Sciences
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Ancient science Medicine Physics Astronomy Books Autograph Illustration art Italy II Révolution and Empire Belgium II The birds of America
Chronology : 16th century 1500-1519 1800-1809 1820-1829 1830-1839
See also : Ancient science Medicine Physics Astronomy Books Autograph Illustration art Italy II Révolution and Empire Belgium II The birds of America
Chronology : 16th century 1500-1519 1800-1809 1820-1829 1830-1839
1510 The Codex Leicester of Leonardo da Vinci
1994 SOLD for $ 31M including premium by Christie's
narrated in 2020
From 1475 Leonardo da Vinci recorded everyday all his ideas about the nature of the world in its whole variety, in the form of notes in ancient Italian language illustrated with sketches. In this polygraphic bulimia, he accumulated about 13,000 pages, on double-sided sheets folded in half.
Leonardo is neither a scientist nor an engineer in the modern meaning of these terms. He does not waste his time analyzing the consequences of his theories or conceiving the realization of his inventions. In his swarming of ideas, he could be wonderfully right and naively wrong, and he was certainly unable to distinguish between these two extremes.
For this left-hander, the mirror writing is the way he has found so that his thinking is not slowed down by his hand. The use of numerous abbreviations, which makes these texts extremely difficult to decipher, is consistent with this hypothesis. We will never know how he desired exploiting such a unique mass of informations.
These writings were later assembled into notebooks, identified under the more technical term of codex. The Codex Leicester is the only one remaining in private hands. It was sold by Christie's for $ 5.1M on December 12, 1980 and for $ 31M on November 11, 1994. Between these two sales it was named the Codex Hammer. It was bought by Bill Gates at the last auction. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The Codex Leicester is made up of 18 double sheets of parchment for a total of 72 pages 22 x 30 cm. It brings together his notes written around 1510 on the theme of the water movements. The author imagines that his ideas could be used for the design of bridges.
His observation on the presence of fossils in the mountains brings an explanation far ahead of his time : they were originally in a seabed which was raised by a geophysical phenomenon. This hypothesis is all the more remarkable since the monotheistic religions of his time do not question the creationism.
In the same notebook, he explains the luminosity of the Moon by the reflection of sunlight on its surface entirely covered with water.
Leonardo is neither a scientist nor an engineer in the modern meaning of these terms. He does not waste his time analyzing the consequences of his theories or conceiving the realization of his inventions. In his swarming of ideas, he could be wonderfully right and naively wrong, and he was certainly unable to distinguish between these two extremes.
For this left-hander, the mirror writing is the way he has found so that his thinking is not slowed down by his hand. The use of numerous abbreviations, which makes these texts extremely difficult to decipher, is consistent with this hypothesis. We will never know how he desired exploiting such a unique mass of informations.
These writings were later assembled into notebooks, identified under the more technical term of codex. The Codex Leicester is the only one remaining in private hands. It was sold by Christie's for $ 5.1M on December 12, 1980 and for $ 31M on November 11, 1994. Between these two sales it was named the Codex Hammer. It was bought by Bill Gates at the last auction. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The Codex Leicester is made up of 18 double sheets of parchment for a total of 72 pages 22 x 30 cm. It brings together his notes written around 1510 on the theme of the water movements. The author imagines that his ideas could be used for the design of bridges.
His observation on the presence of fossils in the mountains brings an explanation far ahead of his time : they were originally in a seabed which was raised by a geophysical phenomenon. This hypothesis is all the more remarkable since the monotheistic religions of his time do not question the creationism.
In the same notebook, he explains the luminosity of the Moon by the reflection of sunlight on its surface entirely covered with water.
1802-1816 Les Liliacées by Redouté
1985 SOLD for $ 5.5M by Sotheby's
Specializing in botanical watercolors, the Belgian artist Pierre-Joseph Redouté comes to Versailles in 1788 for his career after training in the Royal gardens of Kew. From 1800 he contributes by his drawings to the reissue of the Traité des Arbres et Arbustes by Duhamel du Monceau and from 1798 he is the favorite artist of the future empress Joséphine.
His direct commitment to botany takes place in two phases : 486 watercolors on vellum on Liliaceae from 1802 to 1816 followed by 168 Roses from 1817 to 1824. His scientifically accurate drawings are taken from life in the gardens of La Malmaison, Saint-Cloud, Versailles and Sèvres.
All the watercolors of the Liliacées, bound in 16 volumes 48 x 35 cm for a total weight of nearly 150 kg, were originally entrusted to Joséphine's library in La Malmaison.
The lot was sold on November 20, 1985 for $ 5.5M including premium by Sotheby's after a sensational opening bid of $ 5M, the highest at that time in an art sale.
The buyer was a young dealer of rare books and prints named W. Graham Arader, who immediately made him known. To carry out this operation, he had created a syndicate of clients. Each share gave the right to own four watercolors, some were still available and he kept 30% of the whole. He had been the only bidder but according to his statements gathered by the New York Times he was covered up to $ 20M.
The pieces were chosen in turn by Arader's clients according to a priority determined by a draw. Arader has not disclosed the names of his shareholders. Steve Jobs was probably one of them.
On October 10, 2020 Arader Galleries sold several Liliacées watercolors. The two top lots were sold for $ 530K each : cultivated pineapple, plate 456, lot 91, and banana, plate 444, lot 90, both linked here on LiveAuctioneers bidding platform.
His direct commitment to botany takes place in two phases : 486 watercolors on vellum on Liliaceae from 1802 to 1816 followed by 168 Roses from 1817 to 1824. His scientifically accurate drawings are taken from life in the gardens of La Malmaison, Saint-Cloud, Versailles and Sèvres.
All the watercolors of the Liliacées, bound in 16 volumes 48 x 35 cm for a total weight of nearly 150 kg, were originally entrusted to Joséphine's library in La Malmaison.
The lot was sold on November 20, 1985 for $ 5.5M including premium by Sotheby's after a sensational opening bid of $ 5M, the highest at that time in an art sale.
The buyer was a young dealer of rare books and prints named W. Graham Arader, who immediately made him known. To carry out this operation, he had created a syndicate of clients. Each share gave the right to own four watercolors, some were still available and he kept 30% of the whole. He had been the only bidder but according to his statements gathered by the New York Times he was covered up to $ 20M.
The pieces were chosen in turn by Arader's clients according to a priority determined by a draw. Arader has not disclosed the names of his shareholders. Steve Jobs was probably one of them.
On October 10, 2020 Arader Galleries sold several Liliacées watercolors. The two top lots were sold for $ 530K each : cultivated pineapple, plate 456, lot 91, and banana, plate 444, lot 90, both linked here on LiveAuctioneers bidding platform.
The Birds of America by AUDUBON
Intro
In 1807 two young Frenchmen open a general store in Louisville, Kentucky. Jean-Jacques Audubon cannot concentrate on his work. He is passionate about hunting and bird watching. He takes the US citizenship in 1812 and anglicizes his first name as John James.
He is early trained in taxidermy and performs one of the earliest attempts of bird ringing. His method is unprecedented. He kills his specimen with a shotgun and straightens it in a natural pose with a wire. Then he draws it life size, often with its female or its prey. He never draws from a stuffed bird.
Audubon goes bankrupt in 1819 and moves to Louisiana. Against the advice of his friends but with the support of his wife, he decides to publish his work. American learned societies repel this rustic man who had ridiculed the drawings by the ornithologist Alexander Wilson. In 1826, right in the romantic period, he arrives in England with his collection of watercolors.
The work to be done is colossal. He wants to maintain the 97 x 66 cm format of his drawing sheets. The plates should be colored one by one by hand. The only solution is the sale by subscription. The price will be two guineas per part of five plates.
This double elephant folio size is the largest format in period for an illustrated book : 100 x 67 cm. The gigantic size is matching the goal that John James Audubon managed for the great work of his life : he wanted all his birds being displayed in their natural habitat in life size, even by curving for that purpose in an elegant arabesque the neck of the flamingo.
No book has ever been printed in such a big size. He finds in Edinburgh in 1827 a printer, Lizars, to carry out the work. A first set of 10 plates, numbered from I to X, is prepared. There will be no additional part by Lizars, following a strike of the colorists. The business is now entrusted to Robert Havell Jr in London, until the 435th and final plate in 1838. A skilled engraver and printer unmatched in the aquatint, Havell manages to further improve the images.
The five volumes of texts are published separately in octavo format starting in 1831. The publication had spanned twelve years (1827-1838). Such a duration was not unusual at this time for ambitious books.
A census updated in 2006 lists 119 copies, 12 of them in private hands.
He is early trained in taxidermy and performs one of the earliest attempts of bird ringing. His method is unprecedented. He kills his specimen with a shotgun and straightens it in a natural pose with a wire. Then he draws it life size, often with its female or its prey. He never draws from a stuffed bird.
Audubon goes bankrupt in 1819 and moves to Louisiana. Against the advice of his friends but with the support of his wife, he decides to publish his work. American learned societies repel this rustic man who had ridiculed the drawings by the ornithologist Alexander Wilson. In 1826, right in the romantic period, he arrives in England with his collection of watercolors.
The work to be done is colossal. He wants to maintain the 97 x 66 cm format of his drawing sheets. The plates should be colored one by one by hand. The only solution is the sale by subscription. The price will be two guineas per part of five plates.
This double elephant folio size is the largest format in period for an illustrated book : 100 x 67 cm. The gigantic size is matching the goal that John James Audubon managed for the great work of his life : he wanted all his birds being displayed in their natural habitat in life size, even by curving for that purpose in an elegant arabesque the neck of the flamingo.
No book has ever been printed in such a big size. He finds in Edinburgh in 1827 a printer, Lizars, to carry out the work. A first set of 10 plates, numbered from I to X, is prepared. There will be no additional part by Lizars, following a strike of the colorists. The business is now entrusted to Robert Havell Jr in London, until the 435th and final plate in 1838. A skilled engraver and printer unmatched in the aquatint, Havell manages to further improve the images.
The five volumes of texts are published separately in octavo format starting in 1831. The publication had spanned twelve years (1827-1838). Such a duration was not unusual at this time for ambitious books.
A census updated in 2006 lists 119 copies, 12 of them in private hands.
1
1827-1838 subscription copy
2010 SOLD for £ 7.3M by Sotheby's
The eleventh subscriber in Audubon's ledger for the Birds of America was a paleobotanist from Edinburgh who was convinced of the value of the project during a wine party with the author.
The colors of that copy had remained remarkably fresh. In its original binding, it was sold for £ 7.3M from a lower estimate of £ 4M by Sotheby's on December 7, 2010, lot 50.
The colors of that copy had remained remarkably fresh. In its original binding, it was sold for £ 7.3M from a lower estimate of £ 4M by Sotheby's on December 7, 2010, lot 50.
2
1827-1838 subscription copy
2000 SOLD for $ 8.8M by Christie's
A copy from the original deliveries by subscription of The Birds of America was sold for $ 8.8M from a lower estimate of $ 3M by Christie's on March 10, 2000, lot 39. Its colors are remarkably fresh.
3
1827-1838 subscription copy
2019 SOLD for $ 6.6M by Sotheby's
A complete set of the Birds of America was sold by Sotheby's for £ 1.76M on June 21, 1990 and for $ 6.6M on December 18, 2019, lot 1. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. It is in very good condition despite the obscuring of some captions by the binding.
It was formed for the subscription of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, received by Audubon in April 1827. All ten first plates are engraved by Lizars without the later retouching by Havell.
It was formed for the subscription of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, received by Audubon in April 1827. All ten first plates are engraved by Lizars without the later retouching by Havell.
4
subscription copy
1992 SOLD for $ 4.1M by Christie's
The subscription by the University of Edinburgh was taken up as early as December 1826 and recorded as number 9 in Audubon's final list. The binding has been made upon completion in four volumes by bird families instead of the usual chronological sequence of the plates. All ten first plates are engraved by Lizars without the later retouching by Havell.
This example was sold for $ 4.1M by Christie’s on April 24, 1992, lot 2. The colors are vivid with nearly no evidence of handling. The first text volume is the copyright deposit copy.
This example was sold for $ 4.1M by Christie’s on April 24, 1992, lot 2. The colors are vivid with nearly no evidence of handling. The first text volume is the copyright deposit copy.
5
1832 loose sheets
2005 SOLD for $ 5.6M by Christie's
A subscription was ordered in 1832 as loose sheets by members of the recently incorporated Providence Athenaeum for the purpose of exhibition. The first exhibition was not profitable and the ownership was transferred in 1834 to the organization. The supply of the parts was not interrupted.
The set was later bound. A linen backing performed in 1929 started creating a deterioration by its glue. The plates were de-lined, dis-bound and slightly trimmed in the 1990s.
The full set was sold for $ 5.6M by Christie's on December 15, 2005, lot 1. No volume of text was included.
The set was later bound. A linen backing performed in 1929 started creating a deterioration by its glue. The plates were de-lined, dis-bound and slightly trimmed in the 1990s.
The full set was sold for $ 5.6M by Christie's on December 15, 2005, lot 1. No volume of text was included.
6
assembled in 1838
2018 SOLD for $ 9.7M by Christie's
At the end of the operation, Audubon's list has inscribed 161 subscribers. Its printers, Lizars and Havell, had planned it slightly wider, and it is likely that a few remaining copies have been assembled in volumes in 1838 for new customers while retaining the chronological order of publication.
The copy from the library of the Dukes of Portland is probably one of those assembled without subscription, and it remained in exceptionally fine condition. It is complete of its four volumes of plates and five octavo volumes of texts.
It may be considered like an original edition by the bibliophiles as most of the first plates are in first state, as evidenced by watermarks and through the variants in the legends. All the first ten plates are in the Lizars edition before a retouching by Havell.
It was sold by Christie's for $ 7.9M on January 20, 2012, lot 1, and for $ 9.7M on June 14, 2018, lot 1, as a charity to benefit the conservation of the natural environment.
The copy from the library of the Dukes of Portland is probably one of those assembled without subscription, and it remained in exceptionally fine condition. It is complete of its four volumes of plates and five octavo volumes of texts.
It may be considered like an original edition by the bibliophiles as most of the first plates are in first state, as evidenced by watermarks and through the variants in the legends. All the first ten plates are in the Lizars edition before a retouching by Havell.
It was sold by Christie's for $ 7.9M on January 20, 2012, lot 1, and for $ 9.7M on June 14, 2018, lot 1, as a charity to benefit the conservation of the natural environment.
The Portland #Audubon sold @ChristiesBKS yesterday for $9.65m (£7.3m) https://t.co/pJYO1dvSvR pic.twitter.com/cg87wWs7kI
— Liam Sims (@liamsims) June 15, 2018
LA friends, this weekend is your chance to see the monumental Portland Audubon up close and personal! Visit our Los Angeles galleries 26-28 April, 10am-6pm. More info here: https://t.co/0nZ4p13E2v pic.twitter.com/aYaQlTbrF5
— Christie's Books (@ChristiesBKS) April 25, 2018
1913 Relativity by Einstein and Besso
2021 SOLD for € 11.7M by Aguttes-Perrine
Albert Einstein early appreciated that physics is a complex inter-relation between the basic concepts of light, electricity, energy, inertia, mass. He therefore brings a modern view to Newton's works.
In physics it is not uneasy to propose theories and equations. None of them is valid until it is verified by an experience.
There was a discrepancy in the application of Newton's universal gravitation theory : the orbit of Mercury, the nearest planet to the sun, is not perfectly elliptic. The tiny discrepancy is 43 seconds of arc per century at the perihelion.
In June 1913 in Zurich, Einstein and his lifelong friend Michele Besso manage a working session on the Mercury issue. Einstein's unprecedented intuition is that the gravity must be distorted by the rotation.
The two friends create and test equations in a method of trial and error. None of them matches the expected result of 43 seconds per century. After some additions in early 1914, Besso keeps their working notes.
This autograph draft document is made of 54 pages on 37 loose sheets 21 x 27 cm in equal parts by Einstein and Besso. It was sold for $ 560K by Christie's on October 4, 2002, lot 81. Coming from the Aristophil judicial liquidation, it was sold for € 11.7M from a lower estimate of € 2M by Aguttes et Perrine supported by Christie's on November 23, 2021, lot A. Please watch the video prepared by Christie's.
Einstein is persistent. He manages to refine the parameters and establish the suitable "Einstein field equations", thus releasing in 1915 a refined theory of gravitation known as the general relativity which is still today the basic of cosmology.
In physics it is not uneasy to propose theories and equations. None of them is valid until it is verified by an experience.
There was a discrepancy in the application of Newton's universal gravitation theory : the orbit of Mercury, the nearest planet to the sun, is not perfectly elliptic. The tiny discrepancy is 43 seconds of arc per century at the perihelion.
In June 1913 in Zurich, Einstein and his lifelong friend Michele Besso manage a working session on the Mercury issue. Einstein's unprecedented intuition is that the gravity must be distorted by the rotation.
The two friends create and test equations in a method of trial and error. None of them matches the expected result of 43 seconds per century. After some additions in early 1914, Besso keeps their working notes.
This autograph draft document is made of 54 pages on 37 loose sheets 21 x 27 cm in equal parts by Einstein and Besso. It was sold for $ 560K by Christie's on October 4, 2002, lot 81. Coming from the Aristophil judicial liquidation, it was sold for € 11.7M from a lower estimate of € 2M by Aguttes et Perrine supported by Christie's on November 23, 2021, lot A. Please watch the video prepared by Christie's.
Einstein is persistent. He manages to refine the parameters and establish the suitable "Einstein field equations", thus releasing in 1915 a refined theory of gravitation known as the general relativity which is still today the basic of cosmology.
1953 Letter by Crick about DNA
2013 SOLD for $ 6.1M by Christie's
The birth of molecular biology is the result of a multidisciplinary cooperation between chemists, physicists and biologists. The existence of nucleic acids in the cell nuclei had been identified in the nineteenth century. From 1939, advances in micro-radiography X gave hope to understand the structure of these molecules.
Scientists had identified two types of acids, RNA (ribonucleic acid) in the cytoplasm of the cell and DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) in the chromosomes. They appreciated that these acids held the key to the functioning of life.
Two British laboratories of crystallography worked collaboratively. Francis Crick, assisted by the young US doctor James D. Watson, was at Cambridge. In London, Maurice Wilkins was assisted by Rosalind Franklin who perfected the techniques of observation and realized the radiograms. The untimely cancer of Rosalind Franklin is probably due to an excess of radiation dose.
The single helix of RNA structure and the two strands of DNA were among the first discoveries. In 1953, Watson understood that the shapes of the elements of the two DNA strands were identical although these elements were different. Crick and Watson immediately developed the model of the double helix, which was the biggest breakthrough of all time in the field of life sciences.
Both strands of the helix are connected by regularly spaced links which are always constituted by a pair of chains in two couples of possibilities. When the strands are disjoined, the helix is restructured with organic matter for the creation of the second strand of a new double helix with the same genetic message as the original DNA molecule. Before Crick and Watson, no geometer, no artist had imagined this compact and steady structure.
Crick and Watson knew immediately that they had found the secret of the transmission of information in biological material. With this key, molecular biology soon became a major science, leading to understand cell differentiation and biodiversity.
Very excited (as he told it), Francis Crick could not keep the secret. The listener is well chosen: he explains with great foresight the result and its consequences in a seven-page handwritten letter dated 19 March 1953 to his son Michael then twelve years old, a college student out of home for his school time.
This first digest work of one of the greatest discoveries is signed Daddy. We see with great pleasure that this research was an actual team work honoring equally the two scientists, "Jim" Watson and Daddy. The schematic diagram of the double helix has a beautiful clarity.
On April 2, Watson and Crick submitted the first official text to the professional review Nature, which published it on April 25. The contrast is striking between the enthusiasm of Daddy's letter and the short and careful scientific release, not illustrated, soberly explaining that the fundamental breakthrough of the new theory is the relative position of the chemical elements in the molecule.
Their theory was right, and was soon validated by all biochemists in the world. Daddy's letter is a true treasure in the history of science, unparalleled except perhaps by some letters from Einstein.
Daddy's letter was sold for $ 6.1M from a lower estimate of $ 1M by Christie's on April 10, 2013, lot 1. This document is extraordinary and certainly unique. One of the most important discoveries of our time is announced in a letter to a child before being published in the specialized journals. Emotion takes its place alongside the scientific rigor.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded to Crick, Watson and Wilkins in 1962. Watson's medal was sold in his lifetime for $ 4.8M by Christie's on Dcember 4, 2014, lot 1. Crick's medal was sold for $ 2.27M by Heritage on April 11, 2013, lot 34001.
Scientists had identified two types of acids, RNA (ribonucleic acid) in the cytoplasm of the cell and DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) in the chromosomes. They appreciated that these acids held the key to the functioning of life.
Two British laboratories of crystallography worked collaboratively. Francis Crick, assisted by the young US doctor James D. Watson, was at Cambridge. In London, Maurice Wilkins was assisted by Rosalind Franklin who perfected the techniques of observation and realized the radiograms. The untimely cancer of Rosalind Franklin is probably due to an excess of radiation dose.
The single helix of RNA structure and the two strands of DNA were among the first discoveries. In 1953, Watson understood that the shapes of the elements of the two DNA strands were identical although these elements were different. Crick and Watson immediately developed the model of the double helix, which was the biggest breakthrough of all time in the field of life sciences.
Both strands of the helix are connected by regularly spaced links which are always constituted by a pair of chains in two couples of possibilities. When the strands are disjoined, the helix is restructured with organic matter for the creation of the second strand of a new double helix with the same genetic message as the original DNA molecule. Before Crick and Watson, no geometer, no artist had imagined this compact and steady structure.
Crick and Watson knew immediately that they had found the secret of the transmission of information in biological material. With this key, molecular biology soon became a major science, leading to understand cell differentiation and biodiversity.
Very excited (as he told it), Francis Crick could not keep the secret. The listener is well chosen: he explains with great foresight the result and its consequences in a seven-page handwritten letter dated 19 March 1953 to his son Michael then twelve years old, a college student out of home for his school time.
This first digest work of one of the greatest discoveries is signed Daddy. We see with great pleasure that this research was an actual team work honoring equally the two scientists, "Jim" Watson and Daddy. The schematic diagram of the double helix has a beautiful clarity.
On April 2, Watson and Crick submitted the first official text to the professional review Nature, which published it on April 25. The contrast is striking between the enthusiasm of Daddy's letter and the short and careful scientific release, not illustrated, soberly explaining that the fundamental breakthrough of the new theory is the relative position of the chemical elements in the molecule.
Their theory was right, and was soon validated by all biochemists in the world. Daddy's letter is a true treasure in the history of science, unparalleled except perhaps by some letters from Einstein.
Daddy's letter was sold for $ 6.1M from a lower estimate of $ 1M by Christie's on April 10, 2013, lot 1. This document is extraordinary and certainly unique. One of the most important discoveries of our time is announced in a letter to a child before being published in the specialized journals. Emotion takes its place alongside the scientific rigor.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded to Crick, Watson and Wilkins in 1962. Watson's medal was sold in his lifetime for $ 4.8M by Christie's on Dcember 4, 2014, lot 1. Crick's medal was sold for $ 2.27M by Heritage on April 11, 2013, lot 34001.
