Past Auction

Rare Books, Autographs & Maps

Wed, Apr 25, 2018 at 10am EDT |

New York

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Rare Copy of Bernard Ratzer's 1776 Map of New York City Achieves a Record $150,000

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Auction of Rare Books, Autographs & Maps on April 25, 2018
Rare Copy of Bernard Ratzer's 1776 Map of New York City Achieves at Record $150,000
Featuring Property from the Estate of Dr. Leo Hershkowitz and the Travel and Sporting Library of Arnold "Jake" Johnson

NEW YORK, NY -- On April 25, 2018, Doyle held an auction of Rare Books, Autographs & Maps. The sale offered a wide assortment of material ranging from early illuminated manuscripts to modern literary first editions. Featured in the sale was property from the Estate New York historian Dr. Leo Hershkowitz and the Library of Arnold "Jake" Johnson.

With competitive bidding in the salesroom, on the telephones and on the Internet, the sale totaled $865,350 against an estimate of $646,200-963,100, with a strong 88% sold by lot and 93% sold by value.

The Estate of Dr. Leo Hershkowitz

Highlighting the sale was a rare copy of Bernard Razter's 1776 map of New York City that sold for a record $150,000, far exceeding its estimate of $80,000-100,000. The prior auction record for a copy of this map was $106,250. Read More

The map was property from the estate of New York historian and professor Dr. Leo Hershkowitz (1924-2017), who taught history for decades at Queens College and in later years at New York University, was an inveterate collector of all things related to New York City. An urban archaeologist, Dr. Hershkowitz is known to have dug for artifacts on the site before the building of the World Trade Center in 1968 and on other occasions rescued piles of paper bound for the shredder which revealed little known aspects of New York history. Property from the Estate of Dr. Leo Hershkowitz will be offered in sales throughout the spring 2018 season.

The Estate of Arnold "Jake" Johnson

A true bibliophile, Arnold “Jake” Johnson (1930-2017) of Bozeman, Montana, was an inveterate collector of rare items related to travel, expeditions in India and Africa, English sporting and color-plate, 19th century big game hunting, and Western Americana. To be offered in a series of sales, the Collection comprises hundreds of rare books, hand-written accounts of hunting expeditions, striking examples of 19th century photographic travel albums, and elusive bibliographies and facsimiles of major works. Read More

All prices include the buyer's premium

We Invite You to Auction!

Consignments are currently being accepted for the Fall 2018 auction of Rare Books, Autographs & Maps. We invite you to contact us for a complimentary auction evaluation. Our specialists are always available to discuss the sale of a single item or an entire collection. For information, please contact Edward Ripley-Duggan at 212-427-4141, ext 234, or Peter Costanzo at ext. 248, or email Books@Doyle.com