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.

$45,000

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.

$45,000

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

FIRST EDITIONS. 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

A Room of One’s Own. New York: The Fountain Press; London: Hogarth Press, 1929

FIRST EDITION, preceding the trade edition. One of 492 copies signed by Virginia Woolf, this copy noted as “out of series’ on the limitation page. This is a very rare presentation copy of Woolf’s landmark feminist text. Woolf has inscribed and signed the book in purple ink to Cambridge philosopher R. B. Braithwaite.

$42,000

Ink and wash drawings of Jewish subjects and of musical instruments, Signed by Daguerre. “Dessiné le 12 Novembre 1822 LJM Daguerre.”, 1822

$40,000

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

Theory of Games and Economic Behavior. Princeton: University Press, 1944

FIRST EDITION. Inscribed by Oskar Morgenstern: “To Dan Maxim, with esteem and warm regards Oskar Morgenstern July 1971 Have you found the set-theoretical hiding in this book?”

$28,000

Two autograph manuscripts signed: Autograph manuscript on the American individual beginning “Or are you one ambitious of great deeds” [and] Autograph manuscript poem fragment signed “Kentucky”. No place, c. 1862

This leaf contains two wonderful Whitman manuscripts. The first is an unpublished manuscript in which Whitman discusses two of the great themes of his writing: the work of strengthening, purifying, and completing oneself and the place of the individual in American democracy. The second, written on the verso of “Or are you ambitious” manuscript, is an unpublished working manuscript from Whitman’s Civil War poem “Kentucky.”

$28,000

DNA The Secret of Life. [New York: Knopf, 2003.]

Presentation copy inscribed by James Watson to Francis Crick and his wife: “For Francis and Odile from Jim 27 November 2002.” This is the dedication copy, with the printed dedication stating “To Francis Crick.”

$25,000

Genes, Girls and Gamow. Oxford: University Press, 2001

First edition. A tremendous presentation copy inscribed by James Watson to Francis Crick: “For Francis from Jim.”

$25,000