Manhem book auction 2008
By Calle Erlandsson
The 41st chess book auction of the SS Manhem was held on 29 March in Gothenburg. KWA member Stellan Persson as the auctioneer was assisted by Mrs Siv Ewert (see picture above). A total of 923 lots had been put up for auction which are also listed in the catalogue on the SS Manhem web site.
Among other things the tournament books St Petersburg 1914 (2nd edition 1921) and Györ 1924 (the "small" LN5365) fetched quite high prices, both about 140 €. Hannover 1926 with a dedication of Kagan to Nimzowitsch was sold for 150 €. In our home town even 80 € had to be paid for Göteborg 1955. Among the biographies Enevoldsen's 30 Jahre am Schachbrett (in Danish) was sold for 50 € and B. Kagan's Lebensbild mit 32 Seiten und 10 Partien for 70 €. Nimzowitsch's Mein System, signed by the author had started with 50 €, the buyer had to pay afterwards 500 € +15%. Philidor's Analysis of the Game of Chess, London 1790 was sold for nearly 600 €. Fiske's Chess in Iceland was sold for the starting price of 350 €. A nice copy of Horwitz & Kling, Chess Studies and End-Games, London 1884 fetched 275 €. Reprint editions of the Deutsche Schachzeitung by Olms were partly not sold, others were sold for the starting price, for instance 320 € each for the series V, VI, and VII (1904-1915; 1916-1929; 1930-1944). Original magazines were mostly auctioned off for good prices or found no buyer.
sitting, from left: Per Skjoldager, Peter Holmgren, Jes Knudsen, Poul Bang Nielsen, XXX, Claes Løfgren; standing in the background: Gunnar Finnlaugsson
Among the visitors were the Danish KWA members Per Skjoldager, Claes Løfgren, Poul Bang Nielsen and Jes Knudsen, the Swedes Peter Holmgren and Calle Erlandsson as well as our new member Gunnar Finnlaugsson (an Icelandic citizen living in the Swedish town of Lund).
The 42nd Manhem auction is planned for March 28, 2009.
(Calle Erlandsson)