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[ITHACA, NY] National Book Auctions, located in Ithaca, NY, will host a Sunday, February 19th auction featuring a broad range of rare antique books, as well as intriguing ephemera and artwork.  Of particular note are rare first editions of early and modern titles, many of which are signed.  Also featured are important Civil War history titles including large, important reference sets.  Ephemera lots include magazines, postage and postal history, advertising and various other genres.  Also being offered are two important bronze sculptures and Major League Baseball collectibles.

Important books in this auction include first editions, many of which are author-signed. Noteworthy examples include an author-signed copy of Michael Shaara’s “The Killer Angels” and first editions by Cormac McCarthy and Herman Melville.  Other lots include decorative sets by classic authors such as Henry Fielding and Charles Dickens as well as early printings of works by Charles Darwin.  Early works in French and Italian, dating back to the 1700’s, will also be sold.  Civil War historical works include the entire 128-volume work, “The War of the Rebellion:  A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies” and the complete 36-volume printing in leather by the Easton Press of “The Library of the Civil War.”  Modern works include hundreds of signed first editions by prominent writers such as Sue Grafton, Ha Jin, Tess Gerritsen, Jeffrey Archer, John Grisham, P. D. James, Dean Koontz and Dick Francis, to name just a few.

Found throughout this auction are pleasing groups of ephemera and artwork. Leading the art field is a pair of limited edition bronze sculptures of works by Erte and Mario Jason.  Dozens of the ephemera lots in this auction offer early postage and postal history including early American cancels and postage from Roman States, as well as cancels which date back centuries.  A large collection of vintage and antique collectible magazines will also be offered.

Other important collections offered in this auction include an array of themes. Reference libraries of Sherlockiana and volumes relating to the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy will be sold.  We will also bring to market more material from the estate of renowned philanthropist and collector, Charles Rand Penney, including items from the 1893 Columbian Exposition, the 1934 Century of Progress World’s Fair in Chicago and the New York World’s Fair in 1939.  Several signed baseballs will be offered including two Waterford Crystal limited edition pieces which commemorate the 2000 World Series win by the New York Yankees.

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, February 19th 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.

BEVERLY HILLS, CA - One of just 300 first edition copies printed of Ernest Hemingway’s first book - Three Stories & Ten Poems. [Paris]: Contact Publishing Co., 1923 - is expected to bring $75,000+ when it comes across the auction block on Thursday, Feb. 8, as the lead lot in Heritage Auctions’ Rare Books Signature® Auction, taking place at the company’s Beverly Hills showroom, 9478 West Olympic Boulevard.

“Any Hemingway first edition is a highly sought-after thing,” said James Gannon, Director of Rare Books auctions at Heritage, “let alone the very first book he ever published. Making it even more interesting is the warm inscription from Hemingway to two of the editors of The Little Review, the important ‘little magazine’ that published works by avant garde writers of the time such as James Joyce and T. S. Eliot and who published Hemingway’s first mature prose work the very same year.”

That inscription reads: “For j.h. [Jane Heap] and Margaret Anderson with love from Hemingway.”

Heritage Rare Book auctions have increasingly become known as a leader in rare Sci-Fi and Fantasy editions, and one of the most interesting groupings of the auction comes from the Jack Cordes Collection of Science Fiction. It is an amazing assemblage of rare first edition Sci-Fi books inscribed to Mr. Cordes by a veritable who’s who of the genre: Ray Bradbury, Ayn Rand, Kurt Vonnegut, Charles Beaumont, and more, including a 1957 first edition of Philip Jose Farmer’s classic The Green Odyssey, New York: Ballantine Books, inscribed to Cordes: “Jack, /I know you'll have/a pleasant voyage on your/green odyssey through the/matrimonial sea, because/you'll not be wanting to escape/your own personal Amra./Philip Jose Farmer.” It is estimated at $2,000+.

Two of the 18th century’s greatest writers are represented by first editions of what are among their most important works: fans of Charles Dickens will thrill to the inclusion of several of his Christmas books, including A Christmas Carol; The Chimes; The Cricket on the Hearth; The Battle of Life; The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain (estimate: $15,000+), while Edgar Allan Poe aficionados will take special note of his Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque. Philadelphia: Lea and Blanchard, 1840 (estimate: $15,000+).

James Bond fans will be happy to find several early Ian Fleming works in this auction, including a gorgeous first edition of Goldfinger, London: Jonathan Cape, [1959], inscribed by Fleming on the front free endpaper, “To Gerald Micklem, This piece - of homework! from (sic) Ian Fleming.” It carries a pre-auction estimate of $15,000+.

A rare Pony Express Bible - The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments… - New York: American Bible Society, 1857, is already making collectors take note as it readies for the auction. The thick, pocket-sized volume, bound in eights, is still in its original custom leather binding, with "PRESENTED BY / RUSSELL, MAJORS & WADDELL / 1858" in gilt at the center of the front board. It is estimated at $10,000+.

“There few things more evocative to Americans than the thought of the Pony Express,” said Gannon. “These bibles, issued to riders and employees of the company that ran the Pony Express are true prizes of Americana, and we expect collectors will bid accordingly.”

Rare Incunabula, or books from the first 50 years of printing following Gutenberg, are represented in the Feb. 8 auction by a rare copy of Guillelmus Duranti’s Rationale divinorum officiorum. [Paris: Ulrich [Gering], Martin [Crantz], and Michael [Friburger], 13 April 1475], which is expected to bring $15,000+.

“This auction, across the board, presents a superb selection of major literature from across the epochs,” said Gannon, “from Chaucer to Cormac McCarthy, a considerable grouping of rare early American imprints, a wonderful selection of genre literature, an outstanding group of children's & illustrated titles and more selected artwork from the estate of illustrator Garth Williams. There is something for every level of collector in this one.”

Further highlights include, but are not limited to:
Samuel Augustus Mitchell, Description of Oregon and California, Embracing an Account of the Gold Regions... Philadelphia: Thomas, Cowperthwait & Co., 1849: Second edition, with an excellent example of the rare “New Map of Texas Oregon and California.” Estimate: $7,500+.

Thomas Hardy, Desperate Remedies. London: Tinsley Brothers, 1871: First edition of Hardy's rare first book, one of only about 500 copies printed. Inscribed by Hardy on a slip of paper mounted on the recto of the front free endpaper of volume I: “Autographed as requested- / Thomas Hardy.” Estimate: $7,000+.

(Joaquin Miller) C. H. Miller, Specimens (A Tale of the Rogue River War), Portland, printed by George Himes, 1868: First edition of Miller's first book and one of the rarest of all books to emanate from the west - only about 10 copies exist. Estimate: $7,500+.

Henry M. Stanley, In Darkest Africa or the Quest, Rescue, and Retreat of Emin, Governor of Equatoria. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1890: Estimate: $4,000+.

Salvador Dali, Illustrator - Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, 12 Illustrations with Original Woodcuts and an Original Etching by Salvador Dali. New York: Maecenas Press-Random House, 1969: One of 2,500 numbered portfolios printed on Mandeure paper, signed by the artist on the title-page. Estimate: $4,000+.

Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are Prints, (N.p., 1971): Complete set of four art prints, each printed in 1971 from the original drawings for this classic and influential picture book, each printed on a single sheet, measuring 15 x 24 inches, and signed by Sendak in the lower left hand corner. Estimate: $3,000+.

Los Angeles - Timed to coincide with the 45th California International Antiquarian Book Fair, Bonhams is pleased offer property from the Serendipity Bookstore in Berkeley, CA on February 12.  Highlights will include general antiquarian books, art and fine press, modern literature and poetry with a section dedicated to John Steinbeck, Americana and early baseball literature.
 
Peter Howard [1939-2011] of the landmark Bay Area Serendipity Books has been eulogized as "one of the most imaginative booksellers of his generation."  Howard stocked not only individual titles but entire collections.  The store was organized in sections by the original source: a collection of modern poetry from collector X is in one corner; another collection with similar titles from another source might be on the opposite side of the building.  It wasn't a library and so, to Howard's mind, it wasn't supposed to be organized like one.

The bookstore on University, for those who never crossed its threshold, was a warren of rooms filled to the roof with titles from the mundane and popular to the erudite and obscure.  Howard wanted people to search for their books, looking carefully and hopefully finding not only what they were looking for, but far more.
 
The centerpiece of the February sale is Howard's tremendous collection of John Steinbeck material.  This includes the typed manuscript of "The Pearl of the World," the original short story version of The Pearl (est. $15,000-20,000); copy number 4 of The Red Pony, a presentation copy inscribed to Louis Paul (est. $2,000-3,000); an inscribed copy of Cup of Gold (est. $10,000-15,000); an inscribed copy of The Grapes of Wrath (est. $10,000-15,000); Steinbeck's novella version of Lifeboat, written at the behest of Alfred Hitchcock (est. $5,000-7,000); advance proofs of several of his most famous novels (estimates vary); as well as letters, photographs (estimates vary), and even a signed document relating to a proposed musical version of Viva, Zapata! (est. $2,000-3,000).
 
The Antiquarian section features early printed works in architecture, travel literature natural history, and English literature including a first collected edition of Beaumont and Fletcher (est. $1,000-2,000) and several Thackeray titles in parts (estimates vary).
 
The Art, Fine Press and Photography offering includes a portrait of William Blake by Leonard Baskin (est. $1,000-1,500); a group of signed photographs of Wright Morris (est. $8,000-12,000); and several albums of 19th and early 20th century photograph albums, including images of India and California (estimates vary).
 
In the Modern Literature and Poetry section features a rare broadside of Elizabeth Bishop's poem, The Fish, one of only 12 known copies (est. $3,000-5,000); a large group of Lawrence Durrell first editions and letters (estimates vary); a strong selection of William Faulkner material, including a signed copy of Sartoris, the Ole Miss yearbook from 1918 featuring a submission by Faulkner (est. $8,000-12,000), screenplay adaptations of his work (estimates vary), and a photograph of himself taken in 1960, signed and inscribed for his longtime love, Meta Carpenter Rebner (est. $3,000-5,000).
 
The sale will also feature an impressive group of Robinson Jeffers novels and letters (estimates vary); the exceedingly rare James Joyce broadside, Gas from a Burner, his angry farewell to Ireland after the suppression of his book Dubliners (est. $12,000-18,000); Ross Macdonald's working manuscript of the screenplay version of The Instant Enemy (est. $5,000-7,000); Nancy Mitford's manuscript of her biography Madame de Pompadour (est. 1,200-1,800); Carl Sandburg's guitar (est. $10,000-15,000); and original costume designs by Orson Welles for Macbeth (est. $800-1,200) and another production (3,000-5,000).
 
In honor of Howard's great love for the game of baseball, the auction will conclude with a rare offering of baseball material, including one of the earliest known baseball broadsides for the first intercollegiate ball game (est. $2,500-3,500), and an 18th century German book that contains one of the first known mention of "das englische Base-ball" (and its other variants of the period, Thorball, Schnurball, Fangball and Prellball) (est.12,000-18,000).
 
Additional property from Serendipity Books will be offered by Bonhams throughout 2012 in the following auctions: Fine Photography in New York on May 8, Period Art & Design in San Francisco on April 15 and May 20, Made in California in Los Angeles on May 21, Fine Books and Manuscripts in New York on June 19 and Entertainment Memorabilia in Los Angeles on June 24.
 
The illustrated auction catalog for this sale will be available online for review and purchase at www.bonhams.com/us in the weeks preceding the sale.
 
San Francisco Preview: February 3-5
 
Los Angeles Preview: February 9-11
 
Auction: April 16, Los Angeles, simulcast to San Francisco

 

New York—On Thursday, February 23 Swann Galleries will conduct an auction of Private Press & Illustrated Books that features highly desirable press books from two fine American collections.

The top lot in the sale is the Kelmscott Press masterpiece The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer now newly imprinted, first edition, Hammersmith, 1896 (estimate: $30,000 to $50,000). Master craftsman William Morris only printed 425 copies of this extraordinarily influential book—he had to refuse orders for hundreds more due to time constraints—and upon his death later the same year the woodcuts were given to the British Museum and the fonts to the University Press, Cambridge, so no further copies could be printed.

Other Kelmscott examples of note include a first edition of the first book they printed, The Story of the Glittering Plain, 1891 ($3,000 to $4,000); a copy of The Poems of William Shakespeare, inscribed by Morris to English critic and poet Theodore Watts-Dunton in the year of its publication, 1893 ($4,000 to $6,000); and a rare edition of Syr Ysambrace, one of only eight on vellum and in the original binding, 1897 ($5,000 to $7,500).

Kelmscott’s influence led to the creation of several other English presses, many of which are also represented in the sale. From the Ashendene Press is Cervantes’s Don Quixote, London, 1927-28, which was Ashendene’s largest work ($1,200 to $1,800); and an association copy of Edmund Spencer’s Minor Poems, warmly inscribed by publisher Charles Henry St. John Hornby to engraver Emery Walker of Doves Press, Chelsea 1925 ($2,000 to $3,000). A handful of works by Doves Press are also in the sale.

A wonderful example by Eragny Press is a dedication copy of Songs by Ben Jonson, one of only 10 copies on vellum, with a colored frontispiece, border and initials by Lucien Pissarro, the press’s founder and son of Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro, inscribed by Lucien and Esther Pissarro to J.M. Andreini, London, 1906 ($1,500 to $2,500).

A run of works by the celebrated Golden Cockerel Press features Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, Waltham St. Lawrence, 1928-31 ($4,000 to $6,000); Troilus and Criseyde, 1927 ($2,000 to $3,500); and The Four Gospels of the Lord Jesus Christ, 1931 ($4,000 to $6,000).

Eric Gill, who designed typefaces and illustrated several works for Golden Cockerel, also collaborated on one of the most beautiful illustrated books of the 20th century: the Cranach Press’s The Tragedie of Hamlet Prince of Denmark, with a title page designed by Gill, one of 300 in deluxe red morocco binding, Weimar, 1930 ($3,500 to $5,000).

From the same era are a wonderful association copy of Merrymount Press’s printing of the controversial protestant Episcopal revision of The Book of Common Prayer by the General Convention of 1928, ex-collections J.P. Morgan and C.H. St. John Hornby, Boston, 1928-30 ($3,000 to $4,000); an unusually nice copy of Grabhorn Press’s edition of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, New York, 1930 ($2,000 to $3,000); Shakespeare Head Press’s Odes of Victory; The Nemean and Isthmian Odes by Pindar, one of seven on vellum, Oxford, 1930 ($4,000 to $6,000); and one of the most impressive books by the Gregynog Press, The History of Saint Louis by John, Lord of Joinville Seneschal of Champagne, 1937 ($1,200 to $1,800).

A rich assortment of titles from contemporary and modern American presses includes Arion Press’s Moby-Dick, or, The Whale, one of 250 copies of the first trade edition designed by Andrew Hoyem, San Francisco, 1979 ($5,000 to $7,500), and a deluxe edition of The Great Gatsby, signed by and with two original drawings by Michael Graves, who illustrated the book, 1984 ($4,000 to $6,000); Janus Press’s scarce Aura by Hayden Carruth with an accordion folded multi-color paper pulp landscape, from an edition of 50, West Burke, Vermont, 1977 ($2,000 to $3,000), and The Circus of Doctor Lao, by Charles G. Finney, signed by the author and illustrator Claire Van Vliet, 1984 ($2,500 to $3,500); and Pennyroyal Press’s Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, one of 50 deluxe copies for patrons signed by Barry Moser, 1982 ($2,500 to $3,500), and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, signed by Moser and with an additional suite of prints, 1985 ($1,500 to $2,500).

Examples of collectible Limited Editions Club books are signed copies of John Hersey’s Hiroshima, with a poem by Robert Penn Warren, and illustrated by Jacob Lawrence, New York, 1983 ($1,200 to $1,800); Duane Michaels’s A Tribute to Cavafy: A Selection of Poems with Photogravures, 2003 ($2,000 to $3,000); and Junichiro Tanizaki’s A Portrait of Shunkin, illustrated with Eikoh Hosoe photographs, 2000 ($1,200 to $1,800).

From the modern British Parvenu Press is Judith Kazantzis’s The Garden of Earthly Delights, one of 12 signed copies, London, 2003 ($2,000 to $3,000).

Rounding out the press books are editions from Aquarius Press, Bird & Pull Press, Cheloniidae Press, Essex House press, Grabhorn Press, Nonesuch Press, Officina Bodoni, Tideline Press and more.

Illustrated books of note include Michael Mazur’s collaboration with Robert Pinsky on a new illustrated translation of The Inferno of Dante, first deluxe edition, signed by Mazur, New York, 2002 ($5,000 to $7,500).

The auction will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 23. The books will be on public exhibition Friday, February 17, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Tuesday, February 21 and Wednesday, February 22, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Thursday, February 23, from 10 a.m. to noon.

An illustrated catalogue, with information on bidding by mail or fax, is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, Inc., 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, or online at www.swanngalleries.com.

For further information, and to make advance arrangements to bid by telephone during the auction, please contact Christine von der Linn at (212) 254-4710, extension 20, or via e-mail at cvonderlinn@swanngalleries.com.

Live online bidding is available via Artfact. Click on the Artfact link on the swanngalleries.com homepage.
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[ITHACA, NY] National Book Auctions, located in Ithaca, NY, hosted a Sunday, January 29th auction featuring a broad range of rare antique and vintage books, as well as a large collection of intriguing ephemera and artwork. Of particular note were rare first editions of 19th century and modern titles as well as a very large collection of signed modern first editions. This 437-lot auction also featured a select group of estate furniture and other antiques.

A 1965 first printing of Cormac McCarthy’s “The Orchard Keeper” fetched a hammer price of $3240.00 (including buyer’s premium). This scarce first printing of this debut novel contains the author's signature on a laid-in illustrated bookplate. Additionally, a rare stated first edition of Cormac McCarthy’s third publication, “Child of God” brought a hammer price of $799.50 (including buyer’s premium). This volume features a dust jacket featuring a full rear panel photo of a young McCarthy.

Realizing a hammer price of $2829.00 (including buyer’s premium) was a rare first edition of Edwin Lefevre’s “Reminiscences of a Stock Operator.” This work is a thinly-disguised biography of early 20th-century stock investor Jesse Livermore, a remarkable character who first started speculating in New England bucket shops at the turn of the century. What makes this book so intriguing are the observations that Lefevre records about investing, speculating, and the nature of the market itself.

Bringing a hammer price of $799.50 (including buyer’s premium) was an original Disney poster for Children's Book Week which ran Nov. 12-18, 1939. This poster features an illustration of Pinnochio, with the caption "Film classics from the World's Best Books."

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, February 19th 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.

NEW YORK - The Billy Wright Collection, a newly CGC-pedigreed collection - featuring five of the top six comic books in the hobby, all unrestored and all offered without reserves - leads the way in Heritage’s Feb. 22-24 Vintage Comics and Comic Art Signature® Auction, taking place at the Fletcher-Sinclair Mansion (Ukrainian Institute of America) at 2 East 79th Street (at 5th Ave.).

“While a relatively small collection of little more than 300 comic books,” said Lon Allen, Managing Director of Comics Auctions at Heritage. “The Billy Wright Collection represents not only five of the top six comics in the business, but also 45 of the top 100 comics overall, all unrestored.”

Those top comics include Detective Comics #27 (DC, 1939) CGC FN+ 6.5, the first appearance of “The Bat Man” (Estimate: $475,000+); Action Comics #1 (DC, 1938) CGC GD/VG 3.0, the most important comic book ever published (Estimate: $325,000+); All-American Comics #16 (DC, 1940) CGC VF 8.0, the debut of Green Lantern (Estimate: $125,000+); Batman #1 (DC, 1940) CGC VF+ 8.5, a superb copy of the first official Batman comic (Estimate: $125,000) and Marvel Comics #1 (Timely, 1939) CGC VF- 7.5 (Estimate: $125,000+).

In complement to the Billy Wright copy of Detective #27, Heritage will also be offering another copy of the famed comic book, this one in a lesser grade, CGC 2.0, estimated at $80,000+, giving collectors two chances to own one of the greatest comic books of all time.

Collectors will also take special note of the amazing Curator Pedigree run of Fantastic Four comics, led by a superb CGC 9.4 graded copy of Fantastic Four #5, estimated at $55,000+.

“Not much is known about this collection,” said Ed Jaster, Senior Vice President of Heritage Auctions, “but many experts agree that the Curator books are among the best Silver Age Marvel comics available, and many of these FFs are the highest-graded copies in existence.”

One of the most interesting wrinkles in the Feb. 22-24 Heritage Comics event will be the auction of 12 original DC “ashcan” comics, special editions created by DC comics to protect trademark and logos of what would become their most valuable titles, including Action Comics. The top offering of these incredibly rare books is the Action Funnies Ashcan Edition (DC, 1937/38) Condition: VF+, estimated at $20,000+.

“In the early days of comics publishing,” said Jaster, “a print run might have been in the hundreds of thousands, maybe even the millions. Yet only about 100 to 1,000 of a given issue of any comic survived. With these ashcans, only two or three copies were made in the first place, so it’s a miracle that even one of these has made it.”

As is always the case with Heritage Comics auction, original comic art plays an important role in this event, led by John Romita Sr.’s Amazing Spider-Man Annual #3 cover art, a large size cover, by one of the greatest names to ever pick up a pen, featuring superb renderings of almost every top Marvel character. The piece is estimated at $100,000+.

A Dark Knight Returns #1 original double page spread, pages 46-47, a moody sequence featuring classic villain Two-Face, is expected to catch collector attention, as original Dark Knight artwork has recently been commanding great interest in the hobby and superb prices. This piece is expected to bring $50,000+.

The creator of The Dark Knight series, Frank Miller himself, has consigned two pieces of original Dark Knight artwork to the auction, Absolute Dark Knight Book Cover Original Art (DC, 2006) and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (10th Anniversary Edition) Batman and Robin Frontispiece Splash Page Original Art (DC, 1997), a classic take on the famous issue #3, Page 10 splash page art from the original Dark Knight series. Both pieces are estimated at $50,000+.

“These pieces, consigned by the master himself, Frank Miller, represent some of the best original Dark Knight artwork yet to come on the market,” said Todd Hignite, Vice President of Heritage. “To top it off, Miller himself will be making an appearance at the auction preview on Tuesday, Feb. 21, at the Fletcher-Sinclair Mansion. Fans are more than welcome to come by and say hello in person.”

One of the most special pieces in the auction, and likely one of the event’s sleeper pieces, is the original published Bill Watterson cover art for the Calvin & Hobbes 1989-1990 18-month calendar, the only piece of published Calvin & Hobbes artwork to ever surface for public auction. While estimated at $50,000+, this piece has the potential to go much higher.

“Beyond the Peanuts comic strips of legendary cartoonist Charles Schulz, there is no more popular comic strip and certainly no strip where the original art is more in demand,” said Hignite. “The difference being that original Schulz work can be had at a variety of price points. Original published Calvin and Hobbes artwork simply never comes up for public auction. There’s really no telling how high collectors will be willing to go on this one, seeing as they will also be competing with non-traditional collectors who simply love the comic strip and will be very excited to see a piece of original art on the block.”

One more important original comic art highlight is represent by the original Robert Crumb cover art for The People’s Comix, estimated at $30,000+. This is the artwork from the famous mid-1970s Underground Comic where R. Crumb - bitter over the many difficulties thrown his way by his early success, and his opposition to the Ralph Bakshi Fritz the Cat movie - actually kills off his beloved Fritz, a character he had drawn since childhood.

Boston, Mass - January 2012 - Skinner, Inc. will auction prints, photographs, paintings and sculptures on Friday, February 3rd in two sessions at their Boston gallery. The prints and photography portion of the sale will begin at 12 p.m.; paintings and sculptures at 4 p.m.

Prints
Skinner recently has seen strong growth in the area of prints, drawings, and photography and will present an excellent assortment of work on paper in the upcoming sale. Highlights include works of Jasper Johns, Gustave Baumann, Jacques Villon, and M.C. Escher.

Jasper Johns frequently interpreted the same subject matter in different media at different points in his career. In 1955 Johns created an encaustic painting with collage and plaster cast elements. He revisited this same composition 25 years later, reinterpreting it in the 1980 etching Target with Plaster Casts (lot 75) estimated to sell between $20,000 and $25,000.

A woodblock print by Gustave Baumann will also be offered. The Ridge Road (lot 15), a color woodcut design, is estimated between $3,000 and $5,000 and features one of the first examples of Baumann’s use of the “hand-in-heart” chop mark. This exemplary piece demonstrates the style that would later cause Baumann to be regarded as one of the premiere woodcut artists in early 20th century America.
Several works by Jacques Villon will be up for bid, most notably a print of L’Espagnole (lot 177) estimated between $6,000 and $8,000. This work, which copies the eponymous portrait by Henri Matisse, shows Villon’s skill at capturing the styles of his contemporaries in intaglio print. Also offered will be Villon’s interpretation of Marcel Duchamp’s La Mariée from 1934 (lot 178), estimated between $1,500 and $2,000, and a number of Villon’s own designs including Minne étendue dans un rocking-chair, le repos from 1907 (lot 174) estimated between $700 and $900.

The classic image from 1944, Encounter (lot 43),from the ever-popular Dutch artist M.C. Escher, is estimated between $15,000 and $20,000.

Photography
A collection of photographs from a former film expert and technician at Polaroid Corporation will be offered. It includes the black-and-white Minor White (lot 241), estimated between $400 and $600, and a group of 17 Polaroid images (lot 208) taken for a 1972 film produced by Charles and Ray Eames to promote the Polaroid SX-70 camera. The group of photos is estimated to sell between $1,200 and $1,800.

Multiple images by rock and roll photographer Jim Marshall will be sold, including a 1963 photograph of Bob Dylan, Dylan - Seventh Ave. N.Y.C. (lot 227) estimated between $1,800 and $2,200.

Modernist Paintings
American modernist works are well represented with notable examples including Maurice Brazil Prendergast’s watercolor entitled Maine (lot 446) estimated between $25,000 and $30,000, and an untitled work by Lyonel Feininger (lot 602) estimated between $20,000 and $40,000. Marsden Hartley’s Two Gulls (lot 607) is estimated between $10,000 and $15,000; Autumn Tree (lot 626) by Milton Clark Avery is estimated between $20,000 and $30,000; and John Marin’s Mt. Washington (lot 618) is estimated between $30,000 and $50,000.

Untitled, a painting by Danish Painter Asger Oluf Jorn (lot 612) has drawn considerable pre-sale interest and is estimated between $50,000 and $70,000. Jorn worked in a variety of styles, from the figurative to the abstract, creating works that include political, pre-historic, and mythological references. This 1952 work is closely related to the palate and social sensibility of Jorns’ 1959 series The Silence Myth although it isn’t known to be a part of that series.

European Paintings
A fine work by Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Portrait of a Young Man (lot 314) was likely to have been painted around 1800. This rediscovered work, estimated between $40,000 and $60,000, is sensitively rendered and is expected to appeal to European buyers.

Additional European highlights include Leon Jean Basile Perrault’s Le Petit Frère (lot 318), which is estimated between $60,000 and $80,000; Belgian artist Edward Antoon Portielje’s Interior with Two Young Women Sharing a Letter (lot 323), estimated between $6,000 and $8,000; and a work by Charles Bertrand d'Entraygues, The Young Magician (lot 326), estimated between $8,000 and $12,000.

Special Events
Blooms for Books
As part of this sale there will be a special presentation during which Skinner Inc. will auction three original floral arrangements. Kathy Wong, a specialist in Skinner’s Department of American & European Works of Art, will interpret three notable works presented in the auction with fresh flowers. Each artistic flower arrangement will be sold during auction after the lot on which it is modeled. Proceeds will benefit the Fine Arts Research Library at the Boston Public Library.

Gallery Walk, Thursday February 2nd
On Thursday, February 2nd there will be a Fine Art Gallery Walk presented by Robin Starr, Director of American and European Works of Art, with a reception at 5:30 p.m. and Gallery Walk at 6 p.m. at the Skinner gallery, 63 Park Plaza, Boston, MA. Register here: http://conta.cc/02-02-gallerywalk.
 
Previews, Catalogues and Bidding
Previews for the auction will be held on Wednesday, February 1st, 2012, 12 p.m.-5 p.m., and Thursday, February 2nd, 12 p.m.-8 p.m., and Friday, February 3rd, 9 a.m.-10:30 a.m. Illustrated catalogue #2581B is available by mail for $35 ($42 for foreign requests) from the subscription department at 508-970-3240. It is also available at the gallery for $32. Prices realized will be available at www.skinnerinc.com during and after the sale. Skinner's site also allows users to view all lots in the auctions, leave bids, order catalogues, and bid live in real-time through SkinnerLive!

About Skinner
Skinner, Inc. is one of the world’s leading auction houses for antiques and fine art. With expertise in over 20 specialty collecting areas, Skinner draws the interest of buyers from all over the world and its auctions regularly achieve world record prices. Skinner provides a broad range of auction and appraisal services, and it is widely regarded as one of the most trusted names in the auction business. Skinner’s appraisal experts regularly appear on the PBS-TV series, Antiques Roadshow, and its specialty departments include American Furniture & Decorative Arts, American & European Works of Art, European Furniture & Decorative Arts, 20th Century Design, Fine Ceramics, Fine Silver, Fine Jewelry, Couture, Fine Musical Instruments, Asian Works of Art, Fine Wines, Rare Books & Manuscripts, Oriental Rugs & Carpets, American Indian & Ethnographic Art, Fine Judaica, Antique Motor Vehicles, Toys, Dolls & Collectibles, Discovery and Science, Technology & Clocks. Skinner galleries are located in Boston and Marlborough, Mass. For more information on upcoming auctions and events, visit Skinner’s web site www.skinnerinc.com.
 
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Contacts
    •    Robin Starr, Director of American & European Works of Art, 508-970-3206, rstarr@skinnerinc.com
    •    Kate de Bethune, Director of Marketing, 508-970-3231, kdebethune@skinnerinc.com
 

[ITHACA, NY] National Book Auctions, located in Ithaca, NY, will host a Sunday, January 29th auction featuring a broad range of rare antique and vintage books, as well as a large collection of intriguing ephemera and artwork. Of particular note are rare first editions of the 19th century and modern titles, as well as a very large collection of signed modern first editions. The books in these collections are impressive both for their quality and condition. Also offered will be a select group of estate furniture and other antiques.

Important books in this auction include first editions, many of which are author-signed.  Noteworthy examples include first editions of three Cormac McCarthy books entitled “The Orchard Keeper,” “Child of God,” and “The Stone Mason.” Also offered are first American and English editions of Herman Melville’s landmark 1847 title, “Omoo.”  Other lots include decorative antique sets by classic authors such as Victor Hugo and Alexander Dumas, along with Justin Winsor’s eight-volume 1884-1889 work entitled, “Narrative and Critical History of America.” Modern works in this auction include hundreds of signed first editions by prominent writers such as Norman Mailer, Michael Crichton, Ken Follett, Dan Brown, Dick Francis and Amy Tan, to name just a few.

Found throughout this auction are pleasing groups of ephemera and artwork. Leading the field is a pencil-signed lithograph of “The Model Painter” by Pablo Picasso, offered with provenance.  A vast array of ephemera lots are included in this auction with vintage and antique items dating back to the 17th century. Themes of the ephemera lots include early engravings and lithographs, travel-related, transportation (aviation, automotive, and railroad), antique photographs (including tintypes), magazines, early ship cargo manifests and original documents, artwork, advertising-related items, original Civil War material, tobacciana, breweriana, large quantities of original correspondence with postage and early cancels, and many other genres. This auction also includes other antique items. Featured are antique bookcases and desks along with early stoneware pottery and a pendulum clock.

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, January 29th 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.

[ITHACA, NY] National Book Auctions, located in Ithaca, NY, hosted a Sunday, January 8th auction featuring a broad range of rare antique and vintage books, as well as a fine collection of deluxe, limited bindings and an array of ephemera. One of the highlights of this auction was a substantial collection of printings by The Limited Editions Club, Easton Press and The Franklin Library including hundreds of signed first editions and signed limited editions, most of which are housed in handsome, deluxe leather bindings. This 484-lot auction also featured several important modern first editions, a great quantity of author-signed titles by prominent writers, and ephemera such as antique postcards, photographs, and travel-related material.

An 1842 printing of Jeremiah Greenleaf’s “A New Universal Atlas” fetched a hammer price of $3,567.00 (including buyer’s premium). Jeremiah Greenleaf was a little-known but highly admired American cartographer of the early 19th century. Greenleaf’s maps are extremely rare and admired for their stunningly vivid pastel color.

Realizing a hammer price of $2,280.00 (including buyer’s premium) was another antique landmark atlas by the same name, Samuel Augustus Mitchell’s “A New Universal Atlas.” This scarce edition is beautifully illustrated with a hand-colored title page engraving depicting the first landing of Columbus, and contains 73 numbered hand-colored lithographed maps.

Paulinus da San Bartholomaeo’s “Orientalist Compilation” brought a hammer price of $1,599.00 (including buyer’s premium). This first edition compilation contains seminal works on Sanskrit and Indian culture. The author, also known as Philip Werdin (or Wesdin) was an Austrian Carmelite missionary in Malabar from 1776 to 1789. An outstanding Orientalist, he was one of the first to remark upon the close relationship between Indian and European languages.

Bringing a hammer price of $1,230.00 (including buyer’s premium) was an antique volume containing a Latin-language collection of the works of the Roman playwright Plautus. This volume was published in 1511 by Johannes Grüninger.

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, January 29th 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.

 New York—An impressive selection of American maps led to active bidding by dealers and collectors alike in Swann Galleries’ December 8 auction of Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Historical Prints, Ephemera—and a few records were set along the way.

The sale’s top-selling map was a lovely copy of Fry-Jefferson, A Map of the most inhabited part of Virginia containing the whole Province of Maryland, four sheets, London, 1775, which brought a record $28,800. Also setting auction records were Morden / Berry, A New Map of the English Plantations in America, both Continent and Islands, London, circa 1673, $13,200; and David M. Burr, Map of New Jersey and Pennsylvania Exhibiting the Post Offices, Post Roads, Canals, Rail Roads, &c, hand-colored, Washington, 1839, $4,080.

Other significant maps of American subjects included an early manuscript plat map of Rhode Island’s Conanicut Island, circa 1723, $14,400; Herman Moll, A New and Exact Map of the Dominions of the King of Great Britian on ye Continent of North America, London, circa 1735, $12,000; and William Faden, The Province of New Jersey, Divided into East and West, commonly called The Jerseys, folding map, London, 1777, $14,400.

Atlases and groups of maps also performed well, with a copy of Carey’s American Atlas: Containing Twenty Maps and One Chart, the first American atlas published in America, Philadelphia, 1795, selling for $24,000; and a group of over 22 maps concerning the growth of California during the 1920s and 1930s, achieving a surprising price of $16,800 against an estimate of just $400 to $600.

A beautiful but incomplete copy of David Roberts’s six-volume illustrated masterpiece The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt and Nubia, London, 1842-49, was the highest priced item in the auction, bringing $33,600.

Other notable books with plates included Florence H. Woodward, The Genus Masdevallia, with 87 hand-colored lithographed plates of orchids, London, 1896, $4,800, and a partial copy of Thomas and William Daniell, Oriental Scenery . . . of Hindoostan, with 92 plates, London, 1816, $2,400.

There were several individual hand-colored Audubon plates, among them Barnacle Goose, Plate CCXCVI, from Birds of America, London, 1836, $5,040; in addition to a hand-colored Nathaniel Currier print after Louis Maurer’s Deer Shooting “on the Shattagee,” New York, 1855, $3,690; Edward Sachse’s hand-colored View of Washington City, Baltimore, 1870, $3,600; and a circa 1873 Bird’s Eye View of the City of Houston, Texas, $3,840.

The top-selling item from a small selection of ephemera was a deck of 77 18th century French playing cards in their original box, $2,280.

For complete results, an illustrated color catalogue, with prices realized on request, is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, and may be viewed online at www.swanngalleries.com.

For further information, and to propose consignments to upcoming auctions of Maps & Atlases, Natural History and Historical Prints, please contact Gary Garland at (212) 254-4710, ext. 17, or via email at ggarland@swanngalleries.com.
 
*All prices include buyer’s premium.
 

New York—Swann Galleries’ December 1 auction of Printed & Manuscript Americana / Ocean Liner Memorabilia saw an unusually high number of registered bidders. The American Revolution and Civil War sections of the Americana sale attracted the strongest interest, and led to some impressive results.

Rick Stattler, Americana Specialist at Swann, said, “The sale as a whole featured 364 registered bidders, an almost unprecedented number at Swann, but then the 711 lots on offer also approached Swann’s record for a single-day sale. Even more than usual for an Americana auction, the Revolution and Civil War sections seemed to attract the strongest interest. The collection featured several important manuscript and archival lots, which did well almost without exception.”
The sale’s top lot was a large archive of the papers of Brigadier General Joseph Dwight, who led Massachusetts troops during King George’s War. The bulk of this collection consisted of letters addressed to Dwight from his subordinate officers from the summer of 1746 through early 1748. It brought $24,000*.

Also selling for $24,000 was the first newspaper printing of the Bill of Rights, which appeared in the Gazette of the United States, New York, 3 October 1789.

Of the 20 top lots, most went to dealers, some of them likely acting as agents for other parties.  Collectors did take four of the top lots directly, most notably an April 1776 edition of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense for $16,800 and a 1697 first edition of Hennepin’s Nouvelle Decouverte d'un Tres Grand Pays situé dans l'Amerique for $10,200.

Two important lots were won by institutions: a group of letters by Socialist leader Eugene Debs went to Indiana State University for $6,720; and a large collection of Muhlenberg family correspondence from the 1820s and 1830s went to Dickinson College in Pennsylvania for the same price.

A scarce and important 1872 album of California photographs by Thomas Houseworth, estimated at $2,000 to $3000 due to condition problems, nonetheless brought $21,600 in a fierce battle between eight telephone bidders.

 Record-setting lots included a beautiful four-volume set of Theodore Roosevelt’s Winning of the West, brought $9,600, easily breaking the previous record of $6,600; Ethan Smith’s A View of the Hebrews, which appears infrequently at auction, sold for $1,200, with the previous record being $180 in 1983; and a signed set of Shelby Foote’s trilogy The Civil War: A Narrative brought $1,020, and no other work by the author had ever topped $330 before at auction.

Generating the most interest among the Ocean Liner Memorabilia section of the sale were lots related to the Titanic. Among these were a deck plan of first-class accommodations, December 1911, $7,200; and a landing or custom card issued to Mrs. Cassebeer onboard the Carpathia after being rescued from the Titanic at sea, 10 April 1912, $6,240.

For complete results, an illustrated catalogue (with prices realized on request) is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, Inc., 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010. Catalogue and prices are also available online at www.swanngalleries.com.

For further information, and to propose consignments to upcoming Americana auctions, please contact Rick Stattler by telephone at (212) 254-4710, extension 27, or email: rstattler@swanngalleries.com.
 
*All prices include buyer’s premium.
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National Book Auctions, located in Ithaca, NY, will host a Sunday, January 8th auction featuring a broad range of rare antique and vintage books, as well as a fine collection of deluxe, limited bindings and an array of ephemera lots. Of particular note are substantial collections of printings by The Limited Editions Club, Easton Press and The Franklin Library including hundreds of signed first editions and signed limited editions, most of which are housed in handsome, deluxe leather bindings. The books in these collections are impressive both for their quality and condition.

Important antique books in this auction include atlases and other early works. Featured is Vincenzo Corrado’s landmark cookbook entitled “Il Cuoco Galante,” printed in 1778 and Paulinus Bartholomaeo’s Orientalist compilation printed from 1790 through 1793, offering seminal works on Sanskrit Indian culture.  Atlases include Jeremiah Greenleaf’s 1842 “New Universal Atlas” and Mitchell’s 1853 printing by the same title.  A number of these early titles feature important illustrations and plates such as those found in our offering of Johann Joachim Winckelmann’s 1821 “Monumenti Antichi Inediti.”

Modern works offered during this auction include first editions and a great quantity of author-signed titles by prominent writers.  Offered are first editions of Ernest Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises” and “The Old Man and the Sea,” along with a first American printing of Anthony Burgess’ “A Clockwork Orange.”  Signed books include landmark titles such as H. L. Mencken’s “Treatise on Right and Wrong” and “Newspaper Days.”  Other signed titles featuring major writers include those of Mario Puzo, Anne Rice, John le Carre, Michael Crichton, Kurt Vonnegut, Ray Bradbury and Umberto Eco, to name just a few.

Found throughout this auction are pleasing groups of ephemera.  Offered are single items and groups of material such as decorative antique and vintage magazines, artwork, antique ephemera, advertising-related items and photographs.

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, January 8th 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.

[ITHACA, NY] National Book Auctions, located in Ithaca, NY, hosted a Sunday, December 4th auction featuring a broad range of rare antique and vintage books, as well as a fine array of atlases and ephemera. Another highlight of this auction was a large, handsome personal library of scholarly books relating to ocean liner history, interior design, art history and gardening, impressive for both its quality and condition. This 465-lot auction also featured a number of antique titles dating back to the 1600’s and other important early printings, many of which were housed in fancy leather bindings.

An 1844 printing of H. S. Tanner’s “A New Universal Atlas” fetched a hammer price of $3198.00 (including buyer’s premium). This scarce edition of this landmark atlas is beautifully illustrated with a hand-colored frontispiece showing comparative lengths and heights of rivers and mountains as well as numerous hand-colored lithographed maps.

Realizing a hammer price of $1920.00 (including buyer’s premium) was a printing of Pariser’s “Mondphotografien”. This publication is a folio volume of eleven mounted original photographic plates of the lunar surface, dated from 1894 to 1902.  Each mounting sheet bears a caption in French, indicated the time and date that the photo was captured.

A first edition of Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” achieved a hammer price of $720.00 (including buyer’s premium). This printing of Twain's classic work was re-cased in a beautiful, deluxe full dark navy morocco binding with raised bands and gilt tooling.

Bringing a hammer price of $522.75 was a first edition of “Relations of the Most Famous Kingdomes and Common-wealths Throughout the World”, translated from the work of Giovanni Botero in 1630. Botero’s work marks the beginning of international demographic studies, and was also highly influential over the next generation of political and economic thinkers.

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, January 8th 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.

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NEW YORK—The Autographs auction at Swann Galleries on November 3 saw active bidding for scarce and fascinating items from writers and artists, as well as material related to world leaders, scientists and performers.

Marco Tomaschett, Autographs Specialist, said, “There was much interest and strong bidding for this sale’s most extraordinary material, as well as smaller items, resulting in a 92 percent sell-through rate. Many of the top European autographs went to buyers in Europe, suggesting that some are taking advantage of the favorable exchange rate.”

The top lot was a bound volume containing over 120 illustrated letters by Frederick Stuart Church, many containing his charming depictions of polar bears, lions and other animals, written to financier Grant B. Schley, Carnegie Hall, 1913-17. It sold for $31,200*.

Also containing numerous illustrations was a guestbook for the Isola Bella Restaurant in London, 1919-33, containing hundreds of items signed or signed and inscribed, including entries by Theodore Dreiser, T.S. Eliot, Mary Pickford, and W.B. Yeats, $15,600.

The highest selling literary lot was a group of four typed letters signed and an initialed postcard by Ezra Pound, concerning private publication of his translations of Provençal poet Arnaut Daniel, London, 1917-18, $28,800.

Also from the writers portion of the sale were an autograph letter signed by Samuel Johnson to Hester Lynch Thrale, concerned for the health of his friend Henry Thrale, Ashbourne, 17 June 1779 $19,200, and a related item, an 1815 autograph letter unsigned by the now Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi, to physician James Fellowes, on behalf of Mrs. Lutwyche, $6,000; as well as an Immanuel Kant autograph inscription, unsigned, a dedication to his one-time student Carl Gottlieb Fischer, in Latin, circa December 1793, $6,480; a Mark Twain autograph manuscript, unsigned, a draft of a brief article for Harper’s Weekly, December 1908, $5,040; and an autograph manuscript, unsigned by Jean-Paul Sartre, consisting of fragmentary notes, likely from his unpublished 1965 Cornell lecture, in French, circa 1964, $4,800.

Science-related items were a Charles Darwin autograph letter signed to an unnamed recipient, in which he offers to send a copy of his Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, Beckenham, December 1872, $4,080; an autograph note signed by Sigmund Freud, a bill for 23 hours of services to one of his last patients, Vienna, 31 October 1933, $3,840; and a photo of Albert Einstein and his wife Elsa, signed by both and dated by Albert, 1931, $5,280.

Other notable signed photographs included a photograph of Leon Trotsky’s son Sergei Sedov, signed and inscribed by Trotsky to American writer and activist Waldo Frank, in French, 1 March 1937, $6,000; a standing portrait of Winston Churchill, $6,000; and a stunning full-length photo of Maria Callas, dated and signed, 1966, $4,800.

The auction also featured a signed program from the ceremony of the Oslo Accords, with signatures by William J. Clinton, Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat, Washington, 1993-94, $5,520. A related item was a typed letter signed by Chaim Weizmann and Nahum Sokolow concerning the formation of the London Zionist Political Committee, July 1917, $6,000.

For complete results, an illustrated catalogue, with prices realized on request, is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, Inc., 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, or online at www.swanngalleries.com.

For further information, and to propose consignments to upcoming Autographs auctions, please contact Marco Tomaschett at (212) 254-4710, extension 12, or via email at mtomaschett@swanngalleries.com.

*All prices include buyer’s premium.

New York—Scarce items made their auction debut, while original illustrations and signed first editions of notable titles drew interest at Swann Galleries’ auction of Art, Press & Illustrated Books; and 19th & 20th Century Literature on November 8.

Christine von der Linn, Swann’s art book and modern literature specialist, said, “I was happy to see activity in all sections of the sale; for every successfully sold item, there were numerous under bidders. The exhibition was jam-packed with collectors and also dealers en route to the Boston Book fair.”

The top lot was a wonderful association copy of Andy Warhol’s 25 Cats Name Sam and One Blue Pussy, with 18 lithographs, New York, 1954, which sold for $45,600*. This copy—one of fewer than 150 produced—was signed and inscribed “Merry Christmas” by Warhol to Bob Cato, the award-winning graphic designer who worked with Warhol at Harper’s Bazaar, where Cato was Alexey Brodovitch’s assistant.

Other modern art highlights included a signed copy of David Hockney’s Paper Pools, with a lithograph, London, 1980, $10,800; Lysistrata with six etched plates by Picasso, and signed by the artist, New York, 1934, $6,480; and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, with an etched frontispiece and 12 colored plates by Salvador Dalí, one of 2500 numbered and signed copies, New York, 1969, $5,280.

An original ink and watercolor drawing by Beatrix Potter also sold well, bringing a record $14,400. The image, Mrs. Rabbit with basket and umbrella in the forest, was a redrawing of the illustration published in The Tale of Peter Rabbit, signed and dated August 1927.

Appearing for the first time at auction were The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, hand-illuminated and calligraphed manuscript by Alberto Sangorski, London, 1905, $6,480; and an original pen-and-ink drawing of a nude by Austrian illustrator Frans von Bayros, circa 1915, $6,000, which was one of approximately 20 items in a section of curiosa.

Selling on the 55th anniversary of the year it was published was a review copy of the first edition of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl and Other Poems, signed by Ginsberg on the title-page and again on the publisher’s review slip, San Francisco, 1956, $5,760—a record for a signed copy. Also marking a milestone anniversary was a signed and inscribed first edition of Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, New York, 1961, $5,280.

Other 20th century literary classics included number 349 of 750 copies of James Joyce’s Ulysses, on handmade paper, Paris, 1922, which, despite condition issues, brought $14,400; a first edition of William Faulkner’s first novel, Soldier’s Pay, New York, 1926, $7,200, and his better known The Sound and the Fury, first edition, New York, 1929, $5,040.

From the 19th century were a complete set of Charles Dickens’s Christmas Books, five volumes including A Christmas Carol, first editions, London, 1843-48, $6,480; as well as a set of Emily Dickinson first editions: Poems, Poems Second Series, and Poems Third Series, Boston, 1890-96, $10,200.

For complete results, an illustrated auction catalogue, with prices realized on request, is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, Inc., 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, or online at www.swanngalleries.com.

For further information, and to consign items to Swann’s upcoming auctions of Art, Press & Illustrated Books, and 19th & 20th Century Literature, please contact Christine von der Linn at 212-254-4710, extension 20, or via e-mail at cvonderlinn@swanngalleries.com.

NEW YORK—Nearly 300 items will be offered in the Fine Books & Manuscripts auction,  December 15 at Bonhams in New York. Being one of the last auctions of this year, and adding to holiday anticipation, the sale boasts several Christmas-related items among its offerings, including: early printed books and illuminated manuscripts, travel literature and maps, science and natural history, art, children’s books, literature, history, Americana, music and theater.

Christina Geiger, the Fine Books and Manuscripts Director, and Matthew Haley, the department specialist, state about the sale, “We in the Book Department are excited about rounding out our best year ever with some Christmas cheer. With the auction on December 15, collectors don't have to wait till the night before Christmas to get in the holiday spirit!"

The holiday theme can be seen in our Arts and Literature section with two delightful original illustrations for different editions of Clement Moore’s 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, one of which is by Arthur Rackham (pre-sale estimates $600-800, $8,000-12,000); a set of the five Christmas books by Charles Dickens, bound in full crimson morocco (pre-sale est. $2,000-3,000); as well as songwriter Jerome Kern’s copy of the first edition of Dicken’s A Christmas Carol (pre-sale est. $4,000-6,000).

The highlights of the travel section of the sale are the maps and atlases: a fine and rare set of five woodcut maps by Heinrich Bünting, including the so-called “cloverleaf” world map (pre-sale est. $25,000-35,000); a Spanish edition of Abraham Ortelius’s Theatrum orbis terrarium, dating from 1602 and containing 118 double-page engraved mapsheets (pre-sale est. $100,000-150,000); and a 1535 atlas by Ptolemy, with 50 maps of the ancient and modern world (pre-sale est. $25,000-35,000).

In the Science and Natural History section of the auction, on offer is the royal octavo edition of John Audubon’s Birds, the most extensive American color plate work of the time, bound with Audubon’s Quadrupeds (pre-sale est. $80,000-120,000). Other highlights in the section include rare letters and manuscripts by Hermann Oberth and Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, men considered to be among the founding fathers of rocketry and space flight.

An exciting highlight for comic books collectors is the first edition of the first American comic book (1842), virtually unknown and in original wrappers (pre-sale est. $10,000-15,000); Joseph Heller’s writing desk and lamp (pre-sale est. $1,500-2,000); the first edition of James Joyce’s Ulysses (pre-sale est. $20,000-30,000); an autographed letter by Thomas Jefferson to James Dinsmore, the craftsman responsible for the woodwork for Monticello’s famous dome (pre-sale est. $25,000-35,000); and a rare collection of working musical manuscripts by Miles Davis (pre-sale est. $2,500-3,500).

The Fine Books & Manuscripts items will be on public display in New York beginning Saturday, December 10 through Thursday, December 15. The auction will begin at 1 pm on December 15 in the New York location of Bonhams at 580 Madison Avenue.

New York—On Thursday, December 15 Swann Galleries will offer an unprecedented single-owner sale of The Complete Poster Works of Roger Broders, the celebrated travel poster artist whose name is synonymous with French Art Deco. Not only is this the first time that a collection of Broders’s work, including previously unknown variants and non-travel images, has come to auction, it is the first time the complete works of any poster artist have been offered at one time.
 
“Being surrounded by all of these stunning posters was glorious and uplifting,” said Nicholas D. Lowry, Swann President and Director of the Poster Department, “It is like seeing France as it hasn’t been seen since the 1920s. To see them in person, all in once place, is an exceptional opportunity for anyone who appreciates vintage posters.”

Best known for the 65 images he created for the Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée Railway (PLM), Broders also designed posters for car companies, lotteries and other railway lines. The 100 lots in this sale are presented chronologically by printing date, and offer a view into how Broders’s work evolved from 1920 to 1935, when he stopped designing posters.

Among the most sought-after examples of his work are images depicting glamorous men and women enjoying the beaches and nightlife of the Cote d’Azur. These include views of languid sunbathers in La Plage de Calvi Corse, 1928 (estimate: $8,000 to $12,000); Antibes, circa 1928, with a variation advertising a local casino in Juan-les-Pins (each $10,000 to $15,000); and Agay, 1928 ($5,000 to $7,500), and smartly dressed visitors enjoying the views in Vichy / Comité des Fêtes, circa 1928 ($15,000 to $20,000) and Dunkerque, circa 1930 ($20,000 to $30,000).

Sports-themed images include hikers in Le Mont-Blanc / Chamonix, circa 1924 ($5,000 to $7,500); a female golfer in Vichy, 1928 ($8,000 to $12,000); Golf de la Soukra Tunis, 1932 ($4,000 to $6,000); and tennis enthusiasts in St. Honoré les Bains, circa 1928 ($5,000 to $7,500); Lys-Chantilly, circa 1928 ($3,000 to $4,000); and Monte-Carlo, circa 1930 ($15,000 to $30,000).

Broders also created several iconic ski posters, such as Winter Sports in the French Alps, circa 1929, promoting the Mont-Blanc railway, the highest altitude railway in France ($8,000 to $12,000); Les Sports d’Hiver dans les Vosges, circa 1930, in which a skier goes so fast his clothing becomes a blur ($7,000 to $10,000); Les Sports d’Hiver / St. Pierre de Chartreuse, 1930, depicting a crowd watching a bobsled team whoosh downhill ($8,000 to $12,000); a blonde woman—based on Broders’s wife—on the slopes in Le Hohwald, circa 1930 ($3,000 to $4,000); and Chamonix Mt. Blanc, 1930, depicting an ice hockey game at the site of the first Winter Olympics, held in 1924 ($6,000 to $9,000).

There are stunning landscape posters, employing Broders’s signature ability to capture depths-of-field, including sunlit views of the ships docking in Marseille, circa 1922 ($3,000 to $4,000), and 1929 ($7,000 to $10,000); the snow-covered peaks of La Chaine du Mont-Blanc, 1924 ($4,000 to $6,000); the palm trees and sailboats of Sainte-Maxime, 1928 ($5,000 to $7,500); and an incredible find, a group of 17 printer’s proofs of his poster for Jura. Environs de Pontarlier, which offer insight into the complex nature of lithographic printing, 1930 ($3,000 to $4,000).

Broders also designed posters for Baghdad, Florence, India and Rome, as well as non-travel specific advertisements for Peugeot, with Gatsby-esque couples riding with the top down, 1923 ($2,000 to $3,000); and Loterie des Régions Libéréres, 1934 ($1,000 to $1,500).

The auction will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 15. The items will be on public exhibition Saturday, December 10, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Monday, December 12 through Wednesday, December 14, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Thursday, December 15, from 10 a.m. to noon.
 
    A fully illustrated color catalogue with information on bidding by mail or fax is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, Inc., 104 East 25 Street, New York, NY 10010, and may be viewed online at www.swanngalleries.com.

    For further information, and to make advance arrangements to bid during the auction, please contact Nicholas Lowry at (212) 254-4710 ext. 53, or via e-mail at posters@swanngalleries.com.

Live online bidding is also available via Artfact.com.

New York—Swann Galleries’ auction of Important Photobooks & Photographs on Tuesday, December 13 features beautiful and poignant images and books ranging from the earliest photographs to works by artists living and working today.

The sale opens with a fine assortment of cased images and prints from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which includes Andrew J. Russell’s magnificent United States Military Rail Road Photographic Album, with 107 albumen prints depicting the railroads, battlefields and landscapes of the Civil War, 1863-64 (estimate: $50,000 to $75,000); a group of 10 plates of birds from Eadweard Muybridge’s Animal Locomotion, collotypes, 1887 ($5,000 to $7,500 for the set); and a first edition of Edwin Hale Lincoln’s lavishly illustrated Wild Flowers of New England Photographed from Nature, a complete set with 400 platinum prints, and one of about 50 copies of the self-published work, 1910-14 ($40,000 to $60,000).

Scarce early examples of photographic literature include Alfred Stieglitz’s Camera Notes, Volumes III-V, the official organ of the Camera Club of New York, 1899-1900 ($6,000 to $9,000); individual copies of Stieglitz’s Camera Work, including the Steichen Supplement, 1906 ($7,000 to $10,000); and a deluxe edition of Manuel Alvarez Bravo’s Fotografias, signed by the artist, and with two (of three) silver prints, Mexico, 1945 ($18,000 to $22,000).

Among the compelling celebrity portraits are Berenice Abbott’s Portrait of James Joyce, silver print, circa 1926, printed 1950s ($12,000 to $18,000); Bravo’s André Breton, silver print, 1938, printed 1970s ($5,000 to $7,500); Edward Steichen’s Carl Sandburg posing with a cigar, silver print, circa 1936, printed 1950s ($3,000 to $4,500); Arnold Newman’s Pablo Picasso, Cannes, France, silver print, 1956, printed 1960s ($3,000 to $4,500); Bert Stern’s Marilyn Monroe (Crucifix), mural-size chromogenic print, 1962, printed 1992 ($15,000 to $25,000); and Dennis Hopper’s Irving Blum and Andy Warhol Filming, New York City, 1964, printed 1970s ($4,000 to $6,000).

An extraordinary item related to Warhol’s films is Jack Smith’s The Beautiful Book, with 19 erotic photographs of subjects including Warhol superstars Mario Montez and Francine Francine, one of a planned edition of 200, of which 60 were actually produced, 1959 ($30,000 to $45,000).

A section devoted to the work of legendary New York press photographer Weegee offers a self portrait of the photographer resting on a bed in the back of Police Headquarters, titled My studio, circa 1939 ($2,500 to $3,500); Human cannonball (woman being fired from a cannon), 1943 ($3,000 to $4,500); and a signed first edition of Naked City, 1945 ($500 to $750).

Other notable New York City views are Helen Levitt’s New York (Boys playing over doorway), circa 1942, printed circa 1980 ($6,000 to $9,000); Margaret Bourke-White’s Statue of Liberty, New York Harbor, 1952, printed 1997 ($4,500 to $6,500); Walker Evans’s New York City Demolition, Upper Third Avenue, 1962 ($5,000 to $7,000); André Kertész’s Untitled (puddle, New York), 1967 ($4,000 to $6,000); Harry Callahan’s Untitled (World Trade Center), 1974 ($8,000 to $12,000); and Sheila Metzner’s New York, illustrated with 10 hand-coated platinum prints, one of 35 copies by Twenty-First Editions, numbered, signed and issued with a platinum print of The Brooklyn Bridge, 2001 ($12,000 to $18,000).

Other highly sought after books include deluxe 21st Editions works by Tom Baril, Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison, Sally Mann, and others; the Aaron Siskind portfolio Viterbo Broom, with 18 abstract photographs and a handwritten title page with an inscription to a friend, 1967 ($25,000 to $35,000); Lee Friedlander’s Self Portrait, with an original photograph, signed and inscribed to Marvin Israel, 1970 ($5,000 to $7,500); Duane Michals’s Homage to Cavafy, with 10 silver prints, 1978 ($10,000 to $15,000); and a deluxe edition of Paul Graham’s A-1, The Great North Road, signed and with an original photograph, 1983 ($15,000 to $20,000).

Individual contemporary images of note include Peter Beard’s Fayel Tall / El Molo Bay, Lake Rudolf, mixed media silver print with applied blood and a feather, 1987, printed 1998 ($20,000 to $30,000); Herb Ritz’s Brigitte Nielson, Malibu, 1987 ($8,000 to $12,000); and Sally Mann’s Emmet, Jessie and Virginia, 1989 ($10,000 to $15,000).

The auction will begin at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 13.

The photographs and books will be on public exhibition at Swann Galleries Thursday, December 8 and Friday, December 9, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, December 10, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Monday, December 12, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Tuesday, December 13, from 10 a.m. to noon.

An illustrated catalogue with information on bidding by mail or fax, is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, Inc., 104 East 25 Street, New York, NY 10010, or online at www.swanngalleries.com.
 
For further information, and to make advance arrangements to bid by telephone during the auction, please contact Daile Kaplan at (212) 254-4710, extension 21, or via e-mail at dkaplan@swanngalleries.com.

Live online bidding is also available via Artfact.com.

SOTHEBY'S LONDON is delighted to announce the sale of a selection of exceptional works in its English Literature, History Private Press, Children’s Books & Illustrations auction on Thursday, 15 December 2011. The sale, which comprises 163 lots, is expected to raise in excess of £1.5 million. The headline lot is an autograph manuscript of the previously unknown The Young Men’s Magazine, Number 2, written by a 14-year-old Charlotte Brontë, in miniature format. Estimated at £200,000-300,000, it is one of only a handful of such manuscripts remaining in private hands. Also featured is a first deluxe edition of Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone which includes 10 full-colour, specially commissioned illustrations by Thomas Taylor, the first artist to give shape to the boy wizard. The sale has several works of international significance, including an archive of literary manuscripts by Naguib Mahfouz, probably the most significant Egyptian novelist of the 20th Century.

Peter Selley, Sotheby‟s Senior Director and Senior Specialist in the Books and Manuscripts Department said: “This is a wonderfully diverse sale, which offers historic collecting opportunities, including the most important Brontë manuscript to be offered at auction for a generation. Previously unknown to scholars and of huge literary significance, it sheds new light on Charlotte Brontë’s inspirations and the fantasy worlds inhabited by the Brontë siblings. Another imaginary realm which has captivated millions of readers is that of J.K. Rowling, and the sale features perhaps the ultimate bespoke Harry Potter novel. The unique copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher‟s Stone includes 10 wonderfully fresh illustrations, offered with the original watercolours, by Thomas Taylor, who created the first ever depiction of the young wizard.”

The unpublished manuscript by Charlotte Brontë, The Young Men’s Magazine, Number 2 (illustrated right), reveals a plot line which is a precursor to one of the most famous scenes in Jane Eyre. Estimated at £200,000-300,000, it is the most important Brontë manuscript to have appeared at auction in more than thirty years and has never before been seen by scholars. Set in „Glass Town‟, the earliest fictional world that the four Brontë siblings created, and written by a fourteen-year-old Charlotte in miniature magazine format, the manuscript is dated August 1830 - 17 years before the celebrated author wrote Jane Eyre.

Offered for sale for the first time, a unique copy of the first 1999 deluxe edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling, is estimated at £30,000-50,000 (pictured, page one). The bespoke, extra-illustrated edition is not only signed by the author but also includes 10 specially commissioned full-colour plates by the original Harry Potter illustrator, Thomas Taylor. The consignor asked Taylor to create the images in 2002 for his own library. The scenes were chosen for their significance and to provide an even spread of illustrations throughout the narrative. They were originally intended to be bound into a copy of the book, but proving too thick, were instead reproduced on fine wove paper and sumptuously bound by Asprey. Thomas Taylor provided the first-ever depiction of Harry Potter for the cover of Rowling‟s debut novel in 1997. After it was published the image achieved world-wide fame and Taylor‟s original watercolour was sold at Sotheby‟s London in July 2001 for £85,750.
 
A highly significant archive of literary manuscripts by Naguib Mahfouz, probably the most significant Egyptian novelist of the 20th Century, is estimated at £50,000-70,000. Best known for his 1950s works the Cairo Trilogy and the Children of Gebelawi, in 1988, Mahfouz became the only Arab writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Mahfouz‟s style developed throughout his career and those changes are reflected in this rich and diverse group of literary manuscripts which includes material from both the beginning of his career in the 1930s, to his death in 2006. To Sotheby‟s best knowledge this is the first manuscript material by Mahfouz to appear at auction.
 
A unique edition of Queen Victoria’s biography by Agnes Strickland, Queen Victoria from Her Birth to Her Bridal (Henry Colburn, 1840), inscribed with notes in the Queen‟s hand, is estimated at £10,000-£15,000. Queen Victoria was deeply unimpressed with the biography by the well-known Victorian author of Lives of the Queens of England. When a copy of the overtly effusive and sentimental work was presented to her, the Queen made her true feelings known. She made caustic marginal comments on 120 pages of the book, then had it returned to the author. In many cases Queen Victoria marked specific paragraphs with a vertical line and added a terse “not true”, “quite false”, and even “not one word of truth” in the margin. In others she made specific factual corrections to names, dates and places. Strickland, appalled at the royal response, made every effort to halt further distribution of the book, and to buy any remaining copies in bookstores and destroy them. This book is offered for sale for the first time, by Agnes Strickland‟s direct descendants. In 1932 the family (then living in Canada) received a request from King George V to see the book. It was duly despatched to England and is offered for sale in the brown paper wrapping in which it was posted back to the family from Windsor Castle.
 
A collection of books and effects, formerly the property of Yvonne Cloetta, the long-time companion of Graham Greene, is estimated to reach a total in excess of £40,000. Mme Cloetta was Greene‟s last great love and the centre of his emotional life for his last three decades. The author moved to Antibes in the early 1960s to be near her home in Juan Les Pins. He never formally divorced his wife Vivien, and Yvonne never left her husband, but the extent of the collection and the tenderness of its inscriptions, reveals the depth of their relationship: “If I were to live my life again, there is only one thing I would want unchanged: meeting you, knowing you, and loving you,”
 
Graham Greene wrote to Yvonne in 1978. The collection, comprising correspondence, inscribed first editions of Greene‟s novels, a portrait of the author and his camera, will be sold in 16 separate lots.

The very rare first separate English edition of one of the best-loved poems in the English language, Rudyard Kipling’s IF, is estimated at £8,000-£12,000. The work, which is consistently voted as “The Nation‟s Favourite Poem”, was first published in 1910, but it was the appearance of this first edition in the month of the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, which brought it to the attention of a wider public. There is believed to be only one copy recorded in any institution worldwide: that in the collection of one of Kipling‟s early biographers the Canadian barrister and industrialist James McG. Stewart, who bequeathed it to Dalhousie University Library in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

A charming original ink drawing of Piglet, stranded in a tree during a flood, by E.H. Shepard is estimated at £30,000-50,000. The work, which here has Shepard‟s minor gouache corrections, was reproduced as a full-page illustration in Chapter IX of A.A. Milne‟s Winnie the Pooh, published in 1926. Shepard entitled the drawing “Rescue of Piglet” before quoting Milne‟s text: “It is a little anxious… to be a very small animal entirely surrounded by water.”

Another famous literary pig to feature in the sale is the beloved Wilbur. Maggie Kneen’s complete set of 21 fine pencil and watercolour drawings for Some Pig! by Charlotte’s Web author E. B. White (pictured left), is estimated to fetch £4,000-£6,000.

A unique leather-bound boxed set of Stieg Larsson’s internationally bestselling and award-winning Millennium Trilogy (pictured right) comprises The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, along with the original letter of rejection sent to a young Larsson in 1972 by the Joint Committee of Colleges of Journalism. Larsson kept this letter among his personal possessions until his death, and it reveals an original pencil portrait by the author himself. Stieg Larsson‟s drawing skills are well documented, but his drawings have not previously been published. The document has been donated by the author's family specifically to be included with the boxed set estimated at £10,000-12,000. The sale will benefit Expo, the anti-discrimination foundation set up in 1995 by Larsson and his peers. Larsson served as president of the foundation as well as editor-in-chief of Expo magazine until his death in 2004. 

30 November 2011 - Sotheby’s is delighted to announce that it will hold an auction of property from the estate of celebrated New York philanthropist and patron of the arts, Brooke Astor. The sale, which will take place on 19 April 2012, will comprise jewelry and fine & decorative art from Mrs. Astor’s Park Avenue apartment as well as her Westchester estate, Holly Hill, and is estimated in excess of $5 million*.

In keeping with her unwavering commitment to numerous New York institutions and causes, Mrs. Astor selected a number of charitable organizations to benefit from her estate including: The New York Public Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Pierpont Morgan Library, The Animal Medical Center of New York and New York City Schools, in addition to various charities in Maine. Further information about the contents of the auction will be distributed by Sotheby’s in early 2012.

DALLAS, TX - Heritage Auctions has announced that, effective Jan. 1, 2012, the structure of its Buyer’s Premium (BP) will be changing in several of its categories. While 13 of the company’s 33 categories will remain at 19.5% or 15%, the rest of the Heritage categories will implement the change.

“We make very careful and considered decisions at Heritage, and this was not one that we came to lightly,” said Greg Rohan, President of Heritage Auctions. “Heritage is a major player on the world auction stage, and our BP rates will now be competitive with the rest of the world’s key auctioneers.”

In the categories of American Indian Art, American Art, European Art, Furniture & Decorative Arts, Illustration Art, Jewelry, Lalique & Art Glass, Luxury Accessories, Modern & Contemporary Art, Music & Entertainment, Natural History, Photography, Pre-Columbian, Rare Books, Silver & Vertu, Texas Art, Timepieces, Vintage Guitars and Western Art, buyers will pay a BP of 25% of the hammer price on the first $50,000 of each lot purchased, 20% on the portion between $50,000 to $1,000,000 and 12% on any amount more than $1,000,000.
The minimum BP of $14 per lot will also continue to apply.

There will be no change in Buyer’s Premium for US Coins, World Coins, Currency, Wine and Arms & Armor, which remain at 15% or for Americana & Political, Civil War & Militaria, Comics & Comic Art, Historic Manuscripts, Movie Posters, Space Exploration, Vintage Sports Collectibles and Texana auctions, which remain at 19.5%. In Gallery Auctions, meaning those auctions with sealed bids, mostly bulk numismatic material at Heritage, the BP will also remain at 19.5%.

ITHACA, NY] National Book Auctions, located in Ithaca, NY, hosted a Sunday, November 20th auction featuring a broad range of rare antique and vintage books, as well as a fine array of artwork, maps, and ephemera. Highlights of this auction included several personal libraries of scholarly books relating to art, theology and a private collection of works by Anthony Burgess. This 422-lot auction also featured antique engravings with architectural content, Victorian chromo-lithographic items, and a collection of Asian art and artifacts.

A British first edition volume of Anthony Burgess’s “A Clockwork Orange” fetched a hammer price of $2583.00 (including buyer’s premium). In 1998, the Modern Library ranked “A Clockwork Orange” 65th on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. This 1962 dystopian novella contains an experiment in language: the characters often use an argot called "Nadsat", derived from Russian.

A lot containing two albums of antique Victorian chromolithographs reached an impressive hammer price of $3690.00 (including buyer’s premium). The albums contain a beautiful assortment of items, including vividly colored trade cards and advertisements.

Realizing a hammer price of $1291.50 (including buyer’s premium) was a first edition printing of “La Pirotechnia o Sia Trattato Dei Fouchi D'artificio” by Giuseppe Antonio Alberti Bolognese. This 1749 printing is the first Italian work on recreational fireworks. This volume is lavishly illustrated with fold-out plates showing a variety of fireworks.

An antique bronze Chinese Buddhist statue of Kwan Yin achieved a hammer price of $1140 (including buyer’s premium). Also known as the Goddess of Mercy, Kwan Yin is one of the most universally beloved of deities in the Buddhist tradition. This statue depicts Kwan Yin sitting cross-legged on a lotus blossom, which is an iconic symbol of Buddhist purity.

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, December 4th 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.

Kestenbaum & Company will conduct an auction of Fine Judaica on Thursday, December 8 at 3:00 pm. The sale will be held at the company’s gallery at 242 West 30 Street in New York City. Buyers will be afforded an opportunity to select from an extensive selection of Printed Books, Manuscripts, Autograph Letters & Graphic Art. Featured in the sale will also be Rare Books from Jews’ College Library, London.

The Americana section of the sale boasts an item of great significance in the history of American Jewry: Speeches on the Jew Bill in the House of Delegates in Maryland, 1829.  This important text gave Jews residing in that state full civil rights that had up until that point been denied them. The pre-auction estimate is $15,000-20,000 (Lot 16). Further lots of interest include the very first publication of the American Union for Reform Judaism, Cincinnati, 1873, estimate $5,000-7,000 (Lot 25); an Address on the Death of Abraham Lincoln given by prominent Philadelphia Rabbi Sabato Morais displaying the grief that Jews shared upon the president’s assassination, Philadelphia, 1865, estimate: $4,000-6,000 (Lot 26) and a printed invitation addressed to Rabbi Morais from then President of the United States, Rutherford B. Hayes to meet with him, Philadelphia, circa 1877, at an estimate of $2,000-2,500 (Lot 24). An important autograph letter, signed by Union Major General Benjamin F. Butler, portrays the Military Governor of New Orleans’ notorious anti-Semitism, dated October 23, 1862, estimate $6,000-9,000 (Lot 253).

Among the books of Hebraica being offered, the star lot is an excellent copy of Masecheth Bava Bathra, one of the most scarce and important tractates of Bomberg’s celebrated Talmud edition, Venice, 1521 at a pre-sale estimate of $100,000-120,000 (Lot 226). Further significant lots include a first edition, in very fine condition, of the Shela’h Siddur, Amsterdam, 1717, estimate $35,000-40,000 (Lot 175); an important Bible edition, Derech Ha’kodesh, prepared by Elias Hutter, Hamburg, 1587, estimate $5.000-7,000 (Lot 49) and a first edition of Tobias Cohn’s comprehensive illustrated Hebrew scientific encyclopedia, Ma’aseh Tuvia, Venice 1707-8 at an estimate of 3,000-5,000 (Lot 83). Other categories of Hebrew books include Kabbalistic texts and a number of important printed Chassidic books such as the first Tanya printed in America with manuscript corrections in the hand of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Brooklyn, 1953, at an estimate of $5,000-7,000 (Lot 77).

Notable selections among the Passover Hagadahs include the first Reform Hagadah, London, 1842, estimate $4,000-5,000 (Lot 113) and a Hagadah in Judeo-Tatar, Piotrkow, 1904, at an estimate of $1,500-2,000 (Lot 115). A mint copy of the celebrated David Moss Hagadah, Verona, 1987, one of 500 numbered copies, is also up for auction.  This beautifully designed book is truly a phenomenal bibliophilic achievement. The estimate is $12,000-15,000 (lot 126).

The Printed Books section spans the globe with a diverse range of texts relating to the socio-economic status of Jews in England, Australia, India, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, France and Asia. Of special interest is a highly unusual volume printed from wood-blocks on rice paper entitled Facsimiles of the Hebrew Manuscripts Obtained at the Jewish Synagogue in K’ae-Fung Foo, Shanghai, 1851, estimated at $8,000-10,000 (Lot 80). Also of note is an exotic Judaic school textbook printed in 1915 in Beru, located in the Pacific Islands, and composed in the Gilbertese language, estimated at $1,000-1,500 (Lot 199). The section also includes notable books relating to the Jews in Syria, Libya, Persia and Baghdad.

An important highlight among other historic books is the second edition of Confusión de Confusiones, by Joseph Penso de la Vega, one of the foremost writers and thinkers among the Spanish and Portuguese Jews of Amsterdam, in which he theorizes, describes and defines the operations of the Stock Market, Breslau, 1919, estimate $1,500-2,000 (Lot 202). A singular Zionist item issued immediately following the Balfour Declaration is a Programme of a Jewish Demonstration to Thank His Majesty’s Government for Their Declaration in Favour of the Establishment in Palestine of a National Home for the Jewish People, London, 1917, at an estimate of $1.000-1,500 (Lot 237). Other Zionist books include the first American edition of Theodor Herzl’s Der Judenstaat-The Jewish State, New York, 1904, estimate $2,000-3,000 (Lot 235), as well as the first American Yiddish edition, Der Idenshtat, New York, 1917, estimate $1,200-1,800 (Lot 236). Holy Land related texts include Plate Books such as Willem & David Goeree’s Mosaize Historie der Hebreeuwse Kerke, an attractive four volume set of a study of Jewish antiquities, Amsterdam, 1700, estimate $3,000-5,000 (Lot 107); Dutch traveller and painter Cornelis de Bruyn’s Reizen… Delft, 1698, estimate 2,000-3,000 (Lot 152) and Views in Palestine from the Original Drawings of Luigi Mayer, London, 1804, at an estimate of $4,000-5,000 (Lot 153).

Within the Manuscripts section of the auction, a highly attractive festival Prayer-Book according to the custom of Avignon, 1689, estimate $10,000-15,000 (Lot 268) is featured. Other noteworthy highlights include a group of medieval Hebrew illuminated manuscript fragments from the Workshop of the Lisbon Bible, late fifteenth century, estimate $12,000-18,000 (Lot 301); a manuscript dated 1750 listing those Jews privileged by King Frederick II of Prussia with the right to reside in Berlin, estimate $10,000-15,000 (Lot 269) and a Judeo Persian manuscript of the Ethics of the Fathers, Persia, 1913-1924, estimate $3,000-4,000 (Lot 288).  The section also includes eye-catching illuminated Ketubot from Bulgaria and Italy.

Autograph Letters by illustrious Jewish spiritual leaders include missives by Maharam Schick, The Komarner, Reb Chaim Brisker, The Grand Rabbis of the Vishnitz Chassidic dynasty, The Yenukah of Stolin, Rabbis Aaron Kotler and Moshe Feinstein. One standout lot is an important letter from R. Moses Sofer, the “Chatham Sofer” which includes a response to a Halachic question concerning inheritance matters, Pressburg, 1834, at an estimate of $45,000-50,000 (Lot 311).

The catalogue cover lot is an extraordinary illuminated manuscript composed on a large vellum sheet, depicting King Nebuchadnezzar's dream from the Book of Daniel and explaining it in exhaustive detail in Hebrew. The King's vision is a revelation of the future history of the world and of events that must precede the dawn of the Messianic Age. No other Jewish depiction of this biblical key to world history is known. The pre-auction estimate is $20,000-30,000 (Lot 322).

A number of fine paintings round out the sale including an Austrian landscape by Isidor Kaufmann (Lot 334); a poignant painting of a Sabbath Eve scene by Marcin Gottlieb, younger brother of the celebrated Maurycy (Lot 333); a pen and ink drawing of Charlie Chaplin by Marc Chagall dated 1929 (Lot 331), and drawings by Issacher Ryback (Lots 337 & 338). Other art (including illustrated books) sure to garner interest include works by Ilya Schor, Saul Raskin, Mane-Katz, Herman Struck, Max Spilhaczek, Ze’ev Raban, Arthur Szyk, Imre Amos, Otto Eichinger and Abraham Rattner. The sale concludes with a fine photograph by Roman Vischniac.

For  further  information  relating  to  bidding  or  any  other  queries,  please  contact Jackie  Insel at  212-366-1197.

On 13th December 2011 Sotheby’s Fine Books and Manuscripts sale in New York will include The Jean-Vounder Davis Collection of the Raymond Chandler Library -a unique group of books from the collection of one of America’s greatest detective fiction writers. Many of the titles are personalized by the author and offer a fascinating insight to his closest relationships. The writer rarely inscribed his works and this is by far the most important Chandler collection to have appeared on the market.

After Raymond Chandler’s death all of these books, manuscripts, and screenplays entered the library of his secretary and fiancé Jean Vounder-Davis, whose daughter has consigned the collection. Despite a 30 year age gap, Jean cared for the author keeping him healthy, sober, and focused on his writing. In turn he helped to care for her children, becoming their legal guardian.

The group is led by a remarkable double presentation copy of The Big Sleep - Chandler’s momentous first novel - that is inscribed to his beloved wife, Cissy (est.$80/120,000). Raymond Chandler met Cissy Pascal in 1919 after his return from the war. The dominant figure in his life, she would go on to become the crucial force that propelled him into writing. Twenty years his senior, Cissy was married when she met Chandler; however she divorced her husband and married the writer in 1924. In the 1930s Chandler lost his job as an oil company executive as a result of his heavy drinking and promiscuity. This led him to pursue a writing career which started with the publication of The Big Sleep in 1938. The landmark book introduced the character of Philip Marlowe, profoundly changing American detective fiction. This first edition is inscribed: “For my Cissy / Who wants something / much better, but was / pleased even with this / Raymond / La Jolla Jan 1939 / Riverside Feb 1939.”

Chandler’s personal copy of The Big Sleep is also included in the sale with the inscription: “For me / without my compliments / Raymond Chandler / Riverside Feb 1939” (est. $60/80,000). The novel was written over three months in the summer of 1939, with the absence of a clean ending in which justice was served, setting it apart from much detective fiction of the day.

A dedication copy of the first edition of Chandler’s novel Playback has been inscribed to Jean Fracasse, who would later revert to her maiden name of Jean Vounder-Davis. It references the support the author showed his friend during her divorce: “To / Jean / With Love and dedication, and having given me / the opportunity to be her / bulwark and defender / against and odious and /entirely unwarranted attack. / I still am. I always shall / be Ray / La Jolla August 1958” (est. $10/15,000). In addition, the novel is dedicated to Jean along with Chandler’s agent Helga Greene with whom the author would become romantically involved. Even when he was in a relationship with Helga, Chandler continued to provide for Jean Fracasse and her children, even signing over the Commonwealth rights of this book to her. The auction also offers a remarkable insight into two of Chandler’s literary friendships. He met Ian Fleming in 1955 during a dinner at Stephen Spender’s home in London where the James Bond author admired the depth which Chandler had written into his creation, Philip Marlowe. The meeting came at a time when Fleming was considering ending the Bond series, feeling he had reached an impasse with the character. Chandler seems to have reinvigorated his friend, with the subsequent Bond novels displaying the kind of rich character development he associated with Philip Marlowe.

A first edition of Goldfinger is a superb example of the friendship between the two authors and is inscribed: “To Ray / with much affection / from / Ian” (est. $60/80,000). In his first edition copy of From Russia With Love
Chandler has graded the previous Bond titles, ironically, From Russia With Love receives only a B unlike Moonraker and Live and Let Die which are both awarded an A (est. $10/15,000).

In a copy of Three of a Kind, the author James Cain thanks Chandler for his work on the Double Indemnity movie script (est. $15/20,000). Chandler did not enjoy the experience, but the film would go on to earn seven Oscar nominations. His personal copy of the Three of a Kind script is also included in the sale (est. $8/12,000). When he started working on the script Chandler had little idea how the screenwriting process worked, however after a difficult start the working relationship between Chandler and Cain would go on to produce one of the most important works of film noir.

The sale will also feature Chandler’s legendary script for The Blue Dahlia (est. $7/10,000). In 1944 the makers of The Blue Dahlia were thrown into a panic as their lead actor Alan Ladd faced the possibility of a second Army tour of duty. Chandler therefore was brought in quickly to begin adapting his unfinished Dahlia story. With this accelerated schedule, Chandler went to the film makers claiming that the only way he would be able to finish the script was if he were allowed to work from home and relapse into drinking. The studio agreed both to this and his request for two limousines to be available to him at all times along with six secretaries in three shifts of two.

Chandler’s last film project was working on the script of Strangers on a Train for Alfred Hitchcock (est. $7/10,000). Chandler was soon replaced after Hitchcock overhead Chandler describe him as a “fat bastard” but enough of his material was used that he was credited as the lead writer.
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London - Christie’s is pleased to announce the upcoming auction An Iberian Private Collection with Part I: Important Gold Boxes & Objects of Vertu on 8 December 2011 and Part II: Furniture, Silver, Jewellery, Paintings, European, Chinese and Islamic Ceramics on 9 December 2011. This eclectic collection, which spans the 16th to the 21st century, reflects the exquisite taste of a passionate collector and includes exceptional golden splendors which will appeal to both serious collectors and individuals looking for luxurious gifts in the festive season.

This superb collection was formed over five decades by a visionary connoisseur, known for his refined taste and expertise and a prominent figure in the art world since the 1960s. The sale is led by precious materials, notably gold which is present in all forms, from raw nuggets, gold leaf and ingots to elegant jewellery, engraved gold boxes and chased ornaments. Nearly 250 gold boxes and objects of vertu form Part I of the sale, with opulent and sophisticated designs, outstanding provenance and craftsmanship by the most renowned goldsmiths. Fine silver pieces, Chinese and European porcelain, Islamic Iznik ceramic and luxurious French and Iberian furniture are amongst the many other highlights of this collection which is remarkable in its breadth, diversity and quality. The two-part sale is estimated to achieve in the region of £2.5 million and comprises over 600 lots, with estimates starting from under £1,000. Top highlights include:

Miniatures and Gold Boxes
A George II gold snuff-box by Francis Harrache (1738-1754) is an elegant example of guilloché or engine-turning engraving (estimate: £50,000-70,000). Very much in the French taste and unlike other gold boxes by Francis Harrache, this example was produced in 1757; it is a timeless classic.

A fine Louis XV enamelled gold snuff-box by Jean Fremin (1738-1786), Paris, epitomises the skill and craftsmanship of the Parisian goldsmiths that were working during the reign of Louis XV. Created in 1759/1760, it is enamelled with a parrot, an example of the popularity that exotic birds in decorative scenes enjoyed on gold boxes during the 1750’s and early 1760’s (estimate: £200,000-300,000).

Chinese and European Ceramics
A large Chinese export Monogrammed part-dinner service from the late Qianlong period, circa 1785-1795, reflects the quality of the porcelain on offer. It includes various tureens, sauce boats, and a large series of plates, decorated in blue enamel and gilt with the monogram JLF in a shield (estimate: £20,000-30,000).

Furniture
A George III brass mounted satinwood amaranth and painted sideboard, with its mirrored back, rich shimmering satinwood surface and elegant lines would be a superb dining room piece set with decorative silver, porcelains or glassware. Of the late 18th century, possibly by George Simson, it is estimated at £20,000 to £30,000.

Silver
A Portuguese Silver Flagon is a rare and large example of Portuguese silver from the 17th century - amphora-shaped and with the front engraved with a coat of arms within foliage mantling (estimate: £50,000-80,000).

A Portuguese silver-gilt salver, circa 1530-40 (illustrated right) comes from the de Sousa family of Prado, descendants of an illegitimate son of King Alphonso III of Portugal (estimate: £70,000-100,000). The coat of arms and feet probably date from the 18th century.

Old Master Picutres
Peaches, grapes, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, corn, a pomegranate and other fruit hanging from a blue ribbon in a niche is an opulent still-life by important Antwerp artist Joris van Son (1623-1667). The poet Cornelis de Bie described its fruits as so naturalistic that they would tempt a pregnant woman - alluding to the symbolism of fecundity and prosperity evoked by the painting (estimate: £20,000-30,000.

Auction: An Iberian Private Collection: Part I: Important Gold Boxes & Objects of Vertu & Part II: Furniture, Silver, Jewellery, Paintings, European, Chinese and Islamic Ceramics on 8 & 9 December 2011
 
Viewing days: Christie’s London, 8 King Street, St James’s, London SW1Y 6QT, 2-8 December 2011 
 

New York—On Thursday, December 8, Swann Galleries will hold an auction of Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Historical Prints, and Ephemera, which features maps of American interest from a private collection, a fine assortment of atlases and other maps, books with plates and individual decorative graphics, and a selection of ephemera ranging from bookmarks to playing cards to table games.

Highlights among the American map collection include some significant 18th-century examples, such as Robert Morden, A New Map of the English Empire in America, London, circa 1700 (estimate: $10,000 to $15,000); Herman Moll, A new and Exact Map of the Dominions of the King of great Britain on ye Continent of North America, London, circa 1735 ($10,000 to $15,000); Fry-Jefferson, A Map of the most inhabited part of Virginia containing the whole Province of Maryland, London, 1775 ($12,000 to $18,000); and William Faden, The Province of New Jersey, Divided into East and West, based on the Ratzer survey and considered one of the most important general maps of New Jersey during the revolutionary period, London, 1777 ($15,000 to $25,000).

From the 17th century are the very rare first issue of Giovanni Battista Nicolosi, Mexicum In hac forma in lucem edebat, Rome, 1660, with the Rio Grande called Rio Escondido and without Lake Ontario named or shaded; and Willem Blaeu, Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Geographica, Amsterdam, 1635 ($10,000 to $15,000).
Among the map highlights in the rest of the sale are an early manuscript plat map of Rhode Island’s Conanicut Island, circa 1723 ($5,000 to $7,500); Philip Lea, A new Map of New England - New York - New Jarsay - Pensilvania - Maryland and Virginia, London, circa 1715-20 ($6,000 to $9,000); John Melish, Map of Pennsylvania . . . Corrected and Improved to 1826, a large engraved wall map, Philadelphia, 1826 ($12,000 to $18,000); and S. Augustus Mitchell, Map of Mexico, including Yucatan & Upper California . . . 1847, Philadelphia, 1846 ($3,000 to $4,000).

A choice selection of atlases includes Heinrich Scherer, Geographia Naturalis sive Fabrica Mundi sublunaris ab Artifice bound with Geographia Hierarchica sive Status Ecclesiastici Romano-Catholici per Orben Universum, Munich, 1710 and 1703, with many maps of significant American interest ($10,000 to $15,000); the first American atlas published in America, Mathew Carey’s American Atlas: Containing Twenty Maps and One Chart, Philadelphia, 1795 ($15,000 to $25,000); and H.S. Tanner, A New Universal Atlas, first edition, Philadelphia, 1836 ($6,000 to $9,000).

A diverse selection of book with plates offers Audubon’s The Quadrupeds of North America, three volumes containing 155 lovely hand-colored plates, New York, 1854 ($4,000 to $6,000); Robert Furber’s The Flower-Garden Displayed, with 12 hand-colored plates representing the months of the year, London, 1732 ($5,000 to $7,500); and David Roberts’s The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia and Egypt and Nubia, two titles in sixe volumes, lacking six plates from the latter, London, 1842-49 ($15,000 to $25,000); and several volumes on costume and natural history.

The decorative graphics section contains individual Audubon plates, botanicals, and Currier & Ives lithographs.

The sale concludes with approximately 30 lots of ephemera, which include playing cards, table games, trade catalogues and wine labels.

The auction will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 8. The works will be on public exhibition Saturday, December 3, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Monday, December 5 through Wednesday, December 7, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Thursday, December 8, from 10 a.m. to noon.

 An illustrated catalogue with information on bidding by mail or fax is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, or online at www.swanngalleries.com.

For further information, and to arrange in advance to bid by telephone during the auction, please contact Gary Garland at (212) 254-4710, extension 17, or via email at ggarland@swanngalleries.com.

Live online bidding is also available via Artfact.com.
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Ty Pennington finds a new way to change lives as he brings people's hidden treasures to "The Great Big American Auction," Thursday, December 8, on the ABC Television Network.

Ty Pennington has spent years making dreams come true by transforming people's homes. Now the host of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" has found an exciting new way to change people's lives -- by helping them turn their collectibles and hidden finds into treasures.

In "The Great Big American Auction," Pennington travels the country scouring flea markets, cellars & attics, yard sales and back alleys to find one-of-a-kind items whose owners have no idea of their real value. With exceptional collectibles ranging from a first edition classic comic book to a pristine and extremely rare Abraham Lincoln $500 bill from the late 19th century, Ty and his team of experts from Heritage Auctions unearth an amazing array of extraordinary finds. The best items from around the country are tagged and brought to "The Great Big American Auction," where a room full of potential buyers outbid each other in a suspenseful standoff. Random objects originally bought for mere dollars will go for hundreds of thousands, as their lucky owners' lives are forever changed. Let the bidding begin, on "The Great Big American Auction," THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8 (10:00-11:00 p.m., ET) on The ABC Television Network.

"The Great Big American Auction" is produced by Cineflix (Auction) Inc. for ABC. Executive producers are Lisa Levenson, Ty Pennington, Joe Houlihan and Simon Lloyd.

Cineflix is a leading international media company that brings together global broadcast and production partners, major talent, and key executives to create top quality original content produced and distributed for television and other platforms. Currently producing more than 400 hours per year of multi-genre television for international broadcasters, and with a rapidly expanding library of 2500 hours, Cineflix is a recognized leader with offices in Montreal, Toronto, London, New York, Los Angeles, Vancouver and Dublin.

A TV parental guideline will be assigned closer to airdate.

[ITHACA, NY] National Book Auctions, located in Ithaca, NY, will host a Sunday, December 4th auction featuring a broad range of rare antique and vintage books, as well as a fine array of atlases and ephemera. This auction will also contain a large, handsome personal library of scholarly books relating to ocean liner history, interior design, art history and gardening. The books in this collection are impressive both for their
quality and condition.

Many of the atlases being offered are important titles from the arena of nineteenth century cartography. Leading the list is H. S. Tanner’s “A New Universal Atlas Containing Maps of the Various Empires, Kingdoms, States and Republics of the World,” printed in 1844.  Additional notable atlases include William M. Bradley and Company’s 1896 “Atlas of the World for Commercial and Library Reference” and several Mitchell publishings.

Featured books include a number of antique titles dating back to the 1600’s and other important early printings, many of which are housed in fancy leather bindings.  Highlights include William Bosworth’s “Chast and Lost Lovers,” printed in 1651 and the 1760 printing of Plautus’ “Comoediae.”  Additionally offered is an interesting atlas volume including original antique photographic plates of the lunar surface, taken from Paris as part of a scientific study.

Offered over a number of lots will be a personal collection of vintage and antique literary and historical titles from the state of New Hampshire. Antique titles include local histories, while many of the literary and other titles are author-signed. Landmark literary works include a handsomely bound first edition of Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and many lots which offer original works by noted nineteenth and twentieth century poets.  Several of these lots also include titles which are author-signed.

Found throughout this auction will be pleasing groups of ephemera, including many lots of antique postcards. The postcard collection is highlighted by a quantity of examples from Cuba, which are offered over several lots.

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, December 4th 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.

New York—Swann Galleries auction of Early Printed, Medical & Scientific Books on October 17 featured religious texts, classics, law books, works on anesthesia & general medicine, as well as a selection of books of Iberian interest.

The top lot, a volume of polyphonic masses by Cristóbal de Morales entitled Missarum liber primus, brought $33,600*. It was the first time this book, a second edition of the first of two volumes, printed in Lyon in 1546, had been offered at auction.

Another auction first was an edition of the Biblia sacra, a Latin bible printed in Salmanca, 1555. This first attempt to publish the Vatable Bible in Spain was suppressed by the Inquisition, and the book, which sold for $28,800, is one of only four known copies.

Other early printed highlights included Jacobus Philippus de Bergamo’s world chronicle, Supplementum chronicarum, Venice, 1490, $10,800; The Byble, edited by John Rogers under the pseudonym Thomas Matthew, London, 1549, $8,400; Officium beatissime virginis Marie con li officij ordinati de ciaschun tempo, Venice, circa 1525, a volume of prayers to the Virgin in a contemporary Venetian binding, $10,800; John Milton, Paradise Lost…Second Edition, London, 1674, $5,520; and Engelbert Kaempfer, The History of Japan, second edition, two volumes, London, 1728, $8,400.

A run of illuminated manuscript leaves offered 14th-century vellum leaves from an illuminated Latin antiphonary with historiated initials, which brought up to $5,520 each; and a painting by the so-called Spanish Forger on a portion of 15th-century vellum choir-book leaf, late 19th-early 20th century, $6,000.

There was a large offering of medical & scientific books in the sale as well, including works by Sigmund Freud, Marie Curie, and Benjamin Franklin. Franklin’s Some Account of the Success of Inoculation for the Small-Pox in England and America, with contributions by William Heberden, set an auction record, bringing $15,600.

Also noteworthy were The Grete Herball, a fragment of the first edition of the first illustrated English herbal, Southwarke, 1526, $4,560; Claudius Galenus, Omnia opera, 9 (of 10) volumes in 5, the first edition to include contributions by Andreas Vesalius, Venice, 1541-42, $5,040; as well as Vesalius’s Opera omnia anatomica & chirurgica, two volumes, the only collected edition, Leiden, 1725, $5,520.

An illustrated catalogue, with complete prices realized, is available for $35 from Swann Auction Galleries, 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, and may be viewed online at www.swanngalleries.com.

For further information, and to consign to upcoming auctions of Early Printed, Medical & Scientific Books, please contact Tobias Abeloff at 212-254-4710, extension 18, or tabeloff@swanngalleries.com.

*All prices include buyer’s premium.

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London - Christie’s Victorian & British Impressionist Art sale will offer 90 paintings and works on paper at auction on 15 December 2011, by a variety of artists ranging from the Pre-Raphaelites to the British Impressionists, including Millais, Rossetti, Burne-Jones, Cowper, Munnings, Clausen and de Glehn, for an overall estimate in excess of £4.5 million.

The sale is led by the masterly panorama Derby Day (illustrated above) by William Powell Frith, RA (1819-1909), which is the first original working of the famous Derby Day painting, the masterpiece of the artist at Tate Britain. Fresh to the market, this significant picture has been recently rediscovered in New England, North America where it hung on the walls of an unlocked beach house for the past 50 years - it is estimated at £300,000 to £500,000. Based on photographic studies by Robert Howlett, the Tate picture was so popular that it had to be protected by a specially installed rail and a police officer when it was initially shown at the Royal Academy of Arts. Frith rejected constrained academic high art in favour of genre painting and specialised in narrative subjects and panoramic depictions of the Victorian life. This richly detailed composition shows the crowds attracted to the Derby races at Epsom Downs and includes a complex series of vignettes representing a cross-section of British society: from the aristocratic family in the carriage with its footman laying down the picnic to the card sharps and tricksters besides the tents. The Royal Academician had the idea for the picture following a visit at the Derby in May 1856 where the picturesque crowd of race-goers gave him a taste of the diversity of his contemporaries and the desire to portray everyday life. The final subject took him several years of research, exhaustive preparatory studies and three completed sketches to achieve what is now known as the artist’s undisputed masterpiece.

Another important highlight of the sale is Frank Cadogan Cowper’s (1877-1958) Our Lady of the Fruits of the Earth, 1917 (illustrated right), the artist’s classic representation of the Madonna and Child, blending Renaissance and Pre-Raphaelite imagery into a memorable English icon in the national colours of red, white and blue, and sold in the original Italianate altarpiece frame. Painted at the height of the Great War, the religious and universal theme made it a symbol of life and hope at the time and has been popular as a Christmas card reproduction ever since. Estimated at £150,000 to £250,000, it comes directly from the Estate of Countess Margareta Douglas.

The Pad Groom (estimate: £120,000-180,000 - illustrated left) is a fine example of the signature equine portraiture mastered by Sir Alfred James Munnings, P.R.A., R.W.S. (1878-1959). It depicts the “little dapper second horseman” Mr. Dale, who was a groom to the oldest Master of Hounds in England at the time. Coincidentally, the romantic and summery A Girl Reading by Dame Laura Knight (1877-1970) painted at a time when the artist described her pictures as “an expression of joie de vivre”, portrays the artist’s friend Florence Carter Wood, who married Munnings in 1912, only to tragically commit suicide two years later (estimate: £100,000-150,000 - illustrated below center). One of the most impressionistic works in the sale and ever painted by the artist, Jane Emmet de Glehn by a stream, Val d’Aosta (estimate: £80,000-120,000 - illustrated below left), is a romantic vision of the wife and muse of the artist Wilfred Gabriel de Glehn, R.A. (1870-1951), in the Italian meadow where the family was holidaying in August 1907 with fellow artist John Singer Sargent. Other significant sale highlights include two delicate portraits by Sir John Everett Millais, Bt., P.R.A. (1829-1896). The first is Mrs Sebastian Schlesinger, 1876 (estimate: £80,000-120,000), a very beautiful American and reputedly a muse to the couturier Charles Frederick Worth, and the other Miss Gertrude Vanderbilt, 1888, (estimate: £200,000-300,000 - illustrated below right), the thirteen-year old Vanderbilt heiress commissioned by her family from the artist. Gertrude would later become a serious artist and sculptor and found the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

Pre-Raphaelite works in this sale are led by the Portrait of Annie Miller, 1866 (illustrated left) by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882) which quietly displays the great beauty of the artist’s mistress. The drawing - which once belonged to Audrey Withers, the editor of Vogue UK from 1940 to 1960, who gifted it to the present owner - is estimated at £80,000 to £120,000. A Prelude by Bach, 1868 (estimate: £150,000-200,000 - illustrated right) by Simeon Solomon (1840-1905), is one of the artist’s most important works to have remained in private hands and a work of exquisite harmony which embodies the ideals of beauty of the Victorian era. The Aesthetic Movement is a recurrent theme throughout the sale, reflecting the recent Cult of Beauty exhibition at the V&A - now at the Paris Musée d’Orsay - and pioneered by artists such as Morris, Millais, Leighton, Rossetti and Solomon.

Auction: Victorian & British Impressionist Art, Thursday, 15 December, 2011
Viewing: Christie’s London King Street, 11-14 December, 2011

About Christie’s
Christie’s, the world's leading art business had global auction and private sales in the first half of 2011 that totaled £2.0 billion/$3.2 billion. In 2010 it achieved global auction and private sales of £3.3 billion/$5.0 billion. Christie’s is a name and place that speaks of extraordinary art, unparalleled service and expertise, as well as international glamour. Founded in 1766 by James Christie, Christie's conducted the greatest auctions of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, and today remains a popular showcase for the unique and the beautiful. Christie’s offers over 450 sales annually in over 80 categories, including all areas of fine and decorative arts, jewellery, photographs, collectibles, wine, and more. Prices range from $200 to over $100 million. Christie’s has 53 offices in 32 countries and 10 salerooms around the world including in London, New York, Paris, Geneva, Milan, Amsterdam, Dubai and Hong Kong. More recently, Christie’s has led the market with expanded initiatives in emerging and new markets such as Russia, China, India and the United Arab Emirates, with successful sales and exhibitions in Beijing, Mumbai and Dubai.
*Estimates do not include buyer’s premium. Sales totals are hammer price plus buyer’s premium and do not reflect costs, financing fees or application of buyer’s or seller’s credits. 

DALLAS, TX - Five architectural drawing tools once belonging to President Thomas Jefferson - framer of America’s Constitution and its third President - are expected to bring $45,000+ altogether on Dec. 1, as the top lots in Heritage Auctions’800+ lot Americana & Political Memorabilia Signature® Auction.

The Jefferson items are just the tip of the iceberg in an auction brimming with important Presidential and Presidential-related memorabilia, including the last rocking chair John F. Kennedy was known to have sat in, the day before his tragic assassination (estimate: $25,000+); a pair of glass decanters owned by George Washington (Estimate: $8,000+) as well as a portrait cameo brooch of President Zachary Taylor, owned by Taylor and consigned by a direct descendant (Estimate: $4,000+)

This is the first time the Jefferson items have been offered to the public - they descended through Jefferson’s family, then through the family of America’s fifth President, James Monroe, before coming to Heritage Auctions for the Dec. 1 event.

“Jefferson was a true Renaissance man besides being a brilliant writer and political mind,” said Tom Slater, Director of Historical Auctions at Heritage. “Among his myriad talents he was a skilled self-taught architect, best known for designing his famous Virginia home, Monticello, along with an unaccepted, anonymously submitted design of what would become the White House. It’s entirely conceivable that he used these very instruments on those, and his many other great designs.”

The pieces - a Parallel Rule Drafting Instrument (Estimate: $10,000+), a Steel and Brass Compass (Estimate: $10,000+), a Brass Diameter Measure Drafting Tool (Estimate: $10,000+), a Turn-down Joint Compass (Estimate: $10,000+) and a Plain Divider Technical Drawing Instrument (Estimate: $5,000+) - have been consigned by descendants of America’s fifth President, James Monroe.

“The Monroe and Jefferson families were closely intertwined in Virginia society and politics, and the Monroes became the custodians of various items originally owned by Thomas Jefferson,” said Slater. “A number went to Monticello and other Virginia museums, but this choice grouping remained in private hands, which has afforded us this amazing opportunity to bring it to auction. The provenance is rock-solid and unimpeachable.”

The John F. Kennedy grouping in this auction is also particularly strong, with the last rocking chair JFK ever sat in - as mentioned above - in a Houston hotel a mere 24 hours before his death, topping the grouping. It carries a pre-auction estimate of $25,000+.

“The Kennedy party stopped the day before the assassination at the Rice Hotel in Houston,” said Slater. “In anticipation, and knowing Kennedy’s preference for a stiff-backed rocking chair, the manager had one installed in the President’s room.”

In his classic book, Death of a President, author William Manchester describes Kennedy reading over papers while seated in this very rocker a day before he fell victim to his assassin’s bullet.”

The Kennedy grouping also includes some 20 lots consigned by the heirs of JFK’s aunt and godmother, Loretta Kennedy Connelly, perhaps most significantly the actual shoulder patch from JFK’s World War II PT 109 uniform, estimated at $35,000+. JFK, out of affection and concern, personally sent this to Loretta’s daughter, Marylou, during a difficult period of her life while the war raged on, telling her to wear it on her school uniform.

He reminded her of his current location and advised her: "Mary, be brave kiddo. I'm not so thrilled about where I am either."

Marylou did as he advised and found the patch helpful during the uncertain days when JFK was reported missing in action, until news came of his rescue. She cherished the patch for the next 50 years, as a poignant souvenir of her beloved cousin.

Other JFK items include a signed copy of Profiles in Courage (Estimate: $2,500+), intimate Kennedy family photos by famed photographer Mark Shaw (Estimate: $4,000+) and a silver cigarette box given to select guests by Frank Sinatra, who served as Entertainment Chairman for Kennedy’s Inaugural gala (Estimate: $2,000+).

A pair of glass decanters owned by George Washington, also as mentioned above, are expected to bring $8,000+, while an early 19th century pendant containing interwoven locks of hair from both George and Martha Washington, a rare and interesting artifact, is estimated at $12,000+.

Also found in the auction are items such as James Monroe’s own ceramic meat platter in the “Landing of Lafayette” pattern, estimated at $3,000+. The last living Revolutionary War hero, Lafayette made a triumphant visit to America in 1824, while Monroe was president. This platter was preserved by his family for generations as a remembrance of that momentous event. Several china pieces belonging to Mary Todd Lincoln, which she sold to pay off debt after Lincoln’s death, are estimated at $2,000+.

New York—On Thursday, December 1, Swann Galleries will offer a two-part auction of Printed & Manuscript Americana and Ocean Liner Memorabilia. The Americana portion of the sale offers many scarce and one-of-a-kind items with regional or national interest, while the Ocean Liner material features items related to the Titanic.

The lot with the highest pre-sale estimate is one of the most valuable newspapers ever to come to auction. It is the October 3, 1789 edition of the bi-weekly Gazette of the United States, which includes the first newspaper printing of the Bill of Rights. This was the American public’s first opportunity to see its new proposed rights, even before they were ratified by the states (estimate: $30,000 to $40,000).

A section of American Revolution material features a colored aquatint portrait of Lafayette, as leader of the National Guard of France, Paris, 1790 ($4,000 to $6,000); as well as an April 1776 Connecticut edition of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, the later of two Connecticut editions ($8,000 to $12,000).

Another significant pamphlet in the sale is a first edition William Penn’s The Sandy Foundation Shaken, written as a 23-year-old recent convert to the Quaker faith, for which Penn was sentenced for blasphemy and sent to the Tower of London, where he famously refused to recant his faith, 1668 ($8,000 to $12,000).

From the Civil War is a group of 15 drawings and watercolors by a Yankee regimental physician, which serve as a visual diary of his service in the war, 1862-64 ($4,000 to $6,000); and an autograph album, featuring signatures of some of the leading figures of the Confederacy, including Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, General James Longstreet, Colonel John S. Mosby and Pierre Beauregard, originally collected by confederate soldier Austin E. Smith of Virginia, and then continued after his death by his family ($6,000 to $9,000).

World War II is represented by an archive of General MacArthur’s official cables relating to the Japanese surrender, which were retained by a Women’s Army Corps (WAC) stenographer, and passed down through her family ($3,000 to $4,000). There is also an album of official photographs and reports on the internment of Japanese Americans in California containing 52 unsettling images, each carefully selected to present a positive view of the evacuation process ($2,000 to $3,000).

Presidential material of note includes a dance card from Abraham Lincoln’s inaugural ball, issued to guests, with a list of 23 planned dances, 4 March, 1861, which is the only item of its kind to come to auction ($4,000 to $6,000); a limited edition of Theodore Roosevelt’s The Winning of the West, in four volumes, with a leaf inserted from his manuscript, New York, 1900 ($4,000 to $6,000); and several items related to George Washington, among them Washington Irving’s Life of George Washington, extra-illustrated, with an original Document Signed by Washington dated 25 January 1774 ($8,000 to $12,000).

Among the regional highlights are a manuscript list of 113 convicts who were to be delivered to Maryland from Great Britain, which may have been the first shipment of prisoners under the Transportation Act that became law in May 1719 ($4,000 to $6,000); a first edition of Moore and Jones’s The Traveller’s Dictionary, or a Pocket Companion: Shewing the Course of the Main Road from Philadelphia to New York, and from Philadelphia to Washington, 1802 ($7,000 to $10,000); an album of 24 small-format chromolithographs from the series Views in Central Park, New York, 1863 or 69 ($1,500 to $2,500); and an archive of family letters from the Wilsons of WaKeeney, Kansas, filled with details of life on the newly tamed plains, one describing the 1878 Cheyenne breakout, 1873-79 ($1,500 to $2,500).

Of particular interest in light of the Occupy Wall Street protests of today, is an archive of letters written by Eugene Debs, union organizer and Socialist Party leader. Written over a span of 30 years, the letters are all to his nephew Robert Debs Heinl, a newspaper columnist and editor, and feature a mix of personal and political views, written as Debs attended rallies and meetings for a variety of causes, 1893-25 ($2,000 to $3,000).

Rounding out the Americana section is a run of lots containing classic baseball images—portraits, team photos and newsworthy moments—by photographers Nat Fein and James Kavallines; Lewis and Clark material; theater memorabilia; and a section of Latin Americana and Caribbean items.

Part II of the sale, devoted to Ocean Liner and Transportation Memorabilia, commences at 3:00 p.m., with more than 360 lots of posters, photographs, shipboard ephemera, service ware, and collectibles from the great ships that graced the seas.

Among the rarest and most sought after items are those from the Titanic, and this sale offers a first-class deck plan, detailing the fine accommodations, December 1911 ($12,000 to $18,000); various postcards and china pieces; and survivor-related items such as a landing or custom card issued to Mrs. Cassebeer onboard the Carpathia after her rescue from the Titanic, 10 April, 1912 ($2,000 to $3,000); and a fragment from a musical toy pig carried by Edith Russell as she left the sinking ship ($1,500 to $2,500).

From the French Line’s Normandie, one of the fastest and most lavish ships of her day, are silver serving pieces; maiden voyage medallions; a 1935 photo album with 24 views of the ship from the library of the line’s head engineer at the time of the maiden voyage, and later company president ($2,500 to $3,500); and a magnificent reverse painted glass, pressed aluminum and photographic portrait of the ship used in the French Line offices, circa 1935 ($4,000 to $6,000).

Other desirable items are a letterpress timetable in the form of a broadside for Mitsu Bishi Mail Steam Ship Company service between Yokohama and Shanghai, 1877 ($2,000 to $3,000); a captain’s logbook for the maiden voyage of the World War II Liberty ship S.S. George Dewey, with highly detailed descriptions of day-to-day operations 1943 ($1,200 to $1,800); a company-issued travel agency photo album of the ill-fated Andrea Doria, containing 58 photos, in extremely fine condition, 1950s ($1,000 to $1,500); and various ephemeral items related to zeppelins including the Hindenburg.

The auction will take place Thursday, December 1 at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. The items will be on public exhibition Monday, November 28, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Tuesday, November 29, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Wednesday, November 30, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

An illustrated catalogue, with information on bidding by mail or fax, is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, Inc., 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, or online at www.swanngalleries.com.

For further information, and to make advance arrangements to bid by telephone during the auction, please contact Rick Stattler (Americana) by telephone at (212) 254-4710, extension 27, or email: rstattler@swanngalleries.com; or Gary Garland (Ocean Liners) at (212) 254-4710, extension 17, or email: ggarland@swanngalleries.com.
Online bidding is available via Artfact.com.

[ITHACA, NY] National Book Auctions, located in Ithaca, NY, will host a Sunday, November 20th auction featuring a broad range of rare antique and vintage books, as well as a fine array of maps and ephemera. Also included are several personal libraries of scholarly books relating to art, theology and a private collection of works by Anthony Burgess.

Featured books include a number of first editions and special edition printings from houses such as Marchbanks Press, Limited Editions Club and others. The private collection of Anthony Burgess writings includes dozensof first editions, highlighted by British and American first printings of “A Clockwork Orange.”  From the same estate which included the Burgess books, we will offer fine, limited edition works by Norman Douglas. Several lots will present selections from a private collection of fancy leather antique bindings, including decorative sets.  There are a number of lots which bear important signatures such as Richard Nixon, Cal Ripken and others.  Antique titles dating back to the 1600’s can be found in the collection of theology while atlases dating from the early 1800’s will also be sold.  Additional important antique works will be offered form the fields of astronomy and American history.

Found throughout this auction will be pleasing groups of ephemera, dating back to the 1600’s. Early items include engravings with architectural content and maps, while other lots offer antique groups of postcards, Victorian chromo-lithographic items, trade cards and valentines.  More recent ephemera groups include items from World War One and World War Two, graphically impressive art deco travel-related material, railroad-related items, magazines and sheet music.  In addition to ephemera lots are a number of pieces of artwork and prints, alongside a collection of Asian art and artifacts.

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, November 20th 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.

London - The first of the 500 Years Decorative Arts Europe sales of the season, The Opulent Eye, saw the top lot 'Paul et Virginie', a late 19th century life-size Italian marble sculpture, triple its original estimate and achieve £313,250 on Thursday 22 September 2011. The auction offered a selection of 238 elegant decorative objects, furniture, clocks and sculpture and witnessed the market’s taste for distinctive and collection-defining investment pieces and objets d’art. Christie’s is delighted to announce the rest of the 500 Years Decorative Arts Europe season in London with two anticipated sales in the coming months.

500 Years Decorative Arts Europe: The English Collector
Thursday, 3 November 2011 - Christie’s London King Street
The English Collector sale will offer a wide range of English works from the 17th century onwards, with notably traditional items from the Georgian to Victorian periods, and a large group of tapestries. Highlights include an English historical tapestry of the battle of Solebay Mortlake, circa 1688, by Thomas Poyntz, a design attributed to William Van De Velde (estimate: £70,000-100,000 - illustrated above). This is one of two magnificent Solebay tapestries offered in the sale, which represent the only two panels that remain in private hands from two sets of six royal tapestries each depicting the sea-battle at Solebay on 28 May 1672, where the English fleet collaborated with the French fleet against the Dutch. The series was originally commissioned by King James II from William Van de Velde (d. 1707) in 1672. Another important work is a pair of George III polychrome decorated and parcel-gilt satinwood secrétaire bookcases, circa 1790, attributed to London cabinet-maker George Brookshaw, and estimated at £200,000-300,000 (illustrated page 1). These cabinets, featuring landscapes and architectural vignettes painted on copper, were probably supplied in the early 1790’s to Colonel Sir Mark Wood for Piercefield Park, Monmouthshire.

500 Years Decorative Arts Europe: The European Connoisseur
Thursday, 8 December 2011 - Christie’s London King Street
A beautifully executed portrait of the Homeric hero Ulysses, in the form of a rectangular parcel-gilt polychrome enamel plaque of Ulysses by Léonard Limousin (1505-1577), produced circa 1540, will be offered for sale in December (estimate: £80,000-120,000). It is part of a series of fifteen known portraits which almost certainly once formed part of a single decorative scheme (illustrated below right). The series comprises portraits of pairs of ill-fated lovers from Homeric and Ovidian mythology; including Aeneas and Dido, Hippolytus and Phaedra, Paris and Helen. Ulysses was most likely paired either with his long suffering wife Penelope or his one-time captor and lover Calypso. The sale has a strong focus on works of art from the late 17th and 18th centuries and includes several private collections of French and Italian furniture, one of which is led by an impressive Louis XV ormolu-mounted amaranth & bois satine commode, by Jacques Dubois, circa 1750 and estimated at £80,000-120,000 (illustrated below left). 

ITHACA, NY] National Book Auctions, located in Ithaca, NY, hosted a Sunday, October 23rd auction featuring a broad spectrum of rare antique and vintage books, as well as a fine array of artwork and ephemera. Highlights of this auction included several personal libraries of scholarly books relating to literature and philosophy, as well as a large estate collection of art and architecture-related reference books, many in large folio formats. This 428-lot auction also featured manuscript leaves dating back to the 15th century as well as early hand-colored botanical and ichthyological plates.

A complete ten-volume set of “The Works of Cicero” achieved a hammer price of $3120.00 (including buyer’s premium). This extremely rare set was printed during the years 1546 through 1567 by Sebastian Gryphius of Lyon. Gryphius was the most prolific printer in France during the most fertile period of French Renaissance humanism. This set is bound in 17th century French calf with gilt tooling, with labels and raised bands on the spines, and marbled page edges and endpapers. There were no auction records on file of this complete set coming to market previously.

Two original marble sculptures by Masayuki Nagare fetched hammer prices of $1020.00 and $900.00 (including buyer’s premium). Nagare is a celebrated Japanese sculptor whose pieces can be found in focal international settings including an impressive example that stood in the plaza of the World Trade Center buildings before they were destroyed.

Realizing a hammer price of $900.00 (including buyer’s premium) was a group of artwork by Hungarian painter, photographer and Bauhaus professor Laszlo Maholy-Nagy. This lot featured two exhibition posters, one of the 1923 painting "Sur Fond Blanc," held by the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, as well as a reproduction of the 1924 "Composition Axx" from the Musee Pompidou in Paris. Paired with the exhibition posters was a mixed media piece of artwork bearing the artist's stamped name over the signature of Hattula Maholy-Nagy, the artist's daughter and the executor of his estate.

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. For more information or to consign collectible material please contact David Hall, Business Manager, at 607-269-0101 or email mail@nationalbookauctions.com.

On November 29th and 30th at the Atlantis Casino Resort in Reno, Nevada, Holabird and Kagin Americana will give collectors the opportunity to bid on a unique collection that shows the genesis of a career and man that has become a worldwide icon in the world of entertainment. Hitting the auction block is an original, autographed, very early illustration by Walt Disney, entitled “Fill Up My Can”. The pen and ink work was done in the early 1920s, most likely prior to Mickey Mouse, who didn’t make his screen debut until 1928. The collection also includes several stock certificates issued by the O-Zell Jelly Company of Chicago, including what may be the very first stock ever issued to Walt.

These items were formerly owned by Walt Disney, his parents Flora and Elias, and his sister Ruth. They may be the only surviving O-Zell items known to exist. In the spring of 1917 Elias Disney, had tired of the newspaper delivery business and decided to make a career change, which also included bringing his youngest son, Walter into the venture. There is a distinct possibility that family revenue gained from work at the O-Zell Company gave Walt his first needed grub stake that allowed him to venture into the world of animation.  While it’s unknown what happened to the O-Zell Jelly Company in later years, that 16-year old kid from Kansas went on to make quite a name for himself.

This once-in-a-lifetime offering of incredible collectibles from America’s rich animation history, and the man that built it, is free and open to the public. The collection is estimated to bring $70,000-$100,000. For more information on the auction or to request an auction catalog, call 775-852-8822 or visit www.HolabirdAmericana.com. The Ruth Disney archive is part of the “2011 Grand Finale Auction” of Holabird-Kagin Americana and is also available for viewing and bidding on the internet through the company’s website.  

New York—On Tuesday, November 8 Swann Galleries will conduct an auction of Art, Press & Illustrated Books / 19th & 20th Century Literature containing a rich and diverse selection of works by well-known authors and artists.

Three important literary anniversaries are celebrated with key material from the respective authors. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 which is represented by an inscribed first edition, New York, 1961 (estimate: $3,000 to $5,000) and an advance proof that once belonged to W.H. Auden, also inscribed by Heller, New York, 1961 ($2,500 to $3,500). Allen Ginsberg’s epochal Howl and Other Poems first appeared in print 55 years ago and a scarce, signed review copy is being offered, San Francisco, 1956 ($5,000 to $7,500).

In addition, 2012 marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens’ birth, and in anticipation of that milestone the sale contains a first edition in the original parts of Bleak House, London, 1852-53 ($1,200 to $1,800) and, just in time for the winter holiday season, a complete set in fine bindings of the first editions of the Christmas Books, London, 1843-48 ($5,000 to $7,500).

There are more than 20 lots by the Pulitzer Prize-winning queen of Southern literature Eudora Welty collected from the library of her close friend and editor, and features both an inscribed first edition of her first book A Curtain of Green, Garden City, 1941 ($1,000 to $1,500) as well as an inscribed copy of the promotional pamphlet issued before that book’s publication; Eudora Welty: A Note on the Author and Her Work. Together with The Key, one of Seventeen Stories from Miss Welty’s Forthcoming A Curtain of Green, Garden City, 1941 ($2,000 to $3,000).

A run of first editions by William Faulkner features signed limited editions of Absalom! Absalom! ($3,000 to $4,000); The Hamlet ($2,500 to $3,000); and The Unvanquished ($1,200 to $1,800). A selection of signed Kurt Vonnegut works includes his first and second books, Player Piano ($1,000 to $1,500) and The Sirens of Titan ($2,000 to $3,000).

Increasingly scarce and beautiful are works containing intricate hand-painted scenes on the outer edges of their pages, known as “fore-edge paintings.” The sale contains a large, private collection of these treasures with uncommon scenes of golfing, cock-fighting, whaling, old London greenmarkets and architectural views.

A selection of cookbooks includes a first edition of the first Jewish cookbook published in America, The Jewish Cookery Book, Philadelphia, 1871 ($8,000 to $12,000).

Among the highlights of the Art, Press & Illustrated books is a section of the racy and clandestine area of book collecting called Curiosa, with an eye-raising sampling of Franz von Bayros’ erotic illustrations including the complete set of  Die Mappe I-III, Munich, 1911-1913 ($1,200 to $1,800).

Important contemporary artist’s books include a scarce signed, limited edition of Lettrist provocateur Isidore Isou’s Les véritables créatures et les Falsificateurs de Dada, Du Surréalisme et du Lettrisme, Paris, 1973 ($3,000 to $5,000); David Hockney’s Paper Pools, containing an original signed and numbered lithograph created for this work, London, 1980 ($4,000 to $6,000); and an inscribed, limited edition copy of Andy Warhol’s 25 Cats Name[d] Sam and One Blue Pussy, New York/Berlin, 1954 ($15,000 to $25,000).

Fans of Edward Gorey eagerly awaiting more offerings after last year’s highly successful auction will find a selection of collectible first editions including a copy of his collaboration with Samuel Beckett, All Strange Away, one of 26 lettered copies signed by both, New York, 1976 ($3,500 to $5,000). Fine press books by Kelmscott and Doves and a selection of gorgeously produced editions of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám enrich the illustrated book selections. This portion of the sale also contains prime examples of rare architecture books, and a fun and dynamic array of material from the Fluxus, Czech Avant-Garde and Surrealist movements.

The auction will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 8. The works will be on public exhibition Wednesday, November 2 and Friday, November 4, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, November 5, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Monday, November 7, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Tuesday, November 8, from 10 a.m. to noon.

An illustrated catalogue with information on bidding by mail or fax is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, or online at www.swanngalleries.com.

For further information, and to arrange in advance to bid by telephone during the auction, please contact Christine von der Linn at (212) 254-4710, extension 20, or via email at cvonderlinn@swanngalleries.com.

Live online bidding is also available via Artfact.com.

Paris, 19 October 2011--Sotheby’s Paris will be devoting a whole day to Books and Manuscripts on 9 November 2011, staging two sales: the first devoted to Books & Manuscripts, Including the Library of a Connoisseur: History of Ideas, Science & Letters (2:30pm); the second  (6:30pm) to a Collection of Precious Books from a Connoisseur’s Library.

The first sale begins with a collection of 70 emblematic books about the history of science and ideas. All embody a discovery in, or new contribution to, the field of knowledge, ranging from Descartes to Pavlov via Napoleon’s Civil Code, printed on vellum, and a handwritten manuscript signed Niépce that constitutes the ‘birth certificate’ of photography.

The sale’s star lot is an ensemble of 126 French revolutionary decrees (3 November 1789 - 12 September 1790) printed on vellum, and formerly owned by the Duc de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt. Each Lettre Patente ratifies a decree of the French Revolution, then in full swing, beginning with the Déclaration des Droits de l'Homme et du Citoyen. This counts as one of the most precious documentary ensembles on the history of France (est. €350,000-500,000).

Another exceptional book is a superb, complete copy of the first illustrated Bible in German by Günther Zainer (1475), with a remarkable stamped pigskin binding on wooden boards (est. €200,000-300,000). The name of Günther Zainer carries an extraordinary luster in the history of Western Europe printing, and is associated with the development of pre-1500 printing, and especially the invention of illustrated books.

The first, and only official, edition of the Napoleonic Codes, printed on vellum and bound with the cipher of Third Consul Charles-François Lebrun, will doubtless attract keen attention. The Code Civil des Français (1804) and Code de Procédure Civile (1806) established a veritable compromise between ancient custom, Roman law and Revolutionary Law, thereby officializing the ‘bourgeois revolution’ under Napoleon (est. €100,000 -150,000).

Another important item from the collection is a handwritten document from 1829, signed Niépce, titled Notice sur l’Héliographie (est. €35,000-50,000). The eight highly legible pages, written in an elegant yet precise style, are of major interest for the history of photography and, in fact, are said to constitute the ‘birth certificate’ of photography.

Works of various owners also include seven important books from the Art Deco period, four of them illustrated by Schmied, including L’Histoire de l’Adolescente Sucre d’Amour in a magnifcent Schmied binding adorned with Dunand lacquer-work (est. €90,000-140,000); and L’Histoire de la Princesse
Boudour from the Abdy Collection, one of the few copies on papier Japon and hand-coloured throughout (est. €50,000-80,000).

Among the sale’s outstanding works of literature is a first edition of Du Côté de Chez Swann,inscribed to Marcel Proust to his publisher Bernard Grasset (est. €80,000-120,000); a fine ensemble of letters of love and despair from Marie Dorval to her Pygmalion, Alfred de Vigny (est. €30,000 -40,000); a group of moving letters from Verlaine to Edmond Lepelletier about his personal distress and literary activity (est. €15,000-20,000); and a collection of handwritten letters from Chateaubriand to Madame de Custine and Joseph Joubert (est. €40,000-60,000).

An exceptional copy of Cendrars’ La Prose du Transsibérien et de la Petite Jehanne de France, with stencilled illustrations, one of the 20th century’s legendary books, will ravish admirers of Sonia Delaunay: this very rare copy on papier Japon is dedicated to the movie-director Abel Gance (est.€150,000-200,000).

Closing the sale, a rare Serge Gainsbourg ensemble of handwritten songs, autograph notes, photographs and memorabilia.

Viewing

Friday 4 November 10am-6pm

Saturday 5 November 10am-6pm

Monday 7 November 10am-6pm

Tuesday 8 November 10am-6pm

*estimates do not include buyer’s premium




New York—Bonhams was thrilled to host the October 18 auction of The Robert H. and Donna L. Jackson Collection, one of the world’s finest collections of Victorian Literature as published in original parts and serial publications. The 250 lot sale saw an active room of bidders raise their paddles in hopes of obtaining works by a great selection of the most sought after authors of the 19th and late 18th centuries.

Christina Geiger, the Director of Fine Books & Manuscripts New York, enthusiastically states about the sale, “Bonhams is thrilled to have set a new world record at auction for Anthony Trollope. There was steady bidding on Dickens, Eliot and Thackeray throughout the sale. We are happy to see that 19th century literature still captures interest among international book collectors.”

Leading the sale was Anthony Trollope’s notorious rarity “Ralph the Heir” which claimed a hammer price of $88,900, setting a new world record for the author (pre-sale est. $50,000-80,000). Deemed by the author to be one of his worst literary endeavors, this novel won appreciation because of his accurate and honest description of a Parliamentary campaign in the fictional borough of Percycross. The winning bidder is now the owner of one of only a handful of copies in existence.

Literary works by Charles Dickens claimed a strong bidding audience throughout the sale. Leading the charge of the Dickens lots was the first edition The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club in monthly parts published from 1836-1837. Featuring numerous first issue points and including 25 additional plates that account for many of the varying issues of illustrations, this collection sold for $31,250 against a pre-sale estimate of $30,000-50,000. Other strong Dickens performers include: A Tale of Two Cities selling for $23,750 (pre-sale est. $20,000-30,000); The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby with a hammer price of $18,750 (pre-sale est. $15,000-20,000); and The Adventures of Oliver Twist claiming $10,000 (pre-sale est. $3,000-5,000).

The second highest hammer price was George Eliot’s Middlemarch at $56,750. This first edition in original parts was unique because it was something of an experiment in the serial form, appearing as it did in eight irregularly published ‘books,’ offering all aspects of a regular book but at the price of a serial. This printing experiment was repeated and successful with Daniel Deronda another top lot from the author in the auction selling for $9,375 (pre-sale est. $4,000-6,000).

Other top lots of the sale include: William Makepeace Thackeray’s Vanity Fair, A Novel Without a Hero selling for $27,500 (pre-sale est. $12,000-18,000); Walt Whitman’s autograph manuscript headed “July, by the Pond” selling for $17,500 (pre-sale est. $8,000-12,000); and Isabella Beeton’s Beeton’s Book of Household Management selling for $17,500 (pre-sale est. $12,000-18,000).

New York—Swann Galleries’ auction of Autographs on Thursday, November 3 contains several fascinating items related to key figures in history. There are autographs by scientists, politicians, writers and artists, as well as a selection of Napoleonic autographs.

The sale contains a run of items related to Albert Einstein, among them a photograph of the physicist and his wife Elsa, signed by both, 1931 ($3,000 to $4,000); a Signed Photograph of Einstein at a formal affair—wearing a tuxedo—from the same year ($2,000 to $3,000); and a Typed Letter Signed, in German, offering to recommend a Jewish physicist for a university position, Huntington, NY, 1937 ($2,000 to $3,000).

There is a brief Autograph Note Signed by Sigmund Freud, a bill for 23 hours of analysis to one of his last patients on his Prof. Dr. Freud stationery, Vienna, October 1933 ($4,000 to $6,000).

An Autograph Letter Signed by Charles Darwin from December 1872 thanks an unnamed recipient for sending a book, and offers to return the favor by sending a copy of his Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals ($2,000 to $3,000).

The Napoleonic section offers a Letter Signed “Bonaparte,” as First Consul, to Councillor of State Jean-Étienne-Marie Portalis, in French, requesting a report on why certain Bishops had recently made unapproved appointments, Paris, 25 July 1802 ($1,000 to $1,500); and an Autograph Letter Signed, “Letizia good Mama,” by Napoleon’s mother to her other son, Lucien, Paris, 8 January 1804 ($600 to $900).

There are also two items related to English Napoleonic Wars hero Lord Nelson: an Autograph Letter Signed, written upon his return to London after the Battle of Copenhagen, July 1801 ($3,500 to $5,000), and an ALS to later Admiral John T. Duckworth, written two months before the Battle of Trafalgar, Merton, August 1805 ($8,000 to $12,000).

Other British items that span the centuries include a Vellum Document Signed by Oliver Cromwell, as Lord Protector, in the wake of England’s civil wars, nominating Richard Mayhew “to the Commissioners authorized by a late Ordinance for Approbation of Public Preachers . . .,” Whitehall, 19 May 1657 ($5,000 to $7,500); and a Signed Photograph of Winston Churchill in a standing pose, which is also signed by the photographer, Walter Stoneman ($1,500 to $2,500).

The American Presidents section features two clipped signatures by Abraham Lincoln, as President; two 1908 Typed Letters Signed by Theodore Roosevelt; a Signed Photograph of Herbert Hoover and his Cabinet, Washington, circa 1931 ($1,500 to $2,500); a Typed Letter Signed marked “Personal” from Franklin D. Roosevelt, as Governor, to editor of the Portland Oregonian, challenging a recent editorial claiming he is a candidate for President, Albany, 18 December 1930 ($1,500 to $2,500); and a program from the ceremony of the signing of the Oslo Accords, signed by Bill Clinton, Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat, as well as Shimon Peres and Al Gore, Washington, 1993-94 ($3,000 to $4,000).

A related item is a Typed Letter Signed by Chaim Weizmann and Nahum Sokolow, to Vice-President of the Zionist Organization Moses Gaster, inviting him to join the London Zionist Political Committee shortly before submitting to British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour what became the Balfour Declaration, July 1917 ($3,500 to $5,000).

The most visually appealing item in the sale is a collection of more than 120 illustrated Autograph Letters Signed by Frederick Stuart Church, bound in a single volume. Each letter is written to financier Grant B. Schley, on a variety of topics, many concerning art, and each with an illustration, mostly pen-and-ink, and mostly of animals—predominantly polar bears and lions—and women, 1913-17 ($15,000 to $25,000).

From the writers section of the sale is an Autograph Letter Signed by Samuel Johnson, showing concern for his friend Henry Thale, Ashbourne, 17 June 1779 ($7,000 to $10,000); an Autograph Inscription by Immanuel Kant, an unsigned dedication written on a blank leaf excised from a copy of his Die Religion innerhalb der Grenzen der bloßen Vernunft, circa 1793 ($3,000 to $4,000); a group of four early Typed Letters Signed by Ezra Pound, written to Rowfant Club member Rev. Charles Clinch Bubb, Jr., regarding private publication of his translations of Provençal poet Arnaut Daniel ($8,000 to $12,000); and an Autograph Manuscript by Jean -Paul Sartre, unsigned, 7 pages of fragmentary notes, probably from his unpublished 1964 Rome lecture ($2,000 to $3,000).

The auction will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 3.

The Autographs will be on public exhibition Saturday October 29, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Monday, October 31 through Wednesday, November 2, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Thursday, November 3, from 10 a.m. to noon.

 An illustrated catalogue, with information on bidding by mail or fax, is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, Inc., 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, or online at www.swanngalleries.com.

For further information, and to make arrangements to leave a bid or to bid by telephone during the auction, please contact Marco Tomaschett at (212) 254-4710, extension 12, or via e-mail at mtomaschett@swanngalleries.com.

Live online bidding is also available via Artfact.com.
 
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Los Angeles/New York - On October 10, collectors focused their attention on Bonhams highly anticipated Fine Books & Manuscripts auction.  Simulcast to New York, the Los Angeles-based sale was comprised of fine and rare first edition books, maps, manuscripts, ephemera and illustration art. Bonhams is proud to be the only auction house to offer bi-coastal previews to Books & Manuscripts clients.
 
Dr. Catherine Williamson, Department Director, Fine Books and Manuscripts at Bonhams, said of the auction: "It was a very good day for a sale, with bidders in the room, on the phone, and via the internet.  The large collection of early printed material offered in this sale attracted buyers from around the globe, pushing prices well above expectations."
 
The marquee lot of the fall sale was a fresh-to-market first edition of the Oudry-illustrated edition of La Fontaine's Fables (est. $15,000-20,000, sold for $122,500) 1755-59.   This copy is particularly rare and interesting as it was finely colored in the 18th century and heightened with gum arabic.
 
Williamson said of the book: "Colored copies of this title are exceedingly rare, especially in the present copy's condition.  The market responded accordingly."
 
Another finely hand-colored book in the sale was McKenney and Hall's History of the Indian Tribes of North America (est. $40,000-60,000, sold for $92,500), which is one of the most famous American color-plate books.  The idea of assembling the portraits of Native Americans, painted in Washington by Charles Bird King, into a publication was that of Thomas L. McKenney, who enlisted the Ohio writer James Hall to assist with the project. Various setbacks occurred during the process, but the pair produced what is considered by many to be one of the most distinctive and important books in Americana.
 
Strength in American depictions of the West continued throughout the sale with a fascinating album of watercolors and sketches by J. Bridgham, done on his travels through the West in 1887 and during his visit to Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Fla., in 1886. The most interesting group is certainly the eight portraits of Apache Indians being held prisoner at Fort Marion (Castillo de San Marcos) in St. Augustine. These were the Apaches that surrendered along with Geronimo in Arizona that same year. Other illustrations contained within the album included depictions of Santa Barbara, Calif., in 1887 during the Centennial Celebration; the Humboldt Sink in Nevada and the plains nearby; Green River, Wyo.; scenes in the Arizona desert; a portrait of "an old squaw" in Arizona; and other unidentified views. Bridgham was a skilled amateur and his renderings include much of interest (est. $8,000-12,000, sold for $22,500).
 
A fascinating assortment of photographs of Iran and Iraq from late 19th-early 20th centuries that seem to have been collected by an American missionary family who lived in Tabriz, highlighted the photographs section of the sale. Rarely seen early subject matter includes the Shah of Iran's grounds and palace (interior and exterior), numerous rulers and chiefs, bastinado scenes, scenes of the bazaar in Tabriz, various types of Iranian residents including dervishes, musicians, a dentist, Armenians and Kurds. The album also includes views along the Tigris River, ruins of Persepolis, landmarks in Mosul, Tehran and Baghdad, group photographs of the missionary family, their church in Tabriz, the Armenian school, the "girl's school" and Shaw Memorial Boy's School in Tabriz, and much else of interest (est. $3,000-5,000, sold for $22,500).
 
Highlighting the early printed books section of the auction was a first edition of the Liber chronicarum by Hartmann Schedel, one of the most lavishly illustrated books of the 15th century (est. $20,000-30,000, sold for $56,250). The highly sought after volume contains approximately 1,809 woodcut illustrations printed from 645 blocks.
 
The artists Wohlgemut and Pleydenwurff are mentioned in the colophon; at the time they were producing the cuts, Albrecht Dürer was apprenticed to Wohlgemut's studio.  The illustrations were, in fact, the catalyst for the project. The two artists approached Anton Koberger with the idea for the "Chronicle," and, by securing sponsors, persuaded him to undertake the printing. Some 2,000 copies were printed in Latin, followed five months later by a German language edition of the same size.
 
Additional early printed works included an original leaf from the Gutenberg Bible (est. $30,000-50,000, sold for $56,250) and Albrecht Dürer's masterpiece on proportion, titled Hierinn sind begriffen vier Bücher von menschlicher Proportion (est. $25,000-30,000, sold for $47,500).
 
Later items of note included a large and striking original illustration by Arthur Rackham from The Rhinegold & the Valkyrie published in 1910 depicting Brunhilde before she is awakened by the hero Siegfried (est. $20,000-30,000, sold for $31,250).
 

[ITHACA, NY] National Book Auctions, located in Ithaca, NY, will host a Sunday, October 23rd auction featuring a broad range of rare antique and vintage books, as well as a fine array of artwork and ephemera.  This auction will feature several personal libraries of scholarly books relating to literature and philosophy as well as a large estate collection of art and architecture related reference books, many in large, folio formats. In addition, several lots of coins and currency will be offered.

Featured books include a number of landmark printings, as well as manuscript leaves dating back to the 15th century.  The manuscript leaves originate from several areas of the world and feature both engraved and hand-illumined vellum examples. Among the important book offerings is the complete ten-volume works of Cicero printed during the years 1546 through 1567 by Sebastian Gryphius of Lyon.  This complete set is extremely rare, with no auction records on file of this complete set coming to market.  Also being offered at this auction is a volume from the seminal work by Nicholas Rowe in 1709 to release the works of Shakespeare in its first non-folio format, with illustrations and modern punctuation.  More recent books that will be sold feature modern first editions of mystery writings, Civil War histories, and a quantity of decorative antique titles.

Found throughout this auction will be important and pleasing pieces of art, both modern and antique.  Highlighted are two original marble sculptures by Masayuki Nagare, the celebrated Japanese sculptor whose pieces can be found in focal international settings including an impressive example that stood in the plaza of the World Trade Center buildings before they were destroyed.  Other Asian artwork will also be sold, alongside antique engravings, early hand-colored botanical and ichthyological plates and other fine specimens.

This auction includes many lots of ephemera.  Featured are several scrapbooks and other lots which contain original photographs and other material from Nazi Germany.  Of note is a series of collectible color trade cards showing athletes from the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.   Along with German and other international currency, there are also a number of lots offering original Civil War currency, primarily Confederate examples. Earlier ephemera items include vintage and antique postcards and an impressive collection of antique maps highlighted by original engraved examples on laid paper with hand-coloring, dating back to the 1600’s.

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, October 23rd 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.

New York—Swann Galleries’ Thursday, September 15 auction of the Eric C. Caren Collection containing printed, manuscript and photographic documentation of great events from American history and beyond, including posters, pamphlets, books, maps, newspapers, and broadsides from the 16th through 20th centuries. There was much interest from collectors, dealers and institutions, and as a result, the sale grossed $657,888, comfortably within the estimate range.

Rick Stattler, Swann’s Americana specialist said, “Swann kicked off its fall season in grand style with the first installment of Caren Collection. Many of our regular customers commented on the unusual breadth of the lots in this sale.”

The top lot was King Charles II’s 1674 authorization for Edmund Andros to take possession of New York from the Dutch, sometimes called “The Birth Certificate of New York.” It sold to Seth Kaller, Inc. of White Plains, NY, a leading Americana dealer, for $120,000. He also won several other important lots, including a Thomas Edison archive ($14,400) and a rare official printing of James Madison’s Virginia Resolution ($11,400).

At least two significant auction records were set. An illustrated Philadelphia broadside titled “Remarks on the Slave Trade,” brought $14,400—a record for any of the many engravings of the famous slave ship Brooks; and a well-preserved copy of The Arraignment, Tryal, and Condemnation of Captain William Kidd, for Murther and Piracy, 1701, which brought a record $7,200.

Among the books in the auction, a 1677 Boston first edition of Hubbard’s Narrative of the Troubles with the Indians brought $24,000, and a first English edition of Exquemelin’s Bucaniers of America brought $11,400—both going to collectors.

The first printed baseball scorecard—from a game played in Philadelphia in 1866—sold to a collector for $36,000, against an estimate of $5,000 to $7,500. It was helped by an article in the sports section of the Philadelphia Inquirer that ran the day before the auction.

The University of Virginia purchased a runaway slave poster by John W. Tyler offering a $200 Reward for the apprehension of Ludwell, Warrenton, VA, 1854, for $7,800.

Newspapers were another strength of the sale, which will not be a surprise to anyone who has followed Eric Caren’s career. Nine single issues of newspapers brought at least $3,000 each, led by a 1765 issue of the Boston Post-Boy regarding protests against the Stamp Act, which sold to a dealer for $19,200.

Other ephemera highlights included an original mechanical plan of the Lusitania’s steam piping by its builders, which may shed some light on the ship’s rapid sinking, ink drawing on tracing vellum, Clydebank, 25 Nov 1907, $15,600.

Among the many photographs in the sale, the top lot was a group of five cabinet card photographs of the Dalton Gang (four of them in their coffins), which sold to a dealer for $8,400. A collector took the top poster in the sale, an early Buffalo Bill piece that brought $6,720.

For complete results, an illustrated catalogue (with prices realized on request) is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, Inc., 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010. Catalogue and prices are also available online at www.swanngalleries.com.

For further information, and to propose consignments to upcoming Americana auctions, please contact Rick Stattler by telephone at (212) 254-4710, extension 27, or email: rstattler@swanngalleries.com.

*All prices include buyer’s premium.

ITHACA, NY National Book Auctions, located in Ithaca, NY, hosted a Sunday, October 2nd auction featuring a broad assortment of collectible books and ephemera, highlighted by several important signed volumes from noted authors, early American history works, and an extensive collection from the 1893 Columbian Exposition. This 450-lot auction also featured an assortment of vivid, colorful posters, some featuring the work of notable artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.

An original hand-illumined vellum Christian manuscript in Latin fetched a hammer price of $7637.50 (including buyer’s premium). Bound in an early-tooled calf binding with vellum endpapers and raised bands, this French-produced manuscript dated from the late 14th century.  The elaborately bordered opening page featured a seven-line cameo of the Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus.

Realizing a hammer price of $1175.00 (including buyer’s premium) was a scarce, presentation proof copy of Cadwallader D. Colden’s memoir “Celebration of the Completion of the New York Canals.” This noteworthy work was published to celebrate the completion of the Erie Canals, which cut transportation costs from the Great Lakes to New York City, making New York the world’s greatest commercial city.  This book contains many lithograph plates, facsimiles, and fold-outs.

Another notable item was a 1950 limited edition author-signed set of “The Complete Works of Robert Frost,” which brought a hammer price of $780.00 (including buyer’s premium). This two-volume set is one of fifteen out of series presentation copies. Fifteen hundred copies of this set had been printed for the members of The Limited Editions Club under the direction of Bruce Rogers at The Marchbanks Press, the decorations having been engraved in wood by Thomas W. Nason.

A 35-volume set of “The Jesuit Relations & Allied Documents” dated 1898-1900 brought a hammer price of $780.00 (including buyer’s premium). This antique set provides a history of the travels, explorations, and documents of Jesuit missionaries, and is a limited edition number 535 of 750.

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, October 23rd 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.

NEW YORK—Bonhams is thrilled to host the auction of The Robert H. and Donna L. Jackson Collection, Part I: 19th Century Literature on October 18. This is an exceptionally complete collection of 18th century and Victorian literature as published in original parts and serial publications. Obtaining books from auctions, collectors and book dealers all over the world, this 270-lot sale represents 35 years of avid collecting by Robert H. and Donna L. Jackson. The Jacksons were constantly searching, editing and upgrading the quality of their copies; rejecting and replacing lesser examples. In time, their passion and dedication built one of only two comprehensive collections of this niche book-collecting genre—the other being the collection now at the Huntington Library in California. Bonhams is honored to take part in this monumental sale which boasts new to market items and will likely attract lifelong literature admirers along with a new generation of collectors.

One of several stunning highlights of the sale is an item that offers great insight to a writer’s creative process—William Harrison Ainsworth’s (1805-1882) model of “The Tower of London” and draft paragraphs, pages and notes that document the creation of his serial publication. This unique handmade model, complete with a moat made of glass, aided Ainsworth during his writing process, giving him a topographic guide to his unfolding story (est. $4,000-6,000).

Another highlight comes from the hand of Charles Dickens. This handwritten leaf is from the working manuscript of the author’s first novel The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, also known as The Pickwick Papers. This leaf is a rarity since a vast majority of the holograph manuscript was discarded after the publication went to print. Fewer than 50 pages of the manuscript were salvaged by the foreman printer and 35 or more of them are in institutions, making this leaf a true market rarity (est. $70,000-100,000).

Also from Dickens is a first edition of The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club in monthly parts. Prime copies of The Pickwick Papers are extremely uncommon, and a copy such as this—featuring numerous first issue points, and including 25 additional plates that account for many of the variant issues of illustrations—is seldom available (est. $30,000-50,000).

Noteworthy for collectors of American literature is the Second Boston Edition of Shakespeare’s Plays, one of the earliest known books to be published in parts in America. Still in its vibrant original orange wrappers, this 18-part series includes a complete representation of the famous playwright’s plays (est. $3,000-5,000). There is also a two-volume, leather-bound first edition of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. This best-selling American novel, of the 19th century, questioned the morality of slavery and is said to have laid the ground work for the Civil War (est. $5,000-8,000). A third Americana highlight to appear in the sale is the manuscript of Walt Whitman’s “Notes on the Meaning and Intention of Leaves of Grass.” Written in 1876, it served as a reminder of his aims, some two decades after the publication of the poem. (est. $8,000-12,000)

Another lot comes from the working autograph manuscript of William Makepeace Thackeray’s first novel Catherine. This manuscript page is the final lines of Chapter 10 and the beginning of Chapter 11. On the verso are red chalk sketches of a woman’s profile; a three-quarter torso sketch of a woman holding a child (est. $3,000-5,000). Among several Thackeray items that appear in the sale, another stand out highlight is the first edition in original monthly parts, complete with all advertisements, of the author’s masterpiece Vanity Fair, A Novel Without a Hero (est. $12,000-18,000).

A notorious rarity that is up for auction is Anthony Trollope’s Ralph the Heir. Trollope himself deemed this to be one of his worst novels, but it was his description of a Parliamentary campaign in the fictional borough of Percycross that made this work important. It was unabashedly based on Trollope’s first-hand knowledge of corruptible country politics. The present issue is, without question, the most desirable, being the first, the rarest and the most complete. With no sale records in the past 60 years, this is one of only two copies known in existence (est. $50,000-80,000).

The collection will be on preview at Bonhams in New York from October 15-18. The auction will take place in New York at 1 pm EDT on October 18 and will be simulcast at Bonhams in Los Angeles. The public is also invited to attend a highlights tour hosted by a Bonhams Fine Books and Manuscripts specialist, taking place Sunday, October 16 at 4 pm. All events will be held at Bonhams in New York, located at 580 Madison Avenue.

[ITHACA, NY] National Book Auctions, located in Ithaca, NY, will host a Sunday, October 2nd auction featuring a variety of important antique and vintage books which includes a hand-illumined vellum manuscript, several important signed volumes from noted authors, early American history works, and an extensive collection from the 1893 Columbian Exposition. Also offered at this auction are an assortment of antique and vintage ephemera, vintage Chinese currency, and artwork, including a large collection of vivid, colorful posters.

Featured books include a number of antique printings, including several Latin and German titles from the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries alongside an original manuscript dating from around the 14th century. The manuscript appears on vellum leaves and is likely of French origin. This auction includes important works from the twentieth century, featuring a signed copy of “The Complete Poems of Robert Frost,” one of only fifteen presentation copies of the limited edition two-volume set, printed in 1950.  Also offered are volumes signed by literary greats such as Aldous Huxley and Edgar Lee Masters.

This auction will offer several important writings on the history of America, including early works on individual states, travel and exploration throughout the nation and several volumes relating to Native Americans.  Featured is a presentation proof copy of the 1825 work on the completion of the New York Canals, a turning point in the commercial prominence of New York City.  Other important works detail the history of the Northeast United States and parts of Canada, including Nova Scotia, New France, Pennsylvania, Maine and Massachusetts. Additionally, the two-volume 1903 printing of “The North American Indians” by George Catlin will be up for auction. This work is handsomely bound and profusely illustrated.

This early October auction will offer Charles Rand Penney’s extensive collection of material relating to the 1893 Columbian Exposition World’s Fair, held in Chicago, Illinois.  This group features Hubert Howe Bancroft’s detailed five-volume set on the Fair and many original souvenir booklets, photographic volumes and guides from the Exposition.

Among the highlighted artwork being offered at this auction is a collection of vivid vintage posters from noted artists and designers. Featured works include examples from Roy Lichtenstein, Georgia O’Keeffe, Alexander Calder, and Chermayeff & Geismar.  Also represented are the artists of Push Pin Studios, including signed works from Milton Glaser and Seymour Chwast.

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, October 2nd 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.

New York—Swann Galleries’ auction of Early Printed, Medical & Scientific Books on Monday, October 17 offers Bibles, classics, law books, works on anesthesia and health maintenance, and a selection of books of Iberian interest from the library of the late Portuguese historian Alvaro Cassuto.

Among the nearly 20 Bibles offered are one of four known copies of the 1555 Salamanca Biblia Sacra, the first attempt to publish the Vatable Bible in Spain, which was suppressed by the Inquisition (estimate: $8,000 to $12,000), and a second edition of the first complete Bible in Spanish, Amsterdam, 1602 ($6,000 to $9,000), both of which are from the Cassuto collection; in addition to Bibles in English, German, Arabic and Greek.

Catholic liturgical highlights include Officium beatissime virginis Marie con li officij ordinati de ciaschun tempo, Venice, circa 1525, a volume of prayers to the Virgin in a contemporary Venetian binding ($4,000 to $6,000); and the 1546 Lyon Missarum liber primus of Cristóbal de Morales, a volume of polyphonic masses by the foremost Spanish composer of the period ($8,000 to $12,000).

There are several beautiful manuscript leaves on vellum dating back as far as the 13th century, as well as a late 19th/early 20th century painting by the Spanish Forger on a portion of a 15th century choirbook leaf, depicting a juggler, bagpiper, and courtly couple ($1,000 to $2,000).

Other early printed books of note are classics such as Juvenal’s Satyrae, Venice, 1482 ($4,000 to $6,000), and the only Aldine edition of Plautus’s Ex Plauti comedies XXI, Venice, 1522 ($1,500 to $2,500); Jacobus Philippus de Bergamo’s popular world chronicle, Supplementum chronicarum, Venice, 1490 ($10,000 to $15,000); a first edition of John Milton’s Paradise Regain’d, two volumes in one, London, 1671 ($3,000 to $4,000); and illustrated travel books, including Vincenzo Coronelli, Memorie Istoriografiche de' Regni della Morea, Venice, 1686, and a first edition in English of Peter Simon Pallas’s Travels though the Southern Provinces of the Russian Empire, in the Years 1793 and 1794, London, 1802-03 ($2,000 to $3,000 each).

Featured in the medical and scientific section of the sale is a copy of Benjamin Franklin and William Heberden's Some Account of the Success of Inoculation for the Small-Pox in England and America, which includes Franklin’s statistical account of smallpox inoculation in Boston during the epidemic of 1753-54, first edition, London, 1759 ($6,000 to $9,000).

Among other highlights are the first Vesalian edition of Galen’s Omnia opera, Venice, 1541-42 ($2,500 to $3,500); Sir Kenelm Digby's Discours . . . Touchant la Guerison des Playes par la Poudre de Sympathie, Paris, 1658, on a form of healing magic; and Metallotheca, a posthumously published catalogue of the collection of rocks, fossils and minerals assembled by Michele Mercati, superintendent of the Vatican botanical garden, Rome, 1717 ($4,000 to $6,000).

A run of works on anesthesia includes two inscribed and signed copies of Walter Channing’s Two Cases of Inhalation of Ether in Instrumental Labor, in its first separate edition, Boston 1847 ($1,000 to $2,000 each). Two additional autograph items are a copy of Charles Babbage’s On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures, inscribed by the author to his brother-in-law, London, 1832 ($1,500 to $2,500); and an Autograph Note Signed from Sir William Osler, thanking the addressee for condolences on the death of Osler's son in the First World War, Oxford, 16 September 1917 ($1,500 to $2,500).

The auction will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, October 17. The books will be on public exhibition Thursday, October 13 and Friday, October 14, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, October 15, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Monday, October 17, from 10 a.m. to noon.

An illustrated catalogue is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, Inc., 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, or online at www.swanngalleries.com.

For further information, and to make advance arrangements to bid by telephone during the auction, please contact Tobias Abeloff at (212) 254-4710, extension 18, or via e-mail at tabeloff@swanngalleries.com.

Live online bidding is also available via Artfact.com.

Doyle New York auctioned the personal collection of famed New York City restaurateur Elaine Kaufman to a standing-room-only crowd of bidders in the salesroom and hundreds of others on the telephones and the Internet. The September 20, 2011 auction comprised 242 lots of artwork, books, memorabilia, furniture, decorations, fashion and accessories that Elaine collected or was given during her lifetime. These personal treasures were displayed at her restaurant, Elaine’s, or her elegant Upper East Side penthouse.

Competitive bidding resulted in a successful sale total of $385,734 -- far surpassing the presale estimate of $187,495-287,415 -- with a remarkable 98% sold by lot and 97% by value. Only 7 lots failed to sell.

ELAINE’S RESTAURANT MEMORABILIA

Memorabilia from Elaine’s eponymous restaurant attracted a strong interest at the sale. The top lot from the restaurant was Elaine’s Table #1 with a set of four chairs. The first table in "The Line," it was the most desirable table in the house. Patrons sat at this table to see and be seen. Estimated at $400-600, it sold for a staggering $8,750 to a buyer in Massachusetts.

Other Elaine's restaurant memorabilia fared equally well at the sale. The colorfully painted papier mache figure of a Christmas carousel horse that hung prominently in the restaurant's front window soared past its estimate of $200-300, selling to a buyer from Connecticut for a stunning $4,063. The familiar vintage black painted metal cash register that sat behind the bar also sold for $4,063, many times its estimate of $400-600, to a buyer from Connecticut. A set of four oak bar stools estimated at $150-250 achieved $1,250 from a New York buyer. A butcher block table from the restaurant’s kitchen sold for $2,813, many times its estimate of $200-300, to a New York buyer.

Elaine Kaufman’s Upper East Side penthouse was her personal sanctuary. She filled it with her extensive collection of fine art and her beloved books, many of which were gifts from the authors - friends and patrons of Elaine’s restaurant.  
ARTWORK
Highlighting her collection of art was a photographic collage by West Coast artist Wallace Berman estimated at $30,000-50,000 that achieved $41,250 from a California buyer. A small 1979 abstract executed in acrylic on canvas by Helen Frankenthaler soared past its estimate of $4,000-6,000 to fetch a stunning $25,000 from a Midwestern buyer.

Elaine’s collection of fine prints featured a colorful screenprint of flowers by Andy Warhol that surpassed its estimate of $10,000-15,000, selling for $18,750 to a New York buyer. An etching and aquatint of a Panama Hat by David Hockney achieved $11,875 from a Texas buyer, almost doubling its estimate of $5,000-7,000.

ART NOUVEAU POSTERS

Elaine Kaufman’s collection of French Art Nouveau posters was highlighted by Alphonse Mucha’s 1986 Salon des Cent estimated at $8,000-12,000 that sold to a New York buyer for $25,000. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s 1895 Mademoiselle Marcelle Lender, en Buste estimated at $7,000-10,000 sold for $13,750 to a buyer in Germany.

“I am pleased to be working with Doyle New York on this auction,” said Diane Becker, Elaine’s longtime restaurant manager who inherited her estate. “Elaine lived a long, happy and prosperous life. She lined the walls of her restaurant and home with artwork, books, photographs and memorabilia, some of which was given to her by the wonderful people she met night after night at her restaurant. I feel that this is the best - and frankly only - way I know to share Elaine with those she cared about most - her Elaine’s family.”

All prices include the buyer's premium.
Louis LeB. Webre
SVP, Marketing & Media
212-427-4141, ext 232
Louis@DoyleNewYork.com

[ITHACA, NY] National Book Auctions, located in Ithaca, NY, hosted a Sunday, September 11th auction featuring a broad assortment of collectible books and ephemera, highlighted by the works of notable authors such as Mark Twain, Benjamin Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton. The 404-lot auction also featured a collection of rare antique atlases, antique Victorian lithographs, and items relating to the Civil War.
 
A scarce memorial edition of “The Writings of Mark Twain” (1929) fetched a hammer price of $8700 (including buyer’s premium). This 36-volume set features a unique, original handwritten manuscript page from the Estate of Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) in Volume One. This handsome set is decoratively bound in three-quarter crimson leather over light red cloth with five raised spine bands and gilt tooling in the compartments. The set is hand-numbered 56 of 90 sets containing the manuscript material and signed by the publisher.
 
Realizing a hammer price of $1080 (including buyer’s premium) was the first edition of “The Private Life of Benjamin Franklin” (1793). This antique volume is a scarce autobiographical work, considered to be the greatest autobiography produced in Colonial America.
 
Another noteworthy item was an original period or early engraving by (or after) Rembrandt, which fetched a hammer price of $1020 (including buyer’s premium). This piece, which features a woman holding a flower, shows a magnificent level of detail.
 
A vintage first edition of Dr. Seuss’s “The Cat In The Hat” (1957) brought a hammer price of $960.00 (including buyer’s premium). This copy of the landmark children’s book included the first issue dust jacket.

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, October 2nd 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.
 

The Grolier Club is pleased to present an exhibition focusing on the distinguished holdings of Hersh and Fern Cohen, whose household encompasses two major, and complementary, collections.  On view in the Grolier’s second floor Gallery from September 8 - November 4, 2011, Steel and Roses: American Prints in the Hersh Cohen Collection and Botanical Books in the Fern Cohen Collection will present prints created between 1900 and World War II, with an emphasis on the Depression era, along with English, Continental, and American botanical books from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries illustrated by some of the most accomplished botanical artists of the day. The selection offers a stark contrast to the black and white prints of cities, their inhabitants, and the turmoil of the 1930s.

The content of American prints changed in the 1930s, from idealization of new skyscrapers to the depiction of people in urban life, workers in steel mills and coal mines, and scathing anti-capitalist satire. The content of the Cohen books includes botany, fruit, exploration, horticulture, and children’s gardening. Several florilegia, flower books in which the plates are much more important than the text, are displayed. An effort is made to show the inter-relationships between American botanical books and their English and Continental predecessors and contemporaries.

LOCATION AND TIME: Steel and Roses will be on view at the Grolier Club, 47 East 60 Street, New York, from Sept. 14 -Nov. 12, 2011, with the exception of October 10, when the Club is closed. The exhibit will be open to the public free of charge, Monday - Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Additional information and directions are available at www.grolierclub.org.  

CATALOGUE: A fully illustrated catalogue, with detailed bibliographic references and curatorial commentary, will accompany the exhibition.

FORTHCOMING EXHIBITIONS AT THE GROLIER CLUB

September 14-November 4, 2011: Silver Screen / Silver Prints: Hollywood Glamour Portraits from the Robert Dance Collection.
December 7, 2011-February 4, 2012: Printing for Kingdom, Empire, and Republic: Treasures from the Archives of the Imprimerie Nationale.   
February 22-April 28, 2012: Torn in Two, the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War.
May 16-July 28, 2012: Aaron Burr Returns to New York: an Exhibit of Burr and His Contemporaries.


Visit the Grolier Club website: www.grolierclub.org

Contact: Megan Smith                                                             
msmith@grolierclub.org

New York—On Thursday, September 15, Swann Galleries will conduct a sale devoted to the Eric C. Caren Collection, which encompasses books, manuscripts, autographs, photographs, broadsides and ephemera that span the 16th century through the 1970s.

An avid collector since early childhood, Caren set out to own a representative document from every important event in modern history. Having completed that collection to his satisfaction, he began to assemble another one, freeing some of his earlier acquisitions for sale. The material offered on September 15th comprises just part of Caren’s vast collection, and is the first of three planned sales.

The highlight of this sale is King Charles II’s letter authorizing Edmund Andros to take possession of New York from the Dutch, which is basically the birth certificate of New York State, signed Windsor Castle, 30 July 1674. This manuscript, acquired as Lot 1 in the Malcolm Forbes auction in 2002, is estimated at $100,000 to $150,000.

Also from the 17th century—and also related to New York—is a partial broadside, A Speech Made by His Excellency Benjamin Fletcher, printed by William Bradford in 1693, which is quite possibly the first New York imprint, and one of only two known extant copies ($8,000 to $12,000).

Another significant broadside is Remarks on the Slave Trade, the first American broadside appearance of the famous floor plan of the slave ship Brooks, which proved to be a powerful tool in bringing many Americans into the abolitionist camp, Philadelphia, 1789 ($15,000 to $25,000).

Providing an unusual glimpse into the life of our first president is a doctor's bill for two years of service to “His Excell'y George Washington Esq.” by James D. Craik, his personal physician. This extensive Autograph Document Signed includes entries for 144 distinct services provided to Washington, his family and his slaves during the period shortly before his election as president, 1786-89 ($15,000 to $25,000).

There is a fascinating archive of 12 items from the early days of Thomas Edison's work, including his notes from the Edison Illuminating Company's Pearl Street Station in New York (the first commercial power plant in the world), an 1883 invoice to the City of New York for one month's supply of electricity to 67 street lights, as well as cyanotype photographs of his laboratory ($20,000 to $30,000).

Other intriguing ephemera includes the first printed baseball scorecard, for a game between the Athletic Club of Philadelphia and the Atlantic Club of Brooklyn, 1 October 1866 ($5,000 to $7,500); and an original mechanical plan of the Lusitania’s steam piping by its builders, John Brown & Company, which may hold some clues to the disaster ($10,000 to $15,000).

Among the many early newspapers in the sale are two concerning the Stamp Act, the 30 May 1765 issue of Benjamin Franklin’s The Pennsylvania Gazette, believed to contain the first printed American references to the passage of the act ($10,000 to $15,000), and The Boston Post-Boy, &c. Extraordinary, describing demonstrations at the Liberty Tree, 4 November 1765 ($25,000 to $35,000).

Also related to the Revolution is Sebastian Bauman’s Plan of the Investment of York and Gloucester, Philadelphia, 1782, a visually striking map providing the first and best American view of the final major battle of the Revolution ($15,000 to $25,000).

Among select book highlights are a 1677 Boston first edition of Hubbard’s Narrative of the Troubles with the Indians in New-England ($25,000 to $35,000), and the first English edition of Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin’s Bucaniers of America, London, 1684-85 ($8,000 to $12,000).
 
Photographs range from cabinet cards from the western United States depicting lawmen, outlaws, cowboys, and Indians to files of press photographs dating from the 1920s to the 1970s, with contemporary captions affixed to the backs.

The sale also features posters from the late 1960s and early 1970s, which capture the era of drugs, rock ‘n’ roll and Vietnam War protests, providing an affordable way to explore 20th-century history and popular culture.

The auction will take place Thursday, September 15 at 1:30 p.m. The items will be on public exhibition Saturday, September 10, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Monday, September 12 through Wednesday, September 14, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Thursday, September 15, from 10 a.m. to noon.

An illustrated catalogue, with information on bidding by mail or fax, is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, Inc., 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, or online at swanngalleries.com.

For further information, and to make advance arrangements to bid by telephone during the auction, please contact Rick Stattler by telephone at (212) 254-4710, extension 27, or email: rstattler@swanngalleries.com. Online bidding is available via Artfact.com.

# # #
Rebecca Weiss
Media Relations
Swann Galleries
104 East 25th Street
New York, NY 10010
212-254-4710, ext. 23
rebeccaw@swanngalleries.com

See our blog:
http://blog.swanngalleries.com/

[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.

Beverly Hills, California….August 17, 2011…. Julien’s Auctions, the world’s premier entertainment and celebrity memorabilia auction house will offer a rare glimpse into the life of Hollywood’s most colorful stars, Tony Curtis. The rare Hollywood star whose off-screen character was often more sensational than his on-screen one, lived a life that could be its own movie or television series.  Curtis’ career spanned six decades with popularity during the 1950s and 1960s enabling him to transpose his good looks into super movie stardom.  He acted in over 100 films ranging from light comedy to serious drama and he also made numerous television appearances.
 
Among Curtis’ most memorable films were 1959’s “Some Like It Hot,” 1960’s “Spartacus,” 1953’s “Houdini,” 1952’s  “Son of Ali Baba”, 1957’s “Sweet Smell of Success,” 1965’s The Great Race and of course 1968’s “The Boston Strangler,” often noted as his most serious part. He earned an Oscar nomination for the 1958 crime drama “The Defiant Ones.” The film “Some Like Hot” in which he acted with icon Marilyn Monroe and Jack Lemmon has been called the funniest film in history by the American Film Institute. He also acted with such greats as Burt Lancaster in “Sweet Smell of Success” and Cary Grant in “Operation Petticoat.”  Curtis was often noted for his impeccable comedic timing.


VIDEO EPK downloadable here:
 
https://rcpt.yousendit.com/1196295819/e774504b0d666b9c1775f9c3a37e7b81
 
Off screen Curtis earned even more attention for his personal life which was filled with great turmoil and change. He married five times, his first and most famous to actress Janet Leigh.  
 
In addition to being a popular actor, Curtis was a fine art connossiuer. Collectors will have the opportunity to purchase some of his impressive art collection along with items from his illustrious career at Julien’s Auctions Gallery in Beverly Hills on September 17th, 2011.  A portion of the proceeds from the auction will benefit Shiloh Horse Rescue, a charitable organization founded by Jill and Tony Curtis that rescues and rehabilitates abused, neglected and slaughter-bound horses of all types (www.shilohhorserescue.com).
 
The Curtis Estate auction features property spanning from his World War II Naval stint through the first decade of the 21st century.    Fine art highlights coming to the block include the Andy Warhol Some Like it Hot Shoe, given to Curtis as a gift by the artist, (est $20,000/30,000), three drawings by Balthus (two est $25,000/35,000 and one est $30,000/40,000), a Maurice Denis oil on canvas study for the Baptism of Christ Mosaic at the Church of Saint Paul in Geneva, Les Ondes, (est $20,000/30,000), ceramics and prints by Picasso, Braque, and Chagall, a fine collection of 20th century American, British, and European paintings, and many selections from Tony Curtis’s own secondary career as an artist, including paintings, drawings, prints, ceramic vases, and a tapestry.  Also available for the first time are a selection of assemblage shadowboxes, a type of artwork very personal to Curtis and never before exhibited or sold to the public, although these items were occasionally bestowed as gifts upon friends and family.
 
Tony Curtis was an inveterate collector with a discerning eye. His treasures, collected from his travels all over the world, range from Faberge objets de vertu ( a 14k gold cigarette case, est $4,500/$6,500; and a trefoil dish inset with Russian coin, est $3,000/5,000), to fine watches (including an 18k gold Audemars Piguet Chronograoh wristwatch, est $6,000/8,000), to fine furniture (a Chinese Chippendale expanding writing desk, est $4,000/6,000), to boxes that he personalized with found objects, trinkets and mementos, preserved as he left them (numerous lots with estimates between $200 and $1,000).
 
Choice memorabilia items from Curtis’ acting career include a yachtsman’s jacket from the famous shipboard kissing scene with Marilyn Monroe in Some Like it Hot (est $10,000/15,000), a beautiful rosewood Rudall and Carte flute given to Curtis by Frank Sinatra (est $3,000/4,000), his Photoplay 14k gold medal award for Most Popular Male Star won in 1958 (est $3,500/4,500), and Hanna/Barbera’s own depiction of Stoney Curtis in an animated cel from an appearance on the Flinstones (est $1,200/1,800).
 
This auction also proudly showcases awards, mementos, photographs, letters, clothing, and personal effects from all phases of Curtis’ life and career and reflecting his many interests and talents. A full list of items for auction can be viewed at www.juliensauctions.com.  This is indeed a unique opportunity to see the lifestyle of one of the world’s most talked about actors whose iconic twists beyond his roles still talked about in many circles.
 
The Exhibition of The Estate of Tony Curtis presented by Julien’s Auctions, Beverly Hills is designed by Rush Jenkins and Klaus Baer of WRJ Design Associates, who have designed exhibitions for The Collection of Michael Jackson, The Estate of Johnny Cash, The Collection of Cher and more recently The Collection of Barbra Streisand.
 
JULIENS AUCTION’S THE ESTATE OF TONY CURTIS EXHIBITION:
Tuesday, September 6th - Friday, September 16th
10am-5pm PDT, Monday through Saturday
Free to Public - Closed on Sundays
 
AUCTION SCHEDULE: 
Saturday, September 17th, 2011
Session I - 10am PDT
Session II -  2pm  PDT
 
Julien’s Auctions
9665 Wilshire Blvd.
Suite 150
Beverly Hills, CA  90210
 
Registering to Bid
Registration is required to bid in this live auction and can be done either in person at the exhibitions and auction or by visiting www.juliensauctions.com before the sale or by calling (310) 836-1818.
 
Placing Bids
There are four ways to bid in this sale:
    •    Bid through Julien’s Auctions Online Live in Real Time at www.juliensauctions.com
    •    Place bids in the room by attending the auction
    •    Bid over the telephone through an auction house representative, who sits in the room and conveys the bid to the auctioneer
    •    Enter Absentee bids. Absentee bid forms are printed in the back of each catalogue, and are also available by calling Julien’s Auctions (310)836-1818 or online at www.juliensauctions.com
 
About Julien's Auctions
With expertise specializing in entertainment memorabilia, Julien’s Auctions has quickly established themselves as the premier auction house in high profile celebrity and entertainment auctions. Julien’s Auctions presents exciting, professionally managed and extremely successful auctions with full color high quality auction catalogues unlike any other auction company.  Previous auctions include the collections of Cher, U2, Barbara Streisand, the estate of Marilyn Monroe and many more. Official website is www.juliensauctions.com
 
Press Contact:
Caroline Galloway
440-591-3807
cngalloway@aol.com  or cgalloway@juliensauctions.com
 
#
 

As China continues her strong economic growth, and takes her place as one of the great world powers, so too has interest grown in important historical works on the Middle Kingdom. This was hammered home at the auction by PBA Galleries of San Francisco of a small but significant group of rare books on China from the private collection of Margaret Gee, held on August 11, 2011, in a sale of Americana - Travel & Exploration - Maps - Ephemera. Record prices were achieved, with bids coming in from both the eastern and western hemispheres over Internet and telephone, as well as attendees at the auction.
 
The first of the major works in the collection to hit the block was the Novus Atlas Sinensis of Martinus Martini, c.1655, with 17 double-page engraved maps with hand coloring in outline, the first European atlas of China, issued as the sixth volume in Joannes Blaeu’s Novus Atlas. The lot opened at $20,000, the starting price driven by strong absentee bidding to midway in the $15,000/25,000 estimate. That was not enough, however, and the superb atlas, in a contemporary brown morocco binding, was to sell to an internet bidder from China for $27,000. Next up was Jean-Baptiste Du Halde’s two-volume Description of the Empire of China and Chinese-Tartary, 1738-41, with 64 copper-engraved maps, plans & plates, most folding. Estimated at $8,000/12,000, the start in the room was $11,000, the result of multiple absentee bids. Competing against both floor and Internet, a telephone bidder from England captured the lovely copy at $15,600. Following Jean-Baptiste Grosier’s General Description of China, 1788, which sold for “only” $1,560 against a $700/1000 estimate, was another highlight of the sale, Isidore Helman’s very rare Faits memorabiles des empereurs de la Chine, also published in 1788. A series of 24 folio copper-engraved plates, in uncolored state, this copy was without the title-page, dedication-leaf, or 24 text pages, hence the rather conservative estimate of $3,000/5,000. The lot opened above the high estimate, at $5,500, but that was of no consequence, and the final price was $24,000, selling to a determined international phone bidder.
 
Soon to follow was the highlight of the auction, a striking set of John Ogilby’s translations of Jan Nieuhoff’s An Embassy from the East-India Company of the United Provinces to the Grand Tartar Cham Emperor of China, 1669, and Arnoldus Montanus’ Atlas Chinensis, 1671. With numerous copper-engraved plates and text illustrations, and uniformly bound in later full calf with modern rebacking, the two folio volumes were in exceptional condition, a fact not lost on the enthusiastic bidders. Vying against an Internet bidder, a customer in the room finally prevailed, but not before being forced to $42,000, far above the pre-sale estimate of $12,000/18000. George Staunton’s An Authentic Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China..., 1798, three volumes including the folio atlas, saw similar success, but on a smaller scale - estimated at $5,000/8,000, it was finally laid to rest at $13,200. There were other, less expensive works relating to China in the auction, but all engendered competition, with most selling within or above the estimate ranges. All prices listed here include a 20% buyer’s premium.
 
The full catalogue, and results of each lot, may be viewed at the PBA website, www.pbagalleries.com. All items are pictured in the online catalogue, but high-resolution images for each of the lots described in this article, suitable for publication, may be received via email. Contact shannon@pbagalleries.com.
 
For information about consigning material to PBA Galleries’ future auctions, please contact Bruce MacMakin (bruce@pbagalleries.com).

The Fine Art Auction Group, holding company for the Dreweatts and BCVA auction businesses, has acquired the London-based Bloomsbury Auctions business from Bloomsbury Auctions Ltd, consolidating the co-marketing alliance that has been in place between the two firms since October 2009. The acquisition of the Bloomsbury business is being effected through a newly-formed subsidiary which assumes all the current trade of the Bloomsbury Auctions business. Bloomsbury Auctions will continue to operate in tandem with Dreweatts and, working together, both will further expand their now integrated portfolio of services to the UK and European fine art and collectors markets. Bloomsbury Auctions Italia is not being acquired in the transaction and will continue to trade as Bloomsbury Auctions in Italy under a franchise arrangement.

The Fine Art Auction Group expects combined 2011 sales to approach £30,000,000 as a result of the acquisition, representing a 50% increase from 2010. Both businesses have a broad spectrum of specialist and general sales and are focussed on increasing their share of the ‘Single Owner Collections’ market. E-commerce is high on the development agenda for the enlarged business, with ATG Media’s www.thesaleroom.com being the primary online-bidding platform that both businesses already use, in addition to www.invaluable.com, www.artfact.com and www.liveauctioneers.com.

“The merging of Bloomsbury’s London activities into the Dreweatts network of salerooms reinforces our position as the fourth largest auction group in the United Kingdom. We will continue to develop our already diverse calendar of sales both regionally as well as in the key London market. Dreweatts’ 250 year old heritage marries well with Bloomsbury’s pre-eminent position in the market for rare books and works on paper and the two businesses will continue to capitalise on the numerous synergies underlying their respective operations” commented Stephan Ludwig, Dreweatts’ Executive Chairman. There are not anticipated to be any significant changes in the management structure of the two businesses and all current Bloomsbury staff are being transferred under the acquisition.

“We have been exploring options for the future growth of the Bloomsbury business for some time and, in Dreweatts, have found a very complementary fit. Working together increasingly closely over the past year has demonstrated to us the undoubted advantages that a generalist auctioneer with Dreweatts’ excellent reputation can offer the narrower market for our expertise in works on paper. It has been particularly pleasing to witness the growing number of mixed consignments that we have successfully competed for during the run-up to this transaction” stated Rupert Powell, Bloomsbury Auctions Ltd’s managing director, who will become a Deputy Chairman of the enlarged business and joins the Dreweatts management board.

“I have been working increasingly closely with our colleagues at Bloomsbury over the past 18 months, and have been very impressed by the quality of introductions of new business for Dreweatts that this alliance has already produced. Rupert Powell and I have known each other for many years as presenters on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow and I warmly welcome him and his team into our fold” observed Clive Stewart-Lockhart, Dreweatts’ Deputy Chairman.

“In selling the Bloomsbury business to The Fine Art Auction Group we have realised a long-held objective of transferring the business to a growing company that can best leverage the international developments that Bloomsbury Auctions has achieved over the 10 years in Stocklight’s ownership. We look forward to seeing Dreweatts and Bloomsbury Auctions working together to further enhance the client service capabilities that have set Bloomsbury apart as the world’s leading auctioneer of works on paper” enthused Tommaso Zanzotto, Chairman of both Bloomsbury Auctions Ltd and Stocklight Ltd.

Dreweatts has enjoyed a 10% increase in turnover for the first six months of 2011 to over £9,000,000. Bloomsbury Auctions has continued to diversify its business alongside its rare books and manuscripts core competency, realising sales in excess of £1,000,000 in its June 30 auction of 20th Century Prints that included a world auction record of £219,600 for Warhol’s “Madonna and Self-Portrait with Skeleton's Arm, after Munch”.

DALLAS, TX - The market in rare and vintage movie posters showed steady strength in Heritage Auctions’ $1.3+ million Signature® Movie Poster Auction on July 16 in Dallas, with an insert poster to Universal’s 1935 horror classic Werewolf of London leading the pack with a $47,800 final price realized. All prices quoted include 19.5% Buyer’s Premium.
 
“Results were solid across the board,” said Grey Smith, Director of Movie Posters at Heritage. “We offered quality and depth across all genres, which is what collectors want. That translated into good strong bids and spirited competition.”
 
More than 1,220 bidders competed in the auction for 1,296 lots, translating into a 91% sell-through rate by total value.
 
While early horror reigns supreme in movie poster collecting circles, the market in classic Film Noir posters has been enjoying continued popularity among collectors, as evidenced by the $20,315 price realized for a one sheet to Paramount’s 1942 Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd Noir classic This Gun For Hire, making it the number two lot in the entire auction.
 
One of the most anticipated lots of the auction was a 1939 three sheet poster to Columbia’s Only Angels Have Wings, which rose amongst competitive bidding to finish at $17,925, nearly triple its pre-auction estimate of $6,000+.
 
“The posters for this classic have always been scarce and much sought after,” said Smith. “We’ve only sold an insert and a few window cards to this title in 10 years, so it wasn’t surprising that collectors were all over this one when it opened.”
 
Lobby cards are always among the most popular offerings in any Heritage movie poster auction, and the July 16 auction boasted a trio of superb lobby cards that had collectors buzzing and bidding. A jumbo lobby card from Fritz Lang’s seminal Metropolis (UFA, 1927) led the way with a $17,925 price realized, while a lobby card from The Bride of Frankenstein (Universal, 1935) realized an impressive $13,145 final price and a very early and rare lobby card from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Goldwyn, 1920) well-exceeded pre-auction estimates to finish the day at $13,145.
 
Further highlights include, but are not limited to:
 
The Day the Earth Stood Still (20th Century Fox, 1951), one sheet: Realized: $16,730.
 
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (Universal International, 1948), three sheet: Realized: $15,535.
 
Baby Face (Warner Brothers, 1933), one sheet: Realized: $12,548.
 
That's My Wife (MGM, 1929), one sheet: Realized: $11,950.
 
Heritage Auctions, headed by Steve Ivy, Jim Halperin and Greg Rohan, is the world’s third largest auction house, with annual sales more than $700 million, and 600,000+ online bidder members. For more information about Heritage Auctions, and to join and gain access to a complete record of prices realized, along with full-color, enlargeable photos of each lot, please visit HA.com.
                        
Want to get the up-to-the-minute updates and breaking news stories about Heritage Auctions? Get them as they happen at: www.Twitter.com/HeritageAuction; Facebook: www.HA.com/Facebook.To view a compete archive of Heritage press releases go to: HA.com/PR. To link to this press release on your blog or Website: HA.com/PR-2056.


######

Media contact

Noah Fleisher, Public Relations Director
214-409-1143; NoahF@HA.com
 

DALLAS, TX - The original 1967 cover art for Amazing Spider-Man #49, by legendary comic book artist John Romita, Sr., featuring Spidey in a seemingly impossible bind between Kraven the Hunter and the Vulture, is expected to bring $100,000+ on Aug. 17-18 in Heritage Auctions’ Signature® Vintage Comics & Comic Art Auction. This is the first time this indelible cover art has ever been offered for public sale.

“This cover was only John Romita Sr.’s eleventh for the title and it’s simply one of his very best,” said Ed Jaster, Senior Vice President at Heritage Auctions. “It's not just a cool cover; it's a priceless piece of Silver Age Marvel lore and only the second Romita Sr. Spider-Man cover from this era we have offered to date. We’re expecting some fireworks when this comes up.”

Iconic original comic art is not only represented in mainstream offerings like Spider-Man, but also in the form of classic Underground Comix illustration, with few pieces of original Underground art being more important than Victor Moscoso’s original treatment for Zap Comix #4 Wraparound Cover (Apex Novelties/Print Mint) from 1969, estimated at $50,000+.

“Underground comix opened up a real can of worms with the fourth issue of Zap,” said David Tosh, Consignment Director at Heritage. “This was the infamous comic book that was the subject of a lengthy obscenity trial in New York City in the early 1970s, one that eventually caused the rules on what exactly was considered ‘obscene’ to be left in the hands of local authorities, rather than any kind of federal ruling.”

Steve Ditko’s original 1964 art for Page 17 of The Amazing Spider-Man #12 (estimate: $40,000+), wherein Spidey and Doc Ock go at it in a classic, and bruising, exchange, has high end collectors across the comics spectrum abuzz at the prospect of acquiring this early Marvel masterwork.

A CGC grade 9.6 first printing of Zap Comix #1 is the latest high quality representation of this ever popular, and increasingly valuable, counterculture offering. Different copies of this same comic book, all sold under the Heritage auspices, have broken the record for most valuable Underground comic as they’ve come to auction in the past few years. This particular book, as the highest graded and estimated at $35,000+, should continue that upward trajectory.

Highlights of the auction continue with more incredible original early comic artwork offerings in the form of an exceedingly rare George Herriman hand colored Krazy Kat Sunday comic strip, dated June 25, 1922 (estimate: $30,000+), while The Man of Steel is expected to flex his muscle in the form of Joe Shuster, Paul Cassidy and Wayne Boring’s original Page 7 artwork from the unpublished landmark Superman "K-Metal from Krypton" story (estimate: $20,000+).

Rounding out the early top offerings of the auction comes an early 1960s run of The Amazing Spider-Man comic books from the Edward M. Sarley Collection, featuring one of the very best runs of the title that Heritage specialists have ever come across, including The Amazing Spider-Man #28 (estimate: $15,000+), The Amazing Spider-Man #39 (estimate: $15,000), The Amazing Spider-Man #40 (estimate: $15,000+) and The Amazing Spider-Man #50 (estimate: $15,000+).

Sarley was a brilliant young man, and a meticulous collector, who recognized early the value of investing, collecting and safe-keeping items that would become sought after in years to come. He kept his comics in a small closet in his tiny bedroom on the top floor of his house, safe from the prying eyes of his younger siblings. After graduating college Eddie had a promising career moving up the business ladder. Yet fate had other plans for this young man. Tragedy struck on Thanksgiving Day, 1974 when Eddie died instantly in an auto accident at the age of 25. It was more than 20 years before that Eddie’s mother and father were finally able to bring themselves to peruse their son’s beloved comic book collection. They put a number of Eddie’s comics up for auction at a different auction house in 1992.

“The family has finally decided to release the rest of Edward’s amazing collection,” said Jaster, “a boon to collectors and a great honor for Heritage. These are truly great comic books and should command according respect from collectors.”

Upper Saddle River, NJ - On July 21, Leighton Galleries will offer 400 lots including Artworks, Silver, Jewelry, Furniture and Special Collections including Coins, Sports Memorabilia, Collectible Toys, Swarovski Crystal & Porcelain Figurines... all for sale to the highest bidder.
 
Artworks in the sale include a 40+ piece collection of Audubon prints from a Waldwick, New Jersey estate. Quadruped octavo as well as some Imperial lithographs will be offered including American Bison, The Cougar, Canada Lynx, Ocelot, American Beaver, Common American Skunk, Chipping Squirrel, and Hudson's Bay Lemming. Birds of America and Birds of Prey will also be offered including Common Cardinal Grosbeak, Pileated Woodpecker, Wood Duck Summer Duck, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and Cape May Wood Warbler. The prints will be sold from single lots to multiple groups and carry estimates from $200-300 to $400-600.
 
Other Artworks include two Jerry Garcia signed offset lithographs "Dracula's Heart" and "Northern Lights" (est.500-700 each), an oil on masonite by New Jersey artist George Schwacha "Figures on a Tree-Lined Street" (est.300-500), an oil on canvas by another New Jersey artist Edgar Malin Craven "Autumn Landscape" (est.150-200), four sculptures by Israeli artist Frank Meisler (est.200-400 each), an oil on board by Gloucester artist David Pollock "Rabbi Holding a Torah" (est.200-300), a still life painting of large size by New York artist Natalie Levine (est.300-500), a watercolor by Mexican artist Manuel Lepe Macedo "Girl with Flower" (est.200-300), two Roger Hebbelinck mezzotints "Valerius de Saedeleer" (est.150-250 each), and a color lithograph after Rene Magritte "L'Idole" by Henri Deschamps (est.300-500).
 
Approximately 40 US coin lots will be offered including Morgan's, Eagles, Walking Liberty's, Franklins, Kennedy's, Washington's, ten cent coins, coin sets, some gold coins, lot of 70+ uncirculated mint sets from 1963-1989, and more. A small collection of sports memorabilia will include autographed balls and bats by Ted Williams, Roy Campenella, Wade Boggs, etc... and an Astros jersey signed by Nolan Ryan.
 
Also to be offered in the collectibles category is a large single-owner collection of 150+ Swarovski crystal figures (1987-2007) most of which are being offered as group lots estimated in the $200-300 range. Other collectibles include Boehm, Cybis, Royal Doulton, Royal Copenhagen, Lladro, and a small group of collectible toys including Ducal models "Marching Bands" boxed sets.
 
Estate jewelry in the sale includes a 14K fancy link bracelet at 38.6gms. (est.700-900), a 14K charm bracelet at 48.9gms. (est.800-1000), several gold groups, and signed costume jewelry lots including Miriam Haskell, Original by Robert, Joseff, St. John and Givenchy, as well as some couture including fur coats and vintage handbags.
 
Approximately 50 silver lots will cross the block including numerous hollowware and assorted flatware groups, as well as fine china sets including Minton Haddon Hall, Royal Worcester Imperial, Wedgwood California, Copeland Spode Indian Tree, Lenox Essex, and Wedgwood Marina. Other items of interest include a rosewood slide box signed Rohde, a Jacots cylinder music box by Mermod Freres, antique colored maps including two maps of the world by Robert de Vaugondy, chandeliers and other lighting, a 12x18 Chinese Kensington rug, and a small collection of clocks including two French wag on the walls.
 
Fine furniture to include an antique English mahogany tall case clock with dial signed John Hansford (est.1000-1500), a nineteenth-century German cherry tall case with dial marked Hindelang (est.600-800), a cherry extension dining table attributed to Jeffco (est.600-800), a pair of modern leather armchairs with ottomans by Ekornes (est.300-500), a Marcel Breuer Wassily leather chair (est.200-300), and a five-piece Heywood Wakefield bedroom suite (est.400-600).
 
The auction is scheduled for Thursday, July 21, at 5pm. It will be held at the Knights of Columbus Banquet Hall at 79 Pascack Road, Washington Township (Bergen County), New Jersey. Previews are scheduled for Wednesday, July 20 from 5-8pm, and on Thursday July 21 from 1-4pm. An illustrated web-based catalog is available at www.leightongalleries.com. For information call 201-327-8800 or info@Leightongalleries.com.
 

[ITHACA, NY] National Book Auctions, located in Ithaca, NY hosted early and late-June auctions featuring a wide assortment of Ireland-related material, incunabulum, children’s books and signed first editions. Among the featured items was an 1819 First Edition of “Constitutional Law: Comprising The Declaration of Independence; The Articles of Confederation; The Constitution of the United States; And the Constitutions of the Several States Composing the Union” (uncredited) which fetched a $1,500 hammer price (including buyer’s premium).


Also sold at the gallery in June was a 1493 printing of “Tragoediae” by Lucius Annaeus Seneca. This Latin piece of incunabulum is a collection of tragedies from the acclaimed Roman philosopher and dramatist, Lucius Annaeus Seneca. This volume contains ten tragedies, including: Hercules Furens, Thyestes, Thebais, Hippolytus, Oedipus, Troas, Medea, Agamenon, Octavia and Hercules Oetheus and realized a hammer price of $1,620 (including buyer’s premium).
 
Alongside the hundreds of other lots, was a 1913 Limited Edition printing of “Designs on the Dances of Vaslav Nijinsky” by George Barbier. Bound in large cream thin-card wrappers with blue and black lettering and a pictorial design on the upper cover, this antique volume is a scarce limited edition of acclaimed artist George Barbier's collection of illustrations, translated into English by C. W. Beaumont and containing a foreword by Francis de Miomandre. This work is from a limited edition printing, number 99 of 400 and was the sole edition printed in English. The hand-colored volume sold for $2,280 (including buyer’s premium).
 
Accompanied by numerous other antique and vintage children’s books was a 1912 copy of “Grosses Betes & Petites Betes” by Andre Helle (Tolmer & Cie. Publisher). This large pictorial features paper-covered boards with gray cloth backing and is a very scarce first edition of this French children's book. This work features illustrations by the author of animals from Noah's Ark and is gorgeously illustrated with twenty tipped-in pochoir illustrations surrounded by text and black outline drawings. The plates are signed with the artist/author's monogram, lower case initials "ah" inside a circle. This fun book fetched a hammer price of $1,260 (including buyer’s premium).
 
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 Sunday, July 24th 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.

New York—A three-sheet map of Connecticut and parts adjacent, New Haven, 1777, far exceeded its pre-sale estimate to become the top lot at Swann Galleries’ Maps & Atlases auction on June 2. The map, which was estimated at $3,000 to $4,000, saw a great deal of preview interest, was fought over by buyers in the auction room and on the phone, and ultimately sold to a round of applause for a record $168,000* in what was likely its first appearance at auction.

Also reaching six figures was an enormous manuscript map of Suruga Province, Japan, which was created as an economic report to the shogun, circa 1716-35. It brought $120,000.

Other record-setting maps in the auction included double-page maritime charts by Arnold Colom, Pascaarte van Nieu Nederlandt, $33,600, and De Carybsche Eylanden van de Barbados tot de bocht van Mexico, $9,000, both Amsterdam, circa 1658; and Norman and Dunbibin’s Coast of America from Cape Hateras to Cape Roman, from The American Pilot, Boston, 1794, $22,800. A copy of the four-sheet Fry-Jefferson Map of the most Inhabited part of Virginia containing the whole Province of Maryland, London, 1775, fetched $20,400—a record for a later edition.

Among the notable atlases was a composite atlas with maps by Janssonius, Blaeu, Wit and Visscher, Atlas Minor…Orbis Terrarum Tabulas Geographicas Complectens, Amsterdam, 1680, $20,400.

Rounding out the cartographic highlights were Herman Moll, A New and Exact Map of the Dominions of the King of Great Britain on ye Continent of North America, known as the “Beaver Map,” two joined sheets hand-colored in outline, London, 1715, $11,400; John and William Norman, A Chart of South Carolina and Georgia, meant to be bound into the American Pilot, Boston, 1803, $7,800; and a nine-and-a-half-inch table globe of the world by James Wilson, Bradford, VT, 1819, $5,280.

Among the books desired for their plates were a group of 39 volumes from Rudolph Ackermann’s Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashions, and Politics, London, 1809-28, $5,520; Victor Adam, Collection des Costumes Militaires, Armée Française, 1832, with 42 hand-colored lithographed plates, Paris, circa 1840, a record $4,800; and W.T. Greene, Parrots in Captivity, 81 color plates in three volumes, London, 1884-87, $5,040.

An attractive selection of individual decorative graphics featured many Audubon prints, including a group of four hand-colored lithographed plates of animals from the folio edition of Viviparous Quadrupeds, Philadelphia, 1842-44, $5,760; as well as Robert Dodd’s hand-colored aquatint of the Bounty mutiny, London, 1790, $2,640.

A small selection of ephemera included group lots of luggage labels, $900; Disney cartoon lobby cards, $510; and Art Nouveau postcards, $600.

For complete results, an illustrated color catalogue, with prices realized on request, is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, and may be viewed online at www.swanngalleries.com.

For further information, and to propose consignments to upcoming auctions of Maps & Atlases, Natural History and Historical Prints, please contact Gary Garland at (212) 254-4710, ext. 17, or via email at ggarland@swanngalleries.com.
 
*All prices include buyer’s premium.

[ITHACA, NY] National Book Auctions, a live auction gallery located in Ithaca, NY, is hosting a Sunday June 26 auction, which is open to the public. This auction features an assortment of scarce books containing important illustrations among a variety of landmark literary titles.  Included is a fine collection of antique children’s books, genealogical and historical printings, and ephemera from noted illustrator James Bingham.
 
Featured among the French items in this auction is George Barbier’s 1913 limited edition printing of “Designs on the Dances of Vaslav Nijinsky.”  This gorgeously illustrated item features twelve original full-page hand-colored pochoir plates by acclaimed French artist George Barbier.  This scarce volume is one of 400 limited edition printings.  Also highlighted is “Grosses Betes & Petites Betes,” a very scarce children’s book featuring French text and illustrations by Andre Helle.  This large volume, printed in 1912, features twenty hand-colored pochoir illustrations of animals from Noah’s Ark.  Also watch for an important original X-Gosé French poster offered.
 
An important art-related volume in this auction is photographer Larry Clark’s 1971 printing of “Tulsa,” signed by the artist.  This vivid photographic book exposed drug use among suburban teenagers in the 60’s and 70’s.  The artist was later known for directing the movie “Kids.”
 
Found throughout this auction is an assortment of antique children’s books.  Featured are first editions of Charlotte Steiner’s “Lulu,” and “Bumble Bugs and Elephants,” the first work by the author/illustrator duo M. W. Brown and Clement Hurd who later produced such children’s classics as “The Runaway Bunny” and “Goodnight Moon.”  Also included is a gorgeous copy of “Aunt Louisa’s Fairy Legends” featuring handsome Victorian chromolithographs throughout.  

Included in this auction is a collection of genealogical and historical material.  Featured among these titles is a limited edition printing of the “Pioneers & Prominent Men of Utah” from 1913 and a 1914 author-signed work on the “Chronicles of the Cape Fear River” in North Carolina by James Sprunt.
 
Also offered is a collection of ephemera from noted illustrator James Bingham, featuring mounted magazine illustrations from classics like “Time” and “The Saturday Evening Post.”  Bingham (1917-1971) provided artwork for a host of magazines, and worked on many advertising accounts including The Airlines of the United States, Association of Railroads, Maxwell House, Gulf Oil, Caterpillar Tractor, Alcoa Steamship Company and U S Steel.
 
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 is at 10 a.m. and the live auction starts at noon. For more information or to consign material please contact David Hall at 607-269-0101 or email mail@nationalbookauctions.com. 

Holabird-Kagin Americana is gearing up for another massive sale of rare and collectible Western Americana, Numismatica and Historical Ephemera. The Reno, Nevada based business realized approximately $1 million for their March “Golden West” Auction held in Sacramento, where the world-famous “Washington Gold Nugget” brought $400,000 on the auction floor, and garnered international press coverage.

Now Holabird-Kagin Americana is proud to present “Mining, Minerals and Mayhem” a three day auction scheduled for June 28, 29, 30 at the Atlantis Casino Resort and Spa in Reno.  Over 2,300 lots will hit the auction block and the sale will feature several rare and collectible precious metal ingots, an unparalleled mineral specimen collection, an original George Hearst signed stock certificate, and one of the most comprehensive Bodie Collections ever compiled (over 140 lots, including an original constable badge). In addition to an impressive numismatic section, there are hundreds of western mining stock certificates, including a large Bullfrog and Death Valley section and a expansive Colorado section of Clear Creek, Cripple Creek, and Leadville, plus many more, along with an eclectic mix of mining ephemera, to name just a few highlights.
 
Also included in the sale will be an original circa 1870s bullion punch from the Carson City Mint and a Bryan money collection featuring political and money ephemera from 1896, one of the most contested periods in American monetary history. Some of the highly sought after ingots up for grabs are the Tri-Bullion Mining Co .5 oz Gold Pendant, the William Sharon 1876 Silver Dinner Ingot, the Ophir and Savage Silver Ingots, the Riehn Hemme Silver Watch Fob Ingot and the Harvey Harris Silver & Gold Presentation Assay Ingot, all spectacular examples of the resplendence of the great Western mining booms, the resultant explosion of the banking and financial industry, and the millionaires and tycoons that made history.
 
Offered for sale for the first time is the Gottschalk Western Ore Specimen Collection, consisting of approximately 275 lots, more than 2,500 pieces of some of the rarest and most spectacular ore specimens, ore minerals and rare ore mineral species from around the world, with an emphasis on the Comstock Lode (with over 700 Bonanza grade ore specimens) and also a vast selection from Bodie, Goldfield, Tonopah, Colorado and Montana. Collectors will also find a plethora of rare bottles such as the cobalt blue Owl poison bottle collection and soda bottles from Nevada and Arizona.

The auction is expected to gross well over $1 million and promises the same excitement that has become a hallmark of the company’s recent sales.  The auction is free and open to the public, so it’s a great chance to catch up on your mining history and maybe even own some. For more information or to obtain a catalog, call Holabird-Kagin Americana at 877-852-8822.

Kestenbaum & Company’s spring auction of Fine Judaica will be held on Thursday, June 23 at3:00 pm. The sale will take place at the company’s gallery at 242 West 30th Street in New York City with viewing beforehand from June 19  through June 22.
 
Highlighting this auction will be Part II of the historic Cassuto Collection of Iberian-related Books and Manuscripts. This extensive sale also features many fine early printed books from the Delmonico Collection, a celebrated library of fine Hebrew books formed by the late New York-based collector, William Roth. The sale also includes books recently de-accessioned from a European institutional library.
 
The Cassuto Collection was formed by several generations of the Cassuto family, and so became one of the most outstanding libraries of works by and about the Jews who originated from Spain and Portugal. The first part of the collection, which was auctioned by Kestenbaum & Company this past February, garnered world-wide attention as buyers, including many libraries, bid to acquire singular pieces of Iberian-Jewish history rarely seen at auction.

The foundation of the Alfonso Cassuto Collection was laid by Mr. Cassuto’s great-grandfather Jehuda de Mordehai Cassuto who in 1835 acquired a sizeable library assembled in the seventeenth century by the Namias Family of Hamburg. Subsequent generations of the Cassuto family greatly expanded the library and Alfonso in particular immersed himself enthusiastically in the books and the library’s further development. The present collection was consigned to Kestenbaum & Company by Alfonso’s son, the distinguished composer and conductor Álvaro Leon Cassuto, Artistic Director of the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra.
 
The collection of Iberian and related texts in the auction feature theological, historical and liturgical subjects as well as books and manuscripts relating to the Inquisition, literature, science and medicine. Important lots include Joseph Penso de la Vega’s Retrato de la prudencia y simulacro del valor que en obsequioso Panegirico consagra al augusto Monarcha Guillermo Tercero Rey de la Gran Bretaña, Amsterdam, 1690, estimate $8,000-10,000 (Lot 30); a volume of architectural plates and sermons from the dedication service of the newly built Spanish-Portuguese synagogue in Amsterdam in 1675, estimate $5,000-7,000 (Lot 33), and the first edition of Benedictus de Spinoza’s highly influential philosophical work Opera Posthuma, Amsterdam, 1677, at a pre-sale estimate of $4,000-5,000 (Lot 37). Sure to attract interest is a seventeenth century unpublished polemical manuscript opposed to the discriminatory treatment of "New Christians" by the office of the Inquisition in Portugal, estimate $6,000-9,000 (Lot 47) and an immensely scarce large manuscript written on vellum in 1506, an important official record of Jewish properties vacated following the expulsion of Jews from Portugal in 1497, at an estimate of $15,000-20,000 (Lot 52). Also featured are texts by Isaac Cardoso (Lot 2), Manuel de Leao (Lots 10-11), Amatus Lusitanus (Lots 14-15), Jacob de Castro Sarmento (Lots 17-19), Antonio Nunes Riberio Sanches (Lots 20-21, 55-56) and Duarte Lopes Rosa (Lot 57).

Elsewhere in the 395-lot auction is a large section of American-Judaica featuring most notably a Letter of Recommendation for Haham Isaac Carigal, Emissary of Hebron Jewish Community, Amsterdam, 1758. Carigal later became a prominent figure in Colonial American history. The pre-auction estimate is $5,000-7,000 (Lot 68). Also of interest is The New Jamaica Almanack and Register for the year 1797 which includes a Jewish calendar, estimate $3,000-5,000 (Lot 75) and an issue of The Congressional Globe, containing the debates and proceedings of the First Session of the Thirty-Sixth Congress, including the first Jewish prayer intoned at the opening of the House of Representatives, Washington, D.C., 1860 at an estimate of $2,000-3,000 (Lot 84).

A strong section of Chassidic texts affords rich insight into a fundamental aspect of Jewish heritage. The most important lot is an exceptionally rare, complete, first edition of Jacob Joseph of Polonoye’s Toldoth Ya’akov Yoseph, the book that gave rise to the Chassidic movement, Koretz, 1780, $100,000-150,000 (Lot 136). Also noteworthy are the first editions of three fundamental Kabbalistic Prayer-Books: The Siddur of R. Asher, Lemberg, 1788, estimate $12,000-15,000 (Lot 137); the Siddur of R. Yaakov Kopel, Slavuta, 1804, estimate $12,000-15,000 (lot 138) and the Alter Rebbe’s Siddur, Koypst, 1816, at an estimate of $10,000-15,000 (Lot 139).
 
Outstanding among a selection of important Hebrew books in the sale is a complete set of Shimon ben Yochai’s seminal Kabbalistic text Sepher HaZohar Mantua, 1558-6, beautifully bound and in exceptionally fine condition, at an estimate of $50,000-70,000 (Lot 280). Also included is a notable edition of Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah from Venice, 1574-75, estimate $7,000-10,000 (lot 261) and a rare first edition of Isaiah Ben Abraham Halevi Horowitz’s Shnei Luchoth Habrith, Amsterdam, 1648-49  at an estimate of  $10,000-15,000 (Lot 201). A highly unusual and formidable text is Jacob Emden’s Sepher Shimush, Amsterdam, c.1758. This book has not been seen at auction for a great many years and is estimated at $12,000-15,000 (Lot 159).
 
Highlighting the Passover Hagadah section is a war-time version issued in 1945 by The 1st Camouflage Company comprised of Palestinian Jews serving in the British Army. It features a unique pastiche of elements of the traditional Hagadah text together with elements of Zionist idealism concerning rebuilding the Land of Israel, estimate   $7,000-9,000 (Lot 179). The lavish Hagadah designed by Albert Rutherston, London, 1930, is also offered.This particular copy is the publisher’s own, printed entirely on vellum and in a custom binding, estimate $30,000-40,000 (Lot 180).

General books of significance include a Proclamation by Emperor Joseph I to extend "help and good will" to the Jews after a fire destroyed the entire Jewish quarter of Frankfurt a/Main, 1711, estimate $1,200-1,800 (Lot 163); a copy of the infamous White Paper of May 1939, London, estimate $700-1,000 (Lot 190) and the original official printed announcement by David Ben-Gurion's Provisional Government declaring the establishment of the State of Israel, Tel-Aviv, 14th May, 1948, estimate $1,500-2,500 (Lot 219), Two other interesting lots include a German text by an anonymous writer titled “Frank Thoughts of a Swiss Citizen Concerning the Question: Should we Recognize Jews who have Resided in Switzerland for 20 Years as Citizens, or should we Exclude Them?”, 1798, estimate $3,000-4,000 (Lot 283) and a negative counter-response to the previous Lot, 1799, at an estimate of $3,000-4,000 (Lot 284). Both booklets are bibliographically unrecorded.

An exceptional item in the Manuscripts section of the auction is a highly original Scroll of Esther from the Cassuto Collection that was boldly illuminated in vivid colors in the 1930’s by a member of the Marrano community of Porto, Portugal. The pre-sale estimate is $10,000-15,000 (Lot 325).
 
Prominent within the Autograph Letters section is one of the very last letters signed by Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, on 4th Kislev, 1985, estimate $2,000-2,500 (Lot 310); two letters by Tzvi Pesach Frank, the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, (1873-1960) addressed to the San Francisco Conference in 1945 concerning the future of Jews in the Land of Israel, estimate $5,000-7,000 (Lot 311) and a letter signed by Rabbi Yechezkel Shraga Halberstam, the "Shinaver Rav", one of the foremost Chassidic leaders of his generation, 1896, at an estimate of $30,000-40,000 (Lot 317). Further autograph letters of note are those written by Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac Yehudah Yechiel Safrin of Komarno, Rabbi Shlomo Kluger of Brody, and Rabbi Israel Lipschuetz (the Tiphereth Yisrael).
 
The sale concludes with a fine selection of Ceremonial Art. An historic highlight is an exceptional pair of American silver Torah Finials from Charleston, South Carolina, circa 1825, at an estimate of $60,000-70,000 (Lot 380). Also featured is a variety of styles of antique Chanukah Lamps, Kiddush Cups, Torah ornaments and other fine objects.

For  further  information  relating  to  bidding  or  any  other  queries,  please  contact Jackie  Insel at  212-366-1197. 

DALLAS, TX - Two superbly documented fragments of the original Star Spangled Banner, which inspired America’s national anthem in 1814 as it flew in defiance of the British over Ft. McHenry in Baltimore, MD, and were later in the collection of a Philadelphia museum, are expected to bring $60,000+ when they come up for bid as part of Heritage Auctions’ June 21 Arms & Militaria auction.
 
It is the first time in modern auction history, to the knowledge of Heritage specialists, that any fragments of the flag have appeared in a public auction.
 
“There is no American symbol more potent than our flag,” said Dennis Lowe, Director of Arms & Militaria at Heritage, “and there is no version of our flag more important than the Star Spangled Banner. These fragments are a part of our collective history, and should be valued as such by serious collectors of Americana.”
 
The history of these amazing fragments, coming to auction from a high-end collector who has owned them for the last 30 years, is rock solid and indisputable. It’s common knowledge that the flag, which was commissioned in Baltimore by Brevet Lt. Col. George Armistead in 1814, went home with him after the battle, where it stayed for the remainder of his life, passing to his wife upon his death and subsequently to, first, Armistead’s daughter and then to his son, who loaned it to the Smithsonian in 1907. In 1910 the gift was made permanent.
 
“When the Smithsonian got the flag and compared it to the original specs, they found that a full eight feet of the flag was missing on the fly end,” said Lowe. “The family had, over the years, snipped off pieces of the flag as souvenirs to give friends, family and visitors. That accounts for these fragments and the diminished size of the flag.”
 
The current fragments were donated in 1914 to the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States Museum in Philadelphia - a treasury of the holdings of that patriotic order organized just after Lincoln’s death in April 1865 by Union military officers who fought in the Civil War - by former Union officer, author and all-around Renaissance man John Heysinger, whose clean script details the fragments on the manuscript mount.
 
"These tattered and torn fragments are a part of the flag which flew on Fort McHenry on the night of September 12th 1812,” wrote Heysinger, in part, of the battle which actually occurred on Sept. 14, 1814. “The above pieces are positively a portion of that precious relic. The flag is now in the National Museum Washington D.C."
 
Also accompanying the pieces is a booklet, printed in 1914 in Philadelphia by John Wanamaker, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the battle, in which are pictured these exact flag fragments, with the caption stating "A portion of the very Star Spangled Banner that inspired that song. A photographic reproduction of portions of the original Fort McHenry flag now in the possession of the Ridgway Library, Philadelphia."
 
Further documentation on the provenance of the piece comes from an accompanying letter, dated April 4, 1969, from Smithsonian Institution representative Donald E. Kloster, to the Union League of Philadelphia, where many of the Loyal Legion artifacts were stored and displayed, concerning these fragments.
 
“We’ve had consultation from the most respected and well-known flag experts in the country,” said Lowe. “They all agree that this is unquestionably authentic.”
 
All of this does, however, beg the question: If the family gave away so many snips of the flag, shouldn’t there then be numerous other pieces of it to have surfaced from libraries, attics and bookshelves across the nation?
 
“I would certainly imagine that was the case at one point,” said Lowe, “but it’s likely that people have no idea what they have or had. For anyone that got fragments themselves, in person, from the Armistead family, there was no need to document it absolutely. They knew just what they had and probably threw it in a drawer or a book to take out occasionally to show friends. I would imagine many of the fragments simply got lost or thrown out by people who had no idea what it was they had.”
 
“That said, there must be some that survive somewhere,” said Lowe, “it’s just that no one knows where they are.”
 
Heritage Auctions, headed by Steve Ivy, Jim Halperin and Greg Rohan, is the world’s third largest auction house, with annual sales more than $700 million, and 600,000+ online bidder members. For more information about Heritage Auctions, and to join and gain access to a complete record of prices realized, along with full-color, enlargeable photos of each lot, please visit HA.com.
                        
Want to get the up-to-the-minute updates and breaking news stories about Heritage Auctions? Get them as they happen at: www.Twitter.com/HeritageAuction; Facebook: www.HA.com/Facebook.To view a compete archive of Heritage press releases go to: HA.com/PR. To link to this press release on your blog or Website: HA.com/PR-2033.

(Philadelphia, PA) May 15 - "Today's auction was another success for Freeman's with an auction total of $2,165,500," Anne Henry, Vice President of Modern & Contemporary art at Freeman's said, "We exceeded our expectations with tremendous prices achieved for the Richard Scrushy Collection, and many Philadelphia artists, especially Bo Bartlett."
 
The day was marked by many achievements, the first of which was the Richard Scrushy Collection, being sold to benefit HealthSouth shareholders. John Sommerville, attorney for the HealthSouth shareholders commented, "First and foremost, we are delighted with the results. When we received the art, the provenance and history had been removed, and there was a great deal of work that was done to authenticate it. We could not have achieved a fraction of the prices had it not been for Freeman's authenticating the pieces and guiding us through the process." Highlights from the Scrushy collection included, Marc Chagall's "Lechelle au Ciel"which realized $181,000 (est. $50/70,000), Picasso's "Portrait de Femme de Profil" which sold for $97,000 (est. $50/80,000), and Dali's "Paradiso" which realized $73,000 (est. $40/60,000).
 
Following the success of the Scrushy collection auction records were set for a number of artists. "The room was packed with bidders clamoring for works of art,especially those by Philadelphia artists. It was terrific to help establish strong secondary market values for those who have traditionally been collected extensively through gallery representation," Henry said. 50 works by Bo Bartlett achieved $323,735, and lot 207, "Unity" realized $52,000 and exceeded his previous auction record (formerly achieved at Freeman's in 2007). In addition to Bo Bartlett, auction records were set for many artists, including Warren Rohrer, Jimmy Leuders, and Lynn Snyder from Philadelphia.
 
"This auction was a terrific success; we know that collectors, consignors, and the many living artists whose works were represented here today are happy. We were delighted to be the hub for such enthusiasm," Aimee Pflieger, Modern & Contemporary Art Associate Specialist said.
 
Upcoming: Freeman's hosts Fine English & Continental Furniture, Silver & Decorative Arts on May 25 & 26; and Oriental Rugs & Carpets on May 27; Fine American & European Paintings & Sculpture on June 19; Fine Jewelry & Watches on June 20.
 
AUCTION HIGHLIGHTS
Lot 25
MARC CHAGALL, (FRENCH/RUSSIAN 1887-1985), LECHELLE AU CIEL
Sold for $181,000
 
Lot 7
PABLO PICASSO, (SPANISH 1881-1973), PORTRAIT DE FEMME DE PROFIL
Sold for $97,000
 
Lot 18
SALVADOR DALI, (SPANISH 1904-1989), PARADISO
Sold for $73,000
 
Lot 124
CARL ANDRE, (AMERICAN B. 1935), ONE GRAND PIECE
Sold for $79,000
 
Lot 131
HELEN FRANKENTHALER, (AMERICAN B.1928), UNTITLED
Sold for $55,000
 
Lot 207
BO BARTLETT, (AMERICAN B. 1955), UNITY
Sold for $52,000
 
Lot 201
BO BARTLETT, (AMERICAN B. 1955), STUDY FOR LIFEBOAT
Sold for $31,000
 
Lot 241
ELIZABETH OSBORNE, (AMERICAN B. 1936), SOUTHWIND
Sold for $22,500
 
Lot 141
ALEX KATZ, (AMERICAN B. 1927), ORANGE HAT FROM ALEX AND ADA, THE 1960S TO THE 1980S
Sold for $22,500
 
Lot 181
SCOTT PRIOR, (AMERICAN B. 1949), AN ARTISTS WINDOWSILL
Sold for $21,250
 
 
About Freeman's
Founded in 1805, Samuel T. Freeman & Co has upheld an exemplary role as America's oldest auction house. Located on Chestnut Street, Freeman's offers over 30 auctions a year in categories including: American Furniture, Decorative & Folk Arts, English & Continental Furniture & Decorative Arts, Asian Arts, Fine American & European Paintings & Sculpture, Modern and Contemporary Art, Rare Books, Fine Prints, Oriental Rugs, Fine Jewelry & Watches, Pop Culture and 20th / 21st Century Design. Freeman's offers a full range of appraisal services from insurance, probate, family division and charitable contribution to inventory and insurance loss. For more information, visit www.freemansauction.com or contact 267.414.1240.

Inquiries: Zoe Hillenmeyer | ZHillenmeyer@freemansauction.com | 215.385.1243
 

New York—On Thursday, June 2, Swann Galleries will conduct their semi-annual auction of Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Historical Prints, and Ephemera, which, as always, offers a variety of cartographic items and desirable decorative graphics. This sale also features a large selection of Japanese material rarely seen in the U.S.

The top Japanese lot is a magnificent pen and ink and watercolor map of Suruga Province, measuring 5 by 7 feet, and made circa 1716-35. The map served as an economic report to the Shogun, providing details of agricultural and natural resource production to aid in determining taxation of the daimyo, the warlords of feudal Japan. There is enormous detail of villages and other landmarks, calligraphic notations on the local economy, and an inspiring depiction of Mt. Fuji in the background. The pre-sale estimate is $100,000 to $150,000.

Also from Japan is as a set of 15 color-finished pen and ink double page maps of the world, China, Korea and other subjects, likely from the seventeenth century ($5,000 to $7,500), illustrated books with textile designs and kimono patterns, and picture books such as a volume of kyoka poems illustrated by Kitagawa Utamaro, circa 1794 ($1,000 to $1,500).

Western material related to Japan includes Robert Dudley’s Carta particolare della Grande Isola del Giapone e di Jeso, engraved double page map, Florence, 1646 ($10,000 to $15,000).

Also among the most desirable maps in the sale are those that depict the Americas. These include two engraved maritime charts by Norman, Chart of the Coast of America from Cape Hateras [sic] to Cape Roman [sic], third state, with the addition of  “New Inlet” just north of Cape Fear, Boston, 1794 ($20,000 to $30,000), and A Chart of South Carolina and Georgia, 1803 ($5,000 to $7,500); as well as Herman Moll, A New and Exact Map of the Dominions of the King of Great Britain on ye Continent of North America, known as the “Beaver Map” due to its inset illustration of the furry creatures, London, 1715 ($7,000 to $10,000); Matthaeus Seutter, Recens Edita totius Novi Belgii in America Septentrionale, Augsburg, 1730 $3,000 to $4,000); Henry Popple’s A Map of the British Empire in America with the French, Spanish and the Dutch Settlements adjacent thereto, Amsterdam, 1741 or later ($4,000 to $6,000); and a lovely copy of the Fry-Jefferson Map of the most Inhabited part of Virginia containing the whole Province of Maryland, London, 1775 ($12,000 to $18,000).

Rounding out the map highlights are double hemispheric world maps, such as Frederick de Wit, Nova Orbis Tabula in Lucem Edita, Amsterdam, circa 1670 ($3,000 to $4,000); atlases, including Anthony Finley, A New General Atlas, Philadelphia. 1833 ($3,500 to $5,000); maps of Europe and the Holy Land, and three globes dating from the nineteenth century.

Among the featured books with plates are John James Audubon’s The Quadrupeds of North America, with 155 very clean hand-colored lithographed plates, three volumes, New York, 1849 ($4,000 to $6,000); W.T. Greene’s Parrots in Captivity, with 81 color plates, three volumes, London, 1884-87 ($3,000 to $4,000); Col. T.H. Hendley’s Asian Carpets XVI and XVII Century Designs from the Jaipur Palaces, with 150 color plates, London, 1905 ($1,500 to $2,500); Vyacheslav Polonskii’s work on Russian Revolutionary Posters, illustrating poster art by Ivanov, Lebedev and others, first edition, Moscow, 1925 ($2,000 to $3,000); and works on architecture, caricature and costume.

The decorative graphics section contains plates from the double elephant folio edition of Audubon's Birds of America, beautiful botanicals by Robert John Thornton, Currier & Ives lithographs including equestrian subjects, New York City views, and more.

The sale concludes with nearly 30 lots of ephemera, which include Disney cartoon lobby cards, menus, postcards and sheet music.

The auction will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 2. The works will be on public exhibition Friday, May 27 by appointment only; Tuesday, May 31 and Wednesday, June 1, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Thursday, June 2, from 10 a.m. to noon.

 An illustrated catalogue with information on bidding by mail or fax is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, or online at www.swanngalleries.com.

For further information, and to arrange in advance to bid by telephone during the auction, please contact Gary Garland at (212) 254-4710, extension 17, or via email at ggarland@swanngalleries.com.

Live online bidding is also available via Artfact.com.
###

Beverly Hills, California-May 8, 2011…Julien’s Auctions,the world’s premier entertainment and celebrity memorabilia auction house, announced record sales in day two of their Summer Hollywood Legends auction event.  
 
Highlights included a black crepe cocktail dress worn by Marilyn Monroe to a 1958 party at the Beverly Hills Hotel which sold for $348,000, a collection of original negatives and transparencies taken by Harold Davidson sold for $72,000, a Marilyn Monroe swimsuit with MGM label sold for $84,000 and the umbrella from the 1949 photo shoot with Andre de Dienes on Tobey/Jones Beach sold for $18,000. Other Marilyn Monroe related items including photographs, clothing, correspondence and a script were among the other highlights.  
 
“Today further solidifies the fact that Marilyn Monroe continues to be the most collectible celebrity in the world even after her passing almost five decades ago,” said Martin Nolan, Executive Director, Julien’s Auctions.  
 
Other highlights included a straw hat with green, orange and yellow sheer fabric worn by Audrey Hepburn in the 1957 film Funny Face sold for $16,250, a Zorro signed Rapier also sold for $16,250, a Griffin throne used by Elizabeth Taylor in the 1963 film Cleopatra sold for $6,875,  a Frank Sinatra original painting depicting a poker table and signed by the legendary actor sold for $37,500, a Marlon Brando Golden Globe statuette awarded to Marlon Brando in 1972 for his role in “The Godfather” sold for $23,750, a Bruce Lee signed selective service card and photograph  sold for $20,000, a gold tone ring seen in the final scene of Academy Award winning film,  Schindler’s List as Ben Kingsley’s character, Itzhak Stern, gives the ring to Liam Neeson’s character, Oskar Schindler sold for $13,750.

About Julien's Auctions

With expertise specializing in entertainment memorabilia, Julien’s Auctions has quickly established themselves as the premier auction house in high profile celebrity and entertainment auctions. Julien’s Auctions presents exciting, professionally managed and extremely successful auctions with full color high quality auction catalogues unlike any other auction company.  Previous auctions include the collections of Cher, U2, Barbara Streisand, Debbie Reynolds, the estate of Marilyn Monroe and many more. Official website is www.juliensauctions.com
 
CONTACT:
Caroline Galloway
cngalloway@aol.com or cgalloway@juliensauctions.com
(440) 591-3807

NEW YORK—Swann Galleries’ auction of Autographs on April 21 offered a rich selection of presidential autographs, although it was a 17th-century document signed by John Milton that was the sale’s top lot. An endorsement signed by the then blind author of Paradise Lost—ironically serving as a witness to the signing of a land deed in 1657—sold for $45,600*, a record price for Milton's autograph, which is very rarely found on the market.

Other noteworthy writers’ autographs included a document signed by poet Heinrich Heine, as “Henri Heine,” in French, written from Paris where he settled after a series of anti-semitic attacks in his German homeland, 16 Sept 1848; and a July 1902 photograph signed and inscribed by Mark Twain, which he apparently found unflattering, as the inscription reads, “Age reconciles us to all things: / even to the most fiendish of / portrait-libels,” each of which brought $9,600.

The featured presidential items were a George Washington autograph letter signed “Go:Washington,” to J. Hector St. John Crèvecoeur, sending letters to be forwarded to recipients in France, Mount Vernon, 18 August 1788, $13,200; a circular letter signed by Thomas Jefferson, as President, sending the 12th amendment to the Constitution to an unnamed Governor for ratification, Washington, 13 December 1803, $25,200; and a partly-printed document signed by James A. Garfield, as President, ordering the Secretary of State to affix the U.S. seal to an envelope containing documents announcing Romania as a Kingdom, Washington, 5 May 1881, $7,800.

A stand-out scientific autograph was a Charles Darwin autograph letter signed, to an unnamed recipient, about the evidence for the theory of plant cross-fertilization, Down Bromley Kent, 24 December 1856, $26,400. Also related to science and medicine were an etched portrait of Sigmund Freud by Hermann Struck signed, “freud,” in pencil, circa 1914, $7,800; and a photograph of Albert Einstein signed and inscribed “Herrn Dr. Max Heimann dem Gütigen / December 1935,” $7,200.

A scrapbook kept by a fan of movie idol James Dean was valued for a signed portrait photograph that it contained as well as original photographs of Dean and his grandparents, 1950s-60s, $10,200.

Autographs by noted artists included an illustrated autograph letter from Lyonel Feininger, signed “Leo,” to Theodore Spicer-Simson, with three small hand-colored prints, New York, 30 March 1950, $7,200; and a group of 25 autograph and typed letters signed from John Berryman to teacher and critic Ralph C. Ross, 1957-71, $9,600.

Featured in the music section were a group of three items, each signed by Ralph Vaughn Williams, London, 1921, $7,800; and a Camille Saint-Saëns autograph musical manuscript for one of his last compositions, a song entitled  “Aux Aviateurs,” dated and signed, “C. Saint-Saëns 1921,” $6,240.

Rounding out the sale was a Mohandas K. Gandhi signature in Hindi and English, on a 5 Rupees note, 1938-48, $5,760; a full sheet of U.S. postage stamps commemorating the battle of Iwo Jima signed by photographer Joe Rosenthal and the three flag-raisers who survived the battle, 1945-46, $6,480; and an eloquently written typed letter signed from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Arthur Leonard Ross, thanking him for a contribution and outlining the ambitions and challenges for the civil rights movement, Atlanta, 30 July 1964, $6,480.
          
For complete results, an illustrated catalogue, with prices realized on request, is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, Inc., 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, or online at www.swanngalleries.com.

For further information, and to propose consignments to upcoming Autographs auctions, please contact Marco Tomaschett at (212) 254-4710, extension 12, or via email at mtomaschett@swanngalleries.com.

 *All prices include buyer’s premium.
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On June 2, 2011, PBA Galleries of San Francisco will offer at auction one of the finest private collections in existence of the literary and artistic work of the poet Charles Bukowski. Featuring a large selection of original typed, signed poems, a rare group of original paintings, and scarce broadsides and ephemera in additional to books, the collection presents a vivid picture of the earthy realism that was Charles Bukowski.
 
Dr. Ross Runfola, Woodrow Wilson Fellow at the University of Buffalo, was introduced to Charles Bukowski when his brother sent him a copy of Love is a Dog from Hell, and discovered a rare kinship with the alcohol-fueled poet and his work. Inspired to write poetry in the Bukowski mode, Runfola was also spurred to collect the creations of the German-American writer. After years of ferreting out rarities, haunting rare book shops, searching the internet, he has assembled a superb gathering, which he is now making available for sale at public auction.
 
Probably the most remarkable part of the collection is the nearly 175 original typed manuscripts, mostly poems, by Bukowski, many in the signed carbon or photocopy format that he would send to his publisher John Martin. Among the poems are “the copulative blues” from 1973, a signed and dated poem that was a gift to Runfola from Martin; “time off” written in 1978, a carbon signed and dated by Bukowski, a long poem (4 pages), with, suitably, a ring stain from a wine glass on the first page; and “Hawley’s leaving town” from 1975, again a signed and dated carbon typescript, 1½ pages, this time with a coffee stain, and, notably, nearly 20 ink manuscript corrections by Bukowski.
 
These rare manuscript poems by Bukowski are partnered with 35 or so original letters from Bukowski to various publishers, his agent and German translator Carl Weissner, assorted girlfriends and others, many offering rare insights into life and relationships.
 
Another high point of the auction is the superb selection of original art by Charles Bukowski, the finest private collection extant. Included are several self-portraits, abstract mixed media creations, expressionistic watercolors, still lifes, and more, fifteen pieces in all. A number of these were used in a show curated in 2007 by Donald Friedman on the theme of “The Writer’s Brush,” about the paintings and drawings of famous writers.
 
But these manuscripts and paintings would not be the sought-after rarities they are if Bukowski’s raw poetry and short stories had not been published, and published they were after many years of rejection, and in large number. The printed books and broadsides are fittingly the core of the collection, and Ross Runfola has acquired the most difficult to obtain. Paramount among these is The Genius of the Crowd, perhaps the rarest of the “Top Twenty Bukowski Rarities” listed by Al Fogel. The 11-leaf poem in chapbook form,  illustrated with prints by Paula Maria Savarino, was printed at the 7 Flowers Press in Cleveland, Ohio in 1966, in an edition of 103 copies, but all but 40 of these were confiscated and destroyed by the Cleveland police department, deeming it obscene. Charles Bukowski’s first book, Flower, Fist and Bestial Wail, 1960, limited to 200 copies is also on the block, a fine, fresh copy in the original wrappers, very rare thus, with only the slightest rusting to the staples, a seemingly inevitable occurrence. Another rarity on offer is the printed broadside True Story, 1966, one of 30 copies, signed by Bukowski, the first publication of John Martin’s Black Sparrow Press, which was to become Bukowski’s primary, almost exclusive, publisher. Also from the Black Sparrow Press is a copy of their first hardcover book, At Terror Street and Agony Way, 1968, one of 75 copies with an original signed painting by Bukowski, their first book issued with an original painting. Finally, there is Bukowski’s most popular book, Post Office, a novel based on his long tenure with the United States Postal Service. It is number 2 of 50 copies, from the collection of Black Sparrow Press publisher John Martin, hand-bound in boards by Earle Gray, with a cloth U.S. flag-motif spine, and an original painting by Bukowski. The book is in remarkably fine condition, with spine completely unfaded, rarely found thus.
 
The auction will be conducted at the San Francisco premises of PBA Galleries at 133 Kearny Street, starting at 1:00 p.m. on June 2, 2011. Printed catalogues will be available two to three weeks before the auction, and will also be posted on their website, www.pbagalleries.com. To order catalogues or make other inquiries, they can be emailed at pba@pbagalleries.com, or by phone at 415-989-2665 or 866-999-7224.
 
PBA Galleries

Auctioneers & Appraisers

133 Kearny Street

San Francisco, CA 94108
1.415.989.2665 phone

1.415.989.1664 fax

shannon@pbagalleries.com

www.pbagalleries.com

New York—The star item in Swann Galleries’ spring auction of Fine Books & Manuscripts on April 7, an association copy of The Four Gospels . . . , published in 1931 by The Golden Cockerel Press, and widely considered to be a masterpiece of modern book design, sold for an auction record $132,000*. Designed and illustrated by Eric Gill as a homage to the medieval tradition of illuminated text, and one of only 12 printed on Roman Vellum, this copy is the only one inscribed by Gill to appear at auction. The recipient of the inscription was his well-known colleague Leonard Woolf.

The sale comprised a wide range of books and manuscripts in beautiful condition that appealed to dealers and collectors who gathered for the New York Antiquarian Book Fair held over the following weekend.

Christine von der Linn, Swann book specialist said, “The spirit of New York Book Week could be felt at the heavily attended auction preview and continued with active bidding throughout the auction, especially for works that are rarely seen on the market.”

Another rarity that set a record was Francisco López de Gomara, Tarih-i Hind-i Garbi, [Description of the India of the West], Constantinople, 1730, the first edition of the first book on America printed in the Muslim world, limited to 500 copies, which brought $52,800.

Literary highlights included a first edition of James Joyce’s Ulysses, number 128 of 150 copies on vergé d’arches, Paris, 1922, called the “Giant Joyce” because its proportions are larger than those of the other limitations, $31,200; and a complete set in original boards of Lord Byron’s Don Juan, 16 Cantos (complete) in seven volumes, London, 1823-24, $16,800.

The sale also featured an assortment of illuminated manuscripts, both medieval, including a liturgical manuscript circa 1475 in Latin on vellum, with 12 miniatures, borders and initials by two artists, Tours(?), $26,400; and modern, such as a unique illuminated manuscript on vellum by Louis Fairfax Muckley, of James Russell Lowell’s The Vision of Sir Launfal, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1925, $14,400; as well as a large selection of illuminated vellum leaves.

Celebrating architecture and design were Giuseppe Galli Bibiena, Architetture, e Prospettive, first edition, Augsburg, 1740, $9,600; and Seconda Parte delle Logge di Rafaele nel Vaticano, one of three volumes of engravings after Raphael’s decorations in the private loggia of Pope Leo X in the Vatican, with exquisite contemporary hand-coloring, Rome, 1776, $16,800.

Early printed works on astronomy included Johannes Angelus, Astrolabium, with more than 400 handcolored woodcut illustrations, first edition, Augsburg, 6 October 1488, $22,800; and Giovanni Jacopo de Marinoni, De astronomica specula domestica et organico apparatu astronomico libri duo, first edition with 43 folding plates of astronomical and scientific instruments at the first Viennese observatory, Vienna, 1745, $19,200.

Rounding out the sale were an exceptionally well preserved volume of illustrated classical texts in translation, including the first editions in German of the histories of Justinus and Herodianus, Augsburg, 1531, $12,000; Niccolò Tartaglia’s military work, Three Bookes of Colloquies concerning the Art of Shooting…, first edition in English, London, 1588, bound with The Compleat Gunner, first edition, 1672, $12,000; Antoine-François Sergent-Marceau, Portraits des Grands Hommes, Femmes Illustres, et Sujets Mémorables de France, printed in color and hand finished, first edition, Paris, circa 1792, $7,680; and Sir Richard Francis Burton, Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah, first edition, London, 1855-56, $6,960.

An illustrated catalogue, with complete prices realized on request, is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, and may be viewed online at www.swanngalleries.com.

For further information, and to propose consignments of Fine Books to autumn 2011 auctions, please contact Tobias Abeloff (15th-18th century books) at 212-254-4710, extension 18, or tabeloff@swanngalleries.com; or Christine von der Linn (19th-20th century books) at 212-254-4710, extension 20, or cvonderlinn@swanngalleries.com.

*All prices include buyer’s premium.

New York—On Thursday, May 12 Swann Galleries will conduct a two-session auction of Art, Press & Illustrated Books, and 19th & 20th Century Literature. The sale begins at 10:30 a.m. with a selection of architecture and art journals, livres d’artiste, fine private press books, original illustrations and works on fashion and design. The afternoon session, starting at 1:30 p.m., features first editions, signed and inscribed copies, children’s literature, and a section devoted to science fiction, fantasy and thriller fiction.

Among the desirable livres d’artiste are Picasso’s collaboration with Pierre Reverdy, Le Chant des Morts, one of 20 hors commerce copies signed by both, Paris, 1946-48 (estimate $5,000 to $7,500); a first edition of Andy Wahol’s Index Book, in the original packaging and signed and inscribed by famed pop-up designer Waldo Hunt, New York, 1967 ($1,200 to $1,800); a limited edition copy of Salvador Dalí’s Die Göttliche Komödie, with 100 color woodcut plates, Geneva, 1974 ($7,000 to $10,000); and the great Jasper Johns and Samuel Beckett collaboration, Foirades / Fizzles, one of  250 signed by both, Paris and New York, 1976 ($12,000 to $18,000).

There are also three of Susan Weil's artistic tributes to James Joyce published by Vincent FitzGerald & Company: The Epiphanies, with 64 etchings, watercolors, collages and handcuttings by Weil and Marjorie Van Dyke, one of 50 signed by Weil and Van Dyke, New York, 1987 ($8,000 to $12,000); Giacomo Joyce Interpreted by Susan Weil, one of 50 signed copies, 1989 ($2,500 to $3,500); and Bride-Ship and Gulls, Weil’s final livre d’artiste celebrating the life and work of Joyce, one of 25 signed, 1991 ($4,000 to $6,000).

Other private press highlights include one of only three special copies of Peter Pauper Press’s Champ Rosé: Wherein May Be Discovered the Roman Letters that were Made By Geofrey Tory, printed entirely in red, with 27 antique alphabet plates by Bruce Rogers after Tory, signed by Frederick Goudy, Rogers, and press owner Peter Beilenson, New Rochelle, 1933 ($1,500 to $2,500); and a section of Arion Press titles including the culinary classic, The Physiology of Taste by Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, translated from the French by M.F.K. Fisher, with illustrations by Wayne Thiebaud, San Francisco, 1994, one of 200 signed by Thiebaud ($3,000 to $5,000).

Modern art highlights include a pair of pamphlets with original watercolors by David Burliuk, New York, 1931 ($3,000 to $4,000); the portfolio 10 Origin, with plates by Jean Arp, Sonia Delaunay, Wassily Kandinsky and others, most of them signed by the artists, Zurich, 1942 ($4,000 to $6,000); and Albert Gleizes and Jean Metzinger’s Du Cubisme, with 11 etchings and aquatints by or after Picasso, Braque and Léger and other artists, Paris, 1947 ($5,000 to $7,500).

Among the illustration highlights are original watercolors by designer George Barbier, including Makeda, Reine de Saba, Chronique Ethiopienne, 1912 ($5,000 to $7,500) and two Persian figures in traditional dress, likely created for one of fashion designer Paul Poiret’s famous costume fêtes, 1912 ($4,000 to $6,000); and a group of three fashion sketches in pencil and watercolor by graphic artist and designer Fritzi Löw, circa 1915 ($3,000 to $4,000).

There are also classic illustrated works by Leonard Baskin, Arthur Rackham, Maurice Sendak, Saul Steinberg, and a scarce first edition of the first work completely illustrated by Arthur Szyk, Julian Tuwim’s Rewolucja w Niemczech, a satirical commentary on post-World War I Germany, Warsaw and Lodz, 1919 ($4,000 to $6,000).

The afternoon session contains a private collection of early Science Fiction, Fantasy and Thriller literature including Isaac Asimov's The Foundation Trilogy, first edition of the Hugo Award-winner for all time best series, New York, 1951-53 ($2,500 to $3,500); first editions of Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle, 1962, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, 1965, and Ubik, 1969 ($2,000 to $3,000 each); Robert A. Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, New York, 1961 ($2,000 to $3,000); and titles by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen King and many others.

A wonderful rarity is the only known copy in a true first edition dust jacket of Carroll John Daly’s detective novel The Snarl of the Beast, New York, 1927 ($4,000 to $6,000). Also compelling is a scarce first edition of Boris Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago, in Russian, Milan, 1958 ($1,200 to $1,800).

Highlights among the children’s books are a large-paper copy of Winnie-The-Pooh signed by author A.A. Milne and illustrator E.H. Shepard, New York, 1926 ($5,000 to $7,500); Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’s The Yearling, first limited edition with an ink drawing by illustrator N.C. Wyeth, and signed by Rawlings and Wyeth, New York, 1939 ($2,500 to $3,500); and a first edition of The Phantom Tollbooth, signed by author Norton Juster and illustrator Jules Feiffer, New York, 1961 ($1,200 to $1,800).

Other signed classics include first editions of Émile Zola’s critical works, inscribed to French drama and music critic Edouard Noël, 1878-81 ($2,000 to $3,000); a signed first limited edition of D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Florence, 1928 ($6,000 to $9,000); John Steinbeck’s Their Blood is Strong, first edition, San Francisco, 1938 ($2,000 to $3,000); and a signed and inscribed copy of Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, London, 1956 ($3,000 to $4,000).

Nineteenth-century highlights include Emily Dickinson’s celebrated first three books of poetry, Boston, 1890-96 ($5,000 to $7,500); and The Nonesuch Dickens, from the limited edition of 877, with an original woodblock illustration, 1937-38 ($5,000 to $7,500).

Other desirable sets are Henry David Thoreau’s The Writings . . . Manuscript Edition, 20 volumes, one of 600 sets signed by the publisher and with an original manuscript sheet by Thoreau from his journal, Boston, 1906 ($6,000 to $9,000); and H.G. Wells, The Works, one of 1050 printed for America and signed by Wells, New York, 1924-27 ($2,000 to $3,000).

The auction will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 12, and continue in the afternoon at 1:30 p.m. The books will be on public exhibition Saturday, May 7, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Monday, May 9 to Wednesday, May 11, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

 An illustrated catalogue, with information on bidding by mail or fax, is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, Inc., 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, or online at www.swanngalleries.com.

For further information, and to make advance arrangements to bid by telephone during the auction, please contact Christine von der Linn at (212) 254-4710, extension 20, or via e-mail at cvonderlinn@swanngalleries.com.

Live online bidding is available via Artfact. Click on the Artfact link on the swanngalleries.com homepage.
#   #   #

Beverly Hills, California - April 14, 2011…  Julien’s Auctions, the world’s premier entertainment and celebrity memorabilia auction house, has announced their 2011 Summer Hollywood entertainment auction that will be held on Saturday, May 7 & Sunday, May 8, 2011 at their Beverly Hills Gallery.  Memorabilia from Hollywood’s most legendary leading ladies including Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich, Gloria Swanson, Angelina Jolie, Marion Davies and Lucille Ball will be offered at the two day event.  An object of curiosity that evokes stories only made in Hollywood, Dietrich was known as much for her style as for her husband and lovers. For the first time, Julien’s Auctions will offer for sale personal photographs by Dietrich’s favorite photographers, family photographs, correspondence to her husband regarding:  his mistress, their financial situation and the FBI, along with cables from Dietrich’s many lovers.  The items come from the home of Dietrich’s husband.
 
For more than thirty years Lucille Ball was one of the most universally recognized and loved entertainers in the world. Known simply as Lucy, she was an unparalleled force in television and won the hearts of every American as the scatterbrain comedian who turned wacky schemes into pure enjoyment for her audiences. Items offered in the sale include the Queen of Comedy’s personal items spanning from her early career through her films. The auction includes costumes, personal correspondence, photographs, film ephemera and her very own Chrysler Town & Country station wagon.
 
The auction also offers an opportunity to own Marilyn Monroe’s cocktail dress seen on the cover of the limited edition Summer Julien’s Auctions collectible catalog.  This black dress, along with other items of clothing, household items, books and personal items are offered for sale.

American actress and fashion icon Gloria Swanson was most prominent during the silent film era and was a protégée of famed director Cecil B. DeMille.  As a leading lady that transitioned from silent film work to what was referred to as talkies, Swanson is legendary for her provocative styles and famous remarks.  Her career spanned 65 years.  Her role in the masterpiece Sunset Boulevard remains legendary.  An array of personal clothing and accessories will be auctioned at the May auction.
 
The auction also includes science fiction property from NBC’s hit television series Heroes and the sci-fi thriller, The Cape.  Rounding out the science fiction section of the auction are costumes worn by the cast of Serenity, props and costumes from Terminator 2: Judgment Day, production materials from Raiders of the Lost Ark and Empire Strikes Back. One of the most popular pieces in the auction includes the original Batgirl costume worn by actress Alicia Silverstone in the Batman & Robin feature film.

Norman Rockwell and his process for making his illustrations are revealed in behind the scenes newly discovered staging photograph negatives being sold with copyright.  The photographs feature his subjects: Frank Sinatra, Ann-Margret, Bing Crosby and the everyday people in his life which became immortalized in his artwork. His scenes of everyday life have become a symbol for Americana at its best, but his connection to Hollywood depicted in many of his portrait subjects often seen on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post.

Other highlights from Hollywood include Audrey Hepburn’s Funny Face hat (Lot # 341, estimate $2,000-$3,000), Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse Club Signed Album (Lot # 358, estimate $800-$1,000), Zorro signed mask (Lot #367, estimate $800-$1,000), Cleopatra (1963 film) Head of Hather prop (Lot # 447, estimate $500-$700), Cleopatra (1963 Film) Griffin Throne as used by Elizabeth Taylor (Lot #450, estimate $1,000-$1,500), Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton signed guestbook (Lot #451, estimate $600-$800), Schindler’s List Ring from film (Lot #519, estimate $8,000-$10,000), and Angelina Jolie Worn Diamond Necklace (Lot #528, estimate $20,000-$30,000).

There’s Hollywood royalty and then there is Royalty of the family kind …..Two gowns belonging to Princess Diana of Wales will be among the highlights of Julien’s Summer Auction offered in conjunction with Wedding Central, the first and only 24/7 television destination for all things wedding related and celebrating the Royal Wedding in high style on May 7, 2011 with special programming. Princess Diana is undoubtedly one of the most adored members of the British royal family.

The two dresses offered for sale were worn for two very different purposes.  The first was worn on a 1992 state visit to India.  The embroidered details on this dress, designed by Catherine Walker, were inspired by the art of India.  The second dress is a flowing blue chiffon gown, also designed by Walker that Diana wore to the Cannes film festival, a production of Miss Saigon and in 1987 for a portrait sitting with photographer Terance Donovan.  Other royal items are represented in the auction including chairs from the 1937 coronation of King George VI, and documents from the Royal family including an order from King George II in 1757.

Free Public Exhibition:
Julien’s Auctions
9665 Wilshire Boulevard
Suite 150
Beverly Hills, California 90210
 
Monday, April 18th through Saturday, May 7th
10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Daily
Closed Sunday’s
 
Live Auction:
9665 Wilshire Boulevard
Suite 150
Beverly Hills, California 90210
Saturday, May 7th, 2011
Registering to Bid
Registration is required to bid in this live auction and can be done either in person at the exhibitions and auction or by visiting www.juliensauctions.com before the sale or by calling (310) 836-1818.

Placing Bids
There are four ways to bid in this sale:
    •    Bid through Julien’s Auctions Online Live in Real Time at www.juliensauctions.com
    •    Place bids in the room by attending the auction
    •    Bid over the telephone through an auction house representative, who sits in the room and conveys the bid to the auctioneer
    •    Enter Absentee bids. Absentee bid forms are printed in the back of each catalogue, and are also available by calling Julien’s Auctions (310)836-1818 or online at www.juliensauctions.com
 
About Julien's Auctions

With expertise specializing in entertainment memorabilia, Julien’s Auctions has quickly established themselves as the premier auction house in high profile celebrity and entertainment auctions. Julien’s Auctions presents exciting, professionally managed and extremely successful auctions with full color high quality auction catalogues unlike any other auction company.  Previous auctions include the collections of Cher, U2, Barbara Streisand, Debbie Reynolds, the estate of Marilyn Monroe and many more. Official website is www.juliensauctions.com
 
Press Contact:
Caroline Galloway
440-591-3807
cngalloway@aol.com  or cgalloway@juliensauctions.com
 

New York—On Thursday, April 21 Swann Galleries will conduct an auction of Autographs featuring Americana, world leaders, scientists, explorers, royalty, writers, artists, musicians, entertainers, and more.

A large section devoted to presidents includes outstanding nineteenth-century material, such as a letter signed by Thomas Jefferson, as President, sending an unnamed governor a copy of the proposed Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution concerning the election of President and Vice President, Washington, 13 December 1803 (estimate $15,000 to $20,000); a signed carte-de-visite portrait of Abraham Lincoln not dated, but known to have been photographed by Alexander Gardner on August 9, 1863 ($40,000 to $60,000); a partly printed document signed by James A. Garfield, ordering the Secretary of State to affix the seal of the U.S. to “an envelope containing my reply to the letter of King Charles of Romania, announcing the erection of Romania into a Kingdom… ,” Washington, May 5, 1881 ($8,000 to $12,000); and an unusually large signed and inscribed photograph of Chester A. Arthur ($7,000 to $10,000).

Of note among twentieth-century presidential letters are two handwritten retained drafts signed by Ronald Reagan, one to his daughter Patti Davis, the other to physician and anti-nuclear activist Dr. Helen Caldicott, with related correspondence from Caldicott and Davis, Washington, 18 January 1983 ($6,000 to $9,000). The notes are penned on memo paper decorated with a cartoon character and the words “No More Mr. Nice Guy.” With the intention of swaying her father’s opinion on nuclear weapons, Davis arranged a meeting between the president and Caldicott. News of the meeting caused a sensation when a journalist published the information although she had said she would keep their discussion off the record. In the letter to Caldicott, Reagan treats the indiscretion graciously, saying he has “been a victim of the same kind of unethical behavior.”

A photograph of aviator Charles Lindbergh, dated June 12, 1927, just after he returned from his historic non-stop flight to Paris, is signed and inscribed to John Coolidge, son of the President ($1,000 to $2.000). Pioneering astronauts are represented by a brochure announcing Project Mercury, the first American program to send spacecraft piloted by human beings into orbit around the earth, signed by the seven newly appointed Mercury astronauts and the director, Langley Research Center, April 1959 ($3,000 to $4,000).

Autograph letters with good content from scientists and inventors include an ALS from Charles Darwin to an unnamed recipient, regarding his theory of plant cross-fertilization ($7,000 to $10,000); a three-page Autograph Letter Signed by Samuel F.B. Morse to a member of the Western Union Board of Directors, written from Paris in 1867, asking for the names of “dishonorable” company representatives who are seeking investments in the Western Union Russian Extension Company, which states at one point, “if wealth can be obtained only by such swindle, I prefer poverty” ($4,000 to $6,000).

A strong selection of writers’ autographs includes one of the earliest items in the sale, an Endorsement Signed by John Milton, as a witness to a mortgage transaction, although Milton was blind by that time, Reigate, 23 January 1657 ($7,000 to $10,000); a dated and signed Autograph Quotation by Harriet Beecher Stowe, with five lines from Uncle Tom’s Cabin, 1894 ($3,000 to $4,000); a photographic portrait of Mark Twain, signed and inscribed “Age reconciles us to all things: / even to the most fiendish of / portrait-libels,” July 1902 ($4,000 to $6,000). In addition, there are more than 60 letters written to teacher and critic Ralph G. Ross from six writers he befriended and mentored, including many from Saul Bellow being offered in three lots; a small archive of correspondence from John Berryman and a group of poems by Berryman; and three lots of material related to William Carlos Williams, among them a Typed Letter Signed expressing his outrage that T.S. Eliot is given credit for improving English poetry by incorporating elements from an earlier generation of American poets, Rutherford, NJ, 1 May 1948 ($1,500 to $2,500).

The musicians section features an Autograph Letter Signed by Franz Liszt to Polish diplomat and amateur tenor and opera composer Prince Józef Michal Poniatowski, in French, inviting him to a dinner party, with a hand-addressed envelope ($2,500 to $3,500); two Autograph Musical Manuscripts of songs by Camille Saint-Saëns from 1921 ($4,000 to $6,000 each); and an Autograph Musical Quotation Inscribed and Signed by Igor Stravinsky, to his friend and translator Lucia Davidova, 1952 ($2,000 to $3,000).

Hollywood fans will appreciate a scrapbook of items from James Dean’s grandparents, kept by a fan who was a neighbor of theirs, which includes a signed portrait photograph and 30 pages of press clippings, baby pictures, and a letter to his grandparents from a sympathetic MGM employee following Dean’s death ($4,000 to $6,000).

Rounding out the sale are an Autograph Letter Signed by John Jay to his ailing wife, conveying his frustration at being unable to visit her, Bedford ($3,000 to $4,000); and a signed cabinet card photograph of Rain-in-the-Face, Chief of the Lakota, Chicago, 1893 ($2,000 to $3,000); an animation cell from Pinocchio, signed and inscribed by Walt Disney, circa 1940s ($5,000 to $7,500); and a full sheet of U.S. postage stamps commemorating the battle of Iwo Jima, signed by photographer Joe Rosenthal and the three surviving flag-raisers, Rene A. Gagnon, Ira H. Hayes, and John H. Bradley, with additional autograph  material from each survivor and Rosenthal, 1945-46 ($5,000 to $7,000).

The auction will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 21.

The Autographs will be on public exhibition Saturday, April 16, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Monday, April 18 through Wednesday, April 20, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Thursday, April 21, from 
10 a.m. to noon.

 An illustrated catalogue, with information on bidding by mail or fax, is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, Inc., 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, or online at www.swanngalleries.com.

For further information, and to make advance arrangements to bid by telephone during the auction, please contact Marco Tomaschett at (212) 254-4710, extension 12, or via e-mail at mtomaschett@swanngalleries.com.

Live online bidding is also available via Artfact.com.
 
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On April 11 at 2:00 pm, Sotheby’s New York will hold a single owner sale of Original Illustration Art from the Collections of Kendra and Allan Daniel. A portion of the proceeds will benefit The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art and the Animal Legal Defense Fund. The auction, the first of this type for Sotheby’s New York, will present children’s illustrations and other original art from this renowned collection, some of which was exhibited at The Carle in 2008.

The Daniels, as both collectors and dealers, stand in the forefront of the recognition of children’s illustration as fine art. The auction will include characters such as Babar, Madeline, Christopher Robin and Raggedy Ann, and artists such as Arthur Rackham, Dr. Seuss, and Beatrix Potter.

According to Sotheby’s, The Daniels approach the selection of children's illustration with the same connoisseurship as they have with their superb private collection of American folk art. “We did not put together a historical survey,” Allan insists. “We bought what we loved.”

Over the years, the Daniels have given The Carle some very important work for its permanent collection. “They have gifted the museum with wonderful illustrators that we are fortunate to share with visitors from all over the world,” says Alexandra Kennedy, the museum’s executive director. “Now, through this important auction, we will benefit once again from their remarkable generosity and ongoing dedication to children’s illustrated book art.”

The pre-sale exhibition opens on April 5th. To preview the auction items, please click here: http://www.sothebys.com/app/paddleReg/paddlereg.do?dispatch=eventDetails&event_id=30664 To purchase a catalog visit: http://www.sothebys.com/app/live/pub/PubCatDetail.jsp?event_id=30664

For more information, please contact: Justin Caldwell at justin.caldwell@sothebys.com, Dr. Philip Errington at philip.errington@sothebys.com, or Jamie Hurst at jamie.stewart @sothebys.com

About the Museum:
Together with his wife Barbara, Eric Carle, the renowned author and illustrator of more than 70 books, including the 1969 classic The Very Hungry Caterpillar, founded The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art as the first full-scale museum in this country devoted to national and international picture book art, conceived and built with the aim of celebrating the art that we are first exposed to as children. Through the exploration of images that are familiar and beloved, it is The Museum’s goal to provide an enriching, dynamic, and supportive context for the development of literacy and to foster in visitors of all ages and backgrounds the confidence to appreciate and enjoy art of every kind.

The Museum—which houses three galleries dedicated to rotating exhibitions of picture book art, a hands-on Art Studio, a Reading Library, an Auditorium, a Café, and a Museum Shop—is located at 125 West Bay Road, Amherst, MA. Museum hours are Tuesday through Friday 10 am to 4 pm, Saturday 10 am to 5 pm, and Sunday 12 noon to 5 pm. Admission is $9 for adults, $6 for children under 18, and $22.50 for a family of four. For further information and directions, call 413-658-1100 or visit The Museum’s website at www.carlemuseum.org.

Sandy Soderberg
Marketing Manager
 
The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art
125 West Bay Road
Amherst, MA  01002
t (413) 658-1105
f (413) 658-1139
sandys@carlemuseum.org
http://www.carlemuseum.org

[ITHACA, NY] National Book Auctions, located in Ithaca, NY, held a March 20th auction with over 400 lots of collectible books, ephemera and artwork including numerous signed first editions, Pulitzer prize-winning novels and an eclectic assortment of collectible pottery and dinnerware from Aurora, NY-based MacKenzie-Childs.
 
Of particular interest was a signed first edition of Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” (J. B. Lippincott Company, 1960). This rare book, in its original dust jacket, is arguably the most important American modern classic. The authenticated Harper Lee signature appeared on the blank leaf between the front free endpaper and the half-title page. The copy featured the first printing dust jacket identification points including the quote from Truman Capote in green at the top of the front flap, the lack of a printing statement on the lower left of the front flap, and the Truman Capote photograph on the rear. This variant first printing dust jacket shows the Grau/McGinley quotes on the rear flap, features which contributed to it’s $6,500 hammer price (plus buyer’s premium).
 
Also at the late March auction was a first edition copy of John Kennedy Toole’s “A Confederacy Of Dunces” (1980) which fetched a $1,200 hammer price (plus buyer’s premium) and a rare copy of Upton Sinclair’s “Dragon’s Teeth” (1942). The Author-Published advance copy realized a $325 hammer price (plus buyer’s premium) and featured a crimson clth binding with bright white lettering on the spine and front board. Other signed first editions and Pulitzer titles were also sold during the five-hour event.
 
The hammer price across all MacKenzie-Childs material exceeded $11,500 (plus buyer’s premium) and ran the gamut from dinnerware to lamps and from miniature to tables. These early offerings featured many discontinued patterns and products, attributes that contributed to their collectability. National Book Auctions announced this week that they will feature more early MacKenzie-Childs pieces in their upcoming April 17th auction.
 
National Book Auctions is a targeted auction service offering experience and expertise unique to marketing antique and modern books and ephemera for consignors and collectors alike. National Book Auctions is now developing new catalogs for the next year featuring collectible books, art, currency and ephemera and is now seeking new consignments. For more information, please contact David Hall at 607-269-0101 or email mail@nationalbookauctions.com.

New York—On Monday, April 11, Swann Galleries will conduct an auction of Early Printed Books. The sale offers classics, literature, law, religious, medical, and scientific works, as well as a large selection of Armenian books from a private collection and first editions of works by Immanuel Kant from the library of the late rabbi and philosopher Steven Schwarzschild.

Auction highlights include Homer, Opera [Works in Greek], third Aldine edition, two volumes, Venice, 1524; John Pine, Tapestry Hangings of the House of Lords, 10 plates depicting the defeat of the Spanish armada, designed by Hendrick Vroom, London, 1739; Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language, first edition, in two volumes, London, 1755; and Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, London, 1760-67 (each estimated at $8,000 to $12,000).

The Armenian section includes nearly 40 lots from a private collection with highlights such as an illuminated manuscript Gospels in Armenian written in black ink with evangelist portraits, decorated initials and marginal penwork ornaments in colors throughout, 306 (of 307) leaves, Constantinople, 1621 (estimate: $18,000 to $20,000); a beautiful example of Armenian book printing, Girk’ or koch’I Aysmawowrk’, second edition of a compilation of saints’ lives, Constantinople, 1730 ($2,000 to $3,000); and Step’Annos Agonts’, Hasarakakhosut’iwn ashkharhagrut’ean, a general introduction to geography, Venice, 1817 ($1,500 to $2,500).

The selection of works by Kant from the Schwarzschild library features Critik der reinen Vernunft, Riga, 1781 ($8,000 to $12,000).

Among the medicine and science highlights are Thomas Elyot’s The Castell of Helth corrected and in some places augmented, London, 1560 ($4,000 to $6,000); Sir Isaac Newton’s A Treatise in the System of the World, first edition in English, London, 1728 ($3,000 to $5,000); and Sir William Osler’s influential textbook, The Principles and Practice of Medicine, New York, 1892 ($2,000 to $3,000).

Rounding out the sale are Bibles in English and Latin, English and French books on cookery spanning the 18th century, and works on law and economics.

The auction will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, April 11. The books will be on public exhibition Saturday, April 2, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Monday, April 4 through Wednesday, April 6, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Thursday, April 7, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.; and, for the convenience of visitors to the New York Antiquarian Book Fair, Friday, April 8, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Saturday, April 9, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

An illustrated catalogue is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, Inc., 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, or online at www.swanngalleries.com.

For further information, and to make advance arrangements to bid by telephone during the auction, please contact Tobias Abeloff at (212) 254-4710, extension 18, or via e-mail at tabeloff@swanngalleries.com. Live online bidding is also available via Artfact.com.
 
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New York—Swann Galleries’ spring auction of Fine Books & Manuscripts, coinciding as always with the New York Antiquarian Book Fair, takes place on Thursday, April 7. The sale comprises fine press and illustrated books, illuminated manuscript leaves, incunabula and early printing, 19th- & 20th-century literature, decorative sets and bindings.

The star item in the auction, a special association copy of the Golden Cockerel Press masterpiece, The Four Gospels . . . , illustrated by Eric Gill, Waltham St. Lawrence, 1931, is sure to entice serious collectors. The first inscribed copy to appear at auction, this elegant and sumptuous work, one of only 12 copies printed on Roman vellum and bound in gilt-decorated white pigskin by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, is inscribed by Gill to his friend and colleague Leonard Woolf (estimate: $60,000 to $75,000).

The sale opens with a hand-colored copy of Johannes Angelus, Astrolabium, with more than 400 woodcut illustrations, including many large depictions of astrological subjects, Augsburg, 1488 ($20,000 to $30,000). Other sought-after 15th-century works include Francesco Filelfo, Satyrae, first edition of a collection of vituperative satires aimed mostly at the court of Cosimo de´ Medici by one of the leading Greek scholars of the time, written after his expulsion from Florence by the Medici regime, Milan, 1476 ($15,000 to $20,000); and two illuminated manuscript Books of Hours on vellum, circa 1475, one in Dutch from the Northern Netherlands, with elaborate initials and borders, the other in Latin, from Flanders, with 12 full-page miniatures ($15,000 to $25,000 and $25,000 to $35,000 respectively).

Also featured is an illuminated manuscript prayer book on vellum, in Latin and French, attributed to calligrapher Nicolas Jarry, Paris, mid-1600s ($15,000 to $20,000). In addition, there are twenty vellum manuscript leaves and initials, most illuminated, dating from the 12th through the 15th centuries, including a full page miniature of God the Father from a choir book painted in the style of Master of Jean Rolin, Burgundy, circa 1490 ($10,000 to $15,000).

Continuing the tradition, there is a modern illuminated manuscript of James Russell Lowell’s popular Arthurian tale, The Vision of Sir Launfal, with pre-Raphaelite-style illustrations and calligraphy by Louis Fairfax Muckley, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1925 ($10,000 to $15,000).

Notable illustrated 18th-century works include Architetture, e Prospettive, a collection of engravings after theatrical designs by Giuseppe Galli Bibiena, Augsburg, 1740 ($10,000 to $15,000); Giovanni Jacopo de Marinoni, De astronomica specula domestica et organico apparatu astronomico libri duo, depicting the advanced scientific instruments at the first Viennese observatory, first edition, Vienna, 1745 ($15,000 to $20,000); and a copy with exquisite contemporary hand-coloring of Seconda Parte delle Logge di Rafaele nel Vaticano, one of three volumes of engravings after Raphael’s decorations in the private loggia of Pope Leo X in the Vatican, Rome, 1776 ($14,000 to $25,000).

Nineteenth-century books replete with colored plates include Johann Gottfried Ebel, Die Bergstrassen durch den Canton Graubündten, first edition, deluxe hand-colored issue of a work on the topography and road system of eastern Switzerland with fine aquatint views of Alpine scenery after painter Johann Jakob Meyer, Zurich, 1826 ($15,000 to $25,000); a seven-volume set of John James Audubon’s The Birds of America, with 500 hand-colored plates, first American, first octavo and first complete edition, New York and Philadelphia, 1840-44 ($25,000 to $35,000); and a handsome three-volume set of McKenney and Hall’s History of the Indian Tribes of North America, with 120 hand-colored plates, third octavo edition Philadelphia, 1855 ($12,000 to $18,000).

Other highlights include a first limited edition of Charles Darwin’s most famous and influential work, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, London, 1859, ($50,000 to $70,000); and one of 150 limited edition copies of James Joyce’s Ulysses, on Vergé d’Arches, known as the “Giant Joyce” because of its larger proportions than the other limitations, first edition, Paris, 1922 ($25,000 to $35,000).

Also of note are a complete set in original boards of all 16 cantos of Byron’s Don Juan, London, 1823-24 ($8,000 to $12,000); a two-volume set of Charles Dickens’s The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, bound from the original parts and extensively extra-illustrated with Dickensiana and original watercolors, London, 1837 ($8,000 to $12,000); and a large-paper set of The Spectator, London, 1797, in 8 volumes each decorated with a charming fore-edge painting of London ($4,000 to $6,000).

Rounding out the sale are decoratively bound sets, exquisite late 19th-century bindings; histories and books on military subjects, and a run of signed works illustrated by Arthur Rackham.

The auction will take place at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 7. A sale of Early Printed Books Including Armenian Books follows on Monday, April 11.

The books will be on public exhibition on Saturday, April 2, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Monday, April 4 to Wednesday, April 6, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Illustrated catalogues, with information on bidding by mail or fax, are available for $35 from Swann Galleries, Inc., 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, or online at www.swanngalleries.com.

For further information, and to make advance arrangements to bid by telephone during the auction, please contact Christine von der Linn (19th-20th century books) at 212-254-4710, extension 20 or cvonderlinn@swanngalleries.com; or Tobias Abeloff (15th-18th century books) at 212-254-4710, extension 18 or tabeloff@swanngalleries.com.
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San Francisco, CA - March 14, 2011-- Space memorabilia is showing an extraordinary degree of collectability with the final version of the NASA flight plan for Apollo 11, the first manned space flight to land on the moon, quintupling its pre-sale high estimate bringing $51,000.
 
Inscribed on the front cover to Dean Mell, NBC News correspondent for Apollo missions 7 through 14, by Apollo 11 Commander, and first human to set foot on the surface of the moon, Neil Armstrong, the plan has several ink notations, most noting current time in relation to the hour into the mission. According to Mr. Mell, flight plans were provided to the various news correspondents prior to the flight to be used for reference during broadcasts. Armstrong inscribed this volume for Mr. Mell, at a post flight news conference. Signed flight plans are rarely seen and Armstrong has since ceased to autograph material. According to current reports his autograph is the most valuable of any living person.
 
Also in the sale and showing interest was the final version of the NASA flight plan for Apollo 13, signed on the front cover by Commander John Lovell, which sold for $7,800. Intended to be the third manned space flight to land on the moon, the mission had to be aborted after an oxygen tank ruptured, severely damaging the spacecraft's electrical system and crippling the service module upon which the Command Module depended. To conserve its batteries and the oxygen needed for the last hours of flight, the crew instead used the Lunar Module's resources as a "lifeboat" during the return trip to Earth. Despite great hardship caused by limited power, loss of cabin heat, shortage of potable water and the critical need to jury-rig the carbon dioxide removal system, the crew returned safely to Earth on April 17. NASA called the mission a "successful failure".
 
Complete auction results are available at www.pbagalleries.com and for additional information, please contact PBA Galleries at 415-989-2665 or pba@pbagalleries.com. Prices include 20% Buyer's Premium.
 
PBA Galleries of San Francisco is the only west-coast auction house specializing in books & manuscripts, maps & atlases. The company offers private and heirloom libraries at auction, providing clients with a staff of professional appraisers, online and printed catalogues, and bi-monthly auctions where participants can bid in person, by phone, fax, e-mail, and in real-time by signing up at the PBA Galleries website. For more information contact Shannon Kennedy - 415 989 2665 - shannon@pbagalleries.com
 
133 Kearny Street - 4th Floor
San Francisco, California  94108
p. 415.989.2665
f.  415.989.1664
www.pbagalleries.com
www.bibliobot.com
 

New York—On Thursday, March 31, Swann Galleries will offer a diverse selection of historically significant material in their semi-annual auction of Printed & Manuscript Americana. The sale contains many one-of-a-kind items with regional or national interest.

A section devoted to American Indians features hand-colored lithographs, vintage photographs, and an archive of correspondence and papers related to Indian portrait artist Joseph Scheuerle, who worked for the Strobridge Lithograph Company. Highlights of this section include McKenney and Hall’s well-known History of the Indian Tribes of North America, with 121 hand-colored lithographs in three volumes, Philadelphia, 1865 (estimate $10,000 to $15,000); a very scarce hand-colored lithograph by Emile Signol, C.H.C. Melody et les Indiens Ioways, Paris, 1845, depicting a troupe of Ioways who traveled to Europe in 1845 with George Catlin’s Indian Gallery ($2,500 to $3,500); and photographs by David F. Barry, a leading late nineteenth-century photographer, including his Self-portrait with Rain-in-the-Face, sepia toned silver print, circa 1885, printed 1910s ($1,500 to $2,500). There are four long letters from Barry to Scheuerle whose subjects range from his time spent with the Sioux, Custer and the Battle of Little Bighorn, 1914, and his opinion of various artists including Frederic Remington, 1931 ($3,000 to $4,000). Also of note are 22 letters to Scheuerle from William S. Hart, Hollywood’s first cowboy star, who collected Western art and sought to turn his California ranch into a museum, 1935-44 ($3,000 to $4,000).

Another archive related to the white man’s relations with the Indians—and other colonists—pertains to eighteenth-century theologian Jonathan Edwards. There are 16 manuscript items including Autograph Letters and Documents Signed by Edwards, whose correspondence rarely comes to auction, concerning his time in Stockbridge, Massachusetts as a missionary to the Mohicans, 1752-56 ($10,000 to $15,000). Much of the material details his differences with Ephraim Williams and the Williams family—who went on to found Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts.

Also related to a New England religious figure is a manuscript diary of Rhode Island native Ruth Pritchard, a follower of Jemima Wilkinson’s Universal Friends movement, which she kept from February to April 1790, and is being offered with other papers dated 1785 to 1855 ($5,000 to $7,500). Wilkinson is considered by many to be the first American-born woman to found a religious group, in this case an order that that drew upon Quaker, Shaker and evangelical influences.

There is also a significant Judaica item, Judah Monis’s Dickdook Leshon Gnebreet. A Grammar of the Hebrew Tongue, the first Hebrew grammar published in America, Boston, 1735. Monis was a Portuguese-Italian Jew who received a Masters Degree from Harvard in 1723. He wrote his Hebrew grammar as part of his course work, later converted to Christianity and joined the Harvard faculty as an instructor of Hebrew ($15,000 to $25,000).

From the divine to the profane, there is a fascinating archive of burlesque star Ann Corio’s salty letters to her publicist Eddie Jaffe, circa 1940s ($1,000 to $1,500). Corio was one of the leading striptease dancers of the 1930s, then moved on to act on stage and film in the 1940s and 1950s, and launched a popular touring production called “This Was Burlesque” in 1961. Jaffe was a celebrity in his own right, and is said to be the inspiration for the Tony Curtis character in “The Sweet Smell of Success.”

New York-centric highlights include original plans from the architectural firm that designed the Empire State Building, such as a pencil-drawn design for the building’s iconic information desk ($2,000 to $3,000), and the flooring, ceilings and other details ($3,000 to $4,000).

First-hand coverage of significant moments in American history include a stash of 90 issues of the Providence Gazette and Country Journal dating from 1764 to 1786, 20 of which were printed during the American Revolution. The volumes include March 1770 issues that feature detailed coverage of the Boston Massacre, as well as a 22 June 1776 issue with a letter from John Hancock warning of the impending British attack on New York ($3,000 to $4,000).

The Civil War section features two views of battle scenes, one a manuscript map of the First Battle of Bull Run drawn by a Confederate chaplain and infantry officer, 1861 ($2,500 to $3,500), the other an eyewitness sketch drawn the day after the Second Battle of Bull Run by a staff artist to Union General Franz Sigel, 1862 ($3,000 to $4,000). There are also papers from the family of Major Henry L. Abbott, 1815-91 ($1,500 to $2,500); a manuscript diary kept by a private in the 141 New York Infantry, 1862-64 ($1,000 to $1,500), and papers of Captain George E. Davis of Vermont, Medal of Honor recipient and hero of the Battle of Monocacy.

Other diverse highlights include compelling images of life aboard the whaling bark Clara Bell in a manuscript journal kept at sea between 1855-58 by Robert W. Weir, Jr., a runaway who came from a renowned family of artists ($5,000 to $7,500). Son of the prominent Hudson Valley School landscape painter of the same name, Weir became a crewman aboard the ship at the age of 19 and later used this journal and its sketches as the basis of a volume now in the collection of Mystic Seaport in Connecticut.

Also of note are Canadian histories and travel narratives; a first draft of the Florida statehood act, Washington, 7 January 1845 ($1,000 to $1,500); and a journal kept by a publicity agent for Goodyear detailing a blimp promotional tour from July 1929 to January 1932 ($1,000 to $1,500).

The auction concludes with a section of Latin Americana, which features Mexican imprints such as a large work of moral and theological philosophy written in the language of the Aztecs in 1607 and the first Mexican edition of a biography of the Italian saint Philip Neri; a first edition of a seventeenth-century legal analysis by a Peruvian jurist supporting the crown’s power over the church in America; and printed material from Simón Bolívar.

The auction will take place Thursday, March 31 at 1:30 p.m. The items will be on public exhibition Saturday, March 26, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Monday, March 28 through Wednesday, March 30, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Thursday, March 31, from 10 a.m. to noon.

An illustrated catalogue, with information on bidding by mail or fax, is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, Inc., 104 East 25 Street, New York, NY 10010, or online at www.swanngalleries.com.

For further information, and to make advance arrangements to bid by telephone during the auction, please contact Rick Stattler by telephone at (212) 254-4710, extension 27, or email: rstattler@swanngalleries.com.

Online bidding is available via Artfact.com.
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CATALOGUE AND DIGITAL IMAGES AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST
Rebecca Weiss
Media Relations
Swann Galleries
104 East 25th Street
New York, NY 10010
212-254-4710, ext. 23
rebeccaw@swanngalleries.com

[ITHACA, NY] National Book Auctions, located in Ithaca, NY will features a fine assortment of important books, ephemera and collectibles, including a number of important first edition volumes, an impressive gathering of hand-made MacKenzie-Childs pottery and a selection of original artwork at their Sunday, March 20 auction.  Also offered is an assortment of antique and vintage literature and other writings spanning the 19th and 20th centuries.  Of particular note is a sizeable collection of antique titles relating to bee-keeping and an original, antique handwritten letter from Susan B. Anthony, written in 1889 and discussing women's suffrage.
 
Featured in this auction is the 1814 first English edition of “Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean,” which provides a detailed account of Lewis and Clark’s expedition across the unexplored Louisiana Territory, derived from the journals of the explorers.  The volume retains the original six engraved maps, including the large fold-out which many credit for launching the modern era of map collecting.  This work details various Native American tribes encountered on the expedition to what is now Yellowstone National Park, present-day Texas and beyond.
 
A selection of first editions will be offered, including an important author-signed first edition of the classic “To Kill A Mockingbird”.  Among the other first edition titles is a number of Pulitzer Prize winners, including the 1923 work "The Able McLaughlins" by Wilson, "Confederate of Dunces" by Toole (1980) and the 1952 classic, "Old Man and the Sea" by Hemingway.
 
An impressive collection of MacKenzie-Childs hand-painted, American-made ceramics and glassware is included in this catalog.  This fine, collectible group features an assortment of dinnerware, lamps and other ceramic pieces including large serving platters, lamps, vases, plates, bowls and numerous other items.  Each of these gorgeous, hand-designed pieces shows the beautiful distinctive designs and presentation of lively yet subdued colors for which MacKenzie-Childs is celebrated by collectors.
 
This auction also offers a fine collection of original oil paintings and engravings.  Three original oil paintings by the Dutch artist Thierry Poncelet are highlighted, each portraying his signature ancestral dog portraits.  Here, West Highland White Terriers are featured.  Also included is a large collection of original engravings, many from the pages of late Nineteenth Century "Harper's Weekly" magazines, featuring the work of Winslow Homer and Frederic Remington with Civil War, Native American and other themes.
 
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. For more information, please contact David Hall at 607-269-0101 or email mail@nationalbookauctions.com.
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[ITHACA, NY] National Book Auctions, located in Ithaca, NY, will feature at their Sunday, February 27 auction an assortment of military-related material, scholarly art reference books, polar exploration titles, and a number of other notable books, including several botany-related titles.
 
Featured in this auction is an eclectic collection of militaria, including antique and vintage uniforms, books, ephemera and other memorabilia.  Among items in this collection are original WWI and WWII army and air force jackets, pants, helmets, and other gear, as well as authentic patches and insignia.  Complementing this collection are several important military-related books, featuring an 1862 first edition of the “History of the United States Naval Academy” and an 1825 report on the court martial of Commodore David Porter, and a variety of antique titles concerning the Civil War.  Ephemera in this group includes original correspondence to and from soldiers during World War II and photographs of German Nazi soldiers and Japanese soldiers, among other items.
 
The art reference titles feature works such as the first printing of the vintage work “The New Industrial Parks Near Irvine, California,” an influential work on landscape photography.  Other important works include a six-volume set on the paintings of Rembrandt with over 2,000 plates of the painter’s work, a 1931 first edition German catalog of artwork in the Berlin Museum, and “Les Marques De Collections De Dessins & D'Estampes,” an important 1921 French work identifying collector's marks used by museum and private collectors.
 
The polar exploration titles in this auction chronicle the history of nineteenth and early twentieth century journeys to the North & South poles.  The works in this collection detail the expeditions of A. W. Greely through items such as the 1884 pamphlet “The Greely Arctic Expedition,”  by Peary, an 1898 first edition of “Northward Over the ‘Great Ice’,” and Ejnar Mikkelsen’s 1913 first English edition of “Lost in the Arctic”.  Also included are numerous books by classic exploration authors, such as Fridtjof Nansen, Vilhjalmur Stefansson and Peter Freuchen.
 
Other notable books include a fine assortment of gardening and botany titles.  Featured is a first edition, gorgeously bound 1877 printing of the “Hand Book of Practical Landscape Gardening,” Thomas Meehan’s 1878-79 work on the “Native Flowers and Ferns of the United States,” and several volumes of U.P. Hedrick’s “Fruits of New York” series in fine condition with the prized color plates.
 
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. For more information, please contact David Hall at 607-269-0101 or email mail@nationalbookauctions.com.

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Iberian Judaica from the distinguished collections of the late Alfonso Cassuto of Lisbon, Portugal highlights Kestenbaum & Company's February 24 auction of fine Judaica

Kestenbaum & Company’s sale of Fine Judaica to be held on Thursday, February 24, at 3:00pm will mark the company’s Fiftieth Auction since its establishment in 1996. With an exclusive commitment to the field of Fine Judaica, Kestenbaum has over the past fifteen years offered some 17,000 lots comprising an immense quantity of Judaic properties. Highlighting this Jubilee auction, will be the historic Cassuto Collection of Iberian-related Books and Manuscripts, alongside which, this extensive sale will feature Rare Hebrew Printed Books, Manuscripts, Autograph Letters, Graphic & Ceremonial Art.

The foundation of the Alfonso Cassuto Collection was laid by Mr. Cassuto’s great-grandfather Jehuda de Mordehai Cassuto who in 1835 acquired a sizeable library assembled in the seventeenth century by the Namias Family of Hamburg.

Subsequent generations of the family greatly expanded the library and Alfonso in particular immersed himself enthusiastically in the books and the library’s further development.  The present collection was consigned to Kestenbaum & Company by Alfonso’s son, the distinguished composer and conductor Álvaro Leon Cassuto, Artistic Director of the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra.

The Collection of Iberian-Judaica features theological, historical and liturgical texts as well as books and manuscripts relating to the Inquisition, literature, science and medicine. Important lots within the collection include a handsome manuscript by Isaac Orobio de Castro, Prevenciones Divinas contra la vana ydolatria de las gentes, Amsterdam, circa 1700, estimate $25,000-30,000 (lot 332) and three highly significant works bound in one volume by the celebrated mathematician and cartographer, Pedro Nunes, including his De Arte Atque Ratione Navigandi, 1573, at an estimate of $20,000-25,000 (lot 331). Further highlights include Isaac da Fonseca Aboab’s Parafrasis Comentado Sobre el Pentateuco with the rare frontispiece portrait, Amsterdam, 1681, estimate $5,000-7,000 (lot 264); Flor de Apolo, a sumptuous edition of collected poetry by one of the most celebrated seventeenth century Marrano poets, Miguel de Barrios, Brussels, 1665, estimate $6,000-8,000 (lot 280); Joseph Penso de la Vega’s Rumbos Peligrosos, Antwerp, 1683, estimate $4,000-6,000 (lot 286) and Luis de Granada’s Introduction del Symbolo de la Fe, Salamanca, 1584-85, estimate $4,000-6,000 (lot 290). Also featured are medical texts by noted Marrano physicians such as Elijah Montalto (lot 322), Amatus Lusitanus (lot 317) and Rodrigo de Castro (lot 320).

Elsewhere in the 420-plus lot auction is a broad range of categories including Incunabula, Liturgy, Chassidic and Kabbalistic texts, Bibles, Passover Hagadahs, American and Anglo Judaic imprints, Anti-Semitic and Holocaust-related materials. Illustrated Books in the auction feature works by Max Liebermann, El Lissitzky, Reuven Rubin and Issachar Ber Ryback. Other sections include a significant collection of Autograph Letters, Graphic Art, a single-owner collection of Fine Photography and Ceremonial Art.

Incunabula in the auction include Joseph Albo’s classic text of Jewish philosophy-Sepher Ha’Ikarim, Soncino, 1485, estimate $25,000-35,000 (lot 7); a wide-margined copy of David ben Joseph Abudraham’s commentary to the prayers, the second book printed in Lisbon, 1489, estimate $20,000-30,000 (lot 265) and Alphonso de Spina’s Fortalitium Fidei, Nürnberg, 1485, estimate $ 6,000-9,000 (lot 340). An important post-incunable is a crisp set of Daniel Bomberg’s Biblia Rabbinica, presented here in four volumes in a fine, uniform contemporary binding, Venice, 1524-5, at an estimate of $50,000-70,000 (lot 53).

Among the Chassidic Books, the rarest is undoubtedly an extraordinarily fine copy of Schneur Zalman of Liadi’s Sepher Likutei Amarim, the fundamental exposition of Chabad Chassidic philosophy, Slavuta, 1796, at a pre-auction estimate of $100,000-120,000 (lot 71). Other notable Chassidic texts in the sale include a scarce copy of Schneur Zalman of Liadi’s first edition of the Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim), Kopyst, 1816, estimate $8,000-10,000 (lot 74) and the first anthology of the teachings of the Ba’al Shem Tov, Kether Shem Tov, two parts bound in one, Zolkiew, 1794, at an estimate of $7,000-10,000 (lot 70).

A sizeable selection of Passover Hagadahs includes many fine examples such as Arthur Szyk’s opulently illlustrated Hagadah printed entirely on vellum (one of 125 numbered copies), London 1939-40, estimate $30,000-40,000 (lot 132); a beautifully designed Hagadah by Albert Daniel Rutherston rarely seen at auction (one of 100 copies printed on handmade paper), London, 1930, estimate $7,000-9,000 (lot 131); a copy of the celebrated Amsterdam Hagadah, 1695, estimate $4,000-6,000 (lot 123) and a deluxe, large-paper-copy of Jakob Steinhardt’s artistic Hagadah, Berlin, 1921, at an estimate of $3,000-5,000 (lot 129).

The Autograph Letters section of the sale boasts an impressive selection of written correspondences by prominent Rabbinic thinkers and Chassidic leaders. Included are letters by the Chofetz Chaim and members of the Halberstam Family. Also on offer is correspondence from the Schneerson Family including letters written from Latvia in 1927 shortly after the family’s expulsion from the Soviet Union. Far and away, the most prominent lot to be auctioned in this section is an immensely rare autograph letter written by the paramount Chassidic leader, Reb Nosson of Breslov. The letter was written by Reb Nosson in 1842 to a close disciple, Reb Meir Mirkis of Teplik, who was ailing at the time, and the missive has remained with the Mirkis family for nearly two centuries. This letter is of singular importance as it contains, at its heart, one of the central philosophies of Breslov Chassiduth: “Joy is the remedy for all sicknesses.” The pre-auction estimate is $40,000-60,000 (lot 237). Another star lot in this section is a group of childhood photographs and autograph letters written by Oskar Schindler, the renowned rescuer of Holocaust-era Jews. The letters were written to Schindler’s first cousin Emily Tyrolt. The pre-sale estimate is $5,000-7,000 (lot 245).

Highlights among the manuscripts include an important autographed pedagogic work by Yitzchak Aryeh Zekel Leib Wormser, the Ba’al Shem of Michelstadt (1768-1847), estimate $15,000-20,000 (lot 255); a bizarre and rather fascinating Kabbalistic manuscript of folk remedies, Eastern Europe, eighteenth century, estimate $1,000-1,500 (lot 257) and a rare illuminated Marriage Contract from the ancient community of Mountain Jews in the region of Azerbaijan, 1867, estimate $1,500-2,500 (lot 353).

The Graphic Art section features paintings by Artur Markowicz, Saul Raskin and Otto Eichinger among others. Of particular interest is a Hebrew Map of the World by Benedictus Arias Montanus, Antwerp, 1571, at an estimate of $700-1,000 (lot 354). A single-owner consignment of Fine Photography notably includes the works of Roman Vishniac (lots 371-373).

The sale concludes with an attractive selection of Ceremonial Art. Fine examples include a seventeenth century Italian Bronze Chanukah Lamp, estimate $15,000-18,000 (lot 380), a pair of Continental silver and silver filigree Torah Finials, circa 1800, estimate $5,000-7,000 (lot 399) and an exceptional Italian embroidered Synagogue textile, dated 1698, at an estimate of $5,000-7,000 (lot 397). Also noteworthy is a varied collection of materials from the Bezalel School of Art (Lots 405-22).

This Jubilee Auction is particularly exciting and we look forward to welcoming a broad range of new clients likely to be drawn to the attractions found in the celebrated Cassuto Collection.

For  further  information  relating  to  bidding  or  any  other  queries,  please  contact Jackie  Insel at  212-366-1197.

Mickey Mouse animation cel, world’s most valuable, readies for sale at Heritage Auctions
 
From the Kerby Confer Collection, to be auctioned as part of Heritage’s Feb. 24-25 Comics & Comic Art auction
 
DALLAS, TX - The most valuable animation cel in the world, and one of the most important Mickey Mouse collectibles in existence - The Band Concert Production Cel Animation Art, Walt Disney, 1935 - will be part of Heritage Auctions Feb. 24-25 Signature® Comics and Comic Art Auction. It is estimated at $100,000+. It is thought to be the only production setup in existence from the first Mickey cartoon that features Mickey and the entire band.
 
“This cel is, in many ways, the ultimate Mickey Mouse item a collector could ever hope to acquire,” said Barry Sandoval, Director of Operations of the Comics category at Heritage. “The Band Concert was the very first theatrical Mickey Mouse cartoon in color, and has long been cherished by Disney fans worldwide.”
 
The cel comes to Heritage via the Kerby Confer Collection, one of the finest groupings of key Disney related art ever assembled. Confer, a well-known Maryland radio executive, has long been known as one of the most serious collectors of original Disney material. Confer acquired the cel in 2001.
 
The Band Concert itself is an intensely funny short cartoon, crammed with colorful gags involving Mickey's ragtag orchestra - who never stop playing, no matter what is happening around them - and the efforts of soft drink salesman Donald Duck to subvert the program by playing "Turkey in the Straw" on his piccolo. The film culminates with an intense windstorm, just as the band plays "The William Tell Overture”.
 
“This is a charming and beautiful cel,” said Sandoval. “It shows Mickey and company at the beginning of the cartoon, greeting their audience.” We’re extremely proud to be offering what is widely considered to be the most important piece of animation history in existence, with no reserve.”
 
Heritage Auctions, headed by Steve Ivy, Jim Halperin and Greg Rohan, is the world’s third largest auction house, with annual sales more than $600 million, and 500,000+ online bidder members. For more information about Heritage Auctions, and to join and gain access to a complete record of prices realized, along with full-color, enlargeable photos of each lot, please visit HA.com.
                        
Want to get the up-to-the-minute updates and breaking news stories about Heritage Auctions? Get them as they happen at: www.Twitter.com/HeritageAuction; Facebook: www.HA.com/Facebook.To view a compete archive of Heritage press releases go to: HA.com/PR. To link to this press release on your blog or Website: HA.com/PR-1975.


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For more information:
Noah Fleisher, Public Relations Director
214-409-1143; NoahF@HA.com

New York—Swann Galleries’ online auction of signed performing arts memorabilia ran from January 10 through February 1. It was the first auction in Swann’s 70-year history that was online only, with no live bidding or previewing, and no printed catalogue. Just under 375 lots were offered, and 76 percent found buyers.

The sale comprised material collected by a New England enthusiast in the first half of the 20th century. Most items were offered with estimates of $50 to $100, and several examples far exceeded expectations. A 1945 playbill for the original Broadway production of The Glass Menagerie, signed on the cover by Laurette Taylor, Eddie Dowling, Julie Haydon and Anthony Ross brought $1,806*, making it the sale's top lot.

Other highly desirable theater playbills for original productions of well known plays were Death of a Salesman, signed on the cast page by Arthur Miller and every member of the cast including Lee J. Cobb, Mildred Dunnock, Cameron Mitchell and Arthur Kennedy, February 1949, $1,506; a pair of playbills for Carousel, one signed and inscribed by each member of the cast, the other signed by the producers and writers, Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein, 28 November 1945, $966 for both; and The Iceman Cometh, signed, inscribed and dated on the front cover by Eugene O'Neill, December 1946, $792.

Other playwright autographs of note included a program for a production of Our Town at the Amherst [Massachusetts] Drama Festival signed by Thornton Wilder on the first cast page, August 1940, and a playbill for The Glass Menagerie, inscribed and signed on the cover by Tennessee Williams, November 1945, $468 each.

In addition to playbills from theatrical productions like these, the sale also featured Sarah Bernhardt’s signature and date on the cover of a playbill for a one-week appearance at a theater in Boston, November 1916, $636; Paul Robeson’s signature on the front page of a “Tribute to Russia” benefit program, Springfield, Mass, 20 June 1943, $546; and autographed photos of Ignaz Friedman, Polish piano virtuoso and composer, $606; a photograph signed and inscribed, “Tres Sympathiquement,” by signer Edith Piaf, $546; a costumed Enrico Caruso as Rhadames in Aida, $534; and a signed and inscribed portrait of Austrian-born violinist Fritz Kreisler, November, 1919, $492.

Complete auction results can be viewed on the Swann Galleries website: www.swanngalleries.com. For further information, please contact George Lowry at (212) 254-4710, extension 15, or via e-mail at glowry@swanngalleries.com.

*Prices include buyer’s premium.

New York/London/Hong Kong - January 19, 2011 - Christie’s International, the world’s leading art business, and Runway to Green announce the second annual “Bid to Save the Earth” Green Auction. The online auction, powered by charitybuzz.com, is open from March 17th to April 7th and the Live Event, hosted by Christie’s at Rockefeller Center, will take place on March 29, 2011. 

The Green Auction environmental partners include the core 2010 partners: Oceana, Conservation International, NRDC and Central Park Conservancy, which harness their collective efforts to design local, national, and international solutions for the most urgent environmental threats confronting humanity.Christie’s is very pleased to be partnering with Runway to Green - a pioneer in greening the fashion industry - and four of the most acclaimed NGO’s in the world,” said Edward Dolman, Chairman of Christie’s. By hosting the Green Auction, Christie’s is taking the lead with innovative ways to raise crucial funds and awareness for the preservation of our planet, and we are happy to be a global catalyst in such a noble endeavor.”

 

The 2011 Green Auction marks the inaugural partnership with Runway to Green (RTG). The unprecedented collaboration between these two organizations brings together top art collectors, philanthropists, financiers, and environmentalists with the fashion community, utilizing their combined influence to raise funds and awareness for the preservation and sustainability of our planet. “This collaboration constitutes one of the most important commitments made on behalf of the fashion industry to learn and address its impact on the environment,” said Runway to Green Chairman Lorenzo Roccia. “It uses the power and reach of the industry to deliver a global message about the relevance and necessity to be educated on our individual role and responsibility in protecting the environment.”

Runway to Green will host a fashion show on the night of the live auction and make designer collection selections available online through - -Net-a-Porter-- who will be the exclusive online retailer of the collection for the launch. Proceeds from the sale of the collection will also be divided among the beneficiary organizations.

Runway to Green’s involvement in this initiative links the fashion industry to the NRDC’s Clean by Design program recently launched to promote improvement in the environmental impact of  the apparel sector. The NRDC will work closely with each of the designers in the program to provide an education on the negative effects of mainstream production and on ways to be more green and efficient.

In order to make ‘BID’ as green-inclusive as possible, the online auction will carry the majority of celebrity and once-in-a lifetime experiences, so that anyone -- anywhere -- in the world has a chance to BID by logging on and pitching in. The Bid to Save the Earth ACTIONEER Award contest invites the general public to join this movement by submitting their stories and personal initiatives, which demonstrate how they are engaging their communities, and making a positive impact on the environment. The emphasis will be on grassroots actions of conservation, which are already set in place, have achieved measurable results, and are ongoing projects. Entries will be submitted via www.abidtosavetheearth.org and will be accepted between February 1, 2011 and March 1, 2011.

The March 29 event will be hosted by: François-Henri Pinault and Salma Hayek, David and Susan Rockefeller and Graydon and Anna Carter, in association with Vogue magazine. The evening will also debut the Runway to Green collection with a fashion show co-styled by Vogue’s Fashion Director, Tonne Goodman and Vogue’s Contributing Editor, Tabitha Simmons .  Susan and I are delighted to be co-chairs again this year for “Bid To Save The Earth’” said David Rockefeller, Jr. “We all must do our part to protect the natural world for our children’s children. Everyone can support the Green Auction through the Internet - a truly democratic way to stand up for Mother Earth. “

We are pleased to announce that Bid to Save the Earth will be a carbon neutral event and we are working with the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation to provide the carbon offset for the event. Please visit www.BidtoSavetheEarth.org  for more information on the online and live auctions.

In addition to bidding in the online auction, the public is invited to make a symbolic bid for the environment by texting “gogreen” to 20222 to donate $10. Funds from text “gogreen” will go towards Bid to Save the Earth beneficiaries.

Those interested in sponsoring or contributing to this charitable cause may contact: 
Toby Usnik at tusnik@christies.com.

Christie’s will waive all fees and commissions for the auction.

FOLLOW THE GREEN AUCTION ON: 

TWITTER at twitter.com/Bid2SaveEarth 

FACEBOOK at Facebook.com/A-Bid-To-Save-The-Earth

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PRESS CONTACTS: 
Toby Usnik, New York +212.636.2680 tusnik@christies.com 
Alexandra Buxton, London+44.20.7389.2117 abuxton@christies.com 
Yvonne So, Hong Kong +852.29.78.99.19 yso@christies.com 
Megan Salt, Vogue +1.212.286.6884 megan_salt@condenast.com 
Jenny Powers, NRDC +1.212.727.4566 jpowers@nrdc.org 
Kevin Connor, Oceana +1.202.467.1910 kconnor@oceana.org 
Scott Johnson, CPC +1.212.310.6641 sjohnson@centralparknyc.org 
Kim McCabe, CI +1.703.341.2546 k.mccabe@conservation.org 
Glenda Luft +1.646.315.2664 gluft@charitybuzz.com 
Caroline Bassett +1.212-744-0218 bassettmediarelations@gmail.com 

About Christie’s

Christie’s, the world's leading art business had global auction and private sales in 2009 that totaled £2.1 billion/$3.3 billion. For the first half of 2010, art sales totaled £1.7 billion/$2.57 billion. Christie’s is a name and place that speaks of extraordinary art, unparalleled service and expertise, as well as international glamour. Founded in 1766 by James Christie, Christie's conducted the greatest auctions of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, and today remains a popular showcase for the unique and the beautiful. Christie’s offers over 450 sales annually in over 80 categories, including all areas of fine and decorative arts, jewelry, photographs, collectibles, wine, and more. Prices range from $200 to over $100 million. Christie’s has 53 offices in 32 countries and 10 salerooms around the world including in London, New York, Paris, Geneva, Milan, Amsterdam, Dubai and Hong Kong. More recently, Christie’s has led the market with expanded initiatives in emerging and new markets such as Russia, China, India and the United Arab Emirates, with successful sales and exhibitions in Beijing, Mumbai and Dubai. (www.christies.com)

About Runway to Green 

Runway to Green is a fundraising model that brings together today’s most important and relevant fashion designers  to raise funds, educate and create awareness for the environment. Selected leading designers and brands are dedicating or creating an item of their choosing as part of their Fall 2011 collection for Runway to Green. The pieces will be sold worldwide through the designer’s stores, online, select department and retail stores making this truly a global initiative. A percentage of proceeds from sales will go to Runway to Green, which in turn funds leading environmental organizations. (www.runwaytogreen.com) 

About the Natural Resources Defense Council

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 1.3 million members and online activists. Since 1970, the NRDC’s lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have been working to protect the world's natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City; Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Chicago; Livingston; Montana; and Beijing. (www.nrdc.org) 

About the Central Park Conservancy 

The Central Park Conservancy's mission is to restore, manage, and enhance Central Park, in partnership with the public, for the enjoyment of present and future generations. The CPC is a private, not-for-profit organization, founded in 1980, that manages Central Park under a contract with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. Thanks to the generosity of many individuals, corporations, and foundations, and the City of New York, the Conservancy has invested more than $550 million to date in the park, making it a model for urban parks worldwide. The Conservancy raises more than 85 percent of Central Park's annual $37.4 million annual park-wide expense budget and is responsible for all basic care of the park. (www.centralparknyc.org) 

About Conservation International 

Built upon a strong foundation of science, partnership, and field demonstration, Conservation International (CI) is committed to helping societies adopt a more sustainable approach to development - one that considers and values nature at every turn. Founded in 1987, CI has some 900 employees working in more than 30 global offices and 1,000+ partners around the world. (www.conservation.org) 

About Oceana

Oceana campaigns to protect and restore the world's oceans. Its teams of marine scientists, economists, lawyers, and advocates win specific and concrete policy changes to reduce pollution and to prevent the irreversible collapse of fish populations, marine mammals, and other sea life. Global in scope and dedicated to conservation, Oceana has campaigners based in North America, Europe, and South and Central America. More than 500,000 members and eactivists in over 150 countries have already joined Oceana. (www.oceana.org) 

About charitybuzz 

A leader in cause marketing, charitybuzz (www.charitybuzz.com) aligns nonprofits with international brands and celebrity icons to raise funds through innovative online auctions. Featuring pop culture experiences, VIP events, luxury travel, fine art, couture fashion and sports memorabilia, charitybuzz brings its online community of upscale, socially conscious bidders exclusive opportunities to make a difference. The company enables its bidders to truly doGOOD and liveWELL, generating millions of dollars for charities around the globe. To learn more, please visit www.charitybuzz.com, email info@charitybuzz.com, fan us on facebook at www.facebook.com/charitybuzz or follow us on twitter at www.twitter.com/charitybuzz. 

 

One of 100 pieces of original groundbreaking ‘Little House’ artwork by famed illustrator Garth Williams
 
BEVERLY HILLS, CA - Famed illustrator Garth Williams’ original graphite 1953 cover art for Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder - familiar image to anyone that has read the classic books since the Fifties - will be part of Heritage Auctions’ Feb. 11 Signature® Illustration Art Auction in Beverly Hills. It is expected to bring $8,000+ and joins 99 other Little House drawings, spread across 30 lots, in the auction.
 
“So many of us saw America’s heartland through the eyes of Garth Williams, through these exact drawings,” said Barry Sandoval, Director of Operations of Comics & Comic Art at Heritage, “and the cover is the most famous of them all. With his wonderful soft-pencil art, Williams conveyed the majesty of the prairie, but also the warmth of a family that had to stick together through all of its hardships.”
 
Williams' scenes of the close-knit frontier family and all of their hardships have become accepted as the definitive versions, though they did not see print until the early 1950s, when they replaced the extremely stylized versions by Helen Sewell that had been used since the 1930s.
 
Williams "certainly had no roots in any part of the Wilder country,” wrote Harper editor Ursula Nordstrom years later of the British-born artist, “but as we know, thought-kin is closer than blood-kin, and Garth certainly had all the emotional equipment, as well as the technical, to illustrate these wonderful family books."
 
“Williams went on a six-month trip to research his drawings, meeting with Wilder in Mansfield, MO, and also journeying to other states where the well-traveled Wilder family lived growing up,” said Sandoval. “Little House on the Prairie, set near Independence, KS, has sold eight million copies worldwide and Williams’ artwork has played a huge part in that.”
 
In October of last year Heritage sold the original cover art, plus 41 interior drawings, from Charlotte’s Web, also illustrated by Williams, in a sale that made international news when the cover art brought more than $155,000.

Additional items from the Garth Williams Estate will also be featured in the upcoming April 7-9 Signature Rare Books Auction in New York; these offerings include numerous original pencil sketches and ink drawings, dust jacket art, character studies, and other preliminary artwork from Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little, and The Rabbits’ Wedding.
 
Heritage Auctions, headed by Steve Ivy, Jim Halperin and Greg Rohan, is the world’s third largest auction house, with annual sales more than $600 million, and 500,000+ online bidder members. For more information about Heritage Auctions, and to join and gain access to a complete record of prices realized, along with full-color, enlargeable photos of each lot, please visit HA.com.
                        
Want to get the up-to-the-minute updates and breaking news stories about Heritage Auctions? Get them as they happen at: www.Twitter.com/HeritageAuction; Facebook: www.HA.com/Facebook.To view a compete archive of Heritage press releases go to: HA.com/PR.

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Media contact
Noah Fleisher, Public Relations Director
310-492-8613; NoahF@HA.com
 

Treasure Trove of Performing Arts Autographs Becomes Swann Galleries' First Online-Only Auction, From January 10 Through February 1.

Highlights include Playbills Signed by Ingrid Bergman, Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, Paul Robeson, James Stewart, and Mae West

New York—A large collection of signed photographs and playbills will be offered in Swann Galleries’ first online-only auction, which runs from January 10 through February 1. The entire auction will be conducted online—including the sale preview—and there will be no printed catalogue.

The sale will offer approximately 400 lots, which consist of selections from a large collection formed in the first half of the 20th Century.

There are signed photographs of the famous, near-famous and now-forgotten--among them stage and screen actors, opera singers, classical musicians, ballet dancers and more. There are also signed playbills from Broadway and road productions, many with letters and/or contemporary clippings.

Signed and inscribed photographs include:

George Arliss, the first British actor to win an Academy Award
Eddie Cantor, inscribed photograph, showing him in blackface
Marguerite Clark, a chorus girl turned film star
Clara Clemens, Mark Twain’s daughter, starring in her father’s Joan of Arc
Rafaelo Diaz, a tenor who sang with the Met from 1917 to 1936
Julian Eltinge, two photographs of the female impersonator, one in costume
Ignaz Friedman, a Polish piano virtuoso
Paul Haakon, ballet and Broadway dancer
Josef Hofmann, piano virtuoso
Al Jolson, “The world’s greatest entertainer”
Morgan Kingston, sang at the Met with Caruso
Cleo Mayfield, half of the acting team of Lean and Mayfield
Vivienne Segal, created the role of Vera Simpson in Pal Joey
Marion Talley, debuted at the Met in 1926 at the age of 19
Mrs. Thomas Whiffen, born in 1845; performed actively into her 80s

Signed and inscribed playbills include:

Humphrey Bogart and Ruth Gordon, Saturday’s Children, signed, 1928
Jack Dempsey, signature on a 1928 program for The Big Fight
Paul Robeson, inscription on summer-stock program, 1931
Boris Karloff, Arsenic and Old Lace, signed on the cover, 1942
Gertrude Lawrence, Lady in the Dark, signed on the cover, 1942
Todd Duncan and Etta Moten, Porgy and Bess, signed on the cover, 1943
Tallulah Bankhead, Frederick March, Florence Eldridge, Montgomery Clift and Frances Heflin, The Skin of Our Teeth, signed on the cover, 1943
Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie, signed on the cover, 1945
Carousel, signed on the cover by every member of the cast, 1945
Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, O Mistress Mine, signed on the cover, 1946
John Gielgud, Lillian Gish, Vladimir Sokoloff, and Dolly Haas, Crime and Punishment, signed on the cover, and inscribed by Gielgud, 1947
Henry Fonda, David Wayne, Robert Keith, and William Harrigan, Mister Roberts, signed on the cover, 1948
Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza, South Pacific, signed on the cover, 1949

The auction will begin on Monday, January 10 and will conclude on Tuesday, February 1.

For further information, please contact George Lowry at (212) 254-4710, extension 15, or via e-mail at glowry@swanngalleries.com.

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[ITHACA, NY] National Book Auctions, located in Ithaca, NY, will feature a number of important vintage and antique first editions and a large collection dedicated to the history of the New England States. A unique collection of handwritten documents from the collection of William Howland highlighted by correspondence from Theodore Roosevelt and Susan B. Anthony, alongside several early volumes on the history of golf and a signed 1930 copy of Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” will also be offered during the January 9th auction.

1632 William Shakespeare’s “The Life & Death of King John” also featured Sunday, January 9th.
 
First editions highlighting this auction include: John Wesley Powell’s “Canyons of the Colorado” (1895); Harry Houdini’s “A Magician Among the Spirits” (with rare dust jacket); J. D. Salinger’s “Franny and Zooey” (1945); an author-signed copy of James Patterson’s “The Thomas Berryman Number” (1976); and an author-signed, limited-edition copy of Bertha Corbett’s “The Sun-Bonnet Babies” (1900).
 
New England- related material includes hundreds of 19th century volumes on the histories of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.  Featured among this collection are two early works from authors Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.  “A Historical Discourse, Delivered Before the Citizens of Concord, 12th September, 1835. On the Second Centennial Anniversary of the Incorporation of the Town,” printed in 1835, is Emerson's first separately published substantial publication.
 
Four pieces of handwritten correspondence from Theodore Roosevelt and one from Susan B. Anthony, are among the featured items from the collection of the Howland family of Central New York.  The Howlands, a Quaker family, arrived in Central New York in the late 1790s and became an important influence in the history of Cayuga County, with William serving as a representative in the government and as a judge, among other key roles.  Howland’s sister, Emily Howland, was active in the suffrage and the abolitionist movements.
 
This first-of-the-year catalog includes a number of important antique and vintage volumes on the history of golf.  Among the volumes, are a 1960 first edition of Richard Tufts’ “The Principles Behind the Rules of Golf” and an author-signed copy of Charles Blair Macdonald’s “Scotland's Gift - Golf.”
 
National Book Auctions is a targeted auction service offering experience and expertise unique to marketing antique and modern books and ephemera for consignors and collectors alike. National Book Auctions has scheduled two live auctions per month over the next year featuring collectible books, art, currency and ephemera. For more information, please contact David Hall at 607-269-0101 or email mail@nationalbookauctions.com.

National Book Auctions, a public auction service located in Ithaca, NY, is pleased to offer at their Sunday, December 5th auction, the 1814 first printing of "Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean."  This volume contains the report of Lewis and Clarke’s landmark exploration.
 
This first English printing of the report of Lewis and Clarke’s expedition includes the all-important six engraved maps on four plates, complete with the large folding map, in excellent condition.  Many credit this folding map with launching the modern era of map collecting and this first English edition is generally considered to be superior to the first American edition, published earlier in 1814 in Philadelphia.
 
"We are pleased to offer this book," stated David Hall, Business Manager and Owner of National Book Auctions. "Like the exploration reported within its pages, this book is an important discovery. We are excited to make it available to our global community of collectors."
 
The volume is the “definitive account of the most important exploration of the North American continent" (Wagner-Camp), led by Lewis and Clark across the unexplored Louisiana Territory, spanning the entire mid-section of North America from present-day Texas and Louisiana up to Montana and North Dakota.  Derived from journal entries of the members of the expedition, including both Lewis and Clark, this work details the journey, with descriptions of various Native American tribes, the expedition to what is now Yellowstone National Park, exploration of present-day Texas and more. The estimated auction price for this book is $20,000 to $30,000.
 
Also featured at the early December auction is a 1927 first printing of the second volume of "Mein Kampf," inscribed at Christmastime in 1926 by Adolf Hitler to his close friend and resident priest at the church he then frequented in Munich. Signed editions of Mein Kampf are very rare and even more scarce with a dedicated inscription.
 
Mein Kampf was the political manifesto written by Adolf Hitler. It was his only complete book and became the scripture of National Socialism (Nazism) in Germany’s Third Reich. It was published in two volumes in 1925 and 1927, and an abridged edition appeared in 1930.  This second volume, titled Die Nationalsozialistische Bewegung (“The National Socialist Movement”), was written after Hitler’s release from prison in December. The estimated auction price for this book is $15,000 to $25,000.
 
For more information, please contact National Book Auctions at 607-269-0101 or online at www.NationalBookAuctions.com.
 

On November 20th, Stair Galleries will offer the estate of the late Dominick Dunne. Legendary reporter, novelist, producer, and television personality, Mr. Dunne was one of America’s most respected and recognized media figures, “whose celebrity,” according to the New York Times, “often outshone that of his subjects.”

From an early age, Mr. Dunne longed for the glamour and intrigue of Hollywood, a world quite removed from his upbringing in West Hartford, Connecticut. Drafted into the Army at age eighteen, he fought in the Battle of the Bulge and was awarded the Bronze Star for bravery.

Following World War II, Mr. Dunne attended Williams College, founding a theater company with classmate, Stephen Sondheim. His early work in live television eventually led him to Los Angeles, where he transitioned from television executive to movie producer of such ground breaking films as The Boys in the Band and The Panic in Needle Park. Personal and professional failures, however, led to a precipitous fall from grace in Hollywood, followed by the murder of his daughter.

But, out of this tragedy, Mr. Dunne found his voice and achieved his greatest success as a writer. He chronicled the worlds, criminal and otherwise, of the rich and famous, both as a novelist, publishing such best sellers as The Two Mrs. Grenvilles, An Inconvenient Woman and People Like Us, and concurrently as a special correspondent for Vanity Fair, for which he is credited with setting the tone and style of magazine. His fame reached an even wider audience as the host of Court TV’s Dominick Dunne’s Power, Privilege and Justice. In August of 2009, Mr. Dunne died after a long battle against cancer, but his work lives on, including a posthumously published novel, Too Much Money.

Mr. Dunne was known for his impeccable taste in clothes and décor. His homes, a terraced penthouse with sweeping views in midtown Manhattan and a colonial style saltbox overlooking a tidal cove in Hadlyme, Connecticut, perfectly represented his evolved sensibilities. Both were laden with books and an unusual array of objects, including a group of fine Chinese Export porcelain, purchased over his lifetime from such noted dealers as Colefax and Fowler in London. Many pieces in the collection were originally purchased by Mr. Dunne and his late wife for their Beverly Hills house, the scene of legendary parties, where the powerful and beautiful of the Hollywood set mingled with the cream of old Los Angeles society. Each treasured object held personal meaning and with it always an intricate and often hilarious story.

This sale will include furniture and decorations from both homes, as well as many books written by his contemporaries, most signed or inscribed by the authors, a selection of Hollywood memorabilia and photographs, and his beloved green Jaguar convertible, “Audrey.” Mr. Dunne’s very personal collection is a true reflection of his colorful life and career.

Previews begin on Friday, November 12th, and run through the morning of the sale on the 20th. A fully illustrated catalog will be made available online 10 days preceding the sale. For additional information about the sale please contact Natalie Brown through email or by phone.

Natalie.brown@stairgalleries.com
518.751.1000

(Chicago) Just in time for the long-anticipated re-release of Mark Twain’s edited autobiography, Leslie Hindman Auctioneers is pleased to announce the sale of a fine collection of literary manuscripts by esteemed American authors, including Twain (Samuel L. Clemmens) and Ernest Hemingway, which will undoubtedly arouse interest from collectors and enthusiasts alike.

The highlight of the sale is an original manuscript chapter from Mark Twain’s A Tramp Abroad ($30-50,000).  Bound by Bradstreet in crushed blue morocco with a custom title page for the composer, Leo Kern, this rare offering comprises the complete 38-page chapter 42, pertaining to Twain’s travels in Switzerland, with corresponding pages from the printed edition bound at the rear. Twain made no attempts to reclaim the manuscript draft after publication, and it was subsequently broken up by the publishing company and dispersed. A number of the individual chapters were bound by Bradstreet and presented as gifts following the author’s death in 1910 to friends and family. The majority of the chapters are now housed in institutional collections, such as the University of California at Berkeley, with only a handful remaining in private hands. Leslie Hindman Auctioneers is thus proud to provide this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own a one-of-a-kind piece of revered literary history.

Another significant literary manuscript is a rare handwritten essay by Ernest Hemingway presumably written while he was a student a Oak Park High School in Oak Park, Illinois, between 1913 and 1917 ($5,000-7,000). In the essay, written in black ink and graded “A” in red ink, Hemingway discusses the Cataline Conspiracy, a subject he would make frequent allusions to in later works. “The Catalinian Conspiracy,” Hemingway writes, “was a plot by Cataline, a brave but unscrupulous Roman, to overthrow the government of Rome and kill all his enemies . . . Cataline was driven from the city and was killed in battle.” At the bottom, Hemingway has additionally listed a number of discussion points, pertaining to the life of Caesar. The essay may provide insight into Hemingway’s preoccupation with the themes of competition and combat in his writing later in life.

In addition to the strong literature session, the sale will also features highlights from a broad range of categories including Natural History, Travel and Exploration, Fine Bindings, Art and Americana. The highlight of the Fine Binding session is an elaborate Sangorski and Sutcliffe bound Lalla Rookh, by Thomas Moore, embellished with a total of 118 jewels ($15,000-20,000). Additional fine bindings of note, the majority coming from two private Chicago-area collections, include a fine set of The Shakespeare Gallery, presented to King Edward VII by the Royal Shakespearian Society with inset hand-painted vellum scenes from the Royal Academy Series to the front doublures of all 10 volumes ($6,000-8,000); Robert de Flers Ilsee, Princesses de Tripoli, illustrated by Alphonse Mucha and bound by Raparlier in brown morocco with elaborate polychrome floral onlaid designs ($3,000-5,000); and two Cosway bindings by Bayntun Riviere, comprising Tennyson’s Works ($1,000-2,000) and Masson’s Napoleon and the Fair Sex ($3,000-5,000), both with signed painted ivory miniatures on the front covers.

The Natural History session will, for the first time, offer a fine selection of botanical prints, with a strong focus on extracted hand-colored plates from Basilius Besler’s Deluxe First Edition of Hortus Eystettensis, and a fine set of William Lewin Birds of Great Britain, complete with over 300 hand-colored plates ($4,000-6,000). Highlights of the Travel and Exploration session include works from the University of Hartford, including David Roberts The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt and Nubia, first quarto edition with 250 tinted lithographic plates ($4,000-6,000) and Sir Paul Rycaut History of the Turkish Empire, first collected edition with 27 engraved plates of the Ottoman Emperors ($2,000-4,000).   

The Americana session opens with a document signed by George Washington, as President of the Potomac Company, and his partners George Gilpin and John Fitzgerald ($6,000-8,000). Another item of interest is a significant early run of 21 volumes of the Millenial Harbinger, Alexander Campbell’s monthly Restorationist newspaper, which includes the first printed article on Mormonism ($3,000-5,000). The highly anticipated James Conway collection of Chicago memorabilia will round out the sale featuring a fine selection of views by Varin, Jevne and Almini, and Whitefield, a number of rare pocket maps and pre-fire residential maps of Chicago, pre-fire manuscript archives, and true crime memorabilia, including an original death mask of John Dillinger created illegally the night he was gunned down by the FBI and Chicago police.

The auction will be held at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers’ Chicago gallery at 12pm on Thursday, November 18th. The books, manuscripts and prints will be on public exhibition Sunday, November 14, through Wednesday, November 17th. A fully-illustrated catalogue is available online at www.lesliehindman.com auctioneers as well as www.liveauctioneers.com.

For further information, please contact Mary Williams at 312.334.4236 or marywilliams@lesliehindman.com.  

BOSTON, Mass. - Oct. 29, 2010 - Skinner, Inc. will host its annual auction of Fine Books and Manuscripts on November 14th in its Boston gallery, located at 63 Park Plaza at 11 a.m.  The sale boasts 685 lots of correspondences, first edition books, maps, Audubon prints and more.

Skinner is thrilled to offer a rare and historically important contemporary broadside printings of the Declaration of Independence. Likely printed in Exeter, New Hampshire by the printer John Luist Fowle, this broadside is one of only six known copies of its type in existence. The document, descended from a New Hampshire family, whose relative, a judge, likely received it in his official capacity, is estimated at $300,000 to $500,000.

According to Sara Wishart, Director Pro Tem at Skinner, “The last Declaration of Independence broadside Skinner sold was in 2008 for $625,000.”  Wishart continued, “The broadside being offered on November 14th has descended through one family, and is an amazing historical survival.  The rarity of this broadside is astounding, and we’re anticipating great interest from a number of bidders.”

A complimentary work also up for bid is an original broadside printed by the Second Continental Congress, declaring the necessity to take up arms against the British government.  The document acts as a warning to the English Crown, and encapsulates the frustrations that were building in the Colonies.  This prescient document was printed in New York on July 6, 1775, almost exactly one year earlier than the Declaration of Independence.  This historic broadside is estimated at $40,000 to $60,000 and comes from a private New York collector.

Also of note is an important group of first edition works by Edward S. Curtis, from his series The North American Indian. Being a Series of Volumes Picturing and Describing The Indians of the United States, The Dominion of Canada, and Alaska.  The stirring and hauntingly beautiful photographic images within this series have become truly iconic.  Curtis’ important work chronicled the myths, languages, and cultural nuances of various tribes, and are an important historic record.  Sold to benefit a New York state library, the group comprises eight lots of folio and quarto volumes, with estimates totaling $160,000 to $250,000.  This is one of the largest offering of Curtis’ work ever brought to auction.

Other works to be highlighted include important world and North American maps dating back to the late 1500s, a rare first edition of Vladimir Nabokov’s controversial novel Lolita, fine decorative bindings, and works by John James Audubon.

Previews, Catalogs and Bidding
Previews for the auction will be held by appointment only on Thursday, November 11th from 12 to 5 p.m., Friday, November 12th from 12 to 5 p.m., Saturday, November 13th from 12 to 5 p.m., and Sunday, November 14th from 9 to 11 a.m.  Illustrated catalog #2526B is available by mail for $35 ($42 for foreign requests) from the subscription department at 508-970-3240.  It is also available at the gallery for $32.  Prices realized will be available at www.skinnerinc.com during and after the sale.  Skinner's site also allows users to view all lots in the auctions, leave bids, order catalogs, and bid live in real-time through Skinner-Live.  Register here for real-time bidding or call 508-970-3000.

About Skinner

Skinner, Inc. is one of the world’s leading auction houses for antiques and fine art.  With expertise in over 20 specialty collecting areas, Skinner draws the interest of buyers from all over the world and its auctions regularly achieve world record prices.  Skinner provides a broad range of auction and appraisal services, and it is widely regarded as one of the most trusted names in the auction business.   Skinner’s appraisal experts regularly appear on the PBS-TV series, Antiques Roadshow, and its specialty departments include American Furniture & Decorative Arts, American & European Paintings & Prints, European Furniture & Decorative Arts, 20th Century Design, Fine Ceramics, Fine Jewelry, Couture, Fine Musical Instruments, Asian Works of Art, Fine Wines, Rare Books & Manuscripts, Oriental Rugs & Carpets, American Indian & Ethnographic Art, Fine Judaica, Antique Motor Vehicles, Toys, Dolls & Collectibles, Discovery and Science, Technology & Clocks.  Skinner galleries are located in Boston and Marlborough, Mass.  For more information on upcoming auctions and events, visit Skinner’s web site www.skinnerinc.com.

Contact:        
Sara Wishart, Director Pro Tem     Darlene Hollywood          
Fine Books & Manuscripts             Darlene Hollywood Public Relations
508-970-3282                                781-837-2572        
swishart@skinnerinc.com             darlene@dhollywoodpr.com

New York—On Tuesday, November 9, Swann Galleries will offer a wide range of Early Printed, Medical, Scientific, & Occult Books at auction.

The first part of the sale features an illuminated manuscript Book of Hours in Latin and French, on vellum, with 13 large and two small miniatures in colors and gold, Paris, late 15th century with 16th- century additions (estimate $15,000 to $20,000); an attractive set of the second Estienne Hebrew “pocket” Bible, which is considered one of the most impressive examples of Hebrew printing of the French Renaissance, 17 parts in eight volumes, bound in 16th-century calf with gilt arabesque centers, Paris, 1544-46 ($10,000 to $15,000); and a first edition of the Hildesheim Missal, with 140 of 354 leaves, Nuremberg, 1499 ($2,500 to $3,500). 

Other Early Printed highlights are a copy of the second Sansovino edition of Dante’s Divine Comedy, Venice, 1578, in a lavish modern gilt-tooled morocco binding with painted decoration on the top, fore and bottom edges ($3,000 to $5,000); Edward Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, first edition, six volumes, London, 1776-88 ($8,000 to $12,000); and a first complete edition in English of Thomas Taylor’s translation of Aristotle’s Works, 11 volumes, one of only 50 sets, London, 1806-12, with the 1801 first edition of The Metaphysics ($10,000 to $15,000).

The Medical and Scientific Books section opens with Abraham bar Hiyya and Elijah Mizrahi, Sefer Tsurat ha-Arets, Basel, 1546, first edition of the first complete textbook of astronomy in Hebrew ($8,000 to $12,000). Another Hebrew first is Mordekhai Gumpel Schnaber Levison, Ma'amar ha-Torah ve-ha-Hokhma, London, 1771, containing the first full elaboration of Newtonian physics in Hebrew ($600 to $900).

Medical works of note include William Cheselden, Osteographia; or, The Anatomy of the Bones, from the first limited edition of 400, London, 1733 ($3,000 to $4,000); a first edition of Samuel Thomas von Soemmerring’s thesis, the first accurate enumeration of the 12 cranial nerves, Gottingen, 1778 ($2,000 to $3,000); Samuel Stearns, The American Herbal, or Materia Medica, first edition of the first herbal produced and printed in the United States, Walpole, New Hampshire, 1801 ($1,500 to $2,500); and Andreas Vesalius, Icones Anatomicae, one of 615 numbered copies, with 277 plates, Munich, 1935 ($3,000 to $4,000). Also of interest is Hua Shou, Jushikei hakki, a Chinese text on acupuncture, first published in 1341 and also influential in Japan, where it went through a number of editions, this volume Japan, 1693? ($500 to $750).

Among the occult highlights are Johannes Trithemius, Polygraphie et Uniuerselle escriture Cabalistique, first edition in French of the earliest treatise on cryptography, Paris, 1561 ($3,000 to $4,000); Jean Bodin, La Demonomanie des Sorciers, one of the most celebrated books on the theory and practice of witch hunting, Paris, 1598 ($800 to $1,200); and Francis Potter, An Interpretation of the Number 666, first edition, Oxford, 1642 ($1,000 to $2,000).
The auction will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 9. The books will be on public exhibition Friday, November 5, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, November 6, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Monday, November 8, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Tuesday, November 9, from 10 a.m. to noon.

An illustrated catalogue is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, Inc., 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, or online at www.swanngalleries.com.

For further information, and to make advance arrangements to bid by telephone during the auction, please contact Tobias Abeloff at (212) 254-4710, extension 18, or via e-mail at tabeloff@swanngalleries.com.

Live online bidding is also available via Artfact.com.

On October 21, 2010, PBA Galleries, Auctioneers, Rare Books & Manuscripts conducted a 450 lot auction of Americana, the Collection of Alex Schwed which included a large collection of Clipper Ship Sailing Cards, California Pictorial Lettersheets, Gold Rush and California ephemera and Hawaiiana. Schwed, a California collector, has in recent years devoted his energy to his important Indian basket collection and decided to part with his collection of 90 California Clipper Ship Sailing Cards which became the largest single collection to come to auction since the 1990 Siegel sale in New York.  Also in the sale was the balance of his Californiana material which included almost 50 lots of 19th Century Native American photographs, pictorial letter sheets, 1850's Gold Rush letters, early California newspapers and California maps.
 
A rare California Gold Quartz walking stick with a gold knob and an original piece of gold in quartz mounted on top, which was presented by San Francisco department store founder Adolphe Roos and his sister to their father and had descended in the family, brought $21,600, proving the desirability of this form of artistry unique to California where pieces of unrefined quartz with gold veins were incorporated into jewelry and objects, which became a symbol of California's wealth. The San Francisco firm of Bartlett and Sherwood claimed to be the inventors of gold quartz jewelry and first exhibited it at the New York Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1853.
 
The Clipper Ship Sailing cards were a sale highlight, and were issued in the 1850’s and 60’s to advertise clipper ships that were loading cargo for San Francisco and leaving ports in Boston and New York to round the horn for the West Coast. The cards were attractively printed in color and have been widely collected over the years, although issued in fairly small numbers. Most reside in a few museums, libraries and a small number of private collections. According to PBA’s Senior Auctioneer, George Fox, someone phoned in about 20 minutes before the auction began and left strong absentee bids on all 90 lots of the Clipper Cards. “At that point, we knew the auction would be a great success”. The bidding was widespread with cards going to both institutions and collectors across the country, all realizing this was a rare chance to see so many at auction at one time.  The star of the sale, the Young America, one of the most famous clippers, was a particular rare card as it advertised the reverse journey from San Francisco back to New York and was printed by Bancroft in San Francisco went to an institution at $5100, on a presale estimate of $4000/6000. The Wild Rover and Starlight, both went to private collectors for $4500 each.  The balance of the bid prices ranged from $500 up to the $4500 range, with approximately 60 of the 90 cards falling well into four figures.
 
A nice 1851 manuscript California Gold Rush diary from the Northern Mines District of Nevada City fetched $10,800 from a private collector, again proving that content is everything. This diary had entries for every day the man worked in the diggings, and included him viewing the fire that burned down Nevada City, and watching a fight between a Grizzly Bear and a Bull.  Twenty five lots of Gold Rush letters written from the California mines back to Eastern home fronts brought solid prices, most within the estimates, ranging from $250 to $1800. The 14 California Pictorial Letter Sheets which are actively collected, all sold well, with the rarest, the Sacramento Steam Boat Landing bringing $2040. The early newspaper section was highlighted by an 1847 issue of the California Star which was the first newspaper published in California by Sam Brannan which hammered at $1020. Largely private collectors vied for the 38 lots of Hawaiiana material, consigned from an old Oahu collection and fresh to the market. It included many pamphlets concerning the 1895 Rebellion that all sold well, although the highest price realized was for an exquisite presentation morocco binding of a book on cavalry tactics given to King Kalakaua in 1882 by French military friends he had met on his visit there in 1881, which crossed the block at $2700.
 
The map section was led by the very rare 1862 Philadelphia printing of the Desilver atlas with 79 maps which sold at $4800, and finally 50 lots of 19th Century Native American stereoviews, cabinet cards and photographs mostly all went to private buyers in the $300 to $800 range.
 
Complete auction results are available at www.pbagalleries.com and for additional information, please contact the Galleries at 415-989-2665 or pba@pbagalleries.com. Prices include 20% Buyer's Premium.
 
PBA Galleries of San Francisco is the only west-coast auction house specializing in books & manuscripts, maps & atlases. The company offers private and heirloom libraries at auction, providing clients with a staff of professional appraisers, online and printed catalogues, and bi-monthly auctions where participants can bid in person, by phone, fax, e-mail, and in real-time by signing up at the PBA Galleries website.
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New York—Collectors and dealers competed for rare illustrated books on October 14 at Swann Galleries’ auction of 19th & 20th Century Literature, and Art, Press & Illustrated Books.

Christine von der Linn, Swann’s Modern Literature and Art & Illustrated Books Specialist, said, “The livres d’artiste and the Edward Gorey material—most of which set records—were the real show- stoppers at this auction, and attracted many new buyers in the process.”

The sale featured nearly 50 Gorey lots from a private collection. Of special note were signed first limited editions of the compendium Amphigorey, with an original drawing of a cat in a striped sweater, New York, 1972, and  The Sopping Thursday, with an original drawing of a cat balancing an umbrella on its paw, and bearing an inscription to a well-known science-fiction expert, New York, 1970. They each sold for a record price of $9,600*.

Other record-setting Gorey highlights were signed limited editions of The Beastly Baby by Ogdred Weary, the first book from Gorey's Fantod Press, $1,200; Categor Y, $1,200; L'Heure Bleue, $1,680; The Lavender Leotard; or, Going a Lot to The New York City Ballet, $1,680; and All Strange Away, his collaboration with Samuel Beckett, signed by both, $5,040.

While the Gorey works were modest publications, the auction also featured the two lavishly produced works by the Polish-born artist Arthur Szyk. A signed copy of his celebrated Haggadah, printed on vellum and bound in original gilt-pictorial blue morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe after Szyk’s designs, first edition, London, 1939, brought $45,600; and his Statutes of Kalisz, Paris, 1932, an extremely rare limited edition facsimile of the illuminated manuscript Szyk completed in 1926-27, sold for $36,000.

Fierce bidding resulted in a record price of $13,200 for the first Dutch edition of El Lissitzky’s groundbreaking avant-garde work Suprematisch worden van twedraten in 6 konstrukties…, The Hague, 1922.

Also setting auction records were one of 100 deluxe copies of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, a luxurious publication with 56 illustrated text pages by Elihu Vedder, signed and numbered, Cambridge, 1884, $6,240, which was a record for a copy in the original publisher’s binding; and one of only 10 signed copies of Mark Beard’s Nineteen Famous People, Twenty-Two Friends and Six Nudes, hand-colored photographs, New York, 1992, $7,200.

Other Modern art highlights were Henri Matisse’s Florilège des Amours, 126 lithographs, bound, Paris, 1948, $20,400; Fernand Léger's Cirque, the artist's master graphic work, containing 34 color lithographs and 29 black and white lithographs, Paris, 1950, $28,800; and David Hockney’s interpretation of the Grimm Brothers’ Six Fairy Tales, 39 etchings, plus a suite of 6 signed and numbered plates, signed, London, 1970, $13,200.

Private press books of note included the Roycroft Press’s The Deserted Village by Oliver Goldsmith, containing more than 30 pencil sketched vignettes by W.W. Denslow in the margins and his signature on the title page, East Aurora, 1898, $6,000, Denslow is best known for his illustrations for the Wizard of Oz series; the Doves Press English Bible, five volumes, on handmade paper, Hammersmith, 1903-05, $6,480; and the Cranach Press edition of Hamlet, with woodcut illustrations by Edward Gordon Craig, Weimar, 1930, $10,800.

Rounding out the art and illustrated books section were Goya’s Los Caprichos, 80 etchings with aquatint, bound, likely the sixth edition, Madrid, circa 1899, $18,000; Alexandre Iacovleff’s Dessins et Peintures d’Asie, 50 color engravings, heliogravures and offset lithographs, Paris, 1922, $10,200; and the Rockwell Kent-illustrated Moby Dick, or, The Whale, with 280 illustrations, Chicago, 1930, $6,480.

Highlights from the literature section were William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems, first edition, second issue, London, 1798, $7,800; and Ernest Hemingway’s first book, Three Stories and Ten Poems, first and only edition, Paris, 1923, $19,200; and a first limited edition of A.A. Milne’s Winnie-The-Pooh, signed by Milne and illustrator E.H. Shepard, London, 1926, $5,760.

For complete results of the auction, an illustrated catalogue, with prices realized on request, is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, and may be viewed online at www.swanngalleries.com.

For further information, and to propose consignments to upcoming auctions of 19th & 20th Century Literature and Art, Press & Illustrated Books, please contact Christine von der Linn at (212) 254-4710 ext. 20, or via email at cvonderlinn@swanngalleries.com.

*All prices include buyer’s premium.
Rebecca Weiss
Media Relations
Swann Galleries
104 East 25th Street
New York, NY 10010
212-254-4710, ext. 23
rebeccaw@swanngalleries.com
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Kestenbaum & Company’s Fall auction of Fine Judaica will take place on Wednesday, October 27th at 1pm at the firm’s Manhattan gallery located at 242 West 30th Street. Viewing beforehand will be held from Sunday, October 24th through Tuesday, October 26th. The extensive sale of Hebrew Printed Books, Manuscripts, Autograph Letters and Graphic Art will include American-Judaica and Rare Books from the Library of Gratz College, Elkins Park (Part II); German, Haskallah and Related Books from the Library of the Late Philosopher, Prof. Steven Schwarzschild and Exceptional Rabbinic Autograph Letters from a Private Collector.

Hebrew Incunabula are particularly coveted by discerning book collectors and this auction offers a number of them for sale. Most compelling are several leaves from the first publication of the Talmudic Tractate Kidushin, Guadalajara, circa 1480, at an estimate of $35,000-50,000. This early Spanish fragment is of the utmost rarity (lot 279). Two other incunabula of note include a 1484 copy of Yedai’ah Bedersi’s Bechinath Olam, estimate $10,000-15,000 (lot 53) and a scarce second edition (incomplete) of the Soncino Roman Machzor, 1486, at an estimate of $10,000-12,000 (lot 210A).

Additional important early Hebrew Printed Books include two works by Samson ben Isaac of Chinon -- Sepher Kerithoth, estimate $6,000-8,000 (lot 261) and  Peirush HaGet, estimate $3,000-5,000 (lot 262) both were printed in Constantinople in 1515. Good examples of Early Bibles in the sale include the first Polyglot Bible, Genoa, 1516, estimate $4,000-6,000 (lot 55) and Estienne’s splendidly printed pocket Hebrew Bible, bound in 14 volumes, Paris, 1543-46, at an estimate of $4,000-6,000 (lot 56). A later Bible of significance is a Hebrew Pentateuch from Vienna, 1815, government-authorized for use in the Courts of Law of Prague to administer the Oath to Jewish witnesses, estimate $2,500-3,500 (lot 64).

Highlights among the Passover Hagadoth in the sale include a copy of the second Amsterdam Hagadah with a large folding map of the Holy Land, 1712, estimate $4,000-6,000 (lot 141); a most unusual Hagadah printed in English by the London Times newspaper on August 17th, 1840 in relation to the Blood Libel raised against the Jews during the “Damascus Affair”, estimate $5,000-7,000 (lot 143) and the Toulouse Hagadah, produced from memory by Jews imprisoned in French internment camps during the Second World War, estimate $5,000-7,000 (lot 154).

Other notable volumes include two Chassidic books related to the Chabad movement, both  written by Shneur Zalman of Liadi- - Likutei Amarim (second edition), Zolkiew, 1799, estimate $8,000-10,000 (lot 80) and  Likutei Torah (first edition), Zhitomir, 1848 and 1851, estimate $3,000-5,000 (lot 83). Liturgical books include a Machzor according to the custom of Catalonia, printed in Salonika, 1526, estimate $2,000-3,000 (lot 211) and a Machzor, Amschel Mayer Rothschild’s personal copy, Roedelheim, 1800, at an estimate of $2,000-3,000 (lot 258).

Early medical and scientific books are represented by first editions of Tobias Cohn’s Ma’aseh Tuvia from Venice 1707,  estimate $2,500-3,500 (lot 88) and Joseph Solomon Delmedigo’s Sepher Ma’ayan Ganim, Amsterdam, 1629, at an estimate of $2,000-3,000 (lot 98).

Among books relating to Germany and the early Haskallah movement, of particular interest is Johann Jakob Schudt’s Jüdischer Merckwürdigkeiten which chronicles the life of the Jews of Frankfurt, 1714, estimate $1,500-2,500 (lot 126) and the first German edition of the Mishnah, 1760-63, at an estimate of $700-1,000 (lot 236).

The American Judaica section of the sale features unique selections such as a handwritten Hebrew Marriage Certificate dated July 1861 from Peoria, Illinois, estimate $12,000-18,000 (lot 21). Also prominent within the Americana section are a number of “firsts”: Isaac Leeser’s Hebrew-English Pentateuch, the Yuly copy bound in five volumes, Philadelphia, 1845-6; the first such translation  published in America, estimate $7,000-9,000 (lot 12); Judah Monis’ Grammar of the Hebrew Tongue, the first Hebrew Grammar published in the New World, Boston, 1735, estimate $10,000-15,000 (lot 7); a volume of The Jew, edited by Solomon Henry Jackson, distinguished for being the first Jewish Periodical in America, New York, 1823-4, estimate $5,000-7,000 (lot 11); and The American Magazine for June 1758, containing a Rabbinic sermon in English, the very first such text published in America, estimate $5,000-7,000 (lot 8).

Books relating to Israel and Zionism include two significant editions of Theodor Herzl’s important manifesto, Der Judenstaat: The first Hebrew edition, Warsaw, 1896, estimate $2,000-3,000 (lot 285) and the first edition to be printed in America, New York, 1904, at an estimate of $2,000-3,000 (lot 286). Further offerings include an early and fascinating Palestine Telephone Directory from 1938, estimate $1,000-1,500 (lot 188) and the first edition of Charles Forster’s study of Hebrew inscriptions found in the Sinai Desert and published with albumen photographs, London, 1862, at an estimate of $800-1,200 (lot 186).

Other books of note include the first edition of Baruch de Spinoza’s highly influential philosophical work Opera Posthuma, Amsterdam, 1677, estimate $6,000-9,000 (lot 278); Bernard Picart’s illustrated Histoire Générale des Cérémonies, Moeurs, et Coutumes Religieuses de tous les Peuples du Monde, complete in seven volumes, Paris, 1741, estimate $3,000-5,000 (lot 306) and a Hebrew translation of William Shakespeare’s Othello, which was the first appearance of any of Shakespeare’s plays in the Hebrew language, Vienna, 1874, at an estimate of $600-900 (lot 267).

Prominent among the Modern Art and Literary Books is a rare complete set of the short-lived journal Albatros, which had enormous impact upon the modernist Yiddish literary scene in Poland, estimate $1,500-2,500 (lot 139) and Marc Chagall’s illustrations for the Yiddish language art journal Chaliastra, Paris, 1924 at an estimate of $800-1,200 (lot 294). Many illustrated books are featured in the auction including those by: Meir Gur-Arye, E. M. Lilien, Moritz Oppenheim, Ze’ev Raban, Reuven Rubin, Issachar ber Ryback, Raphael Soyer, Joseph Tchaikov, Anna Ticho and Wilhelm Wachtel.

Leading the offerings in the Manuscripts Section of the sale is a large Prayerbook according to the meditations of Rabbi Isaac Luria, 1732-38, at an estimate of $20,000-25,000 (lot 352). The auction catalogue cover lot, a striking Family Tree from Vilna, begun in 1901, is extraordinary for its elaborate and most original artistry. The pre-sale estimate is $15,000-20,000 (lot 349). Additional highlights are Moreh Tzedek an extensive manuscript penned in the 18th century by the Sha’agath Aryeh’s first cousin, estimate $10,000-12,000 (lot 362), a collection of Hebrew medieval manuscript fragments, estimate $5,000-7,000 (lot 357) and a Pinkas from the legendary Churvah Synagogue, Jerusalem, 1889-96, at an estimate of $5,000-7,000 (lot 351).

The Autograph Letters section of the sale is particularly impressive and is sure to garner buyers’ attention. Consigned from a single Private Collection, on offer are written communications by some of the most important and influential Rabbinic authorities of the 19th and 20th centuries. Included are letters penned by Israel Abu-Hatze’ira (the Babi Sali), Abraham Mordechai Alter (the Grand Rabbi of Gur), Moshe Yitzchak Gewirtzman (Reb Itzikel), Shlomo Goldman (Reb Shloimkeh Zeviller), Samson Raphael Hirsch, Abraham Isaiah Karelitz (the Chazon Ish), Moses Sofer (the Chatham Sofer) and Yoel Teitelbaum (the Satmar Rebbe) among others. Of special note are letters by Yisrael Meir Kagan of Radin (the Chofetz Chaim), estimate $15,000-20,000 (lot 332), Menachem Mendel of Shklov, estimate $25,000-35,000 (lot 337) and Reb Chaim Soloveitchik, estimate $12,000-18,000 (lot 342), a most surprising letter written to Chief Rabbi Kook.

A petite section of Graphic Art rounds out the sale. It includes a particularly striking gouache from the Book of Esther by Saul Raskin, estimate $3,000-4,000 (lot 363).


For  further  information  relating  to  bidding  or  any  other  queries,  please  contact Jackie  Insel at  212-366-1197.

[ITHACA, NY] National Book Auctions, located in Ithaca, NY, hosted an auction on October 3, 2010 at their Finger Lakes Region gallery. The 400+ lot auction featured an assortment of historic Massachusetts-related books, Charles Dickens first editions and a John F. Kennedy-signed program alongside numerous collectible books and ephemera.

Massachusetts history books led the auction with over 250 lots featuring nearly every township and city in the state. These unique volumes brought new bidders to the auction gallery from the “Bay State” and the collections and single books fetched over $8,000 hammer price (plus buyer’s premium) combined.

Charles Dickens was also featured in the four-hour auction across multiple volumes, many first editions and realized a hammer price of $1,075 (plus buyer’s premium) including one three-volume set of an 1838 printing of “Oliver Twist.”

A 1961 program from a Carl Hayden Golden Anniversary Dinner signed by John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson sold for $800 (plus buyer’s premium). This program featured original signatures of President John F. Kennedy, Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson and Senator Carl Hayden and also featured photos of Kennedy, Johnson and Hayden, along with remarks from Kennedy and Johnson on Hayden's political career and a brief biography on Hayden.

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. The auction gallery has a planned auction on October 24th and two planned auctions in November, with the first of two scheduled for November 7th. For more information, please contact David Hall at 607-269-0101 or email mail@nationalbookauctions.com.
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A 16th Century bible published during the rule of Queen Elizabeth I is set to come under the hammer at Staffordshire auction house Cuttlestones’ Friday 8th October Collectors’ sale. The leather-bound volume, entitled ‘The Holy Byble, the Newe Testament’, is a fine example of a family bible of the era and is of exceptional quality.

Printed on high quality paper stock with beautifully designed text, the bible carries little wear despite its considerable age. It is finished with patterned gilt edging and marbled end papers, retaining a number of satin page markers.

The volume dates to a period when only very high status families would have the means to afford their own copy of the bible; while this example contains no reference to the identity of its original owners, a later plate bears the inscription ‘Henry Walker, Sheffield’.

A prolific publisher


Printed in 1585 this bible was produced at the height of its publisher’s fame, during his role as royal printer. Christopher Barker was an early entrepreneur - born in 1529 to a privileged family he took an active interest in the printing industry and, in 1576, secured the most valuable patent of the time; the right to print the Geneva version of the bible in England. This was closely followed by the 1577 purchase of an extensive patent which included the Old and New Testament in English, with or without notes, of any translation.

The patent also afforded the office of royal printer and the rights to print all statutes, books, bills, Acts of Parliament, proclamations, injunctions, all service books to be used in churches and all other volumes ordered to be printed by the Queen or Parliament; making him the most powerful printer of the Elizabethan era. On Christopher’s death in 1599 his son, Robert, followed him into the family trade.

Further information on the Elizabethan bible, along with a host of other exciting lots in the 8th October Collectors’ sale, will be available from the online catalogue from Friday, 1st October - visit www.cuttlestones.co.uk or call 01785 714905 for further details. Meanwhile, for those unable to attend the sale, commission, telephone and online bidding via www.the-saleroom.co.uk are available.

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Bloomsbury Auctions is delighted to offer the renowned Richard Harris Collection of American and British colour plate books on Natural History. The $3-4million collection which was formed over 40 years ago is fresh to the market and is a two part sale bestriding the Atlantic. The first auction will be held in Bloomsbury’s New York saleroom off Rockefeller Plaza on 13th October while the second will be held on 3rd November in Bloomsbury House in central London.

In an unprecedented move, Bloomsbury Auctions aims to encourage and revitalize the market in these days of financial uncertainty, by reducing the buyer’s premium to 10%, a level not seen since the 1980s.

Richard Harris is a man who enjoys visual images and this, his primary collection, was inspired by the beauty and strength of the imagery in the Natural History, Architecture and View Books that he discovered on his travels in England and Holland in the 1970s and 80s. This is an individual’s private collection, lovingly put together, the main criteria being beauty, impact and excellence. It includes many extraordinary, rare works in his chosen fields of interest, from flowers, shells, fruit, birds, fish and exotic plants to American Indians and Chinese imagery.

The first sale in New York concentrates on the heart of collection, the cream of the Natural History and American colour plate books. Audubon’s masterly work The Quadrupeds of America, 1845-54 will set pulses racing and this copy was specially bound in four volumes rather than three for an early French subscriber and is expected to fetch $400,000-600,000. Unseen on the market for over 40 years is a full set of the eight principal works by Daniel Elliot (seven on birds, one on big cats) covering amongst others, Grouse, Pheasants, American Birds, Hornbills and which is estimated to fetch $200,000-300,000.

A cornerstone of any major collection of ornithological books must be John Gould’s seven volume work The Birds of Asia, 1850-1883; the Harris copy has the added attraction of having belonged to King Leopold of Belgium and it carries an estimate of $70,000-100,000; while his monumental A Monograph of the Trochilidae, or Family of Humming-Birds, 6 vol., 1849-87, is expected to fetch $80,000-120,000. Another masterpiece in the collection is Edward Lear’s first book, his monograph on parrots entitled Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae, or Parrots, 1830-32, the first ornithological folio work to be published with lithographic plates, (estimate $50,000-80,000). Botanical works include a copy of Redoute’s 8 volume magnum opus Les Liliacees, 1802-16 which is expected to fetch $100,000-150,000; and Brookshaw’s Pomona Britannica, the most important work devoted to English fruit, published in 1812, which has an estimate of $70,000-100,000.

Admirers of books on fish need look no further than one of the finest copies of Bloch’s Ichthyologie, ou Histoire Naturelle…des Poissons, 1785-1797 to be offered for sale; this complete copy of the six volume work once belonged to the Duchesse de Berry and is estimated at $40,000-60,000. The roll call of rare Natural History books continues with works by Edwards, Selby, Audebert, Duhamel du Monceau, Hill, Levaillant, Martyn, Nozemann, Seba, Roscoe, Van Spaendonk and many more. Most of the great English titles in this collection have come from the famous English Country House auctions of the 1970s such as Chatsworth, Arbury, Crofton Park, Easton Neston, and Thurland Castle… a fruitful period for collecting books.

Whilst the Natural History field was Richard Harris’s first love, his collection of books on American Indians is equally impressive. A copy in the rare original parts (virtually unknown at auction) of the seminal History of the Indian Tribes of North America, 1836-1844 by McKenney and Hall is included at $50,000-80,000, as is a 3 volume bound set originally owned by a subscriber from Wilmington Delaware and in an early signed Delaware binding (est. $40,000-60,000) plus the 3 volume small format edition of 1855 at $7,000-10,000. Harris’s copy of Catlin’s North American Indian Portfolio, 1844, estimated at $30,000-50,000, includes an unusual proposal leaf announcing his ambitious plan to issue three other portfolios.

Travel books and atlases are other wonderful facets of the Richard Harris Collection. The elaborately hand-coloured grand copy of Tooneel der Staden, 1649 by Willem and Johannes Blaeu, showing decorative town plans of Holland at the height of its power, was obviously commissioned by a noble client and is expected to fetch between $40,000-60,000. One of the most impressive and all-embracing books on Egypt is Description de L’Egypte, Napoleon’s great survey of the country he wished to control. This handsome set of the second edition bound in 37 volumes is estimated to bring $20,000-30,000. Other awe-inspiring works included in this section are by Piranesi, Humboldt, Newcastle, Helman and Homann.

When the sale of 171 lots in New York is over, the focus moves to London on 3rd November. Bloomsbury Auctions London then offers over 400 lots, continuing with Natural History, spanning a large collection of books on butterflies, birds, flowers and periodicals as well as fine European plate books on decoration and architecture, maps of Britain and France, town plans of London and Paris, view books and also travels in Europe and the Middle East.

The Harris collection is a feast for the eye, with something for every book and print lover and Bloomsbury Auctions is proud to be presenting the sale internationally to a wide audience and, with the reduced buyer’s premium, offering everyone the chance to acquire and enjoy some of the greatest examples of the beauty of book-illustration art from the 17th to the 19th century.

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New York—On Thursday, October 14 Swann Galleries will conduct an auction of 19th & 20th Century Literature and Art, Press & Illustrated Books containing a rich and diverse selection of works by well-known authors and artists.

The sale begins with 19th & 20th century literature, which includes first editions, signed and inscribed copies, children’s literature and sets and bindings.

Among celebrated 19th-century works are Jules Verne’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth, first state of the Scribner deluxe edition—described as the most beautiful of the early American editions of this title, New York, 1874 (estimate: $1,500 to $2,500); and a beautiful set of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There in original cloth, London, 1866 and 1872 ($15,000 to $20,000).

Featured modern first editions include Ernest Hemingway’s first book, Three Stories and Ten Poems, one of only 300 copies, Paris, 1923 ($15,000 to $20,000); a large private collection of books by William Faulkner including his first novel, Soldiers’ Pay, New York, 1926; and his most celebrated book, The Sound and the Fury, New York, 1929 ($6,000 to $9,000 each). There are signed copies of Thomas Wolfe’s Of Time and the River, New York, 1935 ($2,000 to $3,000), Jack Kerouac’s Excerpts from Visions of Cody, New York, 1959 ($1,500 to $2,500), and several Cormac McCarthy titles, among them the signed limited edition of No Country for Old Men, New Orleans, 2005 ($600 to $900).

Poetry highlights include William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lyrical Ballads, first edition, second issue, containing the first appearance of Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancyent Marinere, London, 1798 ($3,000 to $5,000); a fine first edition of Edna St. Vincent Millay’s first book, Renascence and Other Poems, inscribed and signed to a friend, New York, 1917 ($1,500 to $2,500); and Gerard Manley Hopkins’s Poems, first edition of his first book, London, 1918 ($2,500 to $3,500).

The Art, Press & Illustrated Books portion of the sale includes architecture, modern and private press books, livres d’artiste, art journals, and works on decorative and applied art. Of special note are Francisco José de Goya’s Los Caprichos, 80 etchings with aquatint, Madrid, circa 1899 ($8,000 to $10,000); a signed copy of Fernand Léger’s Cirque, with 63 fanciful lithographs on vélin d’Arches, Paris, 1950 ($15,000 to $25,000); a signed copy of Six Fairy Tales, David Hockney’s take on the Grimm Brothers, Petersburg Press, London, 1970 ($8,000 to $12,000); and Mark Beard’s Nineteen Famous People, Twenty-Two Friends and Six Nudes, with images of his hand-colored photographs of subjects such as Andy Warhol and Tennessee Williams, one of only ten signed copies, New York, 1992 ($5,000 to $7,500).

There are two sumptuously illustrated works by Arthur Szyk, a copy of his best known book, The Haggadah, one of 125 on vellum, signed by Szyk and editor Cecil Roth, London, 1939 ($30,000 to $40,000), and one of 500 copies of the extremely rare limited edition facsimile of the Statutes of Kalisz, Paris, 1932 ($40,000 to $60,000). Szyk created the illuminated manuscript, his interpretation of the medieval charter of rights granted to the Jews of Poland in 1264.

The sale also offers nearly 50 lots of works by the merrily macabre illustrator Edward Gorey—most widely known for his animated introduction to the PBS television series Mystery! There is a first limited edition copy of his celebrated book Amphigorey, signed and with an original drawing, New York, 1972, a rare copy of his collaboration with Samuel Beckett, All Strange Away, one of 26 lettered copies, signed by both, New York, 1976 ($2,000 to $3,000 each); and lots containing ephemera, such as a group of beanbag animals, rubber stamps and buttons depicting different characters ($500 to $750).

Rounding out the diverse auction are lovely Art Nouveau works including Les Péchés Capitaux, with color etchings of the seven deadly sins by Henry Detouche, from a limited edition on vélin du Marais, Paris, 1900 (800 to $1,200); the first Dutch edition of avant-garde artist El Lissitzky’s Of Two Squares, a children’s book about a black square and a red square who work together to establish a new order out of absolute chaos, The Hague, 1922 ($1,500 to $2,500); and a scarce sample book for Schumacher’s Taliesin line of wallpapers designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, Chicago, circa 1955 ($2,500 to $3,500).

The auction will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 14. The items will be on public exhibition Saturday, October 9, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Monday, October 11 through Wednesday, October 13, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Thursday, October 14, from 10 a.m. to noon.

An illustrated catalogue with information on bidding by mail or fax is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, or online at www.swanngalleries.com.

For further information, and to arrange in advance to bid by telephone during the auction, please contact Christine von der Linn at (212) 254-4710, extension 20, or via email at cvonderlinn@swanngalleries.com.

Live online bidding is also available via Artfact.com.