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<b>Bonhams:</b> MANDELSHTAM, OSIP. 1891-1938. Autograph Manuscript, 2 pp, [Petersburg,] January 1913, entitled

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The AE Top 500 Book Auction Results For 2005! - By Michael Stillman American Flamingo from J.J. Audubon's Birds of America. By Michael Stillman Another year has come to a close, and before we move on to the new year at hand, it is time to take a look at the top auction sales for 2005. Exactly one year ago, we issued the first annual listing of the top 350 sales of books, manuscripts, and related ephemera at auction. This year we go 150 better. We present the top 500 list, and for those in a rush, the link to the *AE 500* can be found near the end of this article. Some people fear that the growing presence of eBay and other online resources will spell the doom of the traditional auction. If so, there was no sign of this impending collapse in 2005. Sales were most impressive. Here at the AE, we follow around 100 auction houses, from those that average less than one book auction per year to those that feature books every few weeks. In total, we covered 343 auctions, offering over 160,000 lots. From these we culled the top 500 prices paid. At the top, the price was over $5.6 million, almost double that of number two and of last year's number one. At the bottom, the price was still $72,000. Think about that. Five hundred items sold for $72,000 or more at auction last year. You'd have to earn $8.20 per hour and work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to buy the cheapest item on the list. Not too many work-a-day folks were making purchases from this collection. Much of what you will find on this list are not really "books." Manuscripts are a staple of higher priced book auctions and tend to go for top prices because of their one-of-a-kind nature. So, you will see names like Washington and Lincoln, Einstein and Stravinsky, in this list, but for handwritten rather than printed matter. There are also items of art, drawings, an occasional painting and even photographs. Many of these are signed. They may appear borderline for applicability to this list, but we have chosen to include them when they have some printing, manuscript or ephemeral connection and were sold in auctions heavily focused on this type of material. Artistic items sold at art auctions are not included. As was the case last year, two auction houses dominate the highest listings: Sotheby's and Christie's. If you have a million dollar book to sell, we recommend consulting these two firms. Together, they held 95 of the top 100 spots. Sotheby's had 58, Christie's 37. With one apiece were Bonham's, Bruun Rasmussen, Swann Galleries, Bloomsbury, and The Romantic Agony. The second one hundred adds Freeman's, Pacific Book Auction, and Zisska and Kistner to the list, but the big two continue to dominate. After that comes Hauswedell and Nolte, Lyon and Turnbull, Mealy's, Reiss and Sohn, and Dorotheum. In 2005, there were eight items that sold for over $1 million, 311 over $100,000. The millionaires were double 2004, but at $100,000, the numbers were just about the same. That latter figure is an indication that, at least at the top, prices from 2004 to 2005 were roughly the same.
The AE Top 500 Book Auction Results For 2005! - By Michael Stillman Getting your tail reattached is easily worth $144,000; right, Eeyore? We know the anticipation must be getting unbearable now, and everyone is always looking to count down a top ten list. Just a moment. First, a look at some of the items that did not quite make it to the top, but aren't too shabby either. Here we go. At the bottom of the list is a $100,000 broadside reward for John Wilkes Booth and his accomplices for the murder of Abraham Lincoln. $72,000. The same price would have brought you a collection of 48 postcards from the 1939 opening of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, signed by the likes of Cy Young, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Honus Wagner, and many more. Number 479 is an inscribed first edition of Tolkien's Hobit, rediscovered by a new generation through the magic of film. $78,000. A Jefferson letter defending the American entrance into the War of 1812, a photo album from the 1936 Olympics by photographer/Nazi apologist Leni Riefenstahl, and Babe Ruth's 1930 baseball player's contract sold for $84,000 apiece. Ruth was paid less than that, $80,000, to play for the Yankees for the following two seasons. Robert E. Lee's signed farewell to his troops, a day after the Appomattox surrender, sold for $90,000. A signed first American edition of Huckleberry Finn brought $108,000. John Peter Zenger's account of his own trial, which established the principle that no one can be convicted for libel for speaking the truth, sold for $120,000. Mary Shelley's first edition Frankenstein brought roughly the same. A hand-colored 1595 Ortelius atlas came in at $131,000. A first edition of the Origin of the Species, still seemingly controversial in America, went for $132,000. An original pen and ink drawing of Christopher Robin nailing Eeyore's tail back on for Winnie-the-Pooh brought $144,000. Shakespeare folios are becoming very hard to get. It took $156,000 last year just to get a fourth folio. One of the foundations of Americana, a Lewis and Clark first edition, cost the same. Ditto for a McKenney and Hall North American Indians. A one-leaf Isaac Newton signed manuscript brought $163,000. The first printing of the U.S. Constitution in the Pennsylvania Packet hammered down at $207,225. An inscribed first of Walden by Thoreau tipped in at $216,000. A copy of The Boke of Hawkynge and Huntynge and Fysshynge, the earliest printed fishing book, brought $228,000. Philobiblion, the first book on book collecting (1473) sold for $240,000. It took $262,400 to win a letter from the obscure President William Henry Harrison to his wife. Why so pricey? It is one of the few documents Harrison wrote as president, as he died 30 days into office. The first printing (outside of newspapers) of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address was sold for $307,200. An autographed manuscript of Schumann's Second Symphony took in $626,000 for its owner. Lincoln is back again with a signed copy of the Emancipation Proclamation, which emancipated $688,000 from the wallet of its purchaser. But, enough for the small stuff. The time has come for the top ten. So, without wasting any further time, we now proceed with the top ten book and book-related items sold at auction in 2005.
The AE Top 500 Book Auction Results For 2005! - By Michael Stillman This 15th century Virgil illuminated manuscript took in over $3 million. 10. Two original drafts of the Balfour Declaration and dozens of other documents forming a collection of founding materials for the State of Israel. $884,000. 9. A dedication copy of the first printed book on algebra by Luca Pacioli, dated 1494. $972,000. 8. A no later than 1470 vellum copy of one of the greatest classic natural history works by Pliny The Elder. $1,095,000. 7. A pre-Norman Conquest (1066) Anglo-Saxon manuscript. Manuscripts of this age are practically unobtainable in the market, this being the exception. $1,400,000. 6. Edward Curtis' North American Indian Portfolios and Volumes, with a signed forward by Theodore Roosevelt. $1,416,000. 5. A mid-13th century three-volume Bible from northern France. $1,849,000. 4. The lost autograph manuscript of Beethoven's Grosse Fuge in B Flat Major. $2,052,000. 3. The two-volume Italian Doria Atlas, circa 1570, containing 188 manuscript and printed maps. $2,664,000. 2. A 1459 244-leaf illuminated manuscript from Italy of Virgil's ancient Roman epic, from the collection of Dr. Martin Bodmer. $3,072,000. 1. The double-elephant folio broadsheets comprising the first publication of John James Audubon's Birds of America. Some people consider this second only in collectibility of printed material to the Gutenberg Bible. This was a one-owner copy, purchased new and held continuously by the Providence (Rhode Island) Athenaeum. $5,616,000. For the complete *AE 500* list for 2005, CLICK HERE. Note that the titles for each listing are actually links to their full descriptions. So much for the past. For those of you who would like to see what comes up for sale in 2006, maybe even make a purchase, AE offers some excellent tools. On the top of this (and every) page, you will see a keyword search box for live auctions. Simply enter a topic or name of interest and we will instantly search the posted listings for books and related material from over one hundred worldwide auction houses. There is simply no other easy way to search the listings of so many different auctions.
The AE Top 500 Book Auction Results For 2005! - By Michael Stillman none Here is another way to check auction listings. Go to our home page (click the AE logo at the top of this page). You will see a calendar of dates with upcoming auctions on the lower right side of the page. Click on the heading "Auctions in this month." This will bring you to a calendar of auctions scheduled for this month. At the top, you will see links to previous and future months. Click on the name of any auction house on the calendar to see their listings. Those in green have items posted, those in brown do not yet. For dates in the past with red diamonds after the house's name, results have been posted. Check out the actual prices the items brought. These services are totally free. Thirty days after the sale, all sales results are entered into the AE Bibliographic Database (AED). The AED includes all auction results for the past two years, plus over one million other records from older auctions, booksellers' catalogues, and bibliographies. Most records include prices, and a price-estimating tool is provided in the AED that allows you to compute approximate current values for older prices. This is the quickest, easiest tool there is for finding realistic values and bibliographic records for collectible printed material. No bookseller or serious collector should be without it. This is an inexpensive subscription service, and you can sign up for a week, month, or year by clicking the "Become a Member" link in the box at the top left of the page (or click "Personal Homepage" in this box if you are a free member to upgrade). Once you sign up, the "keyword search" and "advanced search" links under "Subscriber Services" on the left toolbar will become search links into the AED. You will be amazed by the amount of impossible to find, valuable information available to you.

The AE Top 500 Book Auction Results For 2005!

- By Michael Stillman

American Flamingo from J.J. Audubon's Birds of America.

By Michael Stillman

Another year has come to a close, and before we move on to the new year at hand, it is time to take a look at the top auction sales for 2005. Exactly one year ago, we issued the first annual listing of the top 350 sales of books, manuscripts, and related ephemera at auction. This year we go 150 better. We present the top 500 list, and for those in a rush, the link to the AE 500 can be found near the end of this article.

Some people fear that the growing presence of eBay and other online resources will spell the doom of the traditional auction. If so, there was no sign of this impending collapse in 2005. Sales were most impressive. Here at the AE, we follow around 100 auction houses, from those that average less than one book auction per year to those that feature books every few weeks. In total, we covered 343 auctions, offering over 160,000 lots. From these we culled the top 500 prices paid. At the top, the price was over $5.6 million, almost double that of number two and of last year's number one. At the bottom, the price was still $72,000. Think about that. Five hundred items sold for $72,000 or more at auction last year. You'd have to earn $8.20 per hour and work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to buy the cheapest item on the list. Not too many work-a-day folks were making purchases from this collection.

Much of what you will find on this list are not really "books." Manuscripts are a staple of higher priced book auctions and tend to go for top prices because of their one-of-a-kind nature. So, you will see names like Washington and Lincoln, Einstein and Stravinsky, in this list, but for handwritten rather than printed matter. There are also items of art, drawings, an occasional painting and even photographs. Many of these are signed. They may appear borderline for applicability to this list, but we have chosen to include them when they have some printing, manuscript or ephemeral connection and were sold in auctions heavily focused on this type of material. Artistic items sold at art auctions are not included.

As was the case last year, two auction houses dominate the highest listings: Sotheby's and Christie's. If you have a million dollar book to sell, we recommend consulting these two firms. Together, they held 95 of the top 100 spots. Sotheby's had 58, Christie's 37. With one apiece were Bonham's, Bruun Rasmussen, Swann Galleries, Bloomsbury, and The Romantic Agony. The second one hundred adds Freeman's, Pacific Book Auction, and Zisska and Kistner to the list, but the big two continue to dominate. After that comes Hauswedell and Nolte, Lyon and Turnbull, Mealy's, Reiss and Sohn, and Dorotheum.

In 2005, there were eight items that sold for over $1 million, 311 over $100,000. The millionaires were double 2004, but at $100,000, the numbers were just about the same. That latter figure is an indication that, at least at the top, prices from 2004 to 2005 were roughly the same.

The AE Top 500 Book Auction Results For 2005!

- By Michael Stillman

Getting your tail reattached is easily worth $144,000; right, Eeyore?

We know the anticipation must be getting unbearable now, and everyone is always looking to count down a top ten list. Just a moment. First, a look at some of the items that did not quite make it to the top, but aren't too shabby either. Here we go.

At the bottom of the list is a $100,000 broadside reward for John Wilkes Booth and his accomplices for the murder of Abraham Lincoln. $72,000. The same price would have brought you a collection of 48 postcards from the 1939 opening of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, signed by the likes of Cy Young, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Honus Wagner, and many more. Number 479 is an inscribed first edition of Tolkien's Hobit, rediscovered by a new generation through the magic of film. $78,000. A Jefferson letter defending the American entrance into the War of 1812, a photo album from the 1936 Olympics by photographer/Nazi apologist Leni Riefenstahl, and Babe Ruth's 1930 baseball player's contract sold for $84,000 apiece. Ruth was paid less than that, $80,000, to play for the Yankees for the following two seasons.

Robert E. Lee's signed farewell to his troops, a day after the Appomattox surrender, sold for $90,000. A signed first American edition of Huckleberry Finn brought $108,000. John Peter Zenger's account of his own trial, which established the principle that no one can be convicted for libel for speaking the truth, sold for $120,000. Mary Shelley's first edition Frankenstein brought roughly the same. A hand-colored 1595 Ortelius atlas came in at $131,000. A first edition of the Origin of the Species, still seemingly controversial in America, went for $132,000. An original pen and ink drawing of Christopher Robin nailing Eeyore's tail back on for Winnie-the-Pooh brought $144,000.

Shakespeare folios are becoming very hard to get. It took $156,000 last year just to get a fourth folio. One of the foundations of Americana, a Lewis and Clark first edition, cost the same. Ditto for a McKenney and Hall North American Indians. A one-leaf Isaac Newton signed manuscript brought $163,000. The first printing of the U.S. Constitution in the Pennsylvania Packet hammered down at $207,225. An inscribed first of Walden by Thoreau tipped in at $216,000. A copy of The Boke of Hawkynge and Huntynge and Fysshynge, the earliest printed fishing book, brought $228,000. Philobiblion, the first book on book collecting (1473) sold for $240,000. It took $262,400 to win a letter from the obscure President William Henry Harrison to his wife. Why so pricey? It is one of the few documents Harrison wrote as president, as he died 30 days into office.

The first printing (outside of newspapers) of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address was sold for $307,200. An autographed manuscript of Schumann's Second Symphony took in $626,000 for its owner. Lincoln is back again with a signed copy of the Emancipation Proclamation, which emancipated $688,000 from the wallet of its purchaser. But, enough for the small stuff. The time has come for the top ten. So, without wasting any further time, we now proceed with the top ten book and book-related items sold at auction in 2005.

The AE Top 500 Book Auction Results For 2005!

- By Michael Stillman

This 15th century Virgil illuminated manuscript took in over $3 million.

10. Two original drafts of the Balfour Declaration and dozens of other documents forming a collection of founding materials for the State of Israel. $884,000.

9. A dedication copy of the first printed book on algebra by Luca Pacioli, dated 1494. $972,000.

8. A no later than 1470 vellum copy of one of the greatest classic natural history works by Pliny The Elder. $1,095,000.

7. A pre-Norman Conquest (1066) Anglo-Saxon manuscript. Manuscripts of this age are practically unobtainable in the market, this being the exception. $1,400,000.

6. Edward Curtis' North American Indian Portfolios and Volumes, with a signed forward by Theodore Roosevelt. $1,416,000.

5. A mid-13th century three-volume Bible from northern France. $1,849,000.

4. The lost autograph manuscript of Beethoven's Grosse Fuge in B Flat Major. $2,052,000.

3. The two-volume Italian Doria Atlas, circa 1570, containing 188 manuscript and printed maps. $2,664,000.

2. A 1459 244-leaf illuminated manuscript from Italy of Virgil's ancient Roman epic, from the collection of Dr. Martin Bodmer. $3,072,000.

1. The double-elephant folio broadsheets comprising the first publication of John James Audubon's Birds of America. Some people consider this second only in collectibility of printed material to the Gutenberg Bible. This was a one-owner copy, purchased new and held continuously by the Providence (Rhode Island) Athenaeum. $5,616,000.

For the complete AE 500 list for 2005, CLICK HERE. Note that the titles for each listing are actually links to their full descriptions.

So much for the past. For those of you who would like to see what comes up for sale in 2006, maybe even make a purchase, AE offers some excellent tools. On the top of this (and every) page, you will see a keyword search box for live auctions. Simply enter a topic or name of interest and we will instantly search the posted listings for books and related material from over one hundred worldwide auction houses. There is simply no other easy way to search the listings of so many different auctions.

The AE Top 500 Book Auction Results For 2005!

- By Michael Stillman

none

Here is another way to check auction listings. Go to our home page (click the AE logo at the top of this page). You will see a calendar of dates with upcoming auctions on the lower right side of the page. Click on the heading "Auctions in this month." This will bring you to a calendar of auctions scheduled for this month. At the top, you will see links to previous and future months. Click on the name of any auction house on the calendar to see their listings. Those in green have items posted, those in brown do not yet. For dates in the past with red diamonds after the house's name, results have been posted. Check out the actual prices the items brought. These services are totally free.

Thirty days after the sale, all sales results are entered into the AE Bibliographic Database (AED). The AED includes all auction results for the past two years, plus over one million other records from older auctions, booksellers' catalogues, and bibliographies. Most records include prices, and a price-estimating tool is provided in the AED that allows you to compute approximate current values for older prices. This is the quickest, easiest tool there is for finding realistic values and bibliographic records for collectible printed material. No bookseller or serious collector should be without it. This is an inexpensive subscription service, and you can sign up for a week, month, or year by clicking the "Become a Member" link in the box at the top left of the page (or click "Personal Homepage" in this box if you are a free member to upgrade). Once you sign up, the "keyword search" and "advanced search" links under "Subscriber Services" on the left toolbar will become search links into the AED. You will be amazed by the amount of impossible to find, valuable information available to you.