Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Auction Report: Bonham's

Bonham's held a books/manuscripts auction in New York City yesterday. Some highlights are below. Prices do not include premiums or tax.

- Declaration of Independence mania continues, as an 1818 broadside copy of the Declaration printed on vellum sold for $50,000. This version was printed at Washington, D.C. by Benjamin Owen Tyler; it's considered the first decorative print of the manuscript document, and is the first to include facsimile signatures.

- A Shakespeare Fourth Folio (London: 1685) didn't meet its low estimate, selling for just $24,000.

- A copy of the first octavo edition of Audubon's Birds of America (seven volumes, 1840-1844) sold for $35,000.

- Werner von Braun's Ph.D. dissertation with manuscript annotations fetched $27,500.