Author: reiss

A highly successful auction year came to a close with the fall auctions. Reiss & Sohn is already preparing for an exciting new year in 2026 and already has some beautiful pieces in store for the spring auctions from April 21-24, 2026, including an extensive collection of ornithological books with a focus on parrots. Consignments are welcome from now until mid-February. We would be happy to advise you without obligation. To get an idea of our success, you will find a detailed review of the year with various highlights under the menu item news/press release.

As on the previous days, the bidding book for the geography auction was full to bursting on Thursday. Coupled with numerous telephone and live bidders, the auction continued into the evening and the auction season ended with a very good result. As has been the case recently, the atlas section was the highest-turnover section of the geography catalogue. Here, a collector’s atlas with maps by Dutch cartographers and publishers such as Blaeu, Visscher and Janssonius, published around 1660, fetched € 36,000 (estimate € 20,000/lot 1489). Four volumes (of five) of the German edition of J. Janssonius’ ‘Novus Atlas’ with 314 old coloured engraved maps, were sold to a telephone bidder for € 28,000 (estimate € 25,000/lot 1476). A magnificently coloured copy of Münster’s ‘Cosmographia’ from 1628 fetched the estimated price of € 16,000.

Another item that attracted strong bidding was a border-coloured world map in Mercator projection with extensive marginal illustrations in copperplate engraving by P. Kaerius at J. Janssonius, published in Amsterdam in 1632, which sold for € 10,000 (estimate € 8,000, lot 1485). All results and the post-auction sale are now available on our website.

We would like to thank all bidders and consignors for participating in our autumn auctions and for placing their trust in our company.

The second auction day in Königstein offered a wide range of items. Here is a brief review of some of the many highlights:

‘Natural intelligence can replace almost any degree of education, but no education can replace natural intelligence.’ One of Arthur Schopenhauer’s most famous quotes. Our customers demonstrated their education and intellect by eagerly bidding on the philosopher’s magnum opus. The first edition of ‘Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung’ (The World as Will and Representation) from 1819 fetched a hammer price of € 20,000 on the telephone (estimate € 10,000, lot 694). The other three titles penned by Schopenhauer also sold for good prices.

A larger selection of books on horsemanship in the Horses, Hunting and Forestry section of the ‘Valuable Books’ catalogue once again attracted an international audience to their computers and telephones. The small collection comprised 33 lots, 29 of which were sold during the auction. Besides classics by Cavendish, Seutter, and Löhneysen, there were numerous rarities on offer, such as Fiorentini and Löhneysen’s ‘Zwey gute und sehr nutzliche Bücher von Stangen und Mundstücken’ (Two good and very useful books on rods and mouthpieces) from 1609 (estimate € 1,000/hammer price € 4,000, lot 805) or C. Reuschel’s ‘Hippopronia’ from 1599 (lot 823, estimate € 1,200/hammer price € 3,500).

The auction of books on geography and travel began in the afternoon, starting with travel books from around the world. The most outstanding lot in this section is a very early edition of a Chinese catechism from the 17th century, which was used for the Christianisation of China until the 1930s. It is a xylographic print on fine Chinese paper in block book binding. The author, João Soeiro (1566-1607), worked as a missionary in Nanchang (Jiangxi Province) from 1595 onwards. After fierce bidding on the telephone, the hammer finally fell at € 30,000. (Lot 1114, estimate € 8,000).

A brief review of yesterday’s exciting first day of auctions in Königstein. Hundreds of live bidders around the world, floor bidders, written bidders and numerous international telephone bidders made yesterday an exciting and extremely successful day for the staff of the Reiss & Sohn auction house, with extensive bidding battles.

The first session, which focused on natural sciences, was almost completely sold out. Numerous lots were in high demand throughout the auction day due to their great rarity and significantly exceeded their estimated prices. Particularly noteworthy was the sale of the first and only edition of C. G. Ludwig’s work ‘Ectypa vegetabilium’ from 1760 ff. with 200 coloured natural prints. Here in a very rare complete copy. (Hammer price 17,000 euros, estimate 8,000 euros, lot 539). The richly illustrated books of hours on offer, each one unique and very special in its own way, also attracted great interest and triggered lengthy bidding wars. Worth mentioning are the hammer price of €34,000 for a book of hours from northern France, circa 1470 (lot 244, estimate €6,000) and the €28,000 hammer price for an equally richly illuminated book of hours from Flanders, circa 1450 (lot 243, estimate €8,000).

The Grammatellus, a textbook for learning basic Latin conversation, printed by Peter Schöffer in Mainz around 1490, with an equally rare supplement, a booklet of titles with examples of the correct form of letters to people of different social standing, found several enthusiasts and ultimately fetched an impressive hammer price of 16,000 euros (estimate 3,000, lot 298A).

These are just a few examples from the first day. All of yesterday’s results can be found in the online catalogue on our website, where you also have the opportunity to submit bids for the next two days or register as a live bidder.

We are pleased to announce our upcoming autumn auctions. Two richly illustrated catalogues with 1900 lots are now accessible online or can be ordered in print:

Catalogue 226: Valuable Books and Manuscripts – Offering more than 1000 lots from the Middle Ages to modern times, including medieval manuscripts and illuminated books of hours, incunabula (many from Cologne printers), numerous books on horsemanship, miniature books, rare first editions, important works of science and philosophy and many more.

Catalogue 227: Geography – Travel – Atlases – Photography – Maps – Decorative Prints – Comprising nearly 900 lots, including many atlases and town books, rare works on Africa, the Americas and Asia, rare maps and splendidly illustrated works on geography and travelling to many parts of the world.

The catalogue preview with an extensive selection of objects from the upcoming auctions is now available online. The selection with descriptions and pictures will be regularly updated with further entries.

You can add objects of your interest to your personal bookmarks list (registration required). The entries of your bookmarks list will be retained when the auction catalogues are published. The catalogue preview can be sorted according to various criteria and is accessible via full-text search. There are three different list views to choose from.

The total number of items on offer can be viewed when the auction catalogues are published approx. 4 weeks before the auction date.

_{Bids cannot be accepted before the auction catalogues are published. We reserve the right to make changes to descriptions and images, to remove items from the catalogue preview and to make any other changes.}

Since January 2025, 7% VAT on maps, views and prints will apply to buyers in Germany.

Yesterday, May 07, 2025. – Day 2 of the extensive spring auctions began with a wide variety of books from various fields, such as Varia, architecture and old literature. From the afternoon onwards, the auction focussed on incunabula, manuscripts, old printed books and Reformation literature, which was extremely successful. This resulted in considerable increases in estimated prices. The richly illustrated Indian manuscript Hitopadesha (lot 631), a collection of fables and wisdom sayings, had already generated a great deal of interest beforehand, increasing its estimate of 20,000 euros by 275% to a hammer price of 75,000 euros. A pretty small-format book of hours in the style of the Ghent-Bruges school of painting was knocked down for 15,000 euros hammer price (lot 635). The incunabula section included some very early and rare Cologne prints, which were heavily bid for, especially online. Particularly noteworthy here was lot 685, a manuscript by J. Gerson, De efficacia orationis, printed by Cologne’s first printer Ulrich Zell around 1468: estimate 3,000 euros/supplement 7,500 euros. Also lot 694: Juvencus, Evangeliorum libri, Cologne 1500 (estimate 1,200 euros/surcharge 5,000 euros). The beautifully illustrated first edition of the treatise on the rosary brotherhoods ‘Liber fratenitatis rosaceae coronae’, Cologne, circa 1500, achieved a hammer price of 5,500 euros (estimate 1,800 euros, lot 705).

Rare and influential works were also valued in the Old Prints department and rewarded with high hammer prices. For example, lot 753: P. Crinito, Libri de poetas & De honesta disciplina. Two important and influential works of Italian humanism, in a rare first edition, in one volume (estimate 3,000 euro/surcharge 12,000 euro). Furthermore, the 12th German edition of the famous cosmography by Sebastian Münster from 1569, hammer price 10,000 euros/valuation 4,000 euros (lot 810).

The auction of books, atlases, prints and photographs from the geography catalogue 225 begins today, Thursday, and will continue until tomorrow afternoon.

Yesterday afternoon, a total of 296 books from the fields of technology, crafts, natural sciences, medicine, botany and zoology were called for in the auction room. As always, the bidders consisted of a mixture of telephone bidders, written bidders, live online bidders and room bidders. The biggest surprise of the day was certainly lot 81, T. Hagecius, Dialexis. A rare and important work on the ‘nova’ from 1572, with which Hagecius made a significant contribution to the acceptance of Copernican theories, was estimated at €4,000 and fetched a hammer price of a proud €18,000 after a bidding battle.

The ‘Gottorffische Kunst-Kammer’ by A. Olearius from 1674 (lot 45) also attracted numerous buyers worldwide and increased its estimate from 2,000 euros to a hammer price of 10,000 euros. In the same section, M. B. Valentinis’ ‘Museum museorum’ (lot 47), a description of curious and rare objects as well as overseas products, was also in great demand: estimate 4,000 euros/hammerprice 13,000 euros.

The top lot of the auction – A. Vesalius’ ‘De humani corporis fabrica’, Basel 1543, the first edition of this epoch-making work fetched a hammer price of 130,000 euros to a bidder on the telephone.

A. Rösel von Rosenhof’s ‘Insecten-Belustigung’ in beautiful old colour achieved 7,500 euros (hammer price/taxe 6,000 euros). Also worth mentioning is the magnificent work ‘Continuation der Nürnbergischen Hesperidum’ on citron, lemon and bitter orange fruits by J. C. Volckamer in the first edition (lot 294, hammer price 12,000 euros) and a splendid work on the flora of Hungary in 3 volumes by F. Waldstein, F. Graf & P. Kitaibel (lot 295/ hammer price 17,000 euros).

The auctions will continue until Friday with further sections from catalogues 224: Valuable Books and Manuscripts and 225: Geography – Travel – Atlases – Photography – Maps – Decorative Prints.

The catalogues for the next auction days, as well as the results, the session schedule and information on the various bidding options can be found as usual on our website.

We are pleased to announce our upcoming spring auctions. Two richly illustrated catalogues with more than 1920 lots are now accessible online or can be ordered in print:

Catalogue 224: Valuable books and manuscripts – with 1040 lots from the Middle Ages to modern times, including medieval prayer books and illuminated books of hours, incunabula and numerous early Cologne prints as well as rare first editions.

Catalogue 223: Geography – Travel – Atlases – Photography – Maps – Decorative Prints – comprising 880 lots, including 60 atlases and town books. In addition, rare maps and rare works on Africa, America and Asia as well as splendidly illustrated works on geography and travelling to many parts of the world.