Under the name “ Rare books and manuscripts, including Americana pieces [terme désignant les artefacts liés à l’histoire et à la culture américaine, NdR]», Sotheby’s New York presented just over 200 lots, for a sale closing on June 28.
An impressive setting
Among the works spotted by collectors, an extremely rare edition of Tales of Beedle the Barda work published in 2008 by JK Rowling, alongside her Harry Potter saga. It was originally intended for a very limited production, of only six handwritten copies, for people close to the author.
Each copy is signed, and presented in a leather binding set with silver and semi-precious stones. A seventh copy was produced, sold at a charity auction in 2007: let us recall that it was then bought by the company Amazon, for the modest sum of £1.95 million, or €2.6 million…
This June 28, the new owner of one of the six original copies produced achieved a rather good deal: sold for $300,000, it originally belonged to Barry Cunningham, Rowling’s editor at Bloomsbury.
« For Barry, the man who thought a slightly too long novel about a bespectacled boy magician might sell… THANK YOU», underlines the dedication of JK at the beginning of the work.
A spell on the auction
This sale for a relatively ” modest » (the estimate was between $250,000 and $350,000) contrasts with the historic performance achieved a few days earlier by the original watercolor of the cover drawing of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in its British version.
Signed Thomas Taylor and also sold by Sotheby’s New York, the piece soared to nearly €1.8 million on June 26. In 2001, it had already gone under the hammer, but the craze was not comparable then: it was bought at the time for £85,750, or €100,000 today…
During the June 28 sale, a copy of the original 1997 print of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone went for $216,000, well exceeding the initial estimate of $100-150,000.
Other pieces sought after
The most coveted lot was quite simply the Declaration of Independence of the United States, or rather a facsimile printed on vellum by William James Stone: this impression “monumental“, originally made in 200 copies from the original, is highly sought after. In fact, only 6 copies in total remain from this very limited production dating from the beginning of the 19th century.
We had to pay $600,000 (or approximately €558,000) to afford it, all the same.
READ – An ancient book, dated 1700 years old, sold for €3.5 million
Another notable item in the sale, a copy of the first edition ofGastby the Magnificentby Francis Scott Fitzgerald, at Scribner’s, in 1925. With, of course, this famous dust jacket and its illustration signed by Francis Cugat, which has become iconic. The lucky new owner of the book lightened his bank account by $90,000 for this piece.
Photograph: Detail of the special edition of the manuscript of theTales of Beedle the Bardvendue par Sotheby’s New York (Sotheby’s New York)
