Swann Galleries’ November 20, 2025, Printed & Manuscript Americana auction earned $713,130, nestled firmly between the pre-sale estimates of $590,800 to $872,200. Of the 369 lots, 315 found buyers, for an 88% sell-through rate. At least 21 institutions bought 43 lots; of the top 20 lots, 11 sold directly to collectors, and the auction had 132 buyers on the rolls.

Of the sale, Rick Stattler, specialist for Americana, noted, “Interest in the sale was wide-ranging, across regions, subject matter, and price points. And, interest in the nation’s founding period seems stronger than ever with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration approaching.”

American Revolution

George Washington, Autograph Letter Signed, as Commander in Chief, to Robert Morris, January 1777. Sold for $69,850.

Strong interest in the American Revolution led the auction, with the two top lots being a spectacular lieutenant’s diary from the Invasion of Quebec, which sold for $76,200, and an important 1777 letter by General George Washington anticipating the British attack on Philadelphia, which sold for $69,850. Also of note was an early German history of the Revolution, with engravings of Stamp Act protests, the Boston Tea Party, the Battle of Lexington, Bunker Hill, and the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and featuring the first published appearance of the American Flag, at $1,716.

Mormon Material

Joseph Smith, Mortgage deed signed with Sidney Rigdon and Hyrum Smith, 1840. Sold for $48,260.

A large and wide-ranging Mormon section was led by a deed signed by Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum at $48,260. Additional top-earning lots were a pair of partial letters offering a non-Mormon perspective on Nauvoo in the 1840s and beyond, at $13,970, J. Goldsmith’s A Grammar of General Geography, 1822, with ownership signature of the prophet’s brother, William Smith, at $6,604, and an 1882 letter enclosing the clipped signature of Brigham Young and the First Presidency, at $5,842.

Auction Records

Jared Eliot, Essays Upon Field-Husbandry in New England, Boston, 1760. Sold for $3,302, a record for the work.

Among the records set in the sale was Jared Eliot’s Essays Upon Field-Husbandry at $3,302, previously set at Swann in 2003 for $1,265.

Additional Highlights

Brooke Russell [Astor], Diary as a young American girl in Peking and on the “grand tour,” 1913. Sold for $5,334.

Additional highlights included a childhood diary of New York icon Brooke Astor, which brought $5,334, after it was acquired at another auction house for $1100 earlier this year. A 1792 pamphlet on animal rights earned $6,604; the letters of an early American diplomat to Ethiopia brought $6,350; and the letterbook of a missionary on the Kansas frontier brought $12,065. The biggest surprise of the sale was an early Masonic manuscript, which brought $17,780 on a $600-900 estimate.

Manuscript of Connecticut Masonic rituals, circa 1797-1819. Sold for $17,780.