Autograph letter signed as President to Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas [with] American flag bunting from Lincoln’s box at Ford’s Theatre. Washington, Executive Mansion, May 27, 1861

Abraham Lincoln, writing at the outset of the Civil War, recommends that the Army admit three volunteers from the highly divided city of Baltimore. He advises Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas, “I hate to reject any offered from what is called a Southern State.” [offered with] Bunting from the presidential box at Ford’s Theatre.

two items: $275,000

Map of Beijing, painted on silk. [China, Daoguang Period], (1820-1850)

This splendid, enormous hand-painted map of Beijing shows and names the main streets, official residences of imperial family members, important buildings, temples, geographical features, fortifications and garrisons of the Forbidden, Imperial and Inner Cities.

$250,000

United States flag flown to the Moon on Apollo 11. NASA, July 16-24, 1969

This American flag, flown to the Moon on Apollo 11, is one of the most sought-after relics of space exploration.

$150,000

Apollo Lunar Module lithograph signed by all twelve men who have walked on the Moon, dozens of other astronauts, and scores of NASA and Grumman officials and other figures associated with the Apollo program.. [NASA and Grumman], ca. 1972.

The spectacular color lithograph of the Apollo Lunar Module is surrounded by more than 300 signatures including the twelve men who have walked on the Moon, 25 additional Apollo astronauts, various political and aerospace leaders, and numerous Grumman and NASA engineers, officers, and other personnel.

$85,000

Ulysses S. Grant. Washington, c. 1865

$52,000

Autograph letter signed to Miss Thurston. No place, [c. 1868 or possibly later]

Louisa May Alcott discusses the impact of Little Women and its place in children’s literature. She observes that “My ‘Little Women’ have much astonished their Momma by making many friends for themselves, & she can only account for it by the grain of truth that lay at the bottom of the little story.”

on hold: $45,000

The Lord of the Rings. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1954-1955

FIRST EDITIONS, FIRST PRINTINGS. This is a very attractive set of the celebrated Lord of the Rings trilogy. The size of the edition was small: The Fellowship of the Ring (3000 copies), The Two Towers (3250 copies), and The Return of the King (7000 copies).

$42,500

Autograph manuscript diagrams and text. [n.p., n.d.],

Goddard (1882-1945), the “father of modern rocket propulsion,” launched the world’s first liquid-propellant rocket on March 16, 1926, at Auburn, Massachusetts, a “feat as epochal in history as that of the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk” (NASA). Goddard had a rare genius for invention and these notes suggest the endless refinement necessary to create a dependable, operational rocket engine.

$35,000

Original drawing, “3-Stage Satellite Vehicle (pitch plane)” signed and dated 1952. [Huntsville, Alabama, 1952.]

This is an original signed drawing of a space ship by Wernher von Braun, the father of the American space program. He made this drawing for his landmark Colliers series “Man Will Conquer Space Soon” (1952-54), which played a central role in inspiring a generation of rocket scientists and convincing the public of the possibility of space exploration. These essays covered seemingly every aspect of manned space flight and anticipated many developments including the enormous multi-stage vertical launch vehicle (to become Saturn V), a horizontal landing space ferry (the Space Shuttle), an orbiting space station, a lunar landing, the establishment of a base on the moon, and ultimately a manned expedition to Mars.

$35,000

Armstrong and Aldrin raising the U.S. flag on the Moon’s surface. NASA, [1969]

Signed by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, the first two men on the Moon. This image was taken by the Maurer Data Acquisition Camera (DAC, pronounced “dak”). The DAC made films through the Lunar Module Pilot’s window during the approach and landing of the LM and took stop motion photographs during the EVA at the rate of one frame per second.

$32,000