Records & Results: Printed & Manuscript African Americana — March 2025
Swann’s Thursday, March 20 auction of Printed & Manuscript African Americana finished at $1,116,969, one of the best sales of the year so far and one of the best since this annual auction was launched in 1996. It finished well above the presale estimate range, with a vigorous 88% sell-through rate. The sale featured competitive bidding from participants at the audience brandishing paddles, a welcome sight, although the bulk of the bidding occurred by telephone or on the Swann App.
“Institutions and private collectors are maintaining their commitment to preserving Black history. We are proud to do our small part in bringing this important material into the public eye.” — Rick Stattler, Director of Books & Manuscripts
Victor H. Green’s The Negro Travelers’ Green Book, 1958
(left) Victor H. Green, The Negro Travelers’ Green Book, 1958. Sold for $62,500.
The top lot in the sale was the 1958 edition of the Negro Travelers’ Green Book, which brought $62,500, a record for any edition of the Green Book (Previously set by Swann in 2023 for $50,000).
Fierce competitive bidding was seen across the sale. 19 different lots hammered for at least 500% of their pre-sale estimate. Most notably, David Walker’s incendiary 1830 pamphlet Walker’s Appeal . . . to the Colored Citizens of the World brought $52,500 on a $3,000-4,000 estimate; no examples had been at auction since Swann sold one in 1978.
A large collection of Pullman Porter artifacts and ephemera brought $32,500 on a $4,000-6,000 estimate; a collection of Malcolm X material from the Alex Haley estate brought $30,000 on a $4,000-6,000 estimate; a trunk of photos and records from Washington’s Club Caverns nightclub brought $40,000 on a $7,000-10,000 estimate; papers of pioneering veterinarian Jane Hinton brought $25,000 on a $4,000-6,000 estimate (as a gift to her alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania); and the Mississippi-printed Manual for Midwives by Felix J. Underwood from circa 1935 brought $13,750 on a $1,500-2,500 estimate.
Auction Records
Additional records were set for the 1825 abolitionist book The Negro’s Memorial, by Thomas Fisher at $9,375 (previously set by Swann at $6,000 in 2011); W.E.B. Du Bois’s The Quest of the Silver Fleece, $5,500 for a signed copy; the Tuskegee Airman WWII poster Keep Us Flying! Buy War Bonds, Lt. Robert W. Deiz’s (the model) copy, at $5,250 (previously set by Swann at $4,680 in 2017); a volume of the works of occult author Paschal Beverly Randolph, $4,750 (previously set by Swann at $1,000 in 2016); Solomon Northup’s Twelve Years a Slave, $8,750; and Venture Smith’s Narrative of the Life, $27,500 for a second edition.
