The Books and Manuscripts department starts the new year with excellent results as demonstrated by the sale held on the 25th January 2022:
the turnover has been € 650,000, 160% increase by value, and 94% of lots sold. From antiquity to the modern age, the auction was characterized by a frenetic pace of bids. Thanks to the significant participation of foreign public and private collectors, both auction sessions confirmed the sound health of the book sector. As predicted by the experts, the top lots were the exquisite 1477 version of Dante Alighieri's Divina Commedia (lot 29, € 93,750), followed by the richly illustrated seventeenth-century atlas by Blaeu and Janssonius (lot 156, € 56,250) and Salvador Dali's revised version of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (lot 269, € 56,250).
Lot 29_Dante Alighieri
Commedia. Venice: Vindelino da Spira, 1477
Sold: € 93.750
Lot 269_Salvador Dalì
William Shakespeare - Romeo e Giulietta
Milan: Rizzoli, 1975
Sold: € 56.250
Lot 156_Willem Blaeu, Joan Blaeu e Johannes Janssonius
Theatrum Orbis Terrarum sive Novus Atlas
Amsterdam: Blaeu (vols. 1-3) e Janssonius (vol. 4), 1644-1646
Sold: € 56.250
The wide variety and extraordinary quality of the works presented translate into a vibrant list of sales successes: which includes one of the most detailed lunar maps ever made by Cornelio Malvasia (lot 216, € 20,000), Francesco Borromini's architectural illustrations (lot 200, € 15,000) and the famous second edition of Galileo Galilei's Dialogue (lot 204, € 12,500).
Lot 216_Cornelio Malvasia; Geminiano Montanari
Ephemerides novissimae motuum coelestium
Modena: Cassiani, 1662
Sold: € 20.000
Lot 200 Francesco Borromini
Rome: Sebastiano Giannini, 1720
Sold: € 15.000