An iconic children’s book, the genesis of science fiction, Italian Futurist manifestos, and much more.
Welcome to our most expensive sales of 2024. Leading the list is a book which features the quote, ‘It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends’ – can you guess the title?
Plus, explore a collection from someone 'mad, bad and dangerous to know’ and a letter whose writer continues to inspire the most famous entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley, 80 years after their ideas were first published.
A collection of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" first editions by J. K. Rowling - £80,000
It usually takes decades for a book to gain significant value in the rare book market and enter ‘collectible’ territory. The Harry Potter series, with its last book published in 2007, is a significant exception.
This Harry Potter collection has become the third most expensive sale on AbeBooks of all time, and it is unique for a few reasons. Not only does it contain four hardcover first edition copies of the book to kick off Potter-mania. Each copy represents a different impression of the first UK edition, each with its own idiosyncrasies. In the first impression, for example, there is an error on page 53. In the list of school supplies Harry will need for Hogwarts, ‘wand’ is listed twice.
This is the second first impression copy of this title to make AbeBooks’ list of the most expensive sales of all time. The first sold for £70,000 in 2023.
Sold by First and Fine
At First and Fine we have sold several UK first edition copies of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone over the years, but this was the first time we found a new home for the first four impressions of the title in one collection. The sale proves that Potter-mania continues strong with no signs of slowing down. Collectors will find more Harry Potter titles in our stock.
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale by Herman Melville - £67,500
While the first British edition of Moby-Dick predates the American, this American first edition - published in 1851 - is seen as truer to the author’s intent. It includes 35 passages and an epilogue omitted from the British edition.
Melville’s Moby-Dick; or, The Whale was considered a ‘complete practical failure, misunderstood by the critics and ignored by the public’ when it was first published. The book was re-discovered in the 20th century with its themes of defiance, diversity, and duty, its characters, plot, and reflection on mankind then acclaimed by critics. Its use of symbolism helped establish its place in many class syllabuses.
Sold by Peter Harrington
Owning the first American edition of Moby-Dick, is a tribute to its enduring legacy. Unlike the earlier English edition, it preserves Melville’s complete text, making this the definitive version. It is rare in nice condition in its original cloth binding, as in this copy.
A collection of works by George Gordon Byron - £62,000
Famously dubbed 'mad, bad and dangerous to know,' George Gordon Byron, sixth Baron Byron was a prominent English Romantic poet of the early 19th century. Lord Byron is known for his vivid depictions of nature and dark, brooding tone. This remarkable collection includes first editions of Byron's works such as Childe Harold's Pilgrimage.
Sold by Biblioctopus
Lord Byron may be one of the few 19th century poets who would have been just as popular 150 years after his death, with a personal style and flair much like a rock star. His work and his personal story continue to intrigue a wide range of people, not just those that study poetry academically. So this collection of 21 first editions is, simply put, a wonderful thing. A comparable group would be almost impossible to assemble these days no matter the time or money one might be willing to invest. Many are in the original boards or wrappers, several titles are incredibly difficult to find in first issue, excellent provenance for several books, etc. A collection worthy of a place in any library in the world.
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - £30,500
At a time when women were often valued exclusively for their dowry, 19-year-old Mary Shelley wrote a story that would be called the first true example of science fiction, and one of the most influential novels of all time.
This incredibly rare copy from the first American edition was printed fifteen years after the first British edition, and can be distinguished by its misspelling of the author’s surname as ‘Shelly.’
Shelley’s Frankenstein explores themes of unchecked ambition, scientific ethics, and the nature of monstrosity. Likely inspired by the Industrial Revolution, her story continues to resonate deeply within popular culture today.
Sold by Burnside Rare Books
After all these years, Frankenstein still speaks to us because it combines such a beautiful mix of horror, profound loneliness, madness, creation, and destruction. It's one of the most enduring and influential works of English literature, and it's incredible this work was published when the author was a mere 20 years old.
A complete collection of 50 manifestos of Italian Futurism - £20,700
Futurism was an artistic and social movement that originated in 20th century Italy. Inspired by the cities, technology, speed, and latent violence in the world around them, the Futurists created an ideology for their glorified and highly politicized concept of modernity.
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876-1944) published his Manifesto of Futurism in Parisian newspaper Le Figaro in 1909, launching the avant-garde Futurism movement and opening the gates for many manifestos to follow.
On the significance of Futurism, the collection’s seller, Giacomo Coronelli of Libreria Antiquaria Pontremoli in Milan, said, “Italian Futurism came to influence every other avant-garde movement in the world.”
Sold by Libreria Antiquaria Pontremoli
The collection we sold was carefully assembled by a devoted collector and connoisseur during many years of research and encompassed all the primary and essential manifestos in their definitive original edition as a leaflet or booklet.
Zur Farbenlehre by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - £21,000
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is considered one of the greatest writers in the German language. The author behind iconic works like The Sorrows of Young Werther (1744) and Faust (1808), Goethe was also a polymath who made significant contributions to the Sciences.
His Theory of Colours challenged Newton's optics, proposing a subjective, psychological approach to color perception that influenced artists and thinkers throughout the 19th century.
This copy of the Theory of Colours, published in 1808, is a fine, complete first edition in its original binding.
Sold by Antiquariat INLIBRIS Gilhofer Nfg. GmbH
Throughout the years we have sold several copies of Goethe's Farbenlehre, but this is unquestionably the finest specimen we have ever handled: a first edition in its original binding, formerly in the library of Goethe's friend, lord and benefactor, Karl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.
It's A Battlefield by Graham Greene - £18,500
This first edition, first printing of Graham Greene's early novel, It's a Battlefield, was published in 1934.
The novel follows Drover, a Communist bus driver in prison and appealing his death sentence for killing a policeman during a riot at Hyde Park Corner.
Greene's signature is present on the front fly leaf, inscribed to 'Clive, affectionately' in black ink. The recipient, Clive Francis, is a British actor and was a friend of Greene's.
Sold by John Atkinson Books
The Whole Works of Homer translated by George Chapman - £17,100
Here we have the first collected edition of George Chapman's celebrated translations, circa the 17th century.
George Chapman (d. 1634) was an English dramatist, translator, and poet, and often considered the true identity behind the ‘Rival Poet’ of Shakespeare’s sonnets. Chapman’s translations of Homer – including the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the later parody of the Iliad, Batrachomyomachia (The Battle of the Frogs and Mice) – are some of the most famous in the English language, and the means through which many great English writers came to know the Ancient Greek poet.
Two hundred years after it was published, in 1816, English Romantic poet John Keats was inspired by Chapman’s translation of the Odyssey to write On First Looking into Chapman's Homer:
Oft of one wide expanse had I been told
That deep-browed Homer ruled as his demesne;
Yet did I never breathe its pure serene
Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold.
Sold by Heritage Book Shop
Typed letter signed by Ayn Rand - £17,000
Alice O'Connor, born Alisa Rosenbaum and known by her pen name, Ayn Rand (1905-1982), was a Russian-born American author and philosopher. In 1943, Rand published The Fountainhead, the novel that would bring her fame. In 1957, she published the novel that would seal her fame: Atlas Shrugged.
Rand promoted individualism and laissez-faire capitalism. In this typed letter, dated 1960 and signed by Rand, she explains some of the central themes of Atlas Shrugged to a student:
"Remember that the morality presented in ATLAS SHRUGGED is new, unprecedented and radically opposed to all the traditional versions of morality. You cannot expect it to be accepted by everyone at once."
Sold by Pen Ultimate Rare Books
When Ayn Rand signed for me after a lecture she delivered in Boston when I was 16, some fifty years ago, a collector was born. Since then, Pen Ultimate Rare Books has acquired the world's largest collection of rare, signed, manuscript, and photographed Ayn Rand in private hands. This brilliant TLS, written shortly after the publication of Atlas Shrugged, answers some crucial questions about Rand's philosophy for an undergraduate who had questions about the novel. Timeless, quintessential Ayn Rand.
Autograph manuscript 'My Cinematic Secrets' by Salvador Dali - £17,500
This 'distinctly Dali' manuscript was handwritten by the artist for a piece entitled Mes secrets sinematographiques (My cinematic secrets), later published in the February 1954 issue of La Parisienne. The text was adapted by Michel Déon, who had to decipher Dali's unusual spelling and syntax, which was described as 'delirious orality, 'interspersed with Hispanicisms and phonetically reproducing the Catalan accent.'
In the manuscript, Dali affirms the conviction of his genius in cinematographic art, referencing his first two films, Un chien andalou and L'Âge d'or, as proof. He then derides the role of filmmaker Luis Buñuel in the realization of the films and introduces his next project, La Brouette de flesh.
Sold by Adam Andrusier Autographs
This rather remarkable handwritten manuscript by Salvador Dali details the artist’s notable work in the medium of cinema. The artist adds little drawings to the text, and furnishes extravagant — at times highly surreal — detail about his creative process. A stream of consciousness across five pages…!
