Literature in English
Except otherwise stated, all results below include the premium.
See also : Ancient England Literature Poems and lyrics Books Incunabula 17th century books
Chronology : 1460-1479 1620-1629
See also : Ancient England Literature Poems and lyrics Books Incunabula 17th century books
Chronology : 1460-1479 1620-1629
1477 The Canterbury Tales printed by Caxton
1998 SOLD for £ 4.6M by Christie's
William Caxton travels in the service of Edward IV. His function is both diplomatic and trading, and in 1462 he is appointed governor of the Company of Merchant Adventurers of London, acting in Flanders which was then under Burgundian rule.
He is a very important promoter of English literature, himself making many translations of secular texts. He understands the cultural incentive of the printing press during a visit to Cologne in 1471. He immediately transfers a printing press to Bruges.
Translated from French by Caxton and printed in Flanders in 1473, the Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye is the very first incunabula in vernacular English. A copy was sold for £ 1.08M by Sotheby's on July 15, 2014, lot 502.
After his successful experience in Flanders, Caxton returned to London in 1476. His expertise in the new art of printing was eagerly awaited. He instals a press in Westminster, the first of its kind in England.
His passion for English literature is heightened by this possibility of dissemination. He is a great admirer of Chaucer, which he publishes without resorting to sponsors. Chaucer's masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, becomes in 1477 the first masterpiece of English printing. This achievement is all the more meritorious as Caxton later complained of the poor literary quality of the manuscript at his disposal.
About ten copies of this original edition have survived, plus three important fragments. The only complete copy, which had belonged to King George III, is in the British Library. The illuminated copy kept in Oxford has been completed.
On 8 July 1998 at lot 2, Christie's sold for £ 4.6M the only copy in private hands, which is also one of the most complete with only 4 lacking leaves.
He is a very important promoter of English literature, himself making many translations of secular texts. He understands the cultural incentive of the printing press during a visit to Cologne in 1471. He immediately transfers a printing press to Bruges.
Translated from French by Caxton and printed in Flanders in 1473, the Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye is the very first incunabula in vernacular English. A copy was sold for £ 1.08M by Sotheby's on July 15, 2014, lot 502.
After his successful experience in Flanders, Caxton returned to London in 1476. His expertise in the new art of printing was eagerly awaited. He instals a press in Westminster, the first of its kind in England.
His passion for English literature is heightened by this possibility of dissemination. He is a great admirer of Chaucer, which he publishes without resorting to sponsors. Chaucer's masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, becomes in 1477 the first masterpiece of English printing. This achievement is all the more meritorious as Caxton later complained of the poor literary quality of the manuscript at his disposal.
About ten copies of this original edition have survived, plus three important fragments. The only complete copy, which had belonged to King George III, is in the British Library. The illuminated copy kept in Oxford has been completed.
On 8 July 1998 at lot 2, Christie's sold for £ 4.6M the only copy in private hands, which is also one of the most complete with only 4 lacking leaves.
1623 SHAKESPEARE's First Folio
1
2020 SOLD for $ 10M by Christie's
The Globe Theatre is created in 1599. It is managed by the actors of the Lord Chamberlain's Men company in the form of a share capital. William Shakespeare has little stake in this business but he is the principal author of the plays which are performed there.
This man of the stage died in 1616 without having paid attention to the literary value of his own works. Half of his plays were unpublished. The others had been issued as poor quality booklets of which we can be assume that they were not verified by the author.
John Heminges and Henry Condell, who owned overall half of the shares of the Globe Theatre, judiciously decided to reconstruct with the best possible accuracy the whole of Shakespeare's dramatic work. They knew 36 plays of which 18 had never been published. They will have to buy back the publishing rights to some of them and to retrieve the partial manuscripts that had been entrusted to the actors to perform their own role.
The print is of the top luxury, in relation to the literary magnificence of the work. What would later be called the First Folio is a superb volume of 454 leaves 32 x 21 cm, printed in 1623 by Jaggard and Blount. It is forever used as the top reference for any Shakespearean scholarship.
The production run of the First Folio is estimated at around 750 copies. About 220 survive today. 56 are complete, of which only 5 are in private hands. All but six are from the third issue when the content was frozen and the error of a redundant page has been corrected.
Shakespeare is the greatest success in English literature and editions are multiplying. Garrick puts Shakespeare still higher in fashion and Edmond Malone devotes his life to the study of his work. Malone proposes in 1778 a chronology of the plays, observes the literary greatness of the First Folio and has a new edition published in 1790.
On October 14, 2020, Christie's sold a complete copy of the First Folio for $ 10M from a lower estimate of $ 4M, lot 12. In 1809 its owner had submitted it to Malone's appreciation just before having it bound. The expert's autograph letter is joined to the volume. Malone found it to be a fine, genuine copy of the First Folio. A few small repairs will be carried out according to his recommendations. This copy has retained the cleanliness observed by Malone more than 200 years ago.
This man of the stage died in 1616 without having paid attention to the literary value of his own works. Half of his plays were unpublished. The others had been issued as poor quality booklets of which we can be assume that they were not verified by the author.
John Heminges and Henry Condell, who owned overall half of the shares of the Globe Theatre, judiciously decided to reconstruct with the best possible accuracy the whole of Shakespeare's dramatic work. They knew 36 plays of which 18 had never been published. They will have to buy back the publishing rights to some of them and to retrieve the partial manuscripts that had been entrusted to the actors to perform their own role.
The print is of the top luxury, in relation to the literary magnificence of the work. What would later be called the First Folio is a superb volume of 454 leaves 32 x 21 cm, printed in 1623 by Jaggard and Blount. It is forever used as the top reference for any Shakespearean scholarship.
The production run of the First Folio is estimated at around 750 copies. About 220 survive today. 56 are complete, of which only 5 are in private hands. All but six are from the third issue when the content was frozen and the error of a redundant page has been corrected.
Shakespeare is the greatest success in English literature and editions are multiplying. Garrick puts Shakespeare still higher in fashion and Edmond Malone devotes his life to the study of his work. Malone proposes in 1778 a chronology of the plays, observes the literary greatness of the First Folio and has a new edition published in 1790.
On October 14, 2020, Christie's sold a complete copy of the First Folio for $ 10M from a lower estimate of $ 4M, lot 12. In 1809 its owner had submitted it to Malone's appreciation just before having it bound. The expert's autograph letter is joined to the volume. Malone found it to be a fine, genuine copy of the First Folio. A few small repairs will be carried out according to his recommendations. This copy has retained the cleanliness observed by Malone more than 200 years ago.
Only five complete copies of the 'First Folio' remain in private hands, and on 24 April in #NewYork, Christie’s will offer the first complete copy to come on the market in almost two decades during our #ExceptionalSale. https://t.co/orNUeX30H0 pic.twitter.com/k90SszIXD0
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) February 25, 2020
2
2001 SOLD for $ 6.2M by Christie's
On October 8, 2001, Christie's sold a copy of the First Folio for $ 6.2M, lot 100. It is complete and is considered one of the two finest copies in private hands.
Happy birthday #WilliamShakespeare! Here's the #FirstFolio we sold in 2001: http://t.co/5AT12N7jFV #otd #rarebooks pic.twitter.com/jNbnSAuScH
— Christie's Books (@ChristiesBKS) April 23, 20153
2006 SOLD for £ 2.8M by Sotheby's
On July 13, 2006, Sotheby's sold for £ 2.8M a complete copy in a mid-17th century binding. lot 95.
The image of the title page is shared by Wikimedia.
The image of the title page is shared by Wikimedia.
.jpg)
#OnThisDay in 2006, Sotheby's sold Shakespeare’s First Folio in NYC for $5.2m. Having only previously been owned by two people, the First Folio is the first collected edition of plays, without which there may never have been a William Shakespeare. https://t.co/IMGeqgcaoI. pic.twitter.com/C89bgVNPHJ
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) July 13, 2021
4
2022 SOLD for $ 2.47M by Sotheby's
A copy of the First Folio was sold for $ 2.47M from a lower estimate of $ 1.5M by Sotheby's on July 21, 2022, lot 1002.
It has 16 leaves in facsimile. The names of five early owners, arguably Scottish, appear in manuscript prayers and clumsy poetry in the margins, nearly all of them uncorrelated with Shakespeare's text, for a total of 34 annotated pages. The 19th century morocco binding was made in Glasgow.
It has 16 leaves in facsimile. The names of five early owners, arguably Scottish, appear in manuscript prayers and clumsy poetry in the margins, nearly all of them uncorrelated with Shakespeare's text, for a total of 34 annotated pages. The 19th century morocco binding was made in Glasgow.
5
2016 SOLD for £ 1.87M by Christie's
For celebrating the 400th year from Shakespeare's death, Christie's devoted a full auction session to the first four Folios in London on May 25, 2016.
The example offered at lot 101 was not yet known to scholars. It is resurfacing from the descent of a prominent bibliophile who was also a scientist of the Enlightenment. Untouched for two centuries, the book has kept a remarkably fresh condition but the nine preamble leaves are missing and several repairs are announced in the catalog. Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
The Second Folio, published for the first time in 1632, is very close to the First Folio with respect to the Shakespearean corpus and the bibliophile had perhaps not desired to own it. The copy sold at lot 102, printed circa 1641, comes from another source.
The other two books were in the same collection as lot 101. The Third Folio was published in 1664. This edition is very rare. At lot 103, its copy has an exceptionally fresh preservation.
Lot 104 is the Fourth Folio, dated 1685.
The First Folio was sold for £ 1.87M from a lower estimate of £ 800K, the Second Folio for £ 195K, the Third Folio for £ 360K and the Fourth Folio for £ 47K.
The example offered at lot 101 was not yet known to scholars. It is resurfacing from the descent of a prominent bibliophile who was also a scientist of the Enlightenment. Untouched for two centuries, the book has kept a remarkably fresh condition but the nine preamble leaves are missing and several repairs are announced in the catalog. Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
The Second Folio, published for the first time in 1632, is very close to the First Folio with respect to the Shakespearean corpus and the bibliophile had perhaps not desired to own it. The copy sold at lot 102, printed circa 1641, comes from another source.
The other two books were in the same collection as lot 101. The Third Folio was published in 1664. This edition is very rare. At lot 103, its copy has an exceptionally fresh preservation.
Lot 104 is the Fourth Folio, dated 1685.
The First Folio was sold for £ 1.87M from a lower estimate of £ 800K, the Second Folio for £ 195K, the Third Folio for £ 360K and the Fourth Folio for £ 47K.
6
2010 SOLD for £ 1.5M by Sotheby's
The quest for the exactitude of the text was extremely careful. The printing of the First Folio was suspended over a hundred times to make corrections so that one cannot find two identical books.
On December 7, 2010, Sotheby's sold for £ 1.5M a First Folio in very good condition, lot 13. It has the rare feature of being complete as regards to the texts of all the 36 collected plays.
On December 7, 2010, Sotheby's sold for £ 1.5M a First Folio in very good condition, lot 13. It has the rare feature of being complete as regards to the texts of all the 36 collected plays.
1865 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
1998 SOLD for $ 1.55M by Christie's
The storytellers enjoy a feedback from their audience. On July 4, 1862, after the boat trip on the Thames, the young Alice asked Charles Dodgson to write down the grotesque story that he had just invented. The idea is good. Under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll, Dodgson prepares Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
A children's book must be illustrated. Dodgson does not draw well. The cartoonist of Punch magazine, John Tenniel, is highly popular for the humor of his drawings that are activating grotesque characters. The two men conclude some agreement and Tenniel executes the 42 drawings of Dodgson's tale.
Dodgson is in a hurry. He wants the book to be available for the third anniversary of the Thames trip. In June 1865, the publisher Macmillan binds a first set of 50 copies that Dodgson immediately sends to his friends.
Tenniel is dissatisfied with the print of his illustrations. He is right: the plates are uneven with faint and dark areas. Dodgson rejects the 2,000 copies of this first edition and endeavors with mixed success to call back the already supplied copies. The rejected material will be used on the following year for the first US edition by another publisher.
The success of the book is phenomenal but the surviving copies of the edition dated 1865 are excessively rare. They are a holy grail for the bibliophiles at the same level as Shakespeare's First Folio.
The working copy used by Dodgson is one of the 22 or 23 survivors. This book accompanied by ten of the original drawings by Tenniel was sold for $ 1.55M by Christie's on December 9, 1998.
Among the copies that are still in private hands, only two retain the original binding and casing. The best of these two books passed at Christie's on June 16, 2016, lot 1.
A children's book must be illustrated. Dodgson does not draw well. The cartoonist of Punch magazine, John Tenniel, is highly popular for the humor of his drawings that are activating grotesque characters. The two men conclude some agreement and Tenniel executes the 42 drawings of Dodgson's tale.
Dodgson is in a hurry. He wants the book to be available for the third anniversary of the Thames trip. In June 1865, the publisher Macmillan binds a first set of 50 copies that Dodgson immediately sends to his friends.
Tenniel is dissatisfied with the print of his illustrations. He is right: the plates are uneven with faint and dark areas. Dodgson rejects the 2,000 copies of this first edition and endeavors with mixed success to call back the already supplied copies. The rejected material will be used on the following year for the first US edition by another publisher.
The success of the book is phenomenal but the surviving copies of the edition dated 1865 are excessively rare. They are a holy grail for the bibliophiles at the same level as Shakespeare's First Folio.
The working copy used by Dodgson is one of the 22 or 23 survivors. This book accompanied by ten of the original drawings by Tenniel was sold for $ 1.55M by Christie's on December 9, 1998.
Among the copies that are still in private hands, only two retain the original binding and casing. The best of these two books passed at Christie's on June 16, 2016, lot 1.
1951 On the Road by Kerouac
2001 SOLD for $ 2.43M by Christie's
Jack Kerouac is the founding father of the Beat Generation, which he defines as a group of children on the road who talk about the end of the world. He will never find the solution for his own life. He is torn between his desires for discovery by traveling and his returns to his mother. His rejection of mainstream society, his backpack and his mystical impulses will inspire beatniks and hippies.
His bulimia of reading turns into a frenzy of autobiographical writing, with which he stages under pseudonyms his companions of travels, drugs, alcohol and homosexual or heterosexual relationships. In 1948 he coins a title for his "travel notes": On the Road.
In December 1950 Neal Cassady sends him the Joan Anderson letter, an exaggerated story triggered by the suicide attempt of a girlfriend. Cassady typed 16,000 words in a total of 18 pages, in a row, without punctuation, without chapters, fulfilling Breton's old dream of a spontaneous prose fueled by feelings.
The final version of On the Road is inspired for style by the Anderson letter, with much more emphasis. It is written on semi-translucent paper of which we will know much later that Kerouac recovered it after the suicide of a friend. He glues the pages end to end as if to form an endless road that unwinds in his typewriter, without punctuation and without paragraphs.
Kerouac worked continuously from April 2 to 22, 1951 on this unprecedented novel. The result is a document 36.50 m long and 23 cm wide, with many handwritten revisions. The format can be compared to the 12.10 m x 11.3 cm autograph roll of the 120 Journées de Sodome by Sade.
The On the Road typescript was sold for $ 2.43M by Christie's on May 22, 2001, lot 307. The final segment is missing because it was chewed by a friend's dog, as reported in an autograph inscription by the author. A photo of an exhibition in 2012 in Paris is shared by Wikimedia with attribution.
Kerouac has never been phased with his own time. His Beat friends reproach him for his refusal to commit in politics, which indeed seems to contradict his rejection of society. On the Road was refused by publishers until 1957. Discouraged by such an incomprehension, Kerouac was even more unseated by the recognition. He died of cirrhosis in 1969, becoming forever the symbol of this modern nomadism that he had launched in his pathetic breakthrough.
His bulimia of reading turns into a frenzy of autobiographical writing, with which he stages under pseudonyms his companions of travels, drugs, alcohol and homosexual or heterosexual relationships. In 1948 he coins a title for his "travel notes": On the Road.
In December 1950 Neal Cassady sends him the Joan Anderson letter, an exaggerated story triggered by the suicide attempt of a girlfriend. Cassady typed 16,000 words in a total of 18 pages, in a row, without punctuation, without chapters, fulfilling Breton's old dream of a spontaneous prose fueled by feelings.
The final version of On the Road is inspired for style by the Anderson letter, with much more emphasis. It is written on semi-translucent paper of which we will know much later that Kerouac recovered it after the suicide of a friend. He glues the pages end to end as if to form an endless road that unwinds in his typewriter, without punctuation and without paragraphs.
Kerouac worked continuously from April 2 to 22, 1951 on this unprecedented novel. The result is a document 36.50 m long and 23 cm wide, with many handwritten revisions. The format can be compared to the 12.10 m x 11.3 cm autograph roll of the 120 Journées de Sodome by Sade.
The On the Road typescript was sold for $ 2.43M by Christie's on May 22, 2001, lot 307. The final segment is missing because it was chewed by a friend's dog, as reported in an autograph inscription by the author. A photo of an exhibition in 2012 in Paris is shared by Wikimedia with attribution.
Kerouac has never been phased with his own time. His Beat friends reproach him for his refusal to commit in politics, which indeed seems to contradict his rejection of society. On the Road was refused by publishers until 1957. Discouraged by such an incomprehension, Kerouac was even more unseated by the recognition. He died of cirrhosis in 1969, becoming forever the symbol of this modern nomadism that he had launched in his pathetic breakthrough.
2007 Manuscript of Beedle the Bard by JK Rowling
2007 SOLD for £ 1.95M by Sotheby's
Joanne 'Jo' Rowling is 25 years old in 1990. She is a fragile young woman with no regular job. As a teenager she had enjoyed creating stories for her friends and reading The Lord of the Rings. Her train is four hours late and she has nothing else to do but daydream. She invents Harry Potter. The saga will be written under the pen name J.K. Rowling.
In seven books, Harry Potter reaches an unprecedented popular success with 450 million copies sold. J.K. Rowling uses much of her immense wealth for charities.
The author has learned to maintain the excitement through the media. In 2007, the final volume of Harry Potter is published. A character in this book reads a fictitious collection of fantastic stories entitled The Tales of Beedle the Bard.
J.K. decides to give a reality to this fictitious book. She writes five stories which she collects and prepares in seven autograph copies, illustrated by herself. The first six are sent by mail on December 12, 2007 in gratitude to friends who had helped her to publish the Harry Potter books.
The next day (December 13) the seventh manuscript was sold by her at Sotheby's for The Children's Voice charity after an intense media buzz. Estimated between £ 30K and 50K and offered without buyer's fees, it is acquired by a broker acting for Amazon for £ 1.95M. See report in Wikipedia page dedicated to the title. The public is excited and frustrated by this book which is not accessible to them. J.K. authorizes Amazon to use their copy for preparing an edition which becomes a new best seller as soon as it is released.
One of the six presentation manuscripts of The Tales of Beedle the Bard was sold for £ 370K by Sotheby's in London on December 13, 2016, lot 319. Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
In seven books, Harry Potter reaches an unprecedented popular success with 450 million copies sold. J.K. Rowling uses much of her immense wealth for charities.
The author has learned to maintain the excitement through the media. In 2007, the final volume of Harry Potter is published. A character in this book reads a fictitious collection of fantastic stories entitled The Tales of Beedle the Bard.
J.K. decides to give a reality to this fictitious book. She writes five stories which she collects and prepares in seven autograph copies, illustrated by herself. The first six are sent by mail on December 12, 2007 in gratitude to friends who had helped her to publish the Harry Potter books.
The next day (December 13) the seventh manuscript was sold by her at Sotheby's for The Children's Voice charity after an intense media buzz. Estimated between £ 30K and 50K and offered without buyer's fees, it is acquired by a broker acting for Amazon for £ 1.95M. See report in Wikipedia page dedicated to the title. The public is excited and frustrated by this book which is not accessible to them. J.K. authorizes Amazon to use their copy for preparing an edition which becomes a new best seller as soon as it is released.
One of the six presentation manuscripts of The Tales of Beedle the Bard was sold for £ 370K by Sotheby's in London on December 13, 2016, lot 319. Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
