Americana Leads Hindman’s August 8th Fine Books and Manuscripts Auction
Leslie Hindman Auctioneers’ August 8th Fine Books and Manuscripts auction was a great success, thanks to competitive bidding online, on the telephones and in the full house. The majority of the many highlights hailed from private Midwest collections.
John James Audubon led the auction, with a rare studio proof of The Great Blue Heron, Plate CCXI, selling for $85,400, and a small watercolor chipmunk, likely an early study attributed to Audubon, exceeding its conservative $4,000-6,000 presale estimate and selling for a surprising $10,370.
Records were set in Americana, including a three-volume set of original photographs of the Columbian Exposition by C.D. Arnold, which brought $5,612 against a pre-sale estimate of $1,000-2,000, and Nicolay and Hay’s Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln, bound by the Monastery Hill Bindery and embellished with 142 autographed letters and documents, which sold for an unprecedented $54,900.
Other featured books and manuscripts in the sale included a fine copy of Isaac Newton’s Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica, the Third edition, 1726, a presentation copy from Bern Dibner of the Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology at the Smithsonian Institute, $18,300; Derriere le miroir, Numbers 66-67-68, 1954, complete with 11 lithographs by Marc Chagall, $10,370; Continental Army discharge papers signed by George Washington, June 6, 1783, $9,760; and the first folio bible printed in the United States, by Isaiah Thomas, brought $6,100 against a presale estimate of $800-1,200.
Rounding out the sale highlights were a pair of Indian miniatures in the Mughal style depicting royal subjects and enclosed in ornate gilt borders, which brought an impressive $15,860 against a presale estimate of $1,000-2,000 thanks to active overseas bidding by telephone.
Leslie Hindman Auctioneers is currently accepting consignments through September 19th for the upcoming November 7th auction.
CHICAGO | 312.280.1212 | www.lesliehindman.com