New York — Swann Galleries’ Thursday, July 16 sale of Illustration Art is set to feature a standout offering of works from literary classics, magazine story illustrations, original advertising designs, as well as vintage and contemporary New Yorker art.

Original illustrations by enduring favorites lead a section of the auction dedicated to children’s literature. Among the cherished characters featured are Laurent de Brunhoff’s Babar as he and his family take in the Notre Dame Cathedral, published in Babar’s World Tour, 2005 ($10,000-15,000); a 2014 Valentine illustration of Hilary Knight’s Eloise ($25,000-35,000); a group of six 1982 pencil studies of Max and the monsters from Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are ($20,000-30,000); three ink studies of Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad published in Frog and Toad Together, 1972 ($5,000-7,500); and Ludwig Bemelmans’ charming watercolor portrait of Madeline ($4,000-6,000).

Additional children’s book highlights include a small run of works by William Pène du Bois, with notable lots featuring a group of 27 watercolor and mixed-media drawings from The Hare and the Tortoise and The Tortoise and the Hare, 1972 ($4,000-6,000). A colorful collage, ink and gouache of Black Cat by Eric Carle from his 1973 classic Have You Seen My Cat? is set to come across the block ($6,000-9,000); as well as Peter Newell’s illustration Beau—ootiful Soo---oop!, 1903, published in Lewis Carroll’s The Hunting of the Snark and Other Poems and Verses ($6,000-9,000). A run of works by contemporary illustrators Allan Neuwirth and Jane Breskin Zalben rounds out the section.

A wide-ranging section of literary and magazine illustrations is led by N.C. Wyeth’s original 1916 title-page artwork for The Black Arrow. A Tale of the Two Roses by Robert Louis Stevenson ($150,000-250,000). The iconic work is offered alongside material by other giants from the Golden Age of Illustration, particularly those from the Brandywine School, including Wyeth’s mentor, Howard Pyle, with the oil-on-canvas frontispiece for Landegon by W.G. Beymer, published in Harper’s Monthly Magazine in November, 1909 ($20,000-30,000), and a likely preliminary study for Century Illustrated Magazine, circa 1905, by Violet Oakley ($4,000-6,000). A run of magazine illustrations contains a number of pieces for The Saturday Evening Post by Stevan Dohanos, as well as the Mexican caricaturist and cartoonist Arias Bernal.

Advertising and design is represented with a rare-to-market original by Leslie Ragan, circa 1930, likely executed for the back of a calendar ($4,000-6,000); a circa 1928 postcard design starring George Studdy’s beloved Bonzo the Dog ($1,000-1,500); and a quirky shoe advertisement by Gottfried Sieben created before 1918 ($1,500-2,500).

A range of costume and set designs for theater include works by Erté with Couleurs / Le Trapéziste, a 1970 costume design ($6,000-9,000), and Décore de Laideronnette, a 1949 set design ($5,000-7,500). And, lively cast illustrations for the 1974 Off-Broadway sensation The Great MacDaddy, and the 1940 Broadway revival of Charley’s Aunt by Al Hirschfeld, featuring African-American and Latinx actors stands-out in the theater section ($10,000-15,000 and $20,000-30,000, respectively).

The ever-popular New Yorker section encompasses works by iconic cover artists, such as Arthur Getz with Basketball Game, published February 5, 1966 issue, and Rooftop Party, published September 5, 1970 ($2,000-3,000, each), and Garrett Price’s June 3, 1950 featuring Mason’s Island in Mystic Connecticut ($1,200-1,800). Recent cover art features George Booth’s Bite the Bullet, published April 19, 1993 ($1,500-2,500), and Danny Shanahan’s High Rise, published March 7, 2016 ($2,500-3,500). Time-honored cartoonists Lee Lorenz and Frank Modell are offered alongside current contributors, such as Bob Eckstein, Ben Schwartz and P.C. Vey.

Limited previewing (by appointment only) will be available from July 13 through July 15, to be scheduled directly with the specialist in advance and conforming to strict safety guidelines. Swann Galleries staff will prepare condition reports and provide additional photographs of material on request. Advance order bids can be placed with the specialist for the sale or on Swann’s website, and phone bidding will be available. Live online bidding platforms will be the Swann Galleries App, Invaluable, and Live Auctioneers. The complete catalogue and bidding information is available at www.swanngalleries.com and on the Swann Galleries App.
 
Additional highlights can be found here.

Dallas – Twenty years and almost 400,000 movie posters later, Heritage Auctions’ Grey Smith thought he’d seen – and sold – them all. Then it came time to compile the almost 700 lots for the July 25-26 Movie Posters event.

And there they were: the rarities once thought lost or out of reach, some of movie-poster collecting’s crowning achievements. The never-before-seens. The never-before-solds.

“This job is exciting every day,” said Smith, Heritage’s Director of Vintage Posters. “When a new rarity comes in, it’s thrilling. That’s what makes this such a wonderful hobby. Anyone who says they’ve seen it all in movie posters isn’t telling you the truth. There is always material out there that’s exciting.”

That’s especially true in the July sale, which offers among its many gems these astonishing finds:

The gorgeous one-sheet for Sunrise, director F.W. Murnau’s first American film, released in 1927 and considered one of the greatest silent films of all time (and a proto film noir, to boot). Shockingly, it’s the only known one-sheet poster for the landmark film that won three Academy Awards, among them Best Cinematography and Best Unique and Artistic Picture, a long-retired honor once on par with Best Picture. And peering over the roses is the beatific image of Best Actress winner Janet Gaynor, the unnamed wife who’s nearly the victim of a murderous plot conceived by her philandering husband and his big-city mistress.

There are some lobby cards and window cards for Sunrise known to exist. But nothing like this – nothing this large, this meaningful, this significant. “It’s such a great piece,” said Smith.

There’s also the unsettling, electrifying French poster for Universal Studios’ Frankenstein, released in France six months after its U.S. debut in 1932. Collectors covet any original Universal horror poster, among them the terrifying, unforgettable teaser for 1933’s The Invisible Man also in the summer sale and another of which only a handful are known to exist.

But the Frankenstein poster – by the great artist Jacques Faria – is particularly sought-after, as it’s the only known copy and has never before been offered by Heritage.

“I was tickled to get that,” said Smith. “It’s the original release – and really, really scarce.”

So, too, has the one-sheet for Chapter 10 of The Master Mystery, in which illusionist Harry Houdini and cinema’s first robot make their on-screen debuts. And the original Soviet artwork advertising Sergei Eisenstein and Grigoriy Aleksandrov’s 1928 monumental recreation of the Russian Revolution, October 1917: Ten Days that Shook the World.

Another “lost” poster in the July event is the three-sheet for The Lost Squadron, the 1932 film starring Richard Dix, Joel McCrea and Robert Armstrong as World War I aces who find dangerous work as stunt pilots in Hollywood. Smith says just one, maybe two copies are known to exist. But this is the first time in his two decades at Heritage one has come to auction.

The same can be said of the one-sheet for Warner Bros.’ 1936 release The Walking Dead, starring Boris Karloff – another that, until now, has eluded Grey Smith’s grasp. But it speaks to the depth and breadth of this auction that this work of horror – by no less than Michael Curtiz, the maker of Casablanca! – is only one of many premier pieces available in the July sale.

“Our auctions are a great opportunity for collectors to find the rarest material,” Smith said, “and to have a real shot at it.”

The history of film is spread across the 683 lots in the auction, from gorgeous keepsakes representing cinema’s earliest achievements (1927’s Metropolis and 1931’s M) to its most enduring titles (1942’s Casablanca, represented here by several memorable and highly coveted posters, and 1939’s The Wizard of Oz, with rare French and Spanish offerings) to modern-day franchises and blockbusters, including the Star Wars and James Bond films.

“This hobby still is in its infancy,” said Smith as he looks over the works spread across the sale. “In years to come, these will be hanging in museums, and people will say, ‘You could have purchased some of these posters for relatively inexpensive prices once upon a time at auction.’ Who won’t know something like Frankenstein 300 years from now? Film is our cultural heritage.”

And their posters, too.

Heritage Auctions’ Movie Posters event takes place July 25-26. To view high-resolution images of all the lots, register at HA.com.

London — A striking portrait of the novelist E. M. Forster by his friend, the art historian and painter Roger Fry, set a new world record for the artist at auction when it sold for £325,000 at Bonhams Modern British and Irish Art sale on July 1. It had been estimated at £30,000-50,000. The sale made a total of £2,000,000 with 80% sold by lot and 85% sold by value.
 
This was the first sale held at Bonhams that members of the public were able to attend in person since the Government’s relaxation of lockdown regulations. Bidders in the auction room remained socially distanced at all times and participated keenly in the auction.
 
Fry and Forster were prominent member of the Bloomsbury Group, the early 20th century artists, writers and freethinkers who in Dorothy Parker’s memorable phrase, ‘lived in squares, painted in circles, and loved in triangles’. The Group scandalised society at the time and has continued to fascinate succeeding generations.
 
Fry and Forster were neighbours in Surrey and became close friends. Writing in the summer edition of Bonhams Magazine, the biographer Matthew Sturgis said, “The portrait – painted at a time when Fry, steeped in the Parisian experiments of Post-Impressionists, Fauves and Cubists, was striving to introduce something of their daring simplification and anti-naturalism into his own practice – was an upshot of that happy friendship.”

The sale also offered a rare self-portrait by Vanessa Bell (1879-1961). With her sister Virginia Woolf, Vanessa was a core Bloomsbury figure and acknowledged as among its finest artists. The portrait sold for £56,000 having been estimated at £20,000-30,000.

Bonhams Director of Modern British and Irish Art Chris Dawson said, “We are delighted with the result. Roger Fry’s portrait of E.M. Forster is an extraordinary and important work and it’s fitting that it set a new world record for the artist at auction. The high price paid for the painting and for other works by Bloomsbury artists, including Vanessa Bell’s wonderful self-portrait, reinforces the continuing appeal of this key artistic and literary movement.”
 
Other highlights included:
 
Sir Winston Churchill, maquette for the monument in Parliament Square by Ivor Roberts-Jones (1916-1996). Sold for £118,810 (£65,000-85,000).
 
A Steamship and a Schooner Passing the Coast (recto); A Path Through a Wood (verso) by Alfred Wallis (British, 1855-1942).  Sold for £100,000 (£50,000-70,000).
 
Reclining Figure: Pointed Legs by Henry Moore O.M., C.H. (1898-1986). Sold for £93,800 (£50,000-70,000).
 
Portrait of a Young Man by Christopher Wood (1901-1930). Sold for £87,500 (£25,000-35,000.

London — Senate House Library, University of London, has digitized over 80,000 pages from over 300 rare Renaissance texts dated 1474-1600 and they are now available to view online (free to all registered university library users across the UK). This is just one of nine parts of the full Augustus De Morgan special collection of almost 3,800 books charting the development of mathematics, astronomy and philosophy from the 15th-19th century, featuring works by Euclid, Copernicus, Descartes and Newton.

Augustus De Morgan Special Collection - Part One is available to view online through Brill, one of Senate House Library’s commercial publishing partners. Part one of the collection comprises 316 texts with all titles dated pre-1600, including twenty-four Incunabula (pre-1500 printed texts). Senate House Library will continue to digitize the full Augustus De Morgan special collection over the next 3-4 years, to capture the remaining 3,500 texts dated 1600-1870.

Dr Maria Castrillo, Head of Special Collections and Engagement, Senate House Library, said: “It’s fantastic that we can now share the founding collection of Senate House Library with people across the globe, especially in times of restricted travel. The first part that has been digitized contains some beautifully illustrated extremely rare editions of the greatest works of the Renaissance, providing a unique blend of science and humanities that have advanced human knowledge over the last 500 years.”  

Highlights from the digitized collection now online include the first two printed editions (1482 and 1491) of The Elements, attributed to Greek mathematician Euclid and considered instrumental in the development of logic and modern science. Other key highlights include several incunabula such as Paolo Veneto's Logica Parva, the earliest work in the collection published in 1474; works by Nicolaus Copernicus, and Gregor Reisch's beautifully illustrated Margarita Philosophica, a popular encyclopaedic work in the early 16th century.

The Collection assembled by British mathematician and historian Augustus De Morgan throughout his life, contains a wealth of titles, mainly in English, charting the development of Mathematics, Astronomy, Physics, Philosophy & Theology, and Literature. The scope of the collection and De Morgan's own annotations to some of the books, make this special collection particularly unique and distinctive.

New York — Swann Galleries offered four sales of Fine Art this June, each one proving audiences are undeterred by the remote bidding format due to social distancing guidelines.

African-American Fine Art was held on Thursday, June 4, with the auction surpassing its pre-sale high estimate totaling $3.5 million. The top lot in the sale was Richmond Barthé’s cast bronze sculpture Feral Benga, which earned a record for the artist at $629,000. The work, which was modeled in 1935 and cast in 1986, represents the culmination of Barthé’s study of the figure in sculpture, anatomy and dance in the 1930s, and his pioneering realization of an ideal male nude. Further notables included works by Ernie Barnes, Betty Blayton, LaToya Ruby Frazier and David Hammons.

After a decades-long career at Swann, Daile Kaplan held her final auction with the house Thursday, June 11 with a sale of Fine Photographs as she steps down as the department director and Swann vice president. Highlights from the sale included Michael Halsband’s striking portrait of Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, shot for their joint show at Tony Shafrazi Gallery in 1985. The portrait led the sale at $27,500. Classics of photography by Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, Andre Kertesz and Henri Cartier-Bresson drew intense bidding from the various online platforms, along with New York images by favorites Berenice Abbott and Helen Levitt. Fine art photographs by pioneers of contemporary photography, among them Lucas Samaras and Diane Arbus, realized strong prices. Deborah Rogal will be stepping into the role of director, after working alongside Kaplan since 2006, and serving as the department’s associate director since 2014.

The Thursday, June 18 sale of Graphic Design / Modernist Posters marked the house’s twentieth anniversary of offerings in the category and brought in $904,710, a record for the category at Swann. The auction garnered 10 records, including artist records for Charles Loupot with CH. Philippossian Automobiles / Genève, 1920, at $137,000, and Ladislav Sutnar with Vystava Moderniho Obchodu, 1929, at $16,250. Also of note was Wladyslaw Strzeminski’s circa-1928 gouache and pencil letterform study, which earned $60,000, and a propaganda poster issued by Kroger: Dear God, Keep Them Safe! / Buy War Bonds and Stamps, 1942, which brought $22,500.

Swann’s June offerings of fine art concluded with a standout sale of Contemporary Art on Thursday, June 25. The auction garnered $1.5 million, and saw an 85% sell-through rate by lot. Roy Lichtenstein’s Reverie, 1965—one of the artist’s first pop screenprints—led the auction at $75,000. Each of the acrylic works by street artist Richard Hambleton found buyers: Rodeo, 2003, at $50,000; Shadow Head, 2007, at $18,750; and Shadowman, 1994 at $12,500. Additional highlights included abstract works by Helen Frankenthaler, Agnes Martin and Julie Mehretu.

Swann Galleries is currently accepting consignments for the fall 2020 season. For the house’s most up-to-date auction schedule please visit swanngalleries.com.

Additional highlights can be found here:

African-American Fine Art

Fine Photographs

Graphic Design / Modernist Posters

Contemporary Art

New York — The 81st auction from Poster Auctions International on Tuesday, July 21st presents numerous never-before-seen designs, including 43 Spanish Art Nouveau posters, 16 hand-painted posters from North Vietnam and important works from Cappiello, Chéret, Loupot, Mucha, Toulouse-Lautrec and other renowned artists.

The Rare Posters Auction will be on view to the public from July 6th through the 20th. The auction will be held live in PAI’s gallery at 26 West 17th Street in New York City and online at posterauctions.com. The auction will begin promptly at 11 am Eastern time.

Jack Rennert, president of Poster Auctions International, Inc., said, “Despite the setbacks of a global pandemic, we are eager to continue our dedicated work with posters. Our 81st Rare Posters Auction will include not only the high-quality works that our collectors expect, but will also feature notable works that we have never had at auction before.”

The auction will kick off with a collection of posters from Spain, many of which are seen here for the first time. Largely from the Modernisme era, these designs herald the revival of Catalan culture and promote the democratization and integration of the arts, blending influences from Pre-Raphaelite painting, Japanese woodblock prints, and Belgian lithography. Highlights include Alejandro de Riquer’s 1900 The Four Seasons (est. $7,000-$9,000); Femina, by an anonymous artist (est. $4,000-$5,000); and Carlos Verger Fioretti’s 1911 Barcelona / Ciudad de Invierno (est. $4,000-$5,000).

Hand-painted posters from North Vietnam will also be available for the first time. These images, from the collection of Deborah Salter, express the struggles of the Vietnam War and hope for a better future. Artists responded to the sense of urgency by hand-painting—rather than printing—their posters for quicker dissemination to the vast rural population. Works of particular note include Thanh’s ca. 1960 All Working Together to Improve the Collective Economy (est. $2,500-$3,000) and Kho’s 1975 North and South We Are One (est. $3,000-$4,000).

As always, transport posters for bicycles, aviation, and automobiles are featured. Highlights include Penfield’s ca. 1900 The Northampton Cycle Co. (est. $12,000-$15,000), Livemont’s 1902 Automobile Club de France / 5me Salon (est. $6,000-$7,000), Bellery-Desfontaines 1905 Automobiles Georges Richard (est. $12,000-$14,000), Mazza’s 1910 Verona Concorsi Aerei (est. $14,000-$17,000) and Anonymous’ 1909 G.N.R. / Doncaster (est. $3,000-$4,000). Eight posters from the Tour de France are included, two of which are hand-signed by Greg LeMond.

Collectors of Art Nouveau have a plethora of heralded images to choose from. Bonnard’s 1896 Salon des Cent is always a must for collectors (est. $7,000-$9,000). Several images from Bouisset are sure to charm, including two versions of his iconic Chocolat Menier (est. $3,000-$4,000). Classic designs from Chéret include his larger-than-life 1894 Palais de Glace (est. $5,000-$6,000)—but the showstopper is his ca. 1905 Project pour Palais des Rois de Sardaigne : Painting (est. $17,000-$20,000), a joyous preliminary work for his mural in the palace’s gallery, which is visible to this day. From Malerba, a large-scale 1910 design, Mele & Ci. / Mode Novità, is sure to impress—as is Roubille’s charming ca. 1909 poster, Spratt’s Patent Ltd. (both est. $10,000-$12,000).

Of course, the pinnacle of Art Nouveau is Alphonse Mucha. 25 of his greatest works will be on offer, including La Dame aux Camelias (est. $25,000-$30,000) and Lorenzzacio (est. $14,000-$17,000), both from 1896. The artist’s decorative panels for the seasons remain classics of design, and several iterations will be available: his iconic 1896 The Seasons (est. $40,000-$50,000), the second variation of The Seasons from 1897 (est. $12,000-$15,000), and a rare 1900 variant of The Seasons with the imprint of L. Brancher and the complete titles and descriptions (est. $45,000-$55,000). Further works include his 1896 Job (est. $15,000-$20,000) and his 1899 Moët & Chandon (est. $30,000-$35,000).

The Belle Epoque continues to enthrall with Toulouse-Lautrec, who chronicled the gritty and enticing night life of Paris. Tour de force works include his 1894 Eldorado / Aristide Bruant (est. $70,000-$90,000), the 1893 Caudieux (est. $35,000-$40,000), and the 1893 Jane Avril (est. $70,000-$90,000). Most notably, his stupendous 1896 La Chaîne Simpson will be available for the first time in nine years (est. $70,000-$90,000).

Offerings from the Art Deco era are similarly robust. 39 works from the legendary Cappiello trace his career from 1900 to 1938, and include Pneumatiques Torrilhon (est. $7,000-$9,000); a spirited 1919 signed gouache maquette, Le Printemps (est. $14,000-$17,000); the playful 1928 Porto Pitters (est. $8,000-$10,000); and his enchanting ca. 1907 Cognac Gautier Frères (est. $7,000-$9,000).

From Charles Loupot, Art Deco classics include the 1925 Huile Raoul Citroën (est. $14,000-$17,000) and the 1930 Cointreau (est. $6,000-$7,000). Most notably, two impressive maquettes will be on offer: the ca. 1917 L’Impartial (est. $7,000-$9,000) and a full-size St. Raphaël drawing from 1947 (est. $40,000-$50,000).

Public viewings will be held daily from July 6-20. For more information and to download the digital catalogue, visit www.posterauctions.com. You may call the gallery at (212) 787-4000.

Jack Rennert, president of Rennert’s Gallery / PAI, is the world’s foremost authority on rare original poster art, and is the author of over a dozen books on the subject, including the catalogue raisonée for the “father” of modern French poster art, Leonetto Cappiello.

Chicago – Hindman’s auction of Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts including Americana realized $461,725, achieving strong sell-through rates of 94% by lot and 113% by value. Following the success of a record-setting 2019 for the Books and Manuscripts department, Hindman’s first Fine Books and Manuscripts including Americana auction of the year once again exceeded expectations. Strong presale interest and competitive bidding across multiple telephones and four online auction platforms drove the result past the presale estimate of $327,600 to a total $461,725 and sold a remarkable 94% of lots.

The outstanding results of this week’s sale confirms that our strategy of offering works of the highest quality and rarity continues to resonate with the market. We were particularly honored to hold the sale of books from the collection of Rhoda H. Clark and the Monastery Hill Bindery, and were pleased with the result of the miniature of John Fleming’s 57th Street Library and Gallery.

The auction’s top lot, a remarkable archive of 203 signed documents from 16 Chief and 93 Associate Justices of the United States Supreme Court from 1789-2017 (Lot 287), sold for $25,000. The most complete collection of Justice’s signatures to ever be offered at auction, the collection included the signatures of every justice from John Jay through William Rehnquist, and featured excellent examples of even the rarest justices, including James Iredell, Alfred Moore, Robert Trimble, John Catron, John McKinley and Peter V. Daniel. The lot also included examples from three judges that were nominated but never confirmed to the Court: Robert Hanson Harrison, Ebenezer R. Hoar, and George H. Williams.

The auction also featured the historic Collection of Rhoda H. Clark and the Monastery Hill Bindery, which realized over $88,000 against a presale estimate of $69,750. Monastery Hill Bindery, one of the oldest businesses in Chicago, was founded by Clark’s great-grandfather in 1868. Enthusiastic bidding sent many lots from the collection well past their presale estimates. The top lot from the collection was Lossing’s The Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution (Lot 282). The eight-volume set bound with additional original documents and correspondence from several Founding Fathers sold for $10,625 against a presale estimate of $4,000-6,000. Additionally, a copy of William Lloyd Garrison’s biography (Lot 252), also bound with several original documents from notable political figures and abolitionists, sold for $6,875 against a presale estimate of $4,000-6,000.

Among the many highlights in the sale was a miniature of John Fleming’s 57th Street Library and Gallery (Lot 205), selling for $11,250, almost 8 times the presale estimate of $1,500-2,500. The miniature of the gallery of one of the most important antiquarian booksellers in the United States in the 20th-century, contained an array of meticulously crafted accoutrements including six miniature books, numerous miniature "book" models, miniature furnishings and silver.

Far exceeding expectations, a rare Kelmscott Press pamphlet entitled When Adam Delved and Eve Span..., together with 3 draft prospectuses with holograph corrections vaulted past its pre-sale estimate of $500-700, selling for $6,000.

The Fine Books and Manuscripts Including Americana auction was held at Hindman’s Chicago saleroom on June 23, 2020 with all bidders participating remotely. As has been the trend throughout the spring and early summer, online bidding largely drove the action, accounting for over 46% of the sale’s total.

Hindman is now welcoming consignments for the next Fine Books and Manuscripts auction to be held in November. For more details and to see full results for the auction, please visit HindmanAuctions.com.

New York — Swann Galleries announces Deborah Rogal as the new Director of the Photographs & Photobooks department, as longtime Swann Vice President and Photo Director Daile Kaplan steps down after 30 years with the house.

Deborah Rogal joined the Swann Galleries’ Photographs & Photobooks department in 2006, and has served as its Associate Director since 2014. She has presided over numerous sales of private collections of photobooks and rare photographs, including the 2012 sale of Edward S. Curtis' North American Indian, the first million-dollar lot at Swann ($1,440,000 in October of 2012). Rogal has contributed to the burgeoning vernacular photography market, which was spearheaded by Kaplan, and has introduced and contextualized never-before-seen imagery uniquely offered at Swann. “I have had the pleasure of working with Daile for most of my professional career, and I could not have asked for a better mentor and colleague. I am thrilled and honored to be stepping into the role of Director now, and look forward to continuing Swann’s long relationship with the photographic medium,” Rogal commented.

Rogal has lectured about collecting, and in the last two years has made several appearances on the PBS television show Antiques Roadshow as an appraiser. She has a wide-ranging expertise, but holds special interest in Depression-era photography, the Photo-Secession, and photobooks from all periods. Rogal’s alma mater is Smith College (’05).

Daile Kaplan joined the team at Swann in 1990. Over the intervening years Kaplan has helped transform the vintage photography auction market. Among the innovations she has brought to the industry were the introduction of photobooks to the auction canon, and transforming vernacular photography from a past time into an international pursuit. Of the transition Kaplan remarked, “I am moving on from Swann with a sense of gratitude and expectation that, with the promotion of Deborah Rogal to Director, the department is in great hands.”

Swann is currently accepting consignments for the fall 2020 season. For more information visit swanngalleries.com or download the Swann Galleries App.

New York — When the pandemic caused a virtual halt to Marvin Getman’s Antiquarian Book Fair Business in early March, he put pencil to paper, or more appropriately, mouse to computer and started designing a concept he had thought about often but never had time to pursue. He teamed up with Paul Mills of Antiquarian Auctions to develop and host the site in South Africa and hired a designer on the west coast. The result, Getman’s Virtual Book and Paper Fair was rolled out in early May. By all accounts it was a huge success! About 5,000 people visited the site with many “entering” the minute it opened at noon on Tuesday June 2. “I was holding my breath at 11:59 a.m. hoping that the system wouldn’t crash. That was the first big test of the reliability of the servers in the cloud. As we have seen at other virtual fairs, servers have a way of breaking down when many people click on a site at the same time. Thankfully, ours did not”.  108 dealers signed up for the first fair largely on the reputation Getman has developed over his years as a producer who puts his dealers first and promotes heavily to attract an audience. Getman’s live fairs have taken place in Boston, Manhattan, Brooklyn and Greenwich, CT.

There was a 28% sell-through of the listings at the first fair. A percentage that would be unheard of at a live fair. The average sale was in the mid $500’s as the sales ranged from $6800 down to $40. He allows dealers to list up to 15 items and his rental pricing structure allows dealers to list items in all price ranges while not breaking the bank with high rents. And, of course, the fact that dealers do not have the stress of traveling to and setting up for a live fair is a big plus. Getman looks forward to the day when live fairs return post-Covid, but realistically, does not see that happening anytime soon. We are all hoping for a vaccine but no-one knows when that will happen

Getman plans to run the virtual fair on the first Tuesday of each month to get people in the habit of looking forward to seeing dealers’ best and newest inventory. When asked why he limits the dealers to fifteen items, he explains that the purpose of the site is to feature dealers’ best and freshest items and he foresees that over time, dealers will save those items to feature on the next monthly fair. For now, the fairs are limited to 150 dealers but as demand increases, Getman is open to the possibility of increasing the frequency.

There will also be some special productions. The popular Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair is expected to  be virtual this year on its traditional weekend after Labor Day. That fair will include many special features, including an exhibit centered around the Beach Boys as well as seminars on a wide range of subjects.  Getman hopes that these events will bring in a diverse audience similar to his live Brooklyn fairs.  And, with the market now expanded worldwide, a whole new audience can join the fun.

Other book fair producers have made note of Getman’s virtual fair with its clean design and ease of use for both buyer and seller with requests for licensing arrangements. In fact, Rare Books LA has reached an agreement with Getman to host their book fair scheduled for October on his virtual fair platform. In an announcement to her exhibitors, Jen Johnson stated “We have entered into an agreement with Impact Events Group (IEG), producers of Getman Virtual fairs, to use their customized platform for our virtual book fair. IEG combines a dynamic, searchable, and visual shopping experience for customers with an easy to use and intuitive backend system for exhibitors to load their materials. We will use all of our marketing and promotional know how to make Rare Books LA Virtual a huge success for all participants.

The next two Getman’s Virtual Book and Paper Fairs are scheduled to begin on July 7th and August 4th. For additional information about exhibiting at one of Getman’s Virtual fairs, contact him at getmansvirtual@gmail.com.

New York — Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books comet to auction at Swann Galleries on Thursday, July 9. American cartography and atlases that span the globe and the centuries, as well as noteworthy treasures by John James Audubon feature in the sale.

Maps of America include the important John White and Theodor de Bry map of Virginia—the first showing in accurate detail any part of what is now the United States ($8,000-12,000); and a rare 1755 edition of the Fry & Jefferson map of the Most Inhabited Part of Virginia Containing the Whole Province of Maryland with part of Pensilvania, New Jersey and North Carolina ($12,000-18,000). Several Johannes van Keulen circa 1700 charts are in the sale, including the Carolina and Georgia coast ($2,500-3,500) and New England from Manhattan to Nantucket ($3,000-5,000).

Further maps of note include manuscript plats compiled by the Separatist Society of Zoar, Ohio, that were intended for the organization of a new communal village in 1882 ($500-750); a rare first edition, first state of Braddock Mead’s Map of the Most Inhabited Part of New England, 1755 ($10,000-15,000); a circa 1814–16 “schoolgirl map” of east coast of the United States by Catharine Beecher—a major figure in early nineteenth-century American women’s education—made as a young student herself ($1,500-2,500); California as a massive island in Nicolas Sanson’s Le Nouveau Mexique et la Floride, 1656 ($3,000-5,000); and German editions of Captain John Smith’s maps of New England and Virginia ($4,000-6,000, apiece).

Atlases include first editions of all the volumes of Henri Chatelain’s Atlas Historique, 1705–20 ($15,000-20,000); Heirs of Homann’s mid-eighteenth century Atlas Mapparum Georgraphicarum Generalium & Specialium Centum Foliis; and eighteenth-century charts of American waters in The English Pilot, Fourth Book, 1789 ($12,000-18,000). Samuel N. Gaston’s The Campaign Atlas for 1861, a small Civil War atlas never before seen at auction ($1,000-1,500), and another unusual item with no previous auction records: United States Coast Survey topographical engineer Joseph Enthoffer’s 1869 atlas of templates designed to teach topographical drawing to Army officers ($1,500-2,500). Also included is a 1676 revision of the Mercator Hondius Atlas Minor expanded to include 24 more maps than the previous edition ($8,000-12,000).

Color plate books feature John James Audubon’s first octavo edition of The Birds of America, 1840–44, signed and inscribed to the Baltimore author and original subscriber of this work, Brantz Mayer ($18,000-22,000). Additional works by Audubon include Robert Havell editions, featuring his masterful Great Blue Heron, plate CCXI, 1834 ($40,000-60,000), and a pristine example of the Golden Winged Woodpecker, plate XXXVII, 1828 ($4,000-6,000). A massive collection of over 750 mostly American bookplates and ownership labels from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries ($2,000-3,000), and exquisite Art Nouveau botanical plates from Eugène Grasset’s La Plante et Ses Applications Ornementales, 1896 ($4,000-6,000), also feature.

Historical prints and drawings feature an unusual painting on cobweb fibers of a Tyrolean peasant couple, circa 1870s, for the Swiss tourist trade ($400-600); a group of plates from 1841 including imposing portraits of Native Americans by Karl Bodmer ($3,000-4,000); and an effective circa 1885-90 watercolor of an owl by Scottish painter Archibald Thorburn ($3,000-5,000).

Limited previewing (by appointment only) will be available from July 6 through July 8. Swann Galleries staff will prepare condition reports and provide additional photographs of material on request. Advance order bids can be placed directly with the specialist for the sale or on Swann’s website, and phone bidding will be available. Live online bidding platforms will be the Swann Galleries App, Invaluable, and Live Auctioneers. The complete catalogue and bidding information is available at www.swanngalleries.com and on the Swann Galleries App.