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For the week ended November 14, 2025, ninety auctions were archived to the Rare Book Hub’s database. Turnover was $14,858,204. The average lot brought $1,065.

Four auctions saw their total proceeds reach a million dollars:

Rago Arts and Auctions. Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale on November 12th: $1,648,739

Freeman's | Hindman. Fine Printed Books & Manuscripts, Including Americana on November 13th: $1,245,636

Heritage Auctions. Concert Posters Signature Auction on November 7th: $1,212,647

Heritage Auctions. Celebrating 70 Years of Disneyland - Featuring the Marc and Alice Davis Archive Part II Animation Art Signature Auction on November 10th: $1,138,445 

Highlights of the Week

Contemporary music posters cut a wide swath through the auction results this week with seven of the top 25 prices realized going to posters from the 20th century promoting appearance by pop groups such as Buddy Holly, the Grateful Dead and the Rolling Stones. All sold at Heritage. More traditional antiquarian material was also evident with works by Shakespeare, Dante, Ernest Hemingway, Frank Herbert, William Carlos Williams, Isaac Asimov, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and other notable authors also showing solid results. 

For book people the sale of the week at Freeman's | Hindman, see the link to all the items sold in the listing above. This sale was a stand out not only for the top sellers, but for consistently interesting antiquarian books in many fields.

1. (1663) Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies, Published according to the true Original Copies - the Third Impression sold for $121,150 at Freeman's | Hindman Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts including Americana sale on Nov. 13. The hammer price was more than double the pre-sale estimate.

SHAKESPEARE, William (1564-1616). Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies. Published according to the true Original Copies. The Third Impression. [London: Printed for Philip Chetwinde, 1663].

A PREVIOUSLY UNRECORDED COPY OF THE THIRD FOLIO. AN EXCESSIVELY RARE FIRST ISSUE without the portrait on the "To the Readers" leaf and without the seven plays which were added to the second issue. Up until recently, this copy was unrecorded in the Shakespeare Census. More extensive catalog notes are available in the link below.

https://rarebookhub.com/auction_lot_books/9341684?key=524ada4de978c14c7c161356f00648a47437b37c

2. Grateful Dead 1965, Palo Alto, CA, poster Can You Pass the Acid Test? sold at Heritage for $93,750 on Nov. 7 in their Concert Posters Signature Auction.

According to the catalog notes this event would be the third public Acid Test, led by Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, held at the Big Beat Club in Palo Alto, California on Saturday night, December 18, 1965. Designed by Merry Prankster Paul Foster. Some collectors don't know that in addition to goldenrod, this poster was also printed on white paper and blue paper, three colors in all. This auction's specimen is a white-paper one,  with the embellishment of random rust-colored paint on the front and red spray-paint on the verso. The catalog notes are extensive and make much of the fact that this sheet was actually posted at the time of the event and used to draw an audience for an early Dead concert.

https://rarebookhub.com/auction_lot_books/9265283?key=659a2e078f983f1b57aadba727640acc0e5f0a49

3. Three Stories and Ten Poems by Ernest Hemingway, Paris, 1923 sold for $83,050 at Freeman’s | Hindman on Nov 13.

This is a presentation copy inscribed by Hemingway, AN EXTREMELY FINE AND PARTIALLY UNOPENED FIRST EDITION OF HEMINGWAY'S FIRST BOOK, one of 300 copies printed. 

5. A 1965 first edition signed presentation copy of Frank Herbert’s Dune sold at Freeman's | Hindman for $48,000 on Nov. 13.

FIRST EDITION. INSCRIBED BY HERBERT on title-page. In the FIRST ISSUE color pictorial dust jacket by John Schoenherr, with the price $5.95 at the upper right corner of the front flap and the publisher's imprint in four lines at the bottom of the rear flap.

Frank Herbert spent over five years researching, writing, and revising his manuscript for Dune, which would go on to win the 1965 Nebula and 1966 Hugo Awards for Best Novel and is today regarded as one of the greatest science fiction novels ever published. The work gained particular acclaim for its emphasis on human relationships over technology, as well as its exploration of various cultural influences. It was first adapted into film in 1984 by David Lynch and was adapted again into a trilogy directed by Denis Villeneuve, with the first installment releasing in 2021 and going on to win six Academy Awards. According to his son, Brian Herbert, the whole edition comprised 3,500 copies, of which 1,300 defective copies were discarded. The high pre-sale estimate on this book was $12,000.

https://rarebookhub.com/auction_lot_books/9341616?key=cb701197f1632a091dd4cb38e622993e83697ebf

6. The splendid first Florentine 1481 edition of Dante’s the Divine Comedy, with illustrations from Botticelli's drawings, and Landino's commentary sold for €39,300 ($45,533) at Finate on Nov. 12.

Florence, Nicolo di Lorenzo dalla Magna, 1481. In 2deg. 416 x 285 mm. Two illustrations in the text at the beginning of the cantos of the Inferno, one on leaf a1 and the other on leaf b1, by Baccio Baldini based on DRAWINGS BY BOTTICELLI, first and last quire with shorter leaves perhaps from another copy, marginal restorations on some leaves, SPLENDID BINDING OF THE ARMS OF THE MARCHESE GIROLAMO D'ADDA , signed Binda (Milan), with gold decorations on the covers and spine, later perhaps merged with that of the English bibliophile Charles Fairfax Murray; noble coat of arms printed on the first and last leaves by WALTER ASHBURNER , Florence.

https://rarebookhub.com/auction_lot_books/9317894?key=51e63de39615f21a4c7387159a864ff6e450e5eb

7. An exceptional calligraphic manuscript of Le Morte d'Arthur c1910 sold at Freeman's | Hindman for $41,600 on Nov. 13.

[CALLIGRAPHIC MANUSCRIPT]. SANGORSKI, Alberto, calligrapher and illuminator. -- TENNYSON, Alfred, Lord (1809-1892). Le Morte d'Arthur. [London, ca 1910]. 4to (225 x 168 mm). A SUPERB ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM IN A RICHLY TOOLED AND DECORATED BINDING, 12 leaves (i.e. written or decorated on 22 pages, including colophon), plus 4 blank vellum leaves at front and 4 at rear, written in a semi-gothic script in black, with some initial letters, words or pagination in red, 3 FULL-PAGE VIGNETTE MINIATURES; red silk protective liners at the ends of the manuscript protecting the illumination on the opening and closing leaves. IN AN EXCEPTIONAL BINDING BY RIVIERE. 

https://rarebookhub.com/auction_lot_books/9341580?key=5ce116f400b1780503ba9fdf2adfe1152bcbf5ac

8. Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy first editions with dust jackets sold at Freeman's | Hindman for $6,080 on Nov. 13.

ASIMOV, Isaac (1920-1992). [The Foundation Trilogy]. Foundation. 1951. -- Foundation and Empire. 1952. -- Second Foundation. 1953. New York: Gnome Press.

Together 3 volumes, 8vo. Original cloth [Foundation and Foundation and Empire binding A; Second Foundation binding B]: blue cloth [Foundation], red cloth [Foundation and Empire], and mint-green cloth [Second Foundation] (minor rubbing to some extremities, spine slightly leaning); dust jackets (Foundation and Empire price-clipped, minor sunning to spines, light wear to spine ends).FIRST EDITIONS, IN FIRST STATE DUST JACKETS. 

According to Asimov the inspiration for the Foundation trilogy was Edward Gibbon's The History and Decline of the Roman Empire, with a Galactic Empire on the verge of collapse standing in for the Roman Empire. From May 1942 to January 1950 Asimov published a series of eight short stories and novellas in Astounding Science-Fiction which were then collected and published by the Gnome Press over two years as Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation. Over a decade after its publication the series won the 1966 Hugo Award for Best All-Time Series, and its influence has been felt in later iconic works of science fiction and non-fiction alike including Dune and A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Currey, pp.17, 19.

https://rarebookhub.com/auction_lot_books/9341564?key=b21118ac289b4a06686c0049a4ead051a2df0635

9. Spring and All by William Carlos Williams, 1923, limited to 300 copies sold at Freeman's | Hindman for $5,440 on Nov. 13. The pre-sale high estimate was $800.

WILLIAMS, Carlos William (1883-1963). Spring and All. Paris [and Dijon: Maurice Darantiere for] Contact Publishing, 1923. 8vo. Original printed grey blue wrappers, uncut (extremities toned, separation along front joint, some tiny chips to spine ends); folding case.

FIRST EDITION, LIMITED TO 300 COPIES, many of which were confiscated and destroyed by American customs officials, "as foreign stuff and therefore probably salacious and destructive of American morals. In effect, Spring and All all but disappeared as a cohesive text until its republication nearly ten years after Williams' death" (Paul Mariani, William Carlos Williams, pp.208-209). Spring and All was cited as one of the 88 "Books That Shaped America.”

https://rarebookhub.com/auction_lot_books/9341719?key=a132c9950cc19a3401c933ceda44f1f341aa07f5

10. A signed and dedicated copy of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s book EL CORONEL NO TIENE QUIEN LE ESCRIBA in the 1961 Colombian edition sold for 43,750 Mexican pesos ($2,391) at Morton Subastas (Mexico City) on Nov. 13.

(Computer translated from Spanish)

GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ (COLOMBIA, 1927–2014)

NO ONE WRITES TO THE COLONEL

MEDELLÍN: AGUIRRE EDITOR, 1961

4to, 90 pp. First edition Signed and dedicated by the author. Spine with minor losses Paperback binding

According to the Wikipedia entry: “No One Writes to the Colonel (Spanish: El coronel no tiene quien le escriba) is a novella written by the Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It also gives its name to a short story collection. García Márquez considered it his best book, saying that he had to write One Hundred Years of Solitude so that people would read No One Writes to the Colonel.

The novella was written between 1956 and 1957 while the author was living in Paris and was first published in 1958, in Mito Revista Bimestral de Cultura v. IV no. 19 (May-June 1958), with first separate publication in 1961.

https://rarebookhub.com/auction_lot_books/9340539?key=9c82bd1641f2fef09aa44adaaacc97a46769d3e9

A selection of upcoming AUCTIONS:

Wed. Nov. 19th

Bonhams. London, New Bond Street. Books, Atlases, and Manuscripts. 236 lots

University Archives. Wilton. Rare Autographs, Manuscripts & Books. 462 lots

Rago Arts and Auctions. Chicago. The Color Revolution. Rare & Important Posters. 228 lots

Sothebys. New York. Leonard A. Lauder, Collector | Day Auction. 3 lots

Sothebys. New York. Contemporary Day Auction. 23 lots

Thu. Nov. 20th

Forum Auctions. London. Fine Books, Manuscripts, and Works on Paper. 262 lots

PBA Galleries. Berkeley. Rare & Antiquarian Books. 383 lots

Potter and Potter Auctions. Chicago. Fine Books & Artwork from the George D. Lacy & Louis A. Irmo Collections. 564 lots

Bonhams. London, New Bond Street. Contemporary Editions x Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair.

Swann Galleries. New York. Printed and Manuscript Americana. 360 lots

Bonhams. London, New Bond Street. Deeds Not Words. A Women's Suffrage Collection. 61 lots

RR Auction. Amherst. Decoding History: Kryptos, Enigma, and the Rosetta Stone. 14 lots

Sothebys. Paris. Books and Manuscripts. 95 lots

Sothebys. Paris. The Library of Jean-Paul Morin/Never Lost at Sea. 160 lots

Neal Auction Company. New Orleans. Louisiana Purchase Auction - Session I. 40 lots

Heritage Auctions. Dallas. Movie Poster Signature Auction. 519 lots

Fri. Nov. 21st

Damien Voglaire. Brussels. Books and Paintings. 332 lots

Bonhams. New York. The Gene Hackman Collection, Part II. 34 lots

Neal Auction Company. New Orleans. Louisiana Purchase Auction - Session II. 28 lots

Rago Arts and Auctions. Lambertville. Photographs Unlimited. 168 lots

Sat. Nov. 22nd

Trillium Antique Prints & Rare Books. Franklin. Fine Art - Antique Engravings & Lithographs - Works on Paper. 150 lots

Damien Voglaire. Brussels. Books. 445 lots

Fleischer's Auctions. Columbus. Part 1: Alejandro de Quesada, Jr. Collection. 57 lots

Vogt Auction. San Antonio. The Texas Ranch Auction.

Arader Galleries. New York City. Fine Art, Rare Maps and Natural History. 208 lots

Kolbe and Fanning Numismatic Booksellers. Gahanna. Important Numismatic Literature. 503 lots

Early American. Rancho Santa Fe. History Auction. 199 lots

Sun. Nov. 23rd

Bukowskis. Stockholm. John Bauer.

Sydney Rare Book Auctions. Ultimo. Gary Gorton Crime Fiction Collection Part 9.

Email Hammer_Price auctionnews2025@gmail.com

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End #15 wk ending 11/14/25    Submitted 11/17/25