Show Description:

On March 11, 1744, Samuel Baker, founder of Sotheby's, held the first-ever sale under his own name. The library of a certain Rt. Hon. Sir John Stanley, Bart. described as "containing several Hundred scarce and valuable books in all branches of Polite Literature" sold for a few hundred pounds. Well over two centuries later, on December 6, 1983, Sotheby's sold a single book, The Gospels of Henry the Lion, for more than 8 million pounds. Since those early days, it is not just prices that have grown considerably. So too have the scope and scale of Sotheby's itself. Samuel Baker would hardly recognize his old firm, were he to take a stroll down London's present day New Bond Street - or, for that matter, down Manhattan's York Avenue. It has only been in the last century, after all, that the original London company has expanded from book auctions to cover all areas of th Use Sotheby's Realtime Webcasts to get inside the auction room, no matter where you happen to be. Gauge the competition during an auction. Be ready when bidding opens for your lot. Gain access to our most important evening sales of the year. Realtime Webcasts will be available for select New York and London auctions as listed in the calendar. The next auction to be broadcast is shown to the right with a link to the video viewer. Follow the link to view the auction. Please note that times listed are local to the auction location's timezone. Auction videos are live and cannot be watched once the sale is over.