NEW YORK.- Sotheby’s Vice Chairman David Redden announced today that Sotheby’s has acquired the Inventory and Reference Library of H. P. Kraus , the venerable New York dealers in books and manuscripts, which it will sell in a series of auctions in New York this fall season. H. P. Kraus was established in 1932 by Hans P. Kraus who was known to bibliophiles and book collectors the world over as the foremost dealer in rare books and manuscripts of his time. After Mr. Kraus’s death in 1988 the business, for the last 58 years located in the former Lehman townhouse, 16 East 46th Street, was run by his widow Hanni, until her death in January of this year.
Discussing the acquisition, David Redden said: "After so many years of selling the finest books in the world, it is sad the time has come for H.P. Kraus to close its doors due to the death of the founders. The Kraus family and executors considered an auction of the inventory and reference library. When they determined an en-bloc sale would better answer their needs, they asked us if we would agree to proceed on this basis. We are very pleased that the world of book buyers will have the opportunity to purchase books and manuscripts from this legendary bookseller during our sales this fall." The auction offering is estimated to bring $9-12 million.
The books and manuscripts from H.P. Kraus will be offered in three parts. The legendary reference material, which is without doubt the largest and most complete reference library of books on the subject of bibliography ever put together by a book dealer, will be sold in New York on October 7, 8, 9 and 10, 2003. The sale will include biographical dictionaries and bibliographic records of almost every facet of human endeavor, including travel and exploration, science and medicine, natural history, literature, art, and music; as well as indispensable reference guides to all areas of book history, from illuminated manuscripts to incunabula to modern private presses. A wonderful range of private library catalogues and important auction catalogues from the last four centuries will also be included.
The second part is the inventory of H.P. Kraus which will be sold on December 4th and 5th in New York and includes a unique copy of an English incunable, Proprytees & medicynes of hors, printed by William Caxton’s associate Wynkyn de Worde; a fine copy of the third edition of the Catholicon, printed by Johann Mentelin and Adolf Rusch; a 1465 manuscript Book of Hours from Bruges, illuminated with 20 full-page miniatures; and a 1561 copy of Martin Luther’s translation of the Bible, printed on vellum and illustrated by numerous woodcuts by Lucas Cranach the Younger.
A third portion consists of the inventory of Kraus Subsidiary, Helmut Schumann of Zurich, Switzerland, which has been in existence since 1828. The highlights of the inventory reflect Hans Kraus’s abiding interest in early printing, illuminated manuscripts, and book illustration. Further details about that sale will be forthcoming.
