Newton, Descartes and Izaak Walton were among those who reached new price levels, but there is no doubting that the day belonged to Shakespeare. Sold to an unnamed bidder for $5.52m (£3.73m), plus 17/15/10 per cent premium, was one of the finest copies of the 1623 First Folio remaining in private hands. A fine and complete copy in an early binding (the frontispiece is shown here), it once belonged to Mary Dryden, a niece of the poet.
Christie’s New York sell the library of Abel E. Berland
Several auction records were broken when Christie’s New York sold the library of Abel E. Berland in an October 8-9 sale that saw 90 per cent of lots sold for a premium-inclusive total of $14.4m (£9.8m).
