NEW YORK, NY.- The Fine Books & Manuscripts sale totaled $9,433,063, with 82% sold by lot and 91% sold by value, making this the highest total for a various owner sale of Books & Manuscripts at Christie’s. There was active in-room, phone, and online participation from institutions, established collectors, and new buyers with registered bidders from over 25 countries.

The top lot was Sir Isaac Newton’s (1642-1727) Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica (estimate: $1,000,000-1,500,000), which realized $3,719,500, nearly four times its low estimate and setting a new world auction record for a printed scientific book.

Other sale highlights included nine lots of correspondence to the Marquis de Chastellux (1734-1788), featuring six letters by George Washington (1731-1799) and three by Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), which collectively realized $1,138,750, with single lots more than doubling initial estimates.

The top lot of the selection was George Washington's (1732-1799) Autograph letter signed (“Go: Washington”), Mount Vernon, 25 April, 1 May 1788, to François Jean de Beauvoir, Marquis de Chastellux (estimate: $80,000-120,000), which realized $307,500.

Strong results were achieved for private collections including early botanical books belonging to Cornelius J. Hauck (1893-1967), which sold 90% by lot, and an important collection of major 19th century American authors, formed by Mrs. J. Insley Blair of Far Hills, New Jersey, which sold 92% by lot, with many titles more than doubling initial estimates.

ADDITIONAL SALE HIGHLIGHTS
• WHITMAN, Walt (1819-1892). Leaves of Grass. Brooklyn: [Printed for the Author], 1855. Estimate: $80,000-120,000 Price Realized: $ 162,500

• JOYCE, James. Ulysses. Paris: Shakespeare and Company, 1922. Estimate: $250,000350,000 Price Realized: $223,500

• [DIALOGES OF CREATURES MORALYSED]. -- The Dialoges of Creatures Moralysed. [Antwerp: Jan van Doesborch, 1530?]. Estimate: $20,00030,000 Price Realized: $112,500

• ELIOT, Thomas Stearns (18881965). Prufrock and Other Observations. The Egoist Ltd., 1917. Estimate: $50,00070,000 Price Realized: $ 118,750

• [THE FEDERALIST PAPERS]. [HAMILTON, Alexander (1739-1802), James MADISON (1751-1836) and John JAY (1745-1829)]. Estimate: $150,000 250,000 Price Realized: $ 247,500

• WASHINGTON, George (1732-1799). Autograph letter signed (“Go: Washington” to François Jean de Beauvoir, Marquis de Chastellux (17341788), Mount Vernon, 25 April, 1 May 1788. Estimate: $80,000-120,000 Price Realized: $307,500