Later this week New Orleans Auction Galleries will offer a very special copy of Sherwood Anderson and Other Famous Creoles: A Gallery of Contemporary New Orleans (1926) by William Spratling with introductory text by occasional New Orleans resident William Faulkner. The book was  published by the Pelican Bookshop Press in New Orleans in an edition of 250 and contains drawings of the author, Faulkner, and 41 of their French Quarter acquaintances--artists, musicians, academics, preservationists, socialites--with their uptown patrons. It was once described as "one of the great literary curiosities in the city's history." 

Forty-one of the 43 persons featured in the book--all except Faulkner and artist Ronald Hargrave--signed this copy, which originally belonged  to Stella Lengsfield Lazard (Mrs. Henry Calme Lazard), who was herself on the fringes of the literary/bohemian circle. "Forty-one signatures is a record unlikely to be surpassed: the highest number I'd encountered before was 31, in a copy now missing," writes John Shelton Reed. Reed used the book as a source for his recently published history, Dixie Bohemians: A French Quarter Circle in the 1920s.

A long post on the intricacies of this copy, those featured in the book, and speculation on why Faulkner didn't sign it, is here. 

New Orleans Auction Gallery estimates that the book will fetch $2,500-4,000. Proceeds will benefit The Ogden Museum of Southern Art. And, as an added bonus, the winning bidder will also take home a signed copy of Reed's Dixie Bohemians. 

One of our faithful contributors, book collector Maureen E. Mulvihill, sends news of a forthcoming guest presentation in St Petersburg, Florida, by Welsh-trained book restorer, David H. Barry. Barry (seen here at left) specializes in hand bookbinding, designer binding, and book/document restoration. 

The event is hosted by the Florida Bibliophile Society next Sunday, April 21, in Barry's studio at Griffin Bookbinding. For more details, visit: http://www.floridabibliophilesociety.org/id2.html.

Yesterday I posted about my Friday at the Manhattan book fairs. I returned to the NYABF fair at the Armory on Saturday for another few hours of intense browsing. My first stop was row E, having only made it as far as D the day before. 

The double booth belonging to Ian Kahn/Lux Mentis and Brian Cassidy Bookseller, located in E, is the fun stop on the book fair tour. Fine press, avant-garde, music-related, and sex-related books and ephemera. A set of pink undergarments fashioned out of strips of pink paper on which are printed slang terms about women? Seen at Lux Mentis. A 1968 paper dress of Andy Warhol's soup can design given away by Campbell's to women who sent in two can labels and $1? Seen at Brian Cassidy. 

I also attended the Book Collecting 101 Seminar run by Brad and Jen Johnson of The Book Shop in Covina, CA. It was a great seminar on the basics, covering insuring collections, packing/shipping books, and my favorite, the "Don't list": Don't Follow Fads; Don't Buy Blindly; Don't Settle, and Don't "Invest." I was also reminded that a $5 Mylar cover is a necessary investment for a fine book (Note to self...). 

Other booth highlights included Phillip J. Pirages, where I scanned some stunning illuminated manuscript leaves. They don't fit into any of my three main collecting paths, so I sadly passed on them. At Les Enluminures, I picked up the catalogue for its current gallery show of medieval manuscripts, Paths to Reform, and I'll be nearly as happy paging through it.  

Two purchases were made in the final hour -- both in the natural history/nature literature category, a collection my husband and I share -- which caused us to meet two booksellers we will surely seek out at future fairs: Jeffrey H. Marks and Jeff Bergman. 

The NYABF is still open today. Happy hunting. 

I don't recall seeing a copy of E.B. White's famous book in my browsings yesterday at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair during the day or the Manhattan Vintage Book & Ephemera Fair in the evening -- but who knows, there is so much to see, and my eyes give up before my feet do. In four hours at the Armory fair, I stopped in most booths in four rows (Row E, I'll see you later today!) which may seem slow going to some, but I try to look closely and chat with the booksellers when they're not too busy with other clients. Here are some highlights. 

Ken Lopez is offering this rockin' copy of Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest -- it was fully marbled in psychedelic pinks by Kesey himself. Inside, Kesey has also signed it in block lettering. Lopez knows of only one other book treated by Kesey in this way. Also in Lopez's booth: an advanced reader's copy of The Name of the Rose inscribed by Umberto Eco--what bibliophile wouldn't want that?

Between the Covers had an interestingly covered book that caught my eye: the Cincinnati edition of Robert Owen's New View of Society wrapped in a homemade newspaper dust jacket dating to 1827. At Estates of Mind, I enjoyed seeing a early draft manuscript page from Thoreau (personal favorite) as well as Walt Whitman's own copy of Leaves of Grass, in which he lettered his name on the title page. Other fun finds: collectible editions of Baudrillard and Foucault (!) at Athena Rare Books, Cole Porter's typewriter at Schubertiade, and I saw so many first editions of Fowles' The Collector that David Lodge was a breath of fresh air at Gekoski.

After a two-hour eye rest, I traveled downtown to the "Shadow Show." Melissa Sanders was exhibiting as Red Queen Book Arts for the first time in New York with her list of book arts, fine press, artist's books, bindings, miniatures, and more (she also has books from Ken Sanders). Her display case is filled with the unique and interesting, e.g. Ed Bateman's artist's book, Gutenberg. 

Mosher Books has a beautiful Haberly book: The Keeper of the Doves, authored, wood-block illustrated, printed and beautifully bound by poet-printer Loyd Haberly, and published by Seven Acres Press in 1933. As usual the Country Bookshop of Vermont is a reliable purveyor of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century literature. We left the fair with one book, purchased there. 

Both shows are open today. 

A unique, casket-side drawing of Abraham Lincoln is bound to be the highlight of the Professional Autograph Dealers Association (PADA) show this Sunday in New York City. This last true image of the assassinated president, drawn in ink and opaque white gouache on heavy paper, was executed by a Frenchman named Pierre Morand on April 25, 1865. Morand had drawn Lincoln in life on numerous occasions. It has been suggested that Morand bribed a guard to get a few minutes of sketch time after Secretary of War Edwin Stanton disallowed visitors to Lincoln's deathbed. Morand drew a quick outline in pencil and then went back to his studio to produce a more elaborate ink version, followed by this one, which he labeled "Final Drawing." It is published for the first time in today's New York Times. 

"It is the only [face-up] picture you will ever see of Lincoln laying in his casket," said Bill Ecker of Harmonie Autographs & Music in New York City. Ecker is chairman of PADA's New York Show committee. The drawing is being sold by the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop of Chicago for $375,000.

In a show like this, there are many items which by their very nature are unique and interesting. Ecker recalled a few: a Walt Whitman signed photograph, a Beatles-signed album, and an "elusive" letter by Frank Lloyd Wright. Schubertiade Music and Arts of Boston is bringing this rare, original 4 x 6.25 cabinet bust portrait by Muller and Pilgrim of Leipzig, signed and inscribed in the lower portion of the image in German by Peter Il'yich Tchaikovsky to friend and virtuoso organist Carl Armbrust in 1888. 

This menu from a 1907 dinner held in honor of Robert Peary is elaborately illustrated and signed by the great explorer. The fun thing about this item, offered by Lion Heart Autographs of New York, is that the dinner was held at Manhattan's Lotos Club, one of the oldest private literary clubs in the United States (Mark Twain was a lifelong member). The Lotos Club also happens to be the venue for this year's PADA show, closer to the New York Antiquarian Book Fair traffic. 

This year's PADA show boasts 21 dealers, the largest in New York in over ten years, said Ecker. It opens on Sunday at 9 a.m. Admission is $10, and "business casual" dress is required.

Theodore Roosevelt's family photography album depicting the president and his children c. 1980-1910 is one of the standout items in the Peter Scanlan collection, on the block at Swann Galleries on April 16. The album contains 71 photographs mounted on 27 scrapbook pages. One of three images of the president himself is shown below -- he is standing proud in riding books in front of the White House. The Roosevelt children -- Teddy Jr., Kermit, Ethel, Archibald, and Quentin -- are the the primary featured faces in the album, and it is believed to have been compiled by the First Lady. The estimate is $4,000-6,000. A second family photo album is also on offer, this one consisting mainly of the president's grandson, Theodore Roosevelt III. 

Other highlights from the Roosevelt collection include the rare 1884 booklet In Memory of My Darling Wife Alice Hathaway Roosevelt and of My Beloved Mother Martha Bulloch Roosevelt. There is also a group of letters and documents signed by Roosevelt, including a 1918 autograph letter signed to a girl who lost a cousin in the war.

Another interesting New York collection is a lot of architectural/excavating diagrams, maps, and contracts related to major buildings in the city. Covering the years 1891-97 and 1901-1905, the pair of project logs belonged to prominent contractor John Daniel Crimmins, who worked on some incredible spaces, such as the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, the Schaefer brewery, the Tiffany lamp factory-studio, the Metropolitan Club building, and the New York Athletic Club. The estimate is $2,000-3,000. Blueprints of Coney Island, Niagara Falls guidebooks, and an early Dutch manuscript discussing the invasion of New Amsterdam are a few of the other NY items for sale. 

For some, the New York Antiquarian Book Fair is all about the book fair weekend (beginning tomorrow night). But as I've mentioned in the last few blogs, there are several other browsing and buying opportunities. This auction is undoubtedly one of them. 

It's not often that a Noble Prize is offered at auction, but collectors will have two opportunities this spring. One, in fact, this very week. On Thursday, April 11, Heritage Auctions will offer Dr. Francis Crick's Nobel Prize medal and hand-illuminated Nobel diploma at its Manuscripts auction in New York. According to Heritage, "The auction of the medal is a historic moment, marking the first time in decades that a Nobel Prize has been sold at auction."

And while we wouldn't call it a trend just yet, in late March Sotheby's announced that it will offer William Faulkner's Nobel Prize medal in June. Part of a larger and incredibly impressive archive, the prize medallion is lotted with an early handwritten draft of Faulkner's Nobel acceptance speech--written on Algonquin Hotel letterhead!--and the Nobel diploma. It is expected to realize $500,000. 

Heritage has similar hopes for Crick's 23-carat-gold Nobel. Bidding has already opened online--it's currently at $280,000--to be followed by a live floor session. 

News of the Crick Nobel at auction prompted the the San Diego Union-Tribune to poll readers about whether they would "bid on a Nobel Prize at auction." A surprising 40 percent said "It just feels wrong to auction off the medal," while the yes and no votes were split evenly, and 13 percent asked, "Who has that kind of money?"