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Books The Almighty Buck News

Edward Tufte's Library Up For Auction 45

px2 writes "I was poking around Christie's auction house after taking a look at the Apple 1 when I came across this: Beautiful Evidence: The Library of Edward Tufte. He's unloading everything from Galileo and Da Vinci firsts to a rotating Japanese astronomical text from 1801. I guess he didn't conjure his ideas on information design from thin air." Based on Christie's estimates, the collection of 29 artifacts could fetch in excess of two and a quarter million dollars.
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Edward Tufte's Library Up For Auction

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  • I wonder (Score:4, Insightful)

    by MoarInternets ( 1759018 ) on Saturday November 13, 2010 @05:11PM (#34217712)
    If the auction catalog will be up to his standards!
    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      The online auction catalog [christies.com] is beautiful.

      Christie's is conducting another interesting auction a week later: The Year of the Rabbit: The Playboy Collection. This online auction catalog [christies.com] is NSFW.

      • The online auction catalog is beautiful.

        What, you mean this:



        Flash player update is required to load the Viewer.
        Please download it by clicking here, then click to continue.




        It has a certain spartan minimalism, granted, but I was really expecting a bit more than that.

  • ...I won't be receiving any more diagrams in the mail of Napoleon's march in and out of Russia?

    • by u38cg ( 607297 )
      Dude, if that's the kind of spam you get, I have like no sympathy for you whatsoever. Deal with it.
  • by Suki I ( 1546431 ) on Saturday November 13, 2010 @05:44PM (#34217844) Homepage Journal
    a genetically modified shark with a laser on its head!
    • by Whiteox ( 919863 )

      a genetically modified shark with a laser on its head!

      I'd go with irritable sea bass.
      There's a lot less paperwork.

      • by Suki I ( 1546431 )

        a genetically modified shark with a laser on its head!

        I'd go with irritable sea bass. There's a lot less paperwork.

        Oh, the shark effect is worth the paperwork. :)

  • by OzPeter ( 195038 ) on Saturday November 13, 2010 @05:59PM (#34217920)

    I was flicking through stuff at random when I saw GALILEI, Galileo. Sidereus nuncius. Frankfurt: Poltheanus, 1610. [christies.com] which has the description:

    "Pirated edition of Galileo's work containing "some of the most important discoveries in scientific literature" (PMM), published the same year as the first edition. This the the first publication of any of Galileo's works outside of Italy. ..."

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by east coast ( 590680 )
      I'm pretty sure the copyright has expired on this work. You're safe, trust me.
    • This the the first publication of any of Galileo's works outside of Italy. ..."

      Of course it is! Italians never read pirated works willingly, they find it too hard to pronounce "Arr, Arr" :)

  • All I can think of is how paypal will take a big chunk of the payment, plus the cost of selling something on e-bay, and then the taxes involved... Yeah, he's better off just selling it over on craigslist so long as he hires bodyguards. http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/nation/craigslist-murder-in-washington-is-a-cautionary-tale-for-internet-users [newjerseynewsroom.com]
  • Back in the early 90s, I took a short course on visualization with Ed Tufte prior to a conference in Montreal. I remember him showing a book he had in his collection from a century I don't recall, that contained paper pop-ups to display three-dimensional geometric figures. It was awesome. I wonder if it's in the lot for auction...

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by tsalmark ( 1265778 )
      I believe that would be Euclid’s Elements. A copy of which seems to be listed (lot 11) with an estimate of $4-600, I'm guessing that is not an original.
      • I believe that would be Euclid’s Elements. A copy of which seems to be listed (lot 11) with an estimate of $4-600, I'm guessing that is not an original.

        Thanks. I think you're right that it's not an original. :-)

    • I remember him showing a book he had in his collection from a century I don't recall, that contained paper pop-ups to display three-dimensional geometric figures. It was awesome

      My five year old's got a pop up Dora the Explorer's Fairytale Adventure book, the dragon is especially awesome.

  • by VendettaMF ( 629699 ) on Saturday November 13, 2010 @10:05PM (#34219524) Homepage

    Finally someone has created a genuine and effective reason for me to desire to be a millionaire...

  • For ICP (Score:3, Funny)

    by VendettaMF ( 629699 ) on Saturday November 13, 2010 @10:07PM (#34219536) Homepage

    >> RIDLEY, Mark (1560-1624). A Short Treatise of
    >> Magneticall Bodies and Motions. London: Nicholas
    >> Okes, 1613.

    Translation :
    Magneticall Bodies : How Theye doth Fornicating Function.

  • But judging by the gushing stream of non-information in this thread he's some sort of cult hero because he doesn't like Powerpoint much.
    • by tangent ( 3677 )
      He was a cult hero long before he began bashing on Powerpoint. That's just the thing he happens to be known for best now, probably because more people have to build Powerpoint presentations than have to design infographics.

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