The Printed & Manuscript Americana sale at Swann Galleries surpassed $1,000,000, marking the third consecutive sale in this category for the house to exceed that amount. According to specialist Rick Stattler, the market remains vigorous for scarce and important material across several subject areas, including the American Revolution, the Civil War, and the West.
Mexican imprints were a significant part of the sale, with six items earning top prices. A 1674 pamphlet by poetess Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz set a record for the author at $45,000. Other notable Mexican items included Juan Navarro’s 1604 Liber in quo quatuor passions Christi Domini continentur, which sold for $32,500, and a 1565 confessional manual by Alonso de Molina that brought $21,250. Additionally, an illustrated manuscript file detailing a land dispute between a ranch owner and Nahua neighbors sold for $30,000.
The auction featured several records related to Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. A portrait by Matthew Henry Wilson, which is an artist's copy of the last portrait rendered from life, set a record for the artist at $55,000. Other notable sales included a Detroit newspaper extra announcing Lincoln's assassination for $15,000 and Benson Lossing’s Pictorial History of the Civil War of the United States of America, 1866-68, which sold for $15,000.
Other significant sales included a manuscript diary by William Farrar Smith documenting the 1849 Whiting-Smith Expedition for $47,500, and a rare corrected variant of the 1852 Liverpool Book of Mormon that brought $41,600. A whaling diary kept by Alida Taber earned $15,000, which is the highest known price for a woman's whaling diary.
The next auction from the Books & Manuscripts Department at Swann Galleries was scheduled for May 14, focusing on 19th and 20th Century Literature.
