“2 023 was a remarkable year for Books and Manuscripts, with the department achieving the second-highest net sales total in its history. The moments that drove this result attracted enormous attention from the press and general public – the tour and record-setting sale of the 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Codex Sassoon, and fans’ appetite for all things Freddie Mercury. We also held the first in our series of sales from the famed Renaissance library of 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:T. Kimball Brooker.
A trend that emerged in 2023, and one that should continue in 2024, was the market becoming more selective, but responding with great enthusiasm to the unique, the well-provenanced and those lots that only appear on the market with infrequency. Collectors are also blurring the boundaries and making their own definitions of a ”collection,” and finding relationships and building their own narratives as they acquire. —Richard Austin, Global Head of Books & Manuscripts