WELCOME – Book Auctions 2021

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Reiss & Sohn celebrates 50 years of successful book auctions

Reiss & Sohn was founded 1971 and is a specialized company for auctioning, buying and selling of rare antiquarian books, manuscripts, maps, prints and photography. Read more about the company

Next book auctions: rare books, manuscripts and maps taking place april 28th-30th 2020. Consignment offers welcome now.

Items in our anniversary auction catalogue spring 2021

1,28 Mio € – Highest ever Auction Result for a Printed Book at a German Auction

At an auction sale of Reiss & Sohn in 2017 the very first printing of Martin Luther’s “95 Theses”, published in 1517 and marking the beginning of the protestant reform was called up at an estimated price of 150,000 €. After a fierce bidding contest between room and telephones this “milestone-of-printing” went to a proud buyer who participated by telephone and realized a total of 1,28 Mio €, a record price in the history of German book auction sales.

We are happy to receive consignment offers for spring sales 2021. Please direct all offers in written form or give us a call.

Your reliable business partner for valuable books, manuscripts and maps – Book auctions since 1971

News

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50 YEARS REISS & SOHN

After a successful auction season 2020 Reiss & Sohn is now looking forward to an exciting new year 2021 which marks the 50th anniversary of the firm as book auction house. Founded in 1971 in the Gutenberg-City of Mayence Reiss & Sohn has since hosted over 200 auctions and is now placed among the leading book auction houses in the world. In the now starting anniversary year Reiss & Sohn is preparing the book auctions for spring season. Consignment offers are welcome as of now.

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“lots of things to read” – Book Auctions at Reiss & Sohn

Around 2800 items of rare books, manuscripts and maps form this year’s autumn offer of the book auctions at Reiss & Sohn in Königstein from 27th to 30th October 2020. Two voluminous print catalogues will soon be sent out and the web version of the catalogue is now online and contains around 10,000 photos of the offered objects in addition to the print version. The ranking of estimate prices is led by an extraordinary copy of “Ichtyologie – Histoire naturelle des Poissons” from 1785-97, by Marcus Elieser Bloch dealing with the natural history of fish, for an estimated 70,000 €. Georg Bartisch von Königsbrück founded ophthalmology with his “Ophthalmodouleia (graece). Das ist Augendienst “, from 1583, offered here in a contemporary coloured copy (30,000 €). A remarkable sammelband comprising more than 600 partly coloured copper engraved views from Augsburg’s production of the 18th century, including one of the most extensive ever offered collections of the works from the publishers Kilian and Leopod (after Werner) (30,000 €).

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Optics – the Birth of Photography and Motion Pictures

M. F. Ledermüller. Amusement microscopique. 3 parts and suppl. Nuremberg 1764-68

An important offer of books and prints on the history of optics as well as the practical application is coming to auction at Reiss & Sohn in the sales from october 27th-29th 2020 in Königstein near Frankfurt/Main. The offering includes rare works from the 16th till 19th century including precursors and early works about photography and cinematography. The outstanding offer comprises mostly first editions of works by Alhazen, Daguerre, Lumière, Witelo and many more. At the same time Reiss & Sohn is holding their large fall sales of rare books, manuscripts, atlases and maps. Consignments are welcome anytime.