Swann
Swann Auction Galleries in New York are an auction house that have been trading in rare and antiquarian books and works on paper since 1941.
The family-run business moved to new and larger premises in 1999, and now holds over 40 sales every year.
How sketches liven up plain sailing
26 June 2017For a number of years now ship’s logs have made good prices at auction. Those featuring naval engagements, significant encounters in foreign lands, or with added, if amateur illustration – even logs kept on whalers that use simple sketches to record a catch – offer something extra.
The words on the street - record for Sinclair Lewis' 1920 first at Swann
12 June 2017Condition leaves a little to be desired, but the spine of this copy of Sinclair Lewis’ 'Main Street' and the matching details on the jacket mark it out as a 1920 first, published by Harcourt, Brace & Howe of New York.
Cruikshank cartoons count at auction
05 June 2017A rare and complete set of The Scourge…, a monthly publication of the early 19th century that also described itself as the …Expositor of Imposture and Folly, brought a record bid of $9000 (£6075) in a Swann (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) sale of May 16.
Opulent Art Deco luxury liner SS Normandie relics sail into auction
31 May 2017Once a flagship of the glamorous age of luxury liners, redolent of the Art Deco style and dripping with opulence, the SS Normandie ended her days broken up for scrap after being ravaged by fire.
Tchaikovsky and JFK in harmony in American auctions
30 May 2017The autograph sale held by Swann (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) in New York on May 4 included a musical quotation in the hand of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, the theme from the finale of his Orchestral Suite No.3 in G Major (Op.55), which sold for $14,000 (£10,855).
Christie’s notes on ‘whodunnits’
22 May 2017Containing over 150pp of notes and fragmentary drafts for two of her novels and a play, an autograph notebook used by Agatha Christie while in Baghdad around 1948 – perhaps while travelling with her husband, the archaeologist Max Mallowan – sold for $15,000 (£11,625) in a Swann Auction Galleries (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) sale of May 4.
Privately printed edition of Lawrence of Arabia's classic at New York auction
08 May 2017One of 170 complete copies of the privately printed Cranwell edition of the 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom, A Triumph', 1926, by TE Lawrence (better known as Lawrence of Arabia) leads the Swann Galleries sale on May 16 in New York.
Whistler's Weary contribution to New York sale
24 April 2017Pictured here is one of several etchings by James Abbott McNeil Whistler that will feature in Swann Galleries’ sale of prints on May 2.
New view of anti-slavery heroine
18 April 2017A carte-de-visite album of the 1860s containing a previously unknown photograph of the abolitionist heroine Harriet Tubman was one of the high points of the March 30 sale held by Swann (25/20/12% buyer’s premium).
American Arctic exploration classic up at New York auction
10 April 2017The Arctic Regions, 1873, a sumptuously bound narrative of American artist William Bradford’s seven expeditions to the Arctic, illustrated with 141 mounted albumen photographs, is the highest-estimated lot in the April 20 Swann Galleries photographs and photobooks sale.
Beardsley shows his devilish side at auction
05 April 2017It may have been under 2in (5cm) high, but a tiny ink drawing by Aubrey Beardsley sold for a sizeable $10,000 (£8000) in a sale of Illustration Art held by Swann (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) in New York on March 21.
Chagall’s ‘Arabian Nights’
01 April 2017Seen here is one of 13 coloured lithographs by Marc Chagall that make up Tales from the Arabian Nights, a special, deluxe portfolio printed by Albert Carman and published by Pantheon Books in New York in 1948.
American First World War propaganda posters flagged up at auction
24 February 2017Kitchener’s moustache-adorned stern visage staring out with finger extended demanding that you join your country’s army is not only one of the best-known First World War posters but one of the most familiar posters overall.
Still in Vogue: 1920s magazine cover makes $50,000 at auction in New York
13 October 2016An original 1920s Vogue cover by French illustrator Georges Lepape broke the auction record for the artist last month.
Toulouse-Lautrec posters sweep into Swann’s auction
15 July 2016A series of posters by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec headlines the upcoming Vintage Posters sale at Swann Auction Galleries in New York.
Bay Psalm book sold for $221,000
15 February 2016A previously unknown seventh edition of the Bay Psalm Book, published in Boston, 1693, with a provenance tied to Salem witch trial judge Jonathan Corwin and descendants of John Proctor, sold for $221,000 (£151,584) at a Swann sale in New York on February 4.
Railway poster from 1928 taken to new high
13 December 2012Designed for the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, a 1928 poster by Cassandre (1901-68) sold at Swann Auction Galleries of New York for what is believed to be a record for the sought-after poster designer at auction.
Swanns go native for $1.2m sale
18 October 2012Edward S. Curtis’ monumental photographic study of ‘The North American Indian’ was one of the most expensive and ambitious undertakings in the history of book production, comprising 20 illustrated text volumes and 20 folios of larger photographic plates.
A Border ballad takes Scott to new heights
11 January 2005An unusual picture, both in terms of its style and quality, was the star of the show at this year’s Fine Paintings sale held by the Scottish auctioneers John Swan (10% buyer’s premium) at Dryburgh Abbey Hotel near St Boswells on December 2.
Wake Up!, I Want You, und Du
09 September 2004A POSTER sale held by Swanns of New York on August 4 was strong on recruitment and propaganda posters of WWI and WWII. A condition-A copy of “the best known American poster of all time”, the famous Uncle Sam image of 1917 seen top right, was sold at $9000 (£4950). Based on the well-known British poster featuring Lord Kitchener, it was originally produced by illustrator James Montgomery Flagg as a magazine cover and is in fact a self-portrait of the artist.
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