René Descartes, Suffragettes, and an 18th Century Diplomat: The Week in Rare Books

This weekly auction result is provided by Spencer W Stuart, an independent collections advisor specializing in rare books and manuscripts as well as fine photography and prints. He is also the author of Contemporary Issues in Rare Books & Manuscript Collecting and host of the monthly webinar Collecting Insights.

These are the three lots that stuck out this week because of either uniqueness or exceeding expectations:

Advertising poster for The Suffragette newspaper

Margaret Bartels' elegant lithograph color poster advertised the weekly paper The Suffragette (Harrow, David Allen & Sons Ltd, Harrow, 1912), the official organ of the Women's Social and Political Union. Edited by prominent activist Christabel Pankhurst, the first issue was published on October 17 1912. The poster was offered by Bonhams with an estimate of £2,000-£3,000 and sold for £46,080.


Annotated copy of Principia philosophiae by René Descartes 

Offered by Christie's, this first edition copy of Principia philosophiae (Amsterdam, Louis Elzevier, 1644) from the Kuhnholtz-Lordat and Maurice Escoffier libraries has been considerably annotated in French by a 17th century reader, with references to Mallebranche, Bernouilli, Newton, Leibniz, and Huygens. Sold for €120,650 following an estimate of €5,000–€7,000.

Letters of an 18th century British diplomat

A collection of three autographed letters signed "Macartney" from British diplomat and colonial administrator Earl George Macartney (1737-1806), one of which features ciphered text (4pp total), dated from 1784 to 1795, including the Earl's opinion on Mysorean leader Tipu Sultan, his description of being made a Viscount by George III, and a reference to a letter of merit from Charles Cornwallis. Sold by University Archives for $8,500, following an estimate of $400-$500.