BERKELEY, CA — An exceedingly scarce second edition of the King James Holy Bible comes to market Thursday, September 19 as the highest-estimated lot in the Rare Books and Manuscripts sale at PBA Galleries. The auction is now open for bidding at LiveAuctioneers.
Authorized by King James I (1566-1625) to be the official version of the bible for the Church of England, the edition formally known as The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New: Newly Translated out of the Originall Tongues: and with the former Translations diligently compared and revised, by His Maiesties speciall comandement. Appointed to be read in Churches was first issued in 1611. It contained an erratum at Ruth 3:15 which read …and he went into the citie. The 1613 reissue corrected it to read …and she went into the citie, leading to historians referring to it as the ‘She’ version of the KJV bible. Described by PBA as “a nice copy overall with the nearly inevitable flaws professionally addressed and stabilized, very good or better,” the bible is estimated at $60,000-$90,000.
Around 1661 in Amsterdam, Andreas Cellarius published Theoria Lunae, eius Motum per Eccentricum et Epicyclum Demonstrans, a copper-engraved astronomical chart featuring hand coloring. Engraved by Joannes van Loon, the illustration documents the Ptolemaic model of lunar motion as first explained in Cellarius’ celebrated Harmonia Macrocosmica, widely considered the most beautiful celestial atlas ever printed. PBA’s version features strengthening along the centerfold and overall is in near-fine condition. It is estimated at $4,000-$6,000.
In October of 1929, celebrated scientist Marie Curie traveled to Washington, DC, to meet with President Herbert Hoover and receive a bank draft for $50,000 (nearly $900,000 in 2024 dollars) to fund radium purchases for a new research institute in Poland, Curie’s homeland. Unfortunately, her timing was less than stellar, with the October 29 Black Friday stock market crash having happened just days prior. Hoover still took the meeting, during which Curie presented him with a first edition of Pierre Curie, her biography of her husband (1859-1906). The book, along with the signed card which accompanied it, has passed through several generations of the Hoover family before coming to market at PBA. It is estimated at $8,000-$12,000.
