Free Link https://www.rarebookhub.com/auction_updates/1008

(Note to reader: The summary link above is FREE, the additional links below will function only for RBH subscribers. Results priced in $ £ €  )

Ninety-one auctions were archived by Rare Book Hub For the week ended Oct. 17. Turnover was $47,128,357. The average lot brought $2,728. 

The week brought a strong showing for photography especially at the Christie’s Photography sale. Top lot of the week was a 1494 Columbus letter which sold at Christie’s Fine Printed Books and Manuscript sale for $1,651,000 on Oct. 16. (Scroll down for more details on this item.) Christies also dominated many of the items we liked.

Eight auctions saw their total proceeds reach a million dollars:

Heritage Auctions. GACC US Currency Signature Auction on October 10th: $11,629,098

Christie’s. Spellbound: The Hegewisch Collection, Part I on October 16th: $6,472,246

Christie’s. Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts including Americana on October 16th: $5,403,342

Christie’s. Photographs on October 10th: $3,591,814

Heritage Auctions. World Paper Money Signature Auction on October 16th: $2,083,801

Rago Arts and Auctions. Prints and Multiples on October 15th: $1,756,944

Swann Galleries. Fine Photographs on October 16th: $1,507,634

Propstore. Collectible Posters Live Auction - Day 1 - Los Angeles Fall 2025 on October 10th: $1,047,501 

Some highlights from the week: The majority of the text in the notes is taken directly from the individual auction catalogs, with an occasional comment added for RBH readers.

Our mystery lot of the week was Victor Hugo estimated at €5,000 and sold for €182,000

These are our other highlights:

Goya complete set of Caprichios

Seven hand drawn Gettysburg maps by Gen. Abner Doubleday

Gordon Parks photo American Gothic

NickBrandt’s Cheetah photo up $20K from last sale a very short time

2 important Frederick Douglass items - one at Christie's, one at Fleischer’s

Columbus letter 1494- top lot of the week

Steve McCurry children portfolio 2010 - 10 images

Galileo’s Sidereus Nuncius,Venice 1610 

Albrecht Durer engraving 1513 Knight Death and the Devil

1930 Hell’s Angel color 3-sheet movie poster Jean Harlow/Howard Hughes producer, 

De animalibus, Aristotle, 1st biology text,1476, Venice

—-------------------------------------

1. Goya complete set of Los Caprichos, Madrid 1799 sold for £190,500 ($256,089) atChristie’s on Oct. 16. 

Francisco de Goya Y Lucientes (1746-1828) Los Caprichos the complete set of eighty etchings with burnished aquatint, drypoint and engraving 1797-98 on laid paper, without watermark a fine, uniform set from the First Edition published by the artist, Madrid, 1799, in an edition of approximately three hundred copies

very good to fine impressions printed in dark sepia printing sharply, with great contrasts and brightly wiped highlights, with the scratch on plate 45

the sheets loose, with wide margins

some minor foxing, otherwise in very good condition Plates 21,4 x 15,2 cm. (8 1/2 x 6 in.) (and similar)Sheets 28,8 x 19,3 cm. (11 1/3 x 7 2/3 in.) (and similar)(80).

Acquired from Galerie Kornfeld, Bern, circa 1990-95; then by descent to the present owners.

2. VICTOR HUGO ODD LOT sold for €182,000 ($212,116) at OENAT, France on Oct 15. Huge up swing from pre-sale estimate of €4,000 - 5,000 This lot was #23 of the week’s top 25 lots. Why?? Our sources tell us the the word “envoi” translated below as “dispatches” means “author inscriptions” in this context. He says the real question is why the auction house did not emphasize it?

HUGO (Victor). Set of 18 works bound in 19 in-8 volumes, including 16 with dispatches; faded and rubbed mismatched bindings with snags to headpieces, some boards detached, occasional heavy foxing, some dispatch leaves folded (several contemporary bindings, others old).

Various editions published between 1829 and 1859.

https://rarebookhub.com/auction_lot_books/9266979?key=2aa56b4d98fc3024362623c8d631a04fb2a22513&_gl=1*l536ok*_ga*NTkwNTA0MjQyLjE3MTEzMjM4MDc.*_ga_BFWQFJ209P*czE3NjA5ODAzNDMkbzQ0MyRnMSR0MTc2MDk4MTk5NSRqNjAkbDAkaDA.

3. If you’re going to spend money on an Albrecht Durer prints this is the one to have: 1513, Knight, Death and the Devil engraving sold f

or £304,800 ($409,743) at Christie’s on Oct 16.

ALBRECHT DURER (1471-1528)

on laid paper, without watermark

a fine, bright and silvery impression, Meder a-b

printing sharply, with great clarity, luminous contrasts and depth trimmed to or just outside the subject

the left sheet edge very skillfully made up, a few other minor repairs, generally in good condition. Sheet 24,5 x 18,7 cm. (9 3/4 x 7 1/4 in.)Unidentified, initials GE (...) in pencil verso (not in Lugt).

Karl & Faber, Munich, 29 May 1991, lot 45.Acquired at that sale; then by descent to the present owners.

Countless attempts have been made to identify the central figure, which Durer simply referred to as der Reuther ('the rider'). Suggestions have included emperor, pope, heretic, Germanic hero and local patrician. None of the potential candidates, either historical or mythological, have been substantiated. The knight as robber baron - a genuine threat in the days of Durer - is also lacking visual evidence. The precursors of Durer's rider are the two great equestrian statues of the Italian 15th century, Donatello's Gattamelata in Padua and Verrocchio's Colleoni in Venice, both of which Durer had seen, and - much closer to home - the Rider of Bamberg Cathedral. Whatever his true identity, Durer's rider is clearly cast in the heroic mould, a model of courage and moral strength, the Christian Knight, who does not fear Death or the Devil.

Impressions of this print can vary greatly, not just in quality, but also in character. Fine, early impressions can be dark and brooding, almost nocturnal, or luminous and silvery, suggestive of a cold winter day, such as the present example, which adds to the desolation of the scene.