

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