{"id":26181,"date":"2026-05-18T08:00:36","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T13:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lawrenceperson.com\/?p=26181"},"modified":"2026-05-17T21:31:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T02:31:49","slug":"highlights-from-the-david-aronovitz-auction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lawrenceperson.com\/?p=26181","title":{"rendered":"Highlights from the David Aronovitz Auction"},"content":{"rendered":"

That Heritage auction of the David Aronovitz collection<\/a> happened last week, and there were some truly breathtaking prices achieved. Here’s a look at some of them. <\/p>\n

  • An unsigned, first edition of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit<\/b><\/a> went for a jaw-dropping $450,000. Pretty sure that smashes the record for that title.\n
  • Speaking of Tolkien, an unsigned but exceptionally nice first edition, first state set of The Lord of the Rings<\/b><\/a> went for a similarly astounding $325,000.\n
  • An inscribed, first edition of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot<\/b> in a first state dust jacket<\/a> (Father Cody and unclipped, original $8.95 price on the dust jacket), pretty much a holy grail for King collectors, went for a breathtaking $68,750.\n
  • Speaking of King, an asbestos-bound Firestarter<\/b><\/a> went for $75,000.\n
  • Somehow Aronovitz had gathered all three dedicate copies of Robert A. Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land<\/b><\/a> (to Robert Cornog, Frederic Brown, and Philip Jose Farmer), and the lot went for a whopping $118,750. I only have an Ex-Library first of this.\n
  • An associational copy of Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot<\/b> inscribed to John W. Campbell<\/a> (which is a great associational copy) went for an eye-popping $87,500.00.\n
  • A first English-language edition in dust jacket of Eugene Zamiatin\/Yevgeny Zamyatin classic dystopia We<\/b><\/a> went for $52,500. I’m not sure I’ve seen a copy offered in the dust jacket. I have a reprint of a later translation Bruce Sterling gave me. (I should probably read it some time…)\n
  • A green-jacketed first of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four<\/b><\/a> went for $32,500. Interestingly, a copy of the more desirable red-jacked version<\/a>, with the paper Evening Standard<\/i> recommendation band, went in a Freeman’s auction for $48,000. I have a less attractive copy<\/a> in a green jacket.\n
  • A nice but unsigned<\/i> first of Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?<\/b><\/a> went for $37,500.00. I only have an Ex-Library first of this.\n
  • In a really inexplicable result, a signed Currey D binding (pretty much the ordinary hardback state) of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451<\/b><\/a> went for $42,500, which is much more than the much rarer “asbestos-bound” copy<\/a> went for in the same auction ($25,000), and than an association copy of the presentation state B inscribed to longtime friend and fan Forrest J. Ackerman<\/a> went for $23,750.00. Similar signed Currey D copies can be had for much less online. My own, less desirable D-state copy is covered here<\/a>.\n
  • A very nice inscribed first of Frank Herbert’s Dune<\/b><\/a> went for $75,000. I only have an Ex-Library first of this.\n
  • A copy of the Gollancz hardback first of Larry Niven’s Ringworld<\/b> in the very rare proof state dust jacket<\/a> (I know of only one other copy) went for $8,125.\n
  • A very nice (but unsigned) trade first of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World<\/b><\/a> in dust jacket went for $32,500, which is more than the one of 324 signed, limited copies went for ($8,125). I have an unsigned, jacketless copy of the trade first.\n
  • A nice, but not pristine, first of H. G. Wells First Men in the Moon<\/b><\/a> signed by astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin went for $10,625. I have a less-attractive first of First Men in the Moon<\/b>. I also have a first of another book signed by Buzz Aldrin<\/a>.\n
  • A partial manuscript first draft of Gene Wolfe’s The Shadow of the Torturer<\/b><\/a> went for $16,875.\n<\/li>\n

    Not everything went for crazy money. An E. E. “Doc” Smith History of Civilization<\/b> set with<\/i> box and lid went for $7,500, less than $2,000 more than a similar set with lid sold for all the way back in 2008<\/a>. A copy of Stanley G. Weinbaum’s Dawn of Flame<\/b> went for $1,250, or all of $50 more than I paid for my copy back in 2008. A nice copy of H. P. Lovecraft’s The Outsider and Others<\/b> went for $5,625, which seems around market to me. A signed Gollancz Neuromancer<\/b> went for $6,875, down considerably off recent over $10,000 highs (though $3,500 for a signed first of the PBO is probably a new record). <\/p>\n

    But generally, the very highest highpoint firsts of SF\/F\/H seem to be appreciating in value more rapidly than similar literary highpoints, <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    That Heritage auction of the David Aronovitz collection happened last week, and there were some truly breathtaking prices achieved. Here’s a look at some of them. An unsigned, first edition of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit went for a jaw-dropping $450,000. Pretty sure that smashes the record for that title. Speaking of Tolkien, an unsigned but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":9,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,137,56,5],"tags":[1901,1214,1973,1983,844,510,1195,1979,233,434,1075,1177,86,716,263,1970,45],"class_list":["post-26181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-fantasy","category-horror","category-science-fiction","tag-associational-copy","tag-auction","tag-books","tag-fantasy","tag-george-orwell","tag-h-g-wells","tag-heritage-auctions","tag-horror","tag-isaac-asimov","tag-j-r-r-tolkien","tag-larry-niven","tag-philip-jose-farmer","tag-philip-k-dick","tag-ray-bradbury","tag-robert-a-heinlein","tag-science-fiction","tag-stephen-king"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lawrenceperson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lawrenceperson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lawrenceperson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lawrenceperson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lawrenceperson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26181"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.lawrenceperson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26207,"href":"https:\/\/www.lawrenceperson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26181\/revisions\/26207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lawrenceperson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lawrenceperson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lawrenceperson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}