Swann Auction Galleries held a Printed and Manuscript Americana sale on Sept. 17 totaling $1,005,742 (including buyer's premium). The estimates for the sale as a whole were $531,950 to $793,350 and 366 lots sold out of 411 lots for an 89 percent sell-through rate by lot.
A very rare manuscript book of furniture designs by Philadelphia joiner John Widdifield, circa 1700-20, sold to a collector for $75,000. A first edition, New York, 1830, of “The Book of Mormon,” sold for $57,500 to a collector, and “Peace, Liberty, and Independence,” a letterpress broadside from the American Revolution, Philadelphia, 1783, sold to a collector for $35,000.
"The mood on the auction floor was electric, with a wide variety of buyers hungry for unique and rare material, with particular interest in Revolutionary War, Civil War, and Mormon materials. The results showed that it was one of the best general Americana sales in Swann's history,” said book department director and Americana specialist Rick Stattler.
A second edition printing, London, 1754, of “The Journal of Major George Washington,” sold for $45,000 to the trade, and Congressman Ebenezer Mattoon's firsthand account of Jefferson's election by the House of Representatives, Washington, D.C., 6 to 17 February 1801, realized $17,500, selling to the trade.
One of the first printings of the Bill of Rights, Gazette of the United States, New York, 13 June 1789, sold to a dealer for $10,000. An album of Colorado views and Indian portraits, 147 albumen prints and 4 engravings, circa 1868-1900, sold for $8,750.
For additional information, visit www.swanngalleries.com.