As You Like It First Folio Leads Library of Stephen J. Farber Auction

Freeman’s will bring The Library of Stephen J. Farber to auction tomorrow featuring rare books collected over the course of nearly seven decades.


"I am particularly excited to offer this library in its entirety, as it tells the story of one collector’s lifelong passion and the pursuit of the books and manuscripts he most deeply loved,” said Christopher Brink, Senior Specialist, Books & Manuscripts.

Born in New York City and raised in Miami Beach, Florida, Mr. Farber pursued a distinguished medical career in New York, St. Louis, Ann Arbor, Charlottesville, and Toledo. He also developed a lifelong passion for books and accompanied by his wife Nancy travelled thousands of miles across the United States visiting book fairs, rare book dealers, antique shops, and auction houses.

Leading the sale is a lot comprising two complete plays extracted from William Shakespeare's The First Folio, As You Like It and The Taming of the Shrew (London, Isaac laggard and Ed. Blount, 1623) which has an estimate of $30,000–$50,000.

Other highlights include:

• Thomas Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia (London, John Stockdale, 1787), first edition with the large folding map, estimate: $10,000–$15,000
• a near-pristine first edition of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four with the scarce original wraparound band (London, Secker & Warburg, 1949, estimate: $8,000–$12,000)
• numerous original printings of works by Edgar Allan Poe, including a first printing of The Raven in the exceptionally scarce original wrappers in The American Review (Volume I, number II, New York, Edward O. Jenkins for Wiley and Putnam, February 1845 but early January), estimate: $8,000–$12,000
• a first edition, first impression set of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (London, Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1954 and 1955), estimate: $15,000–$20,000
• Bram Stoker's Dracula (Westminster, Archibald Constable & Company, 1897), first edition, first issue, estimate: $6,000–$8,000