'Volume of tragedies...' stars in National Book Auctions' sale of unique works

The Latin Tragoediae by Lucius Annaeus Seneca starred in this remarkable New York state auction

National Book Auctions, located in Ithaca, New York, hosted auctions in early and late-June featuring a wide assortment of Ireland-related material, incunabulum, children's books and signed first editions.

Among the featured items was an 1819 First Edition of Constitutional Law: Comprising The Declaration of Independence; The Articles of Confederation; The Constitution of the United States; And the Constitutions of the Several States Composing the Union, which made $1,500.

George Barbier's rare 1913 illustrative work sold for of $2,280

Also sold at the gallery in June was a 1493 printing of Tragoediae, by Lucius Annaeus Seneca. This Latin piece of incunabulum is a collection of tragedies from the acclaimed Roman philosopher and dramatist, Lucius Annaeus Seneca.

This volume contains ten tragedies, including: Hercules Furens, Thyestes, Thebais, Hippolytus, Oedipus, Troas, Medea, Agamenon, Octavia and Hercules Oetheus and reached a final price of $1,620.

Among the hundreds of other lots was a 1913 Limited Edition printing of Designs on the Dances of Vaslav Nijinsky, by George Barbier.

Bound in large cream thin-card wrappers with blue and black lettering and a pictorial design on the upper cover, this antique volume is a scarce and unique limited edition of acclaimed artist George Barbier's collection of illustrations, translated into English by C. W. Beaumont and containing a foreword by Francis de Miomandre.

This work is from a limited edition printing, number 99 of 400, and was the sole edition printed in English. The hand-coloured volume sold for $2,280, with the book's rarity proving crucial to its value.

This humourous French children's book made $1,260

Accompanied by numerous other antique and vintage children's books was a 1912 copy of Grosses Betes & Petites Betes, by Andre Helle. This large pictorial features paper-covered boards with grey cloth backing and is a very rare first edition of this French children's book.

This work features illustrations by the author of animals from Noah's Ark and is gorgeously illustrated with twenty tipped-in pochoir illustrations surrounded by text and black outline drawings. The plates are signed with the artist's monogram, lower case initials 'ah' inside a circle. This fun book made a final price of $1,260.