Munich, May 31, 2021 (KK) - With total proceeds of more than 1.4 million*, the Rare Books Auction at Ketterer Kunst in Hamburg on May 31, 2021 yielded a very good result. The sales quota in the Evening Sale alone was at 85 % and many of the objects on offer changed owners with excellent price increases. The evening‘s undisputed star was a 13th century vellum manuscript with texts on logic by Aristotle.

With the "Logica vetus" Aristotle did not only lay the foundations for higher education in all of medieval Europe, but also had an impact on methods and discussions in almost every other scientific discipline. In light of this it is little surprising that this extremely rare compilation of medieval texts was hotly contested by a number of proxy bids and online bidders, as well as by nearly half a dozen phone bidders from Denmark, Germany, England, France and the U. S. Their bidding zeal lifted the remarkable manuscript to a likewise remarkable result of € 90,000* granted by a bidder from London.

"The result reflects the fact that manuscripts of this superb quality are extremely hard to find on the international auction market", says Christoph Calaminus, auctioneer and head of the department of Rare Books at Ketterer Kunst in Hamburg. Overall, he is very pleased with the auction: "It was a good auction with active national and international participation. The unusually strong online activities deliver proof of this as well as more than 30 five-digit results."

Three more French vellum manuscripts were further highlights: While the Barbeaux-Gradual was sold to a French phone bidder for a result of € 62,500*, an online bidder won the Gospel of Mark for € 40,000* against mainly phone competition from France and the USA, an illuminated Book of Hours from around 1450-70 found a new home in the U. S. A. for a result of € 36,250* thus outperforming a number of proxy bids.

The first and only edition of Luca Pacioli's renowned work on the golden ratio with 59 woodcuts after Leonardo da Vinci's drawings also found a new home in the USA. A museum in California honored this impactful milestone of Renaissance geometry, and likewise important source for the study of da Vinci's work, with a result of € 75,000*.

Almost a 23-fold, and thus the sharpest increase of all was realized by a one-of-a-kind collection of paper-cut-outs from the ownership of the poet Friedrich von Matthisson. Two albums with 74 large-size works by the renowned paper-cut artist Luise Dutenhofer were called up with an estimate of € 1,200. The filigree and well-thought-out compositions combine real situations with allegorical and mythological accessories and had already won the hearts of many prior to the auction. Accordingly, the run was tremendous when bidders from Germany, Italy and Great Britain fought over the work. At the end of a thrilling bidding race a Bavarian collector carried the trophy home for a result of € 27,500*.

A lot of attention also went to three volumes of Paul Westheim's acclaimed expressionistic edition "Die Schaffenden" with graphic works by, among others, Karl Hofer, Lyonel Feininger, Conrad Felixmüller, Erich Heckel, Käthe Kollwitz, Alfred Kubin, Ewald Mataré, Ernst Wilhelm Nay and Oskar Schlemmer. In this case an extremely persistent online bidder stood his grounds against a dozen proxy bids and seven tenacious competitors on the phones with a result of € 33,750*.

Further good results were also realized by:

Lot no.	Artist	Title/Type	Calling price	Result
024	Orden vom goldenen Vlies		€ 10,000	€ 28,750*
072	M. Chagall/N. Gogol	Les ames mortes	€ 12,000	€ 26,250*
276	Hermann Hesse	12 Gedichte	€ 7,000	€ 22,500*
083	Ernst Jandl	Hosi-Anna	€ 2,000	€ 8,125*

Your press contact:	Your contact in the Rare Books department:
Ketterer Kunst	Ketterer Kunst
Joseph-Wild-Str. 18	Holstenwall 5
81829 Munich, Germany	20355 Hamburg, Germany
Michaela Derra	Christoph Calaminus / Christian Höflich
Phone: +49-(0)89-55244-152	Phone: +49-(0)40-374961-11 /-20
Fax: +49-(0)89-55244-177	Fax: +49-(0)40-374961-66
E-Mail: m.derra@kettererkunst.de	E-Mail: infohamburg@kettererkunst.de