Ali's Draft Card, Stirling Math Manuscripts, Picasso Artist Book: Auction Preview

Here's what I'll be keeping an eye on over the next several weeks:

Forum Auctions sells 299 lots of Books and Works on Paper on Thursday, October 23, including 26 lots from the library of the General Theological Seminary in New York. A 1687 Book of Common Prayer in a Mearne-style binding rates the top estimate at £2,000–3,000. This sale contains a number of large group lots which may be of interest.

At Lyon & Turnbull in Edinburgh on October 23, The Library of James Stirling, Mathematician, in 160 lots. Sharing the top estimate of £40,000–60,000 are a first edition of Isaac Newton's Analysis Per Quantitatum Series, Fluxiones (1711) and the holograph manuscript of Stirling's Methodus Differentialis (c.1730). Stirling's working copy of the first edition of Methodus Differentialis (1730) with marginalia and notes is estimated at £20,000–30,000, while a copy of the first edition in English (1749) with letters to Stirling from the translator could sell for £3,000–5,000. A large-paper subscriber's copy of the third edition of Newton's Principia (1726) is expected to fetch £10,000–20,000.

Sotheby's Paris sells 37 lots of Artist Books on October 23, with a unique copy of Jaime Sabartés' Dans l'Atelier de Picasso (1957) elaborately embellished by Picasso with extra drawings, coloring, and illuminations for his friend Lucy Weill expected to sell for as much as €350,000–450,000. Hans Bellmer's Die Puppe (1934) is estimated at €60,000–80,000.

At Bonhams New York on October 23, Americana, Exploration, and Travel, in 236 lots. Two pages of the manuscript record of the gunner's stores aboard George Vancouver's ship Discovery, for March and April 1791, could sell for $80,000–120,000. A small fragment of James Cook's logbook from the Resolution during his 1773 voyage rates the same estimate, as does a stitched copy of the first two issues of Thomas Paine's The American Crisis and The Crisis Extraordinary.

Swann Galleries sells 384 lots of Fine Books on October 23. Lots includes an inscribed first edition of Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind (1936) with additional signatures from the 1961 "second premiere" of the film including several of the actors. This shares the top estimate of $20,000–30,000 with the 1934 Print Club portfolio of Six Signed Proofs of Original Etchings by Pablo Picasso made for the Limited Editions Club edition of Lysistrata. A first edition of Joyce's Ulysses is estimated at $15,000–20,000.

At PBA Galleries on October 23, Americana – Travel & Exploration – Maps & Views, in 406 lots. A set of Cook's Third Voyage account, with the atlas, is estimated at $7,000–10,000. A copy of the second octavo edition of Audubon's Quadrupeds could sell for $6,000–9,000.

Bonhams New York sells 272 lots in their History of Science and Technology sale on Friday, October 24, including some material from Jeremy Norman's collection. A manuscript indenture on vellum by which William Harvey sets out the terms and funding of the Harveian Oration (1652) is expected to lead the sale at $240,000–340,000. Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre's own thoroughly annotated copy of Base du Systeme Metrique Decimal, the foundational work of the metric system (1806–1810), could sell for $100,000–150,000. A sammelband of 19 pamphlets and offprints from the library of Michael Faraday is estimated at $30,000–50,000.

Potter & Potter Auctions sells the Collection of Edwin A. Dawes Part IV on Saturday, October 25.

Ending on Sunday, October 26, PBA Galleries' auction of Miniature Books Offered for the Benefit of the Miniature Book Society, in 57 lots.

Christie's will sell Muhammad Ali's Draft Card on Tuesday, October 28, with an estimate of $3–5 million.

At Hansons Auctioneers on Wednesday, October 29, The Harry Potter Auction, in 31 lots. An uncorrected proof copy of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban rates the top estimate at £10,000–15,000.

Forum Auctions sells the Library of John and Suzanne Bonham on Thursday, October 30, in 250 lots. A copy of the four volume set Fauna Boreali-Americana; or the Zoology of the Northern Parts of British America (1829–1837) rates the top estimate at £20,000–25,000. A pocket watch owned by explorer James Weddell is expected to sell for £15,000–20,000.