: Bonhams' sale of 500 natural history and zoological books and
watercolors from a private collection on July 15 totalled £5.3
million.
A new world record price of £45,410 was achieved for a first
edition of John Gould's five-volume The Birds of Great
Britain.
The only known copy of a fine series of mixed bouquets by
Pierre-Joseph Redouté's shared the sale's top price of £182,650
with Jean Baptiste Audebert and Louis-Jean-Pierre Vieillot's
Oiseaux doré ou à reflet métalliques. The latter book had
once belonged to the Duchesse de Berry and was one of only 12
copies or fewer printed in gold throughout.
Two lots sold for £171,650: A hand colored first Dutch edition of
Maris Sibylle's Der Rupsen Begin, Voedzel en Wonderbarre
and John Gould's first edition of The Birds of Australia,
in eight volumes.
