HAMBURG.- With total proceeds of € 1.4 million the two day auction of Rare Books at Ketterer Kunst in Hamburg on 18/19 May realized very good results. The evening auction alone achieved a sales quota of more than 80%. Around a dozen lots with manuscripts and watercolors by Hermann Hesse, which had recently been discovered in the estate of the Schadow family, were particularly in demand. For a total of € 61,200 they found new owners all over Germany.

Two special gems from the Hermann Hesse collection, lots 108 and 109, were part of the evening on the first auction day. While the original manuscript of the famous fairy tale “Piktor's Verwandlungen“ rose from a starting price of € 12,000 to a result of € 18,000* and was sold to a Northern German art trader, the poem typescript with six feather drawings with watercolors was lifted to a result of € 16,800 by a new client from Southern Germany. Accordingly, the private collector made for a four-fold of the starting price of € 4,000.

Likewise interest was raised by Conrad Gesner and his “De omni rerum fossilium genere“ (lot 21), for which 5 phone lines had been reserved. Next to German art traders, competitors from the Netherlands and the U.S.A. were also represented. Eventually, an American antiquarian stopped the race with a result of € 43,200.

A German private collector made the only illustrated book by Serge Poliakoff, the de-luxe edition of Plato's “Parménide“ (lot 116) sure for himself. With an offer of € 37,200* he did not only make for a three-fold of the starting price, but also stood his grounds against fierce competition from Swiss and British traders on the phones.

Third place in the list of desired objects is occupied by the Edition Mat Mot (lot 132, starting price: € 7,200) and the very nice and rare Collection of Russian Views of the rural region around Babigon between St. Petersburg and Peterhof Palace, the former summer residence of Peter the Great (lot 64, starting price: € 700). Both lots were sold for € 22,800 each and thus realized a multiple of their respective starting prices. While the first was sold to England, the latter went, not surprisingly, to Russia.

A Northern German art trader made sure that the punched gilt foil Leporello fold with dedication by Lucio Fontana (lot 114) realized the eighteen-fold of its starting price of € 600. With a result of € 10.800 he relegated competitors from Germany, England, Italy and the U.S.A. to places second and beyond.

In the section of Old Literature Karin Gyllenstierna's very rare devotional book ”Geistliches Heil Pflaster, und Seelen-Artzney“ (lot 67) is especially notable. The work, made in Riga in 1677, is the first prosaic work by a woman printed in Latvia. With a result of € 10,200 it realized a stunning 25-fold of the starting price of € 400. Eventually, a German trader outbid a Northern German library.