Reiss & Sohn

With a stunning 85% sales in total-estimate value the auction house Reiss & Sohn is looking back at a successful spring auction season. 3000 fine and valuable books and maps came for sale, most of them found a new home. The first and only edition of Johann Hevelius’ “Cometographia” sold for 35.000 €. Three different editions of the classic world atlas by Abraham Ortelius sold at hammer prices between 20.000 and 35.000 €. Amongst the 200 lots of Lafreri-maps an inconspicuously small view of Boulogne-sur-mer became large in price by being raised with some keen bidding from 500 € to 7.000 €. The Cimerlino-Finé world map fetched 34.000 €. – Since 1971 Reiss & Sohn is your specialized book auction house. We look forward to your consignment offers for our autumn sales.

The catalogues of Reiss & Sohn’s spring auctions taking place from May 6^th to 8^th, 2019 are now available online. About 3000 lots of rare and valuable books, autographs, manuscripts, early travel photographs, maps, views and decorative prints are beeing offered.

Several consignments from private collections contribute to the attractiveness, including rare Italian books from the 16th century,  a collection of books on architecture, a private library of books on Greece, mostly illustrated, as well as rare maps by early Italian cartographers from the Lafreri School. In addition, there is a series of rare handwritten ‘newspapers’ from the 16th century about various subjects.

The section on geography encloses a large number of works on Pacific exploration, especially on the journeys of James Cook and his contemporaries, as well as important world maps.

This year’s fall auctions at auction house Reiss & Sohn yielded sensational top prices. Thomas Malthus’ Essay on the principle of population from 1798 together with the Hortus Eystettensis by Basilius Besler ranked first with a hammer price of 80,000 euro each.
The second place with 65,000 Euros went to a Continue reading “Added value with Marx: 60.000,- € hammer for “The capital””