Auctions | August 23, 2011

National Book Auctions August Results

[ITHACA, NY] National Book Auctions, located in Ithaca, NY hosted a Sunday, August 14th auction featuring a wide assortment of collectible books and ephemera highlighted by notable authors and artists such as William Shakespeare, Frank W. Bensen and Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The 430-lot auction also featured a unique assortment of Chinese and Thai pottery and pillow books.

The 8-volume set of Samuel Johnson’s edition of the “Plays Of William Shakespeare” (1765) fetched a hammer price of $2,040 (including buyer’s premium). Bound in decorative full leather featuring gilt tooling and raised spine bands, this antique set is a handsome collection of Shakespeare’s plays including the notes of Samuel Johnson and various other commentators.  Johnson announced his intention to edit Shakespeare's plays in his "Miscellaneous Observations on Macbeth" (1745), and a full proposal for the edition was published in 1756. The edition was finally first published in 1765.
Realizing a $1,740.00 hammer price (including buyer’s premium) was a five-volume set of Adam E. M. Paff’s “Etchings and Drypoints Of Frank W. Benson” (1917-59) with original, hand-signed etchings.
 
An 1893 Limited Edition of Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “Maud, a Monodrama” fetched a hammer price of $920.00 (including buyer’s premium) and an author-signed copy of William Faulkner’s “A Fable” (1954) fetched $840 (including buyer’s premium) at the gallery’s mid-season auction.
??
National Book Auctions is a public auction service specializing in books, ephemera, and art. National Book Auctions is a targeted service offering experience and expertise unique to marketing antique and modern books and ephemera for consignors and collectors alike. Preview for the upcoming Sunday, September 11th auction is at 10 a.m. and the live auction starts at noon. For more information or to consign collectible material please contact David Hall, Business Manager, at 607-269-0101 or email mail@nationalbookauctions.com.