Tea Act, Peepshows, and Kubrick's Napoleon Script: The Week in Rare Books
One of a collection of nine peepshows
This weekly auction result is provided by Spencer W Stuart, an independent collections advisor specializing in rare books and manuscripts as well as fine photography and prints. He is also the author of Contemporary Issues in Rare Books & Manuscript Collecting and host of the monthly webinar Collecting Insights.
These are the three lots that stuck out this week because of either uniqueness or exceeding expectations:
The Tea Act
The Tea Act, printed in full in an issue of the Boston Evening-Post (Boston, Thomas and John Fleet, October 25, 1773) - the Tea Act passed into law on May 10, 1773, and news reached the American colonies in September, this Boston printing preceded the Boston Tea Party by less than two months. Sold at Swann Galleries for $19,050 following an estimate of $3,000-$4,000.
A collection of nine peepshows
A collection of nine peepshows. [probably Augsburg, Martin Engelbrecht, circa 1730.] each consisting of six hand-colored engravings, all wrapped in contemporary paper enclosures with manuscript titles, plus a contemporary wooden viewing box, subjects including a party, ball scene, jousting, performers, a comedy, a concert, a royal court, and soldiers on the march. Sold at Doyle for $11,520 after an $400-$600 estimate.
Screenplay for Stanley Kubrick’s unmade Napoleon
An unspecified screenplay draft of Kubrick's unproduced biographical movie epic, dated September 29, 1969, 186 photocopied pages in original brad-bound wrappers. Following an estimate of $150-$300, sold at Potter & Potter for $50,400.
