David Aronovitz Collection Part I Exceeds $3.3 Million, the New World Record for Any Science Fiction Library Sold at Auction

Heritage May 13 Rare Books Auction resets record prices, including: Tolkien, Heinlein, Asimov, King, Dick, Huxley DOWNLOAD DIGITAL PRESS KIT DALLAS, Texas (May 19, 2026) — An out-of-this-world assemblage of science fiction and fantasy titles broke a constellation of auction records in Heritage’s stellar David Aronovitz Collection of Important Science Fiction and Fantasy, Part I Rare Books Signature® Auction May 13, including the world record for any science fiction library sold at auction, with a sum of $3,353,626 — and counting, as Part II in December and Part III next spring will add significantly to the total. “This auction demonstrated Heritage’s ability to reach a wide range of collectors of science fiction and fantasy titles,” says Francis Wahlgren, International Director of Rare Books & Manuscripts at Heritage Auctions. “The David Aronovitz Collection is incredible — he spent around 50 years assembling it, and his discerning eye and knowledge of the science fiction market is on display throughout. The results underscored his vast knowledge of the genre, as the auction produced auction records for numerous authors, including Tolkien, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, Ray Bradbury and Stephen King.” In 1937, before The Hobbit was known as the predecessor to J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings, before it attained its status as a landmark of fantasy literature, and decades before blockbuster film adaptations introduced Tolkien to a global audience, the book appeared as a modest new children’s fantasy from an Oxford professor. Of the approximately 1,500 copies of the first edition, first impression of The Hobbit thought to have been printed, few remain in an unrestored and bright dust jacket. One such example led the auction with its fantastic $450,000 price. That sum set the record for a copy of the book, besting the $300,000 record set by an inscribed copy of the book in a 2024 Heritage auction, and for the auction price of any Tolkien title. Other significant Tolkien lots: A first-edition second-impression presentation copy of the same title, inscribed by the author to the family housekeeper and given as a Christmas gift, sold for $100,000, and a set of first impression, first edition copies of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings Trilogy — The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King — realized $325,000, an uninscribed-copy record. An extraordinary group of all three dedication copies of Robert A. Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land (1961), inscribed to Robert Cornog, Frederic Brown and Philip José Farmer, achieved $118,750 to set a record for any work by Heinlein at auction. The dedication copy of Asimov’s I, Robot — inscribed to fellow master of the genre John W. Campbell Jr. — realized $87,500, the record for this book and for any Asimov title at auction. The price reflects not just the importance of the author and the book, but also of its recipient, a science fiction author himself but more notably the editor of the magazine Astounding Science Fiction, who discovered Lester del Ray, Heinlein, Theodore Sturgeon and A. E. van Vogt as well as Asimov. Asimov inscribed it: “For: John W. Campbell, Jr. / Believe me, the dedication is insufficient acknowledgement of your many helpful talks with me! / Isaac Asimov / 12/2/50.” A rare special publisher’s copy of the first edition of Stephen King’s 1980 Firestarter set a record price for any book by the horror maestro sold at auction when it sold for $75,000. One of just 26, this signed limited issue of the first edition of the novel about a young girl with pyrokinetic capabilities is bound in aluminum-covered asbestos cloth and labeled “B,” indicating it was the second copy of the book and belonged to Phantasia Press co-owner Sid Altus. The auction set numerous other world records as well. A first American edition in the jellyfish binding of Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas set the world record for the title in any language at $40,000. This edition — distinguished by the title on the cover lacking the pluralizing “s” after “Sea,” among other differences — is extremely scarce, as most copies were lost in the Great Boston Fire of 1872, which occurred the month of publication. A bright review copy of Philip K. Dick’s 1968 sci-fi classic Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, on which the 1982 film Blade Runner was based, realized $37,500 to set the world record for this title and for any work by Dick at auction. And a very fine first edition of Aldous Huxley’s 1932 dystopian masterpiece Brave New World achieved $32,500, a world record for any Huxley work. As with any wildly successful science-fiction or fantasy epic, expectations are now high for a sequel. Says Walhgren: “The interest was so great that we anticipate additional hugely successful events when Heritage offers Part II of the David Aronovitz Collection in December and Part III in spring of 2027.” Results and images for all lots in the auction can be found here. Heritage Auctions is the largest fine art and collectibles auction house founded in the United States, and the world's largest collectibles auctioneer. Heritage maintains offices in New York, Dallas, Beverly Hills, Chicago, Palm Beach, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Hong Kong and Tokyo. Heritage also enjoys the highest Online traffic and dollar volume of any auction house on earth (source: SimilarWeb and Hiscox Report). The Internet's most popular auction-house website, HA.com, has more than 2 million registered bidder-members and searchable free archives of 7,000,000 past auction records with prices realized, descriptions and enlargeable photos. Reproduction rights routinely granted to media for photo credit. For breaking stories, follow us: HA.com/Facebook and HA.com/Twitter . Link to this release or view prior press releases . Hi-Res images available: Jesse Hughey, Public Relations Specialist 214-409-1376; JesseH@HA.com