The Vergos Rare Books Sale
Vergos Auctions' autumn sale of rare books, manuscripts, documents and engravings was held at the Zappeion Megaron on 4–5 November 2025 — 500 lots across two evenings, from sixteenth-century printing to a letter signed by Napoleon and the manuscripts of Cavafy, Seferis and Elytis.
The Vergos Rare Books Sale is Vergos Auctions’ annual autumn auction of Rare Books, Manuscripts, Documents and Engravings. The 2025 edition was held at the Zappeion Megaron on Tuesday 4 and Wednesday 5 November, each evening opening at half past five — lots 1 to 227 on the first evening, the remainder on the second — with online, written and telephone bids taken alongside the room. The 500-lot catalogue ranged from rare books of the sixteenth century onward to documents of the modern Greek state and manuscripts of major poets and writers: Cavafy, Seferis, Elytis and Kazantzakis among the names, with a letter signed by Napoleon in the catalogue.
Among the highlights were Vasso Katraki’s five-part engraving of the fall of Georgios Karaiskakis; A. Tassos’s preliminary sketch for the woodcut November 17, 1973, estimated at €3,000–4,000; an eighteenth-century portolan chart of the Greek peninsula; and a letter of 1826 signed by twenty-five commanders of the War of Independence — Karaiskakis among them — announcing a victory over the Ottoman forces. The 2024 autumn sale fell on 16–17 October at the Athens Capital Hotel with 615 lots, led by the 1818 Paris edition of Korais’s Memorandum and a receipt signed by Lord Byron in February 1821. Founded in 1989, Vergos is the largest and longest-running auction house in Greece.