Arabic Gospels, Surrealist Chilean Poetry, and Theophile-Alexandre Steinlen: The Week in Rare Books
15th century incomplete Arabic manuscript of The Four Gospels
This weekly auction result is provided by Spencer W Stuart, an independent collections advisor specializing in rare books and manuscripts as well as fine photography and prints. He is also the author of Contemporary Issues in Rare Books & Manuscript Collecting and host of the monthly webinar Collecting Insights.
These are the three lots that stuck out this week because of either uniqueness or exceeding expectations:
15th century incomplete Arabic manuscript of The Four Gospels
The Canons of Eusebius are preceded by an introduction to the Gospels which is the tradition of the Egyptian Christian vulgate. In this manuscript, the graphic presentation of the holy text mimics that of the Mamluk Korans, with their gilded bands and rosettes at the end of each verse. This copy probably comes from a Greek library in the Egyptian world, as a Greek call number is inscribed on the binding plate. Sold for €32,000 at Gros & Delettrez following a €400-€600 estimate.
Chilean surrealist poetry
Issue number 1 (Santiago de Chile, 1936) of Total poetry journal with texts by Vicente Huidobro, leading Chilean surrealist poet and founder of Creationish (a movement characterized by the absence of punctuation), and J. Molina, E. Gomez-Correa, and Braulio Arenas. Sold at Giguello for €1,390 following an estimate of €300-€400.
L'epouvantable sinistre du Quartier Latin by Theophile-Alexandre Steinlen
The terrible disaster in the Latin Quarter by Steinlen (1859-1923), pen and ink on paper, signed, published in the magazine Le Chat Noir, No. 127, June 14, 1884. Sold at Swann Galleries for $35,560 after an estimate of $1,200-$1,800.
