Early Printed Books at Swann's
Yesterday's Early Printed Books auction at Swann Galleries in New York was, according to the Swann blog, an "extraordinary success," with 97% of lots sold. Saint Thomas Aquinas' Commentum in octo libros Physicorum Aristotelis, dated May 9 1492 (pictured here), was the day's top seller at $9,600. The first Baskerville edition of the King James Bible in a contemporary binding went for slightly less.
Unfortunately, lot 272--John Hawkesworth's A New Voyage Around the World (1774) with an engraved frontispiece by Paul Revere--was unsold, after an estimate of $8,000-$12,000.
Unfortunately, lot 272--John Hawkesworth's A New Voyage Around the World (1774) with an engraved frontispiece by Paul Revere--was unsold, after an estimate of $8,000-$12,000.
![Origen of Alexandria (c. 185–253) Homilia in Genesim, Homiliae in Exodum, in Latin, translation by Rufinus, decorated manuscript on parchment [Austria, Lambach Abbey? c. 1150–1175]. Estimate: $150,000-$200,000.](/sites/default/files/styles/category_card/public/media-images/2026-06/origen.jpeg?itok=0V_4_Lt2)
