- Page Title
- The Library of Barry Yampol: A First Selection. Part 2 | Books & Manuscripts | Sotheby's
- Brand
- sothebys.com
- Type
- Other
- First Seen
- 12/20/2025
- Last Seen
- 12/24/2025
- Domain
- sothebys.com
- URL
- https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2025/the-library-of-barry-yampol-a-first-selection-part-2?locale=en&lotFilter=AllLots&cmp=_b.perf_pl.fb_ct.adva_l.en_r.Global_ce.Bid_tc.PRO_dv.LUX_c.EBKS_ft.sale_n.N11776_f.PaidCut_
- Description
- Barry Yampol (1937–2023) was known worldwide as a collector and dealer of mineral specimens and gemstones, a passion that benefitted from his great success in the telecommunications business. Many institutions, including the Smithsonian Institute, the Yale Peabody Museum, and the Sorbonne, benefitted from loans from Yampol’s collection and other support he provided.Much less well known was Barry Yampol’s concurrent book collecting. While he was the most public of figures in the world of mineral collecting, in the republic of books Yampol strived, successfully, to maintain his anonymity. Still, he became one of the most discriminating collectors of the last half century of books illustrating the history of science. While mineralogy and mining are certainly prominent in the Yampol Library, they are far from the only focus.The full breadth of the Library of Barry Yampol will be revealed in a series of auctions at Sotheby’s, beginning in December with the sale of A First Selection from the Library, to be offered in two parts, a live auction on 9 December and an online sale closing on 12 December. A Second Selection will be offered in 2026.Expected authors will be found in the first auction—Agricola, Albertus Magnus, Gautier D’Agoty, Kircher, Sowerby, and William Smith, among others—but so will some surprises, including the Doheny copy of Aristotle’s Opera in Greek, printed by Aldus, 1495–1498; the 1482 Euclid printed by Ratdolt from the Norman collection; a complete set of Diderot and D’Alembert’s Encyclopédie; Hooke’s Micrographia, 1665; and Mendeleev’s Principles of Chemistry, in Russian, 1869–1871.One of the most influential scientific works of antiquity is the Natural History of Pliny the Elder, and Yampol’s collection of editions of Pliny is especially expansive and will be spread throughout all of the auctions. Among several incunable editions of the Natural History to be included in the First Selection is the first printing in Italian, the most ambitious publication of the Venetian presses of Nicolas Jenson. The first page of text is beautifully illuminated with the arms of Jacopo Bernardo Serzelli, probably accomplished by Francesco D’Antonio.After the sale, property can be collected by appointment only through Post-Sale Services. Property will be available for collection starting on Tuesday, December 17, 2025 from Sotheby’s Gantry Point, located at 25-11 49thAvenue, Long Island City, New York. Please contact Post-Sale Services to arrange for payment and property release.For assistance with bidding and registration, please contact:+1 212 606 7000enquiries@sothebys.comFor all other enquiries please contact:Richard AustinSenior Vice PresidentGlobal Head of DepartmentBooks Manuscripts+1 212 606 7385RICHARD.AUSTIN@SOTHEBYS.COMSelby KifferSenior Vice PresidentInternational Senior SpecialistBooks Manuscripts+1 212 606 7385SELBY.KIFFER@SOTHEBYS.COMDr. Kalika SandsVice President, Head of DepartmentInternational SpecialistBooks Manuscripts+1 212 606 7385KALIKA.SANDS@SOTHEBYS.COMNoah GoldrachSpecialistBooks Manuscripts+1 212 606 7385NOAH.GOLDRACH@SOTHEBYS.COMFenella TheisCataloguerBooks Manuscripts+1 212 606 7385FENELLA.THEIS@SOTHEBYS.COMEmily ZasAssociate CataloguerBooks Manuscripts+1 212 606 7385EMILY.ZAS@SOTHEBYS.COMGabriella HetuPre-Sale CoordinatorBooks Manuscripts+1 212 606 7385GABRIELLA.HETU@SOTHEBYS.COM
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