Second Swann Auction in April Offers Early Printed and Armenian Books
New York—On Monday, April 11, Swann Galleries will conduct an auction of Early Printed Books. The sale offers classics, literature, law, religious, medical, and scientific works, as well as a large selection of Armenian books from a private collection and first editions of works by Immanuel Kant from the library of the late rabbi and philosopher Steven Schwarzschild.
Auction highlights include Homer, Opera [Works in Greek], third Aldine edition, two volumes, Venice, 1524; John Pine, Tapestry Hangings of the House of Lords, 10 plates depicting the defeat of the Spanish armada, designed by Hendrick Vroom, London, 1739; Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language, first edition, in two volumes, London, 1755; and Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, London, 1760-67 (each estimated at $8,000 to $12,000).
The Armenian section includes nearly 40 lots from a private collection with highlights such as an illuminated manuscript Gospels in Armenian written in black ink with evangelist portraits, decorated initials and marginal penwork ornaments in colors throughout, 306 (of 307) leaves, Constantinople, 1621 (estimate: $18,000 to $20,000); a beautiful example of Armenian book printing, Girk’ or koch’I Aysmawowrk’, second edition of a compilation of saints’ lives, Constantinople, 1730 ($2,000 to $3,000); and Step’Annos Agonts’, Hasarakakhosut’iwn ashkharhagrut’ean, a general introduction to geography, Venice, 1817 ($1,500 to $2,500).
The selection of works by Kant from the Schwarzschild library features Critik der reinen Vernunft, Riga, 1781 ($8,000 to $12,000).
Among the medicine and science highlights are Thomas Elyot’s The Castell of Helth corrected and in some places augmented, London, 1560 ($4,000 to $6,000); Sir Isaac Newton’s A Treatise in the System of the World, first edition in English, London, 1728 ($3,000 to $5,000); and Sir William Osler’s influential textbook, The Principles and Practice of Medicine, New York, 1892 ($2,000 to $3,000).
Rounding out the sale are Bibles in English and Latin, English and French books on cookery spanning the 18th century, and works on law and economics.
