A very rare first edition and author’s presentation copy of Charles Darwin’s groundbreaking work, “On the Origin of Species,” fetched an astonishing £305,200 ($384,000) at Bonhams Fine Books and Manuscripts Sale held on March 20, 2024. This price surpassed its initial estimate by over double, marking a significant moment in literary auction history. The auction saw a total sale of £1,308,337 ($1,648,000), with an impressive 93% of the lots sold by volume and an astounding 99% sold by value.

Darwin’s seminal work on evolution, first published in 1859, was limited to just 1,250 copies. Among these, an esteemed few were presented by Darwin himself to individuals he held in high regard. One such recipient was Dr. Hugh Weddell, a distinguished British-born botanist and physician. The manuscript list of persons to receive copies of the first edition of “On the Origin of Species,” compiled by Darwin between August and October 1859, included Dr. Weddell’s name.

Matthew Haley, Managing Director and Head of UK Books & Manuscripts at Bonhams Knightsbridge, expressed his delight at the remarkable outcome of the auction. “We are absolutely delighted with this result,” he said. “The interest in this edition is not surprising given only a few dozen copies were presented by Darwin to his circle. This book is regarded as one of the most important scientific works in history.”

Aside from the success of Darwin’s work, the auction also featured noteworthy results for pieces by Argentinian short-story writer, Jorge Luis Borges. An autograph manuscript of Borges’s short story ‘Funes el memorioso’, circa 1942, fetched an impressive £70,250, over 14 times its estimated value. Similarly, Borges’s annotated copy of the first edition of “The Aleph” from 1949 sold for £35,840, surpassing its estimate by over eight times.

Among other highlights of the auction were a cabinet portrait photograph of Fyodor Dostoevsky signed and inscribed by the author himself, which sold for £76,600, over double its estimate. Additionally, a Māori Land Transaction document signed by fifteen Māori chiefs from September 1826, representing an early attempt at the colonisation of New Zealand, fetched £53,740.

Also featured was an uncorrected proof copy of the first edition of J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” inscribed and signed by the author, which sold for £35,840. An illuminated manuscript titled “Recueil de pieuses prières” by Ferdinand and Charles De Pape, dated 1908, sold for the same amount, representing an exquisite example of neo-medieval illumination.

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Musée d’Orsay celebrates 150 years of Impressionism

From March 25 to July 14, 2024, Musée d’Orsay presents “Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment”, an exhibition honoring the 150th anniversary of the first impressionist exhibition.

Source: National Gallery of Art, Washington · Image: Édouard Manet, “The Railway”, 1873, oil on canvas. National Gallery of Art, Washington

On April 15, 1874, an exhibition by the “Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptors, and Engravers, etc.” opened at the Parisian studio of the photographer Nadar on the Boulevard des Capucines. It was a defiant response to the official, government-sponsored annual exhibition known as the Paris Salon. The first exhibition of these Société anonyme artists included works by Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, and Paul Cézanne, later known as impressionists. This now-legendary event is often considered the birth of modernist painting and remains a key moment in the history of Western art.

What exactly happened in Paris in the spring of 1874, and what meaning can we attach to the emergence of this artistic movement? Works shown at the first impressionist exhibition will be put into perspective alongside paintings and sculptures displayed at the official 1874 Salon. This unprecedented juxtaposition will help us understand the visual shock that visitors experienced when first encountering the works of the impressionists.

The exhibition will also explore the circumstances that led more than 30 artists to defy the official system of the Salon, with its judges, prizes, and government approval, by showing their art independently. At the time, France was struggling to recover from its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, the siege of Paris and the violence of civil war. Following these crises, artists were rethinking their art, discovering their voices, and exploring new directions.

After its venue in Paris, “Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment” will be shown at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, from September 8, 2024 to January 20, 2025.

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