SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- Bonhams will be presenting its sale of Fine Books & Manuscripts, February 17 in San Francisco, timed to coincide with the 46th Annual California International Antiquarian Book Fair at the Concourse Exhibition Center, February 15-17 (not affiliated with Bonhams).

The Bonhams auction will feature a large selection of Pacific travel books from the library of a European collector. Among them will be A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean and Round the World in which the Coast of North-West America has been Carefully Examined and Accurately Surveyed by Captain George Vancouver, estimated at $20,000-30,000, and Exploration du territoire de l'Oregon, des Californies et de la Mer Vermeille… by M. Duflot De Mofras, estimated at $10,000-15,000.

The San Francisco-based sale will also offer an item of local historical note: a sterling silver, double-sided, engraved menu card made by the Comstock Lode for Nevada Senator and San Francisco notable William Sharon for an honorarium at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco in 1876, estimated at $10,000-15,000. Senator Sharon was honored with a grand dinner to celebrate his success in helping to save the Bank of California after a disastrous crash in mining stock prices brought a run on the bank.

A collection of fine press by Ashendene, Doves, Essex House, Grabhorn and Kelmscott Presses will also be highlighted. Ashendene Press examples will include Le Morte Darthur by Thomas Malory, estimated at $4,000-6,000; The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser, estimated at $1,200-1,800; and The History of the Valorous and Wittie Knight-Errant Don-Quixote of the Mancha by Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra, estimated at $2,000-3,000, among others. Kelmscott Press titles will include The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs by William Morris, estimated at $5,000-7,000, and The History of Reynard the Foxe by William Caxton, estimated at $2,500-3,500.

Property not before offered by Bonhams from The Dictionary Collection of Thomas Malin Rodgers will also be available. The current offerings will follow the $1.1-million results achieved at the first auction from this collection, held December 4 at Bonhams in New York.

Also of note in the sale will be material from a California institution, including a late 15th/early 16th century Book of Hours, estimated at $7,000-9,000; the first edition of the Gospels in Arabic, estimated at $8,000-12,000; and an Antiphonal manuscript, estimated at $5,000-7,000.

Bonhams will also offer property to tide over football fans until the next season of games: a Charles Schulz 8-panel Sunday Peanuts strip from October 16, 1983, featuring Charlie Brown overcoming the compulsion to try and kick the football Lucy holds for him, only to encounter several other members of the gang tempting him with footballs of their own. It is a rare example of Schulz’s annual football strips, estimated at $18,000-25,000.

Auction preview: February 15-17 in San Francisco
Auction: February 17 in San Francisco