Bloomsbury Auctions’ first No Reserve Bibliophile Sale on June 30, 2009 sold over 82% by lot. The sale contained property from The Heritage Book Shop, Colonial Williamsburg and The Metropolitan Museum of Art and contained over 450 lots.
A manuscript letter written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and signed to Elizabeth Craig Clarkson, written the day after he was accepted at Princeton (15 September 1913) with the original mailing envelope sold for $4,000 (presale estimate $3,000-$5,000.) The first edition of the account of Walden’s story on Walden Pont by Henry David Thoreau sold for $3,000 (presale: $2,500-$3,500) and Charles M. Russell’s Good Medicine (1929) first edition $2,400 (presale: $1,500-$2,000.)
James Cummins III, Specialist, Books and Manuscripts said “The sale was conducted differently in a few ways. There was no telephone bidding, nor was there a printed catalogue. There was quite an enthusiastic live audience which included collectors as well as dealers. This sale was done as an experiment to see how the market would react to quality material being offered without a reserve. This proved to be quite successful with many lots selling at higher prices than they had previously been offered at. The next no reserve sale will take place in December 2009.”
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