Reiss & Sohn

Reiss & Sohn completes successful auction week

The third day began with the auction of the children’s books section. Here, the particularly extensive section with ABC books in various languages was in high demand. For example, the ‘Nationen A.B.C.’ from 1825 realised a hammer price of 2400 euros (estimate 800), Campes’ “Neues Abeze- und Lesebuch mit vielen schönen Bildern” from 1807 was knocked down for 5500 euros and an extremely rare and very early textbook by G. P. Platz entitled ‘Sehr leichte neuerfundene Art, die Kinder das Frantzösische A, B, C. buchstabiren und die Ortographie besagter Sprache in kurtzer Zeit zu lehren’ is still very much in demand today and found its new owner after a bidding duel for 2000 euros (hammer price), far above the estimate of 800 euros.

The 883 lots of catalogue 223 ‘Geography – Travel – Atlases – Photography – Maps – Decorative Prints’ were auctioned on the afternoon of the third day and on the fourth day. The only and extremely rare edition of one of the first scientific monographs on the Philippines, by J. Mallat ‘Les Philippines’ from 1846, doubled its estimate of 8,000 euros and was knocked down to a bidder on the telephone for 16,000 euros. Also noteworthy was the hammer price of 10,000 euros for a world map in 2 hemispheres ‘Nova totius terrarum orbis tabula’ by H. Hondius for J. Janssonius, Amsterdam, 1641.

A total of 20 lots with coloured floral engravings from B. Besler’s ‘Hortus Eystettensis’ were offered in the ‘Decorative Prints’ section on Friday morning and sold without exception. 7 further splendid sheets showing tulips from the ‘Hortus Eystettensis’ were also included in a sub-section of decorative prints with tulip depictions comprising 33 lots. Here, too, almost no sheet remained unsold. In addition to the old coloured copperplate engravings, the catalogue included 10 lots of fine watercolours created at the beginning of the 18th century. These unique pieces realised particularly pleasing hammer prices well above the estimate. The top result of 4500 euros (estimate 2000 euros) was achieved by a watercolour with an arrangement of 3 stems with tulip blossoms flamed in red and yellow, with a scroll and a small butterfly.

Reiss & Sohn looks back on a very successful autumn season 2024 and invites you to participate by consigning items for the next spring auctions in 2025.

The second auction day of the major Reiss & Sohn autumn auctions 2024 also ended with great success. On Wednesday, 633 books from the fields of law, astronomy, botany, old prints, incunabula, manuscripts and autographs, among others, were called. One of the highlights was the hammer price of 55,000 euros for a German manuscript on vellum, a Nuremberg prayer book for Apollonia Volckamer. (Nuremberg 1500). The first German edition of H. Schedel’s ‘Das Buch der Croniken und Geschichten’ (Nuremberg, A. Koberger, 23 Dec. 1493) was also convincing with a hammer price of 55,000 euros after a bidding war on the telephone. An extremely rare and remarkable manuscript with several important writings by the Roman philosopher Seneca ‘Epistolae et alia’ (spine title), probably from the first half of the 14th century, doubled its estimate and found a new owner for a hammer price of 42,000 euros.

Also worth mentioning is the hammer price for a magnificent contemporary Sammelband of astronomical, astrological and horological prints by J. Schöner, P. Apian, S. Münster and others from the years 1533-45 (hammer price 30,000 euros), as well as a copy of the summer part of the famous legends of the saints by the Dominican Jacobus von Voragine in a beautifully preserved German manuscript from around 1460-80 (hammer price 32,000 euros). The catalogues for the next two auction days, as well as the results, the meeting schedule and information on the various bidding options can be found as usual at our website.

Napoleon Bonaparte on champagne

Everyone who took part in the opening of this year’s autumn auctions in Königstein certainly deserved a large glass of champagne today. There were 424 lots from the important library of Dr Friedrich von Bassermann-Jordan with books from the 15th to 19th centuries, manuscripts, broadsheets and dissertations on viticulture, various wine-growing regions, wine production, the wine trade and other related topics. An international audience was present in the hall, on the telephone and of course live online at the computers and helped numerous lots to achieve phenomenal increases in estimated prices of up to 650%! Only a few title remained unsold. Godinot’s ‘Manière de cultiver la vigne en Champagne’ from 1722 achieved one of the highest hammer prices of the auction at 22,000 euros; it is probably the most important work from the beginning of the rise of champagne. One of the oldest wine books in the German language, the ‘Weinbbuch’ by J. Rasch in a beautiful anthology with other old prints on the subject, also realised 22,000 euros, a live bidder prevailed here.

The ‘Martilogiu(m) der Heiligen nach dem Kalender’, printed in Strasbourg by Johann Prüss in 1484, contains an early and beautiful depiction of a grape harvest. The hammer fell at 16,000 euros (estimate 8,000 euros). A rare edition of ‘Koch und Kellermeisterey’ (Frankfurt 1551) with old coloured woodcuts by Hans Brosamer was knocked down in the auction room for 12,000 euros. The auctions will continue until Friday with catalogues 222: Valuable Books and Manuscripts and 223: Geography – Travel – Atlases – Photography – Maps – Decorative Prints. Register to participate live online at the LIVE-AUCTION or drop by the auction room. AUCTION-SCHEDULE