AbeBooks most expensive sales for April 2008
Ten most expensive AbeBooks sales for April 2008 across all sites
1) Autographed Letter by Edward Lear - $11,491.31
A two-page illustrated autograph letter by the nonsense poet Edward Lear, most renowned for writing The Owl and the Pussycat, dated 9th September 1867. The letter contains detailed self-caricature sketch showing Lear with outstretched limbs, as well as a comedic request to visit the recipient.
2) Biblia Latina Printed by Johannes Herbort de Seligenstadt - $11,491.31
Printed in 1484, these bibles were the first to use the original Greek and Hebrew manuscripts to improve the common Latin Vulgate bible text. The first “Fontibus Ex Graecis” Biblia Latina was published 1479 by Amerbach and was named after the first line of three distichs (couplets) that were included in the texts. Johannes Herbort de Seligenstadt used Amerbach’s revised second edition for this Biblia Latina.
3) Historia Plantarum Universalis by Johann Bauhin - $10,255.66
Botanist Johann Bauhin’s great work, Printed at Yverdun in 1650-1651. These famous volumes contain botanical data for thousands of species with considerable attention paid to different varieties of the same plant.
4) Primo Tentativo di un Catalogo Generale delle Monete Medievali e Moderne Coniate in Italia o da Italiani in Altri Paesi by Corpus Nummorum Italicorum - $7500
Twenty volumes, 1910-1943. The standard reference on Italian coins from the middle Ages down to the early 20th century, an outstanding set.
5) Viaggio Negle Stati Uniti Dell`America Settentrio by Luigi Castiglioni - $7500
Account of the travels of the young count Castiglioni (1757-1832); who was the first Italian to travel the American South. His narrative is an important overview of the United States for the time, especially for agricultural and botanical information. Two volumes.
6) AMBIX by Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry - $5688.57
53 Volumes of the official journal for the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry 1937/38-2006
7) Comedias Verdaderas by Tirso de Molina - $5300
Three volumes printed from 1734-1736. A beautiful third edition of the Truth Comedies by the Spanish Baroque poet and playwright who gave the world Don Juan.
8) The Works of Samuel Beckett by Samuel Beckett – $5182.85
Complete set of this very rare limited edition of the works of Samuel Beckett, published in 1970 to celebrate the award of the Nobel Prize to him. This is No. 195 of only 200 sets. “Waiting for Godot” is signed by Beckett under the limitation notice.
9) Mémoire pour le Sieur de de Boishebert by Charles Deschamps of Boishebert - $4719.88
Charles Deschamps of Boishebert born in Quebec in 1727, as a Marine officer he played an important role in various command posts, between 1746 and 1760. This book gives detailed descriptions of several historical events in this period and the role played by Boishebert.
10) Histoire de l’oeil by Lord Auch - $4566.15
The Story of the Eye, written by Georges Bataille (1897–1962), details the sexual experimentation of two teenage lovers, and their increasing perversion. The book is widely considered not only the best surrealist work of fiction but also the most important erotic novel written since 1900