Source : Sothebys
| Source Title | Sotheby's |
| Description | Sotheby's was founded in London by Samuel Baker who on March 11, 1744, conducted an auction under his own name. The material offered was "several hundred scarce and valuable books." They took in a few hundred pounds. For over the firm's first century and a half of operation, its auctions were devoted entirely to books and manuscripts. When Baker died in 1778, the firm was divided between his partner, George Leigh, and his nephew, John Sotheby. Sotheby's family came to dominate the firm over the next 80 years, hence the company's name. Early in the 20th century, Sotheby's began to recognize the rising value of art, and the firm expanded into this field. Today art dominates the value of items sold by the auction house, but Sotheby's nonetheless continues to carry on a large and important trade in books and manuscripts. The company opened its first office in America in 1955, in New York. However, the big move into North America came in 1964 when Sotheby's purchased Parke-Bernet, the largest art auction house in the United States. Sotheby's now also conducts auctions in France, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands, and has offices in many other locations. In 1977, the firm went public, and after returning to private ownership for an interval during the 1980s, it again became a public company in 1988. In 1998, the house's sales reached almost $2 billion. In 2007, Sotheby's sold a copy of the Magna Carta for over $21 million. |
| Scope of Text | |
| Total Records in AED | 1252336 |
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Forum Auctions
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
28th May 2026Forum, May 28: Book of Hours.- Heures de nostre dame a l'usaige de Romme, Paris, Antoine Chappiel pour Germain Hardouin, [1504]. £6,000-8,000Forum, May 28: Colonna (Francesco). La Hypnerotomachia di Poliphilo, second edition, Venice, Sons of Aldus Manutius, 1545. £15,000-20,000Forum, May 28: The Christ Child holding a crystal orb and surrounded by banderoles with devotional exhortations, on a leaf most probably from a Book of Hours, [Southern Netherlands, last decades of the fifteenth century]. £2,000-3,000Forum Auctions
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
28th May 2026Forum, May 28: Jackson (Shirley). The Haunting of Hill House, first English edition, signed presentation inscription from the author to Claude Fredericks, 1960. £2,000-3,000Forum, May 28: Lennon (John). In His Own Write, first edition, first impression, signed by the author, 1964. £3,000-4,000Forum, May 28: Doves Press.- Keats (John). [Poems], one of 200 copies on paper, Doves Press, 1914. £5,000-7,000Forum Auctions
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
28th May 2026Forum, May 28: Rodrigues (João Barbosa). Sertum Palmarum Brasiliensium, 2 vol., first and only edition, Brussels, 1903. £8,000-12,000Forum, May 28: Newton (Sir Isaac). Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica…editio ultima, auctior et emendatior, Amsterdam, Sumptibus Societatis, 1714. £8,000-12,000Forum, May 28: Kepler (Johannes). Ad Vitellionem paralipomena, wuibus astronomiae pars optica traditur, first edition, Frankfurt am Main, 1604. £5,000-7,000Forum Auctions
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
28th May 2026Forum, May 28: Tagliacozzi (Gaspare). De Curtorum Chirurgia per insitionem, libri duo, first edition, Venice, Gasparo Bindoni, 1597. £7,000-10,000Forum, May 28: Lootsman (Jacobsz). The Lightning Colomne, or Sea-Mirrour, containing the Sea-Coasts of the Northern, Eastern and Western Navigation..., 1670. £8,000-12,000Forum, May 28: Ribelles y Helip (José), Attributed to. An album comprising 33 finely executed watercolours of Spanish costume, bull-fighting scenes, and other genre subjects, [circa 1830]. £10,000-15,000