Early Printed Books: October 13, 2022 Auction Highlights

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Lot 77: Book of Hours with Illuminated Miniatures, Paris, circa 1480-1510. Estimate $20,000 to $30,000.

From the Collection of Ken Rapoport

October’s Early Printed Books sale contains a number of sections that vary in focus, beginning with another installment of Ken Rapoport’s collection. We had great success in the spring offering the first batch and are pleased to follow up with an additional 125 lots representing the collection’s strengths. Early editions of Cervantes’ books will be featured, including the first Valencia and first Brussels editions of Don Quixote, along with early English-language translations. Bidders will also have a chance at sixteenth century English literature, including a fine copy of the 1542 collected works of Chaucer, in addition to numerous lots by Donne, Milton, Sidney, Spenser, and a selection of works by Rabelais. 

At Auction October 13: left: Lot 173: Geoffrey Chaucer, The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer Newlye Printed, second edition, London, 1542. Estimate $30,000 to $50,000; right: Lot 249: Giovanni Battista Ramusio, Delle Navigationi et Viaggi, Venice, 1563; 1583; 1565. Estimate $15,000 to $20,000.
At Auction October 13: from left to right: Lot 162: Miguel de Cervantes, El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de le Mancha, first Valenica edition,Valenica, 1605. Estimate $40,000 to $60,000; Lot 168: Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don-Quichote (Quixote), The First & Second Part, London, 1620. Estimate $30,000 to $40,000; Lot 161: Miguel de Cervantes, El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de La Mancha, first Brussels edition, Brussels, 1607. Estimate $40,000 to $60,000.
At Auction October 13: left: Lot 258: Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene. Disposed into Twelve Bookes, Fashioning XII. Morall Vertues. & The Faerie Queene, Second Part, first edition, London, 1590-96. Estimate $20,000 to $30,000; right: Lot 193: John Donne, Pseudo-Martyr, Wherein out of Certain Propositions and Gradations, this Conclusion is Evicted, first edition, London, 1610. Estimate $15,000 to $20,000.

Related Reading

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William Shakespeare

Shakespeare makes several appearances in the sale, with a Fourth Folio of the complete plays, the third quarto edition of King Lear, in addition to William Henry Ireland’s notorious self-published book of his forged Shakespeare documents, and a limited edition facsimile of the First Folio. 

Lot 256: William Shakespeare, Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies, fourth folio, London, 1685. Estimate $60,000 to $80,000.

The sale will begin with a small collection of books foundational to the Early Modern/Enlightenment period formed by Stephen White, with an introductory essay on his approach to collecting. Of particular note is a rare collection of French satirical plates from the mid-seventeenth century by Jacques Lagniet. 

A selection of important books in Economics will be sold as lots 38 through 58, including works by Keynes, Malthus, Locke, along with several works by Adam Smith, and a first edition of John Stuart Mill’s Principles of Political Economy. 

At Auction October 13: left: Lot 60: Charles Darwin, Journal of Researches in Geology and Natural History of the Various Countries Visited by H.M.S Beagle, first edition, London, 1839. Estimate $6,000 to $9,000; right: Lot 25: Jacques Lagniet, Recueil des Plus Illustres Proverbes, Divisés en Trois Livre, first edition, Paris, 1657-63. Estimate $25,000 to $35,000.

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September 19, 2022
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Category: Early Printed Books
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