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Gracious, that really costs an uncommon fortune! If I had $1.1 million I would start to think seriously about becoming a homeowner for the first time in my life.

The binding there looks about as rough as the defective vellum binding on my 1598 copy of Dariot / G. C., but it's often been said that on an antique book, a defective original binding that is still just about doing its job of protecting the book is worth more than a new, fresh binding in perfect condition, and this may be a case in point.

I'm glad I've never given any thought to collecting original astronomy classics at this kind of price! I should think my entire astrology collection would be worth barely more than a twentieth of that estimate at auction, and that's where my life savings have gone at the expense of any thought of home ownership, which is impossible for that kind of money in this day and age, at least in a city like Stockholm....

It's probably just as well for astrologers that astrology doesn't have the high reputation among mainstream antique book collectors that pure astronomy has, or astrologers (not being renowned for their wealth) would never have a look in.

I've noticed in the past that where astrology classics fetch unusually high prices it is usually because of some connection being drawn by the auction house or by the collecting world generally to a more lucrative field of the antique world. Examples would be the 1545 (? somewhere around there anyway, but I'm too tired to look it up this evening) original of Sch?ner's 'De iudiciis nativitatum libri tres' that fetched $54000 a year or so ago, after a strong connection was drawn with Copernicus and his theories in the auction house's description; and of course Varley's 'Treatise of Zodiacal Physiognomy' of which a copy in exceptionally good condition reached over ?6000 GBP towards the end of 2006, thanks to the connection with the artwork of William Blake that formed the basis of several of the illustrations.

If ever astrology does find itself restored to a position of being acknowledged as valid and worthy of study by the mainstream of the populations of the western developed world (and I doubt that will happen in any of our lifetimes), the rarer astrological works may yet develop a wider collecting base aside from serious historical libraries, general occult collectors and astrologers themselves.

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Hello Philip, you?re right, the Copernicus bookcover does give another meaning to the concept of ?unwashed?!

A quick google on Dr Richard Green?s provenance, the chap whose library is for sale, came up with little information: a physician and amateur astronomer, who started collecting books in the early 70?s - Einstein is even counted among his collection. (I wonder what transits+progs would provoke selling treasure ? Venus-Saturn-Pluto probably.) That he chose to do so could be seen as encouraging to others who create their own library, such as your good self. Not that you would want to sell-up (okay, for a house maybe!) but it is good to note how printed matter is an investment, intellectually as well as financially.

That these scientific and astronomical books, illustative and philosophical, can command such figures is, to my mind, indicative of the fact that since the 60?s we have, generally speaking, been encouraged to live in a disposable society, so the little of value that remains is precious. To know that some of these books were printed when astrology and astronomy were bedfellows is heart-warming.

Any kind of collection, however, presents a personal challenge being a Buddhist, whose aim is to renounce attachment (and aversion); but my Cancerian Sun has other ideas about ?stuff?? as my husband will testify! So I content myself with beautiful astronomical reproduction prints, and will watch this auction with interest?

Good luck building your library! It already sounds amazing.

Copernicus result

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Anyone thinking of bidding a mere million dollars on that copy of Copernicus must have gone home disappointed, since it sold for $2,100,000:

http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_ ... ID=5084091

At the same sale, a 1482 2nd edition of Hyginus's 'Poeticon Astronomicon' fetched $20,000:

http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_ ... ID=5084224

[Personally I am making do with a very recent paperback English translation of this. There are many unsold copies of different 15th and 16th century editions in Latin on the used marketplace, indicating that it was a very popular and oft-reprinted book in its day, yet they all cost thousands of dollars, although the 16th century editions are naturally a lot cheaper than the late-15th century ones.]

A 1627 first edition of Kepler's Tabulae Rudolphinae (of which the second edition appears in Coley's 'Clavis Astrologiae Elimata') sold for $134,500

http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_ ... ID=5084240

And a 1729 copy of Flamsteed's Atlas coelestis sold for $60,000:

http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_ ... ID=5084146

[And to think I used to fancy my chances of affording a copy of that fine star atlas one day!... This said, the prices of the late-18th century reprints are in the $5000-$7000 region, a slightly less daunting prospect for some far-off day that might or might not never arise!]

Clearly the so-called 'credit crunch' has little or no impact on those at the upper end of the wealth spectrum!