HAMBURG.- This has been a really good year for Rare Books. With total proceeds of more than € 2.5 million*, Ketterer Kunst in Hamburg realized a very robust annual result. The latest Rare Books Auction on November 29 showed “that high quality objects in combination with a professional presentation will make for excellent results“, says Christoph Calaminus.

The head of the Rare Books Department at Ketterer Kunst explains: “A well attended saleroom and brisk domestic and international participation on both phones and the internet, did the rest and led to surprisingly high individual results and remarkable increases.“

The TOP 5 in 2022

• € 100,000* starting price: € 40,000
A 526, no. 034: Basilius Besler – Hortus Eystettensis, Eichstätt and Nuremberg 1713

• € 68,750* starting price: € 18,000
A 526, no. 001: Johannes von Valkenburg (successor) – ‘A’ initial on vellum, Cologne around 1300-1340

• € 60,000* starting price: € 20,000
A 526, no. 026: Matthäus Merian and successor – Topographia Germania, Frankfurt 1642

• € 55,000* starting price: € 36,000
A 531, no. 017: Fracanzano da Montalboddo – Newe unbekanthe landte und ein newe weldte, Nuremberg 1508

• € 53,750* starting price: € 16,000
A 531, no. 011: Biblia germanica, Worms 1529

While the top lots fetched a multiple of their estimates in the spring auction and won the interest of bidders in the USA and the UK, Fracanzano da Montalboddo’s first German edition of one of the earliest printed collections of travelogues and expeditions (lot 17) will remain, as expected, in Germany. With proceeds of € 55,000*, the proxy submitted by a private collector predominantly outperformed phone bidders.

One highlight of the evening was the “Wormser Bibel“, which was highly contested by three saleroom bidders and phone bidders from Germany and the USA as well as a number of online bibliophiles, of which one eventually won the race, making sure that the starting price of € 16,000 soon soared to a result of € 53,750*.

The bidding fight for the herbal “Gart der Gesundheit“ (lot 2) was not less spectacular. The competition for one of the first scientific incunabula in a popular speech, fought out between proxies and phone bidders mainly from Germany, Great Britain and the USA, was eventually won, despite lively online participation, by the bid of € 47,500* submitted by a German private collection over the phone, which nearly doubled the estimate.

Another highlight was Hartmann Schedel’s “Buch der Chroniken und Geschichten“ (lot 5). Called up at € 24,000, the generous phone bid over € 43,750* of a German private collection was able to win the first edition of the famous Nuremberg Chronicle against tough international competition.

When the extremely rare Wormser Propheten (lot 10) entered the race at € 9,000, the result of € 40,000* granted by a representative of a German library in the saleroom, did not only make for a quadruplication of the calling price, but also beat a direct opponent in the saleroom as well as a number of internet bidders.

Three works by Max Klinger also saw remarkable increases. While lots 61 and 62 soared from € 4,000 and € 3,000 to € 15,000* and € 18,750* respectively, sold to a German museum and a German private collection, six sheets signed by the artist even skyrocketed from a calling price of € 3,000 to a result of € 35,000*, which is nearly a twelve-fold.