1849 first of Lewis Carroll’s The Hunting of the Snark – $7500 (£5475) at Doyle of New York.
Bearing the endorsement signature of a future US president, James Monroe, this US Loan Office certificate of 1800 was sold by Freeman’s for a far higher than predicted $55,000 (£40,145).
Running to just 20 or so words, a tiny signed card in which Abraham Lincoln instructs Edwin Stanton to meet with the African-American abolitionist and officer Martin Delany in Washington led the bidding at Doyle (26/21/15% buyer’s premium) on September 23.