New York - Woodland Views, an exhibition of work by photography’s early masters, is on view at Hans P. Kraus Jr. Fine Photographs through July 27, 2018. The exhibition presents primarily 19th century landscapes beginning in 1844 by William Henry Fox Talbot, John Dillwyn Llewelyn, Benjamin Brecknell Turner, Henri Le Secq, Roger Fenton, Gustave Le Gray, Joseph, vicomte Vigier, and Captain Linnaeus Tripe, among others. 

Guided by Sir Walter Scott’s prose, William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877), the inventor of photography on paper, travelled to Scotland in October 1844 to photograph scenes from the life of Scott. Four converging triangles of alternating tones in Loch Katrine, a surprisingly modern 1844 salt print from a calotype negative, evokes a mood appropriate to Scott’s influential 1810 poem “Lady of the Lake.”

Pheasant and Ferns, an 1850s albumen print from a glass negative by the Welshman John Dillwyn Llewelyn (1810-1882), is a carefully observed tableau of a stuffed pheasant in a densely embroidered setting of ferns and ground cover and is a fine example of Llewelyn’s high regard for the medium.

Benjamin Brecknell Turner (1815-1894) first took up photography in 1849. Like many of the early practitioners he was a “gentleman amateur” for whom photography was a passion, not a profession. In the early 1850s he photographed picturesque, quintessentially English scenes: ruined abbeys and castles, thatched barns and half-timbered houses, crumbling cottages, ancient oak trees and woodland paths, such as the albumen print from a waxed calotype negative, In Loseley Park, from 1852-1854. Turner’s poetic images reveal the beauty of vernacular subjects and the moral worth of tradition, nature, and rural life.

Gustave Le Gray (1820-1884) trained as a painter in the studio of Paul Delaroche and exhibited in the Paris Salon. By the late 1840s Le Gray had become an innovator of photographic processes, developing the waxed paper negative around 1848. Saturating the paper with beeswax and light-sensitive chemicals made the image sharper than that resulting from the calotype process devised by Fox Talbot in the 1830s and 1840s. The waxed paper of Le Gray’s process could be prepared in advance and developed days after exposure allowing photographers to minimize the quantity of equipment in the field. Le Gray influenced a generation of 19th century photographers including J. B. Greene, vicomte Vigier, Henri Le Secq, and Roger Fenton.

Le Gray’s own exceptional vision is reflected in his landscapes and seascapes. His poetic photographs taken in the forest of Fontainebleau are masterpieces of light and shadow. The exhibition includes Le Hêtre, Fontainebleau, an albumen or coated salt print from a waxed paper negative, dating from the early 1850s. 

A student of Le Gray, Joseph, vicomte Vigier (1821-1894) produced a series of work from paper negatives in the Pyrenees in the summer of 1853. Bagnères de Luchon. Chemin trace par l’avalanche dans la forêt de Saint-Just, a fine salt print, evokes the sublime by depicting a mountain slope devastated by an avalanche. Vigier’s ambitious views of the Pyrenees earned unanimous praise from his contemporaries as proof of the universal and timeless language of photography.

Rangoon. The Great Bell at the Shwe Dagon Pagoda, Burma an albumenized salt print from a waxed paper negative of 1855 by Captain Linnaeus Tripe (1822-1902), features a majestic tamarind tree towering over a pagoda which it nearly obscures, the Great Bell just visible beneath the tamarind’s overspread branches and leaves. Tripe was the official photographer attached to a British diplomatic mission to Burma in 1855, instructed to gather information regarding the country and its people. Tripe’s architectural and topographical views are of great documentary importance as they are among the earliest surviving photographs of Burma.

Attributed to the Circle of the sculptor Charles Simart, two 1850s salt prints from enlarged collodion negatives, Branch of apples and Apple blossoms, are charged with the same energy as quick pencil sketches in an artist’s sketchbook. Made by an unidentified photographer with barely a nod to conventional practice, these prints are filled with a great sense of purpose. The apple tree details were photographed from life and feature the sharp resolution associated with prints made from collodion negatives. Appearing at first glance to be enlargements from smaller negatives these contact prints from enlarged copy negatives, make the familiar strange.

Freud on the Couch: Psyche in the Book, a new exhibition featuring book works inspired by the psychoanalytical concepts of Sigmund Freud, will travel to Minnesota Center for Book Arts (MCBA) from July 20-September 30, 2018. Freud on the Couch features works by nearly 30 international artists that either directly or indirectly draw from Freudian concepts, theories, and themes. This provocative exhibition asks viewers to find parallels between the ways that visual art and psychoanalysis act as frameworks for the collective unconscious. MCBA will host an opening reception on Thursday, July 26 from 6-8 pm in the Open Book Cowles Literary Commons.

Artists featured in the exhibition include Thorsten Baensch, Sarah Bryant, Crystal Cawley, Ken Campbell, Maureen Cummins, Anne Deguelle, Gerhild Ebel, Stefan Gunnesch, Karen Hanmer, Anna Helm, Susan Johanknecht, M. M. Lum, Jule Claudia Mahn, Patrizia Meinert, Simon + Christine Morris, Didier Mutel, Susanne Nickel, Yasutomo Ota, Waltraud Palme, Veronika Schäpers, Robbin Ami Silverberg, Herbert Stattler, Marian St. Laurent, Ines von Ketelhodt, Carola Willbrand, and Sam Winston. Through various forms of book art, they explore Freudian concepts such as the dream state, consciousness, memory, multiple personalities, fixation, and ego/id, combined with analytic techniques such as hypnosis and free association.

Freud on the Couch was organized by Susanne Padberg of Vienna’s Galerie Druck & Buch, which is located next door to the famous Berggasse 19, the house where Freud founded psychoanalysis. The traveling exhibition comes to Minnesota Center for Book Arts from the Center for Book Arts in New York, where it made its U.S. debut. Following its showing at MCBA, the exhibition will continue on to the San Francisco Center for the Book.

As the largest and most comprehensive center of its kind in the nation, Minnesota Center for Book Arts celebrates the book as a vibrant contemporary art form that takes many shapes. From the traditional crafts of papermaking, letterpress printing, and hand bookbinding to experimental artmaking and self-publishing techniques, MCBA supports the limitless creative evolution of book arts through book arts workshops and programming for adults, youth, families, K-12 students, and teachers. MCBA is located in the Open Book building in downtown Minneapolis, alongside partner organizations The Loft Literary Center and Milkweed Editions. To learn more, visit www.mnbookarts.org.

Los Angeles -  For most of us, books are a central part of daily life, but for artists they are also an essential medium for contemporary art - both as a tradition to be challenged and a form for experimentation—as much as sculpture, painting, and other classic forms of artmaking.  On view at the Getty Research Institute from June 26 through October 28, 2018, Artists and Their Books / Books and Their Artists presents more than 40 of the liveliest and most unexpected examples of artists’ books from the GRI’s Special Collections.

“Books are at the heart of the Getty Research Institute’s collections, from fifteenth and sixteenth-century illustrated editions to the avant-garde experiments of the early 20th century to our large and varied collection of more than 6,000 books made by artists from the 1950s to today,” said Andrew Perchuk, acting director of the Getty Research Institute. “These striking works often make their way into the GRI’s collections through our relationships with contemporary artists or they come as part of artists’ archives, which we collect in depth. Artists’ books resonate with the GRI’s interest in exploring creative processes and are a fundamental and often understudied element of art history. I am certain our visitors will find these extraordinary examples evocative and compelling.”

Artists' books occupy a creative space between traditional books and contemporary works of art, often questioning what a book can be. This highly visual and experiential exhibition focuses on artists' books that can be unpacked, unfolded, or read in alternative ways. Some are made to be shown on the wall or displayed as sculptures or installations. The exhibition highlights the myriad incarnations and innovative roles for books in contemporary culture.

“When artists make or design books, they delve into the possibilities of this distinctive cultural object in ways that expand our notions of what a book can be,” said Marcia Reed, chief curator of the Getty Research Institute and one of the curators of the exhibition. “The book holds a special status in contemporary art practice, and we look forward to sharing examples from this critical collecting area of the GRI with wider audiences. Because the GRI’s collections of artists’ books are not well known, for several years we have been working on a publication that shares selected works from postwar and contemporary collection of artists’ books. This exhibition and the related catalogue is born of that research. Together this stunningly designed volume and the exhibition of selected artists’ books—slightly different from the book—show the breadth of our collection of artists’ books as well as illustrating how books designed and made by artists extend the boundaries of the GRI’s rare book collections.”

Some of the artists in the exhibition, such as Tauba Auerbach and Dieter Roth specialize in making art in the form of books, or have established small presses, like Sam Francis’ Lapis Press in Santa Monica and Venice and Felicia Rice’s Moving Parts Press in Santa Cruz. Many others who are primarily known as sculptors, painters, or performance artists have also experimented in artists’ books, including Ellsworth Kelly, Anselm Kiefer, Barbara T. Smith and Wei Tan. 

“Many of the works in this exhibition might not look like a book at all, but they all play with the idea of what a book is and how to engage with it,” said Glenn Phillips, exhibition co-curator and head of modern and contemporary art collections the GRI. “It is interesting to note that while many artists have devoted their practices to making books, there are so many more artists working in other media who have made books at some point in their careers. Although they may be challenging to display and even collect, books seem to have the same appeal to artists as they do to other readers - the objects themselves can be just as compelling as the content within.

The books, multiples, and unique objects included in the exhibition take different shapes, some made with surprising materials, while being made to be looked at or interacted with in different ways. For example, The Philosopher’s Stone, 1992, a unique book-object by Barbara Fahrner and Daniel E. Kelm, is a geometric paper egg that holds nuggets of wisdom to be revealed as corners are turned down and intricately drawn panels filled with handwritten text are unfurled. Once fully taken apart, it is no easy feat to put the angular ‘pages’ of this book-inspired paper sculpture back together.

One of the more recent works in the exhibition is DOC/UNDOC (2017) by Felicia Rice and Guillermo Gómez-Peña. Riffing on earlier boxes assembled by Marcel Duchamp, this is a high-tech aluminum case that holds an altar, a cabinet of curiosities, and a Mexican wrestling mask.  Opening the case triggers lights and music, the sound art created for the piece by Zachary Watkins. Installation of this work will include a multimedia component giving visitors the opportunity to experience these interactive elements.

One of the earliest pieces in the exhibition stands out for its confrontational style - and smell. Dieter Roth’s work Poetrie, 1967, is a book made of 21 clear vinyl envelopes for pages, on which the texts of poems are printed. The envelopes contain urine, now desiccated and yellow green, retaining its distinctive odor, which may be getting stronger over time. The artist produced this book in an edition of 30; fifty years after their publication the see-through pages have wrinkled and changed color but still make a strong impression.

This summer sees the release of the Getty publication Artists and Their Books / Books and Their Artists, which inspired the exhibition. Edited by Marcia Reed and Glenn Phillips, this volume includes over one hundred important examples selected from the Getty Research Institute’s Special Collections. 

The publication also presents precursors to the artist’s book, such as Joris Hoefnagel’s sixteenth-century calligraphy masterpiece; early illustrated scientific works; and avant-garde publications. Mid twentieth-century works in the publication reveal the impact of Pop Art, Fluxus, Conceptualism, feminist art, and postmodernism on artists’ books. The selection of books by an international range of artists who have chosen to work with texts and images on paper provokes new inquiry into the long-term fertile relationship of art and books in contemporary culture. 

A full list of artists included in the exhibition Artists and Their Books / Books and Their Artists is below. The public can find more information about the exhibition, including a schedule of tours and public programs at www.getty.edu/research/exhibitions_events/exhibitions/artists_books/index.html.

The artists included in Artists and Their Book / Books and Their Artists are:

Anne Auerbach

Tauba Auerbach

Raffaele de Bernardi

Sandow Birk

Andrea Bowers

Chris Burden

Jan ?in?era

Johanna Drucker

Dave Eggers

Felipe Ehrenberg

Olafur Eliasson

Timothy C. Ely

Barbara Fahrner

Guillermo Gómez-Peña

Jennifer A. González

Katharina Grosse

Robert Heinecken

Leandro Katz

Ellsworth Kelly

Daniel E. Kelm

Monika Kulicka

Sol Lewitt

Russell Maret

Didier Mutel

Katherine Ng

Clemente Padín

Felicia Rice

Dieter Roth

Ed Ruscha

Christopher Russell

Barbara T. Smith

Keith A. Smith

Buzz Spector

Beth Thielen

Gustavo Vazquez

Cecilia Vicuña

Ines von Ketelhodt

Zachary James Watkins

William Wegman

Wei Tian

Image: Barbara Fahrner (German, b. 1940) and Daniel E. Kelm (American, b. 1951). The Philosopher’s Stone, 1992. Museum board, paper, stainless steel wires, tubing, colored ink, pencil, watercolor. Unique. Los Angeles, Getty Research Institute, 94-B18918. © Barbara Fahrner and Daniel E. Kelm

Austin, TX — The Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin presents the exhibition “Ed Ruscha: Archaeology and Romance” from Aug. 11, 2018, through Jan. 6, 2019. One of today’s most influential artists, Ruscha (b. 1937) is renowned for his category-defying synthesis of words and images, and for his deadpan renderings of the roadside landscapes, commercial signs and vernacular architecture of Los Angeles and the American West. Featuring more than 150 objects, this exhibition presents Ruscha’s celebrated books, photographs, drawings and prints alongside unpublished archival production materials, layout sketches and studio notebooks, providing visitors an unprecedented look into Ruscha’s creative process.

At the core of “Ed Ruscha: Archaeology and Romance” are Ruscha’s groundbreaking artist’s books, first appearing with the publication of “Twentysix Gasoline Stations” (1963) and quickly following with books such as “Various Small Fires and Milk” (1964), “Thirtyfour Parking Lots in Los Angeles” (1967), and “Nine Swimming Pools and a Broken Glass” (1968). The exhibition gathers the 16 books Ruscha produced between 1963 and 1978, including scarce copies of “Business Cards” (1968), “Babycakes with Weights” (1970), “Dutch Details” (1971) and “Hard Light” (1978). In a special presentation of Ruscha’s elaborate 1966 publication “Every Building on the Sunset Strip,” the accordion-fold book is displayed completely extended in a viewing case more than 20 feet long.

The exhibition draws extensively from archival materials to examine eight of Ruscha’s books in depth. Opening with a group of vintage snapshots of gasoline stations taken by Ruscha in 1962, the exhibition features notes and sketches, handwritten lists of ideas for potential book titles, preliminary printing and binding specifications, paste-up layout materials and business records tracing the growth of Ruscha’s spirited, independent publishing enterprise. A section of the exhibition featuring Ruscha’s 1971 book “A Few Palm Trees” tracks the development of that project over four years, starting with a page of notes testing the title “Seventeen Hollywood Palm Trees and Their Locations” in 1968.

“Ed Ruscha: Archaeology and Romance” is the first major exhibition drawn from the Edward Ruscha Papers and Art Collection, a body of archival materials—selected by the artist and acquired by the Ransom Center in 2013—that pertain especially to his artist’s books. “These materials open up entirely new paths to understanding the conception, design and production of Ed Ruscha’s books,” says Jessica S. McDonald, the Nancy Inman and Marlene Nathan Meyerson Curator of Photography and curator of the exhibition. “A single page of jotted notes can reveal the initial flow and immediate refinement of ideas for several of these projects coming together at once.”

In addition to examining the process leading up to Ruscha’s landmark publications, the exhibition explores the ways in which the motifs introduced in those books—motifs such as the gasoline station, the apartment building, the palm tree and the swimming pool—have inspired later works in other media. Early examples include sketches and screenprints based on Ruscha’s photograph “Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas” (1962), as well as rare drawings after his photographs for “Some Los Angeles Apartments” (1965). Evident throughout the exhibition is Ruscha’s persistent engagement with the artifacts of American popular culture, the iconography of the road and the manufactured romance of Hollywood.

“Ed Ruscha: Archaeology and Romance” also explores the ways in which Ruscha has returned to the photographs initially made to populate the pages of his early books to produce new print portfolios. Some, such as “Gasoline Stations 1962” (1989), bring well-known photographs into new viewing contexts, while others offer surprising new images. The exhibition presents “Vacant Lots” (2003), a portfolio of four “outtakes” originally photographed for the book “Real Estate Opportunities” (1970); and “Three Palm Trees” (2009), a portfolio of three photographs printed without the masking that eliminated the sidewalks and buildings surrounding each of the palm trees pictured in the book “A Few Palm Trees” (1971).

Principally drawn from the Ransom Center’s Edward Ruscha Papers and Art Collection, “Ed Ruscha: Archaeology and Romance” includes additional loans from the artist’s collection, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Gagosian Gallery and private collections. In conjunction with the exhibition, the Ransom Center will host Ed Ruscha in conversation with curator Jessica S. McDonald on Thursday, Sept. 6 in Jessen Auditorium at UT Austin. This event and the exhibition are free and open to the public.

“Ed Ruscha: Archaeology and Romance” will be on view in the Ransom Center Galleries on Mondays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended Thursday hours until 7 p.m. On Saturdays and Sundays the galleries are open from noon to 5 p.m. Daily free docent-led tours are offered at noon, Thursdays at 6 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m.

Southern New England Antiquarian Booksellers (SNEAB) held our inaugural meeting of 2018 on April 2 at Historic Deerfield’s Memorial Libraries. Librarian David Bosse spoke on the history of the organization and collections, and gave members a tour of Historic Deerfield’s Henry N. Flynt Library and the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association Library. Lunch and business followed at New England Book Auctions in South Deerfield. Incumbent officers began new terms: Betty Ann Sharp, Bearly Read Books, Sudbury, Clerk; Eileen Corbeil, White Square Fine Books & Art, Easthampton, Treasurer; Peter L. Masi, Montague, Vice-president; Duane Stevens, Wiggins Fine Books, Shelburne Falls, President. 

SNEAB currently has 135 members. Our 2018 directory is published and available through members, brochure racks, and our website: www.sneab.com. 

On Sunday of Patriots day weekend, we sponsored Boston West Book & Ephemera Fair at Minuteman High School in Lexington managed by Marvin Getman, Impact Events Group. 

On Sunday, October 14, 2018, we will sponsor the 14th Annual Pioneer Valley Book & Ephemera Fair at Smith Vocational School, Northampton. www.pioneervalleybookfair.com promoted by John and Tina Bruno, Flamingoeventz. 

We are delighted to announce two new sponsorships. SNEAB will sponsor Book & Paper Row section of the Boston Antiques and Design Show, Shriners Auditorium, Wilmington, December 8, 2018 by agreement with Marvin Getman. By agreement with Flamingoevents, SNEAB will sponsor the Spring Paper Town - The Vintage Book, Paper & Advertising Show, Saturday, April 6, 2019 at Boxborough Regency Hotel & Conference Center. SNEAB is honored to add these popular and well-established shows to our calendar, and continue to collaborate with these dedicated and experienced promoters. We hope you will visit our website, member shops, and shows!

--Duane A. Stevens, President, Southern New England Antiquarian Booksellers (SNEAB)

New York, NY — What do The Jackson 5’s (and Michael Jackson’s) first recording contract, the Larry Richards “A Cinema Apart” Collection, Rosa Parks’ family home and her handwritten thoughts on the day she first met Dr. Martin Luther King, and Alex Haley’s manuscript for the Malcolm X biography (which includes many of Mr. X’s personal notes) have in common? They will be among the hundreds of extraordinary items being brought to the block by Guernsey’s, the New York City-based auction house, on July 25th and 26th at the historic General Scott Mansion on the corner of Park Avenue and 93rd Street, in New York City. Largely focusing on the Civil Rights Movement, African American movies, and music, this auction will include items that are of huge cultural and historical importance.

The Gregory Reed Collection is an archive of Civil Rights documents, rare books, and African-American musical ephemera, all from the offices of the prominent African-American lawyer who counted Rosa Parks among his clients. In an extraordinary two-page document, Mrs. Parks describes the occasion she first encountered Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Astonished that so young a man could speak so eloquently, she writes “I knew I would never forget him.” It was only months later that this giant of a little woman refused to give up her bus seat. Jail and death threats soon followed, causing Mrs. Parks to flee northward to Detroit where, along with her husband and extensive family, she found shelter in a small, 23’ x 23’ two-story wood home. Now, six decades later, that very structure (which is easily disassembled, and the buyer should know that there will be ample support available to assist in the easy assembly of the house) has been the subject of an international tour extensively covered by the media. The BBC and CNN reported on the story as did the New York Times, which ran three separate articles about the historic home. Most recently exhibited as part of a symposium with the Rhode Island School of Design, this truly historic Rosa Parks family home is in the auction with much of the proceeds directly supporting the Rosa McCauley Parks Heritage Foundation.

In 1992, the estate sale of the then late author Alex Haley was conducted. Internationally renowned for his historic novel, Roots, the top lot in the auction proved to be Haley’s original 257-page manuscript for the Autobiography of Malcolm X (as told to Alex Haley), with many handwritten notes and edits from both Malcolm X and the author. Separately sold in the event were the “lost chapters” - portions of the book thought too controversial to be published. Attorney Reed was the successful bidder back then; now, more than a quarter century later, these extraordinary documents will be offered again.

Comprised of hundreds of rare film posters, window and lobby cards, actor-worn clothing and more, the unique Cinema Apart Collection, assembled by the late Larry Richards, traces the course of African American cinema throughout the 20th century, and represents an important part of American and of cinematic history. In earlier times, films starring African American actors, or ‘all-black casts’ were made specifically for black audiences. These movies were not generally mainstream, and for a time their cultural significance not realized. Titles included Bronze Venus, Smiling Hate, Rhythm in a Riff, Congorilla, Two- Gun Man from Harlem, Voodoo Devil Drums, Midnight Menace, Porgy and Bess. Featuring names such as Paul Robeson, Lena Horne, Sammy Davis Jr., Eartha Kitt, Dorothy Dandridge, and Sidney Poitier, A Cinema Apart’s significance was recognized when a portion of it was selected for inclusion in the collection of the Smithsonian Museum. 

In the 1960’s, emerging, wannabe record labels were almost too numerous to count. One of the upstarts, out of Gary, Indiana, was Steeltown Records, headed by William Adams. At a performance in a junior high school gym, Adams was riveted by five young men (boys, really). From this unheralded performance sprang The Jackson 5 and the then nine-year old Michael Jackson. On November 21, 1967, a contract between Steeltown and the Jackson Five was worked out and signed by Joe Jackson on behalf of his sons. Agreeing to “employ Steeltown, Inc.,” a career began that changed the world. Consigned directly by Mr. Adams, that remarkable contract is in this auction!

Long considered one of Jazz’ greatest piano players, Art Tatum died at age 47. Now, more than sixty years later, his estate has honored Guernsey’s by the inclusion in this event of many of Art’s most enduring treasures. Included among these is his stunning Steinway Grand piano, and a vintage Bulova wrist watch inscribed to the pianist and given to him by none other than Frank Sinatra.

The vast majority of the approximately 700 items in this auction are being offered without minimum reserve. The Gregory Reed Collection is being sold by court order. More information on this important event can be found at www.guernseys.com.  Online bidding will take place at liveauctioneers.com and invaluable.com.

New York, NY— The Morgan Library & Museum has received an important collection of annotated scripts, notebooks, and correspondence from prominent American film director, producer, and screenwriter James Ivory (b. 1928). This collection, comprised of material representing thirty-two films, offers an illuminating record of Ivory’s work as a director and the history of Merchant Ivory Productions (ca. 1963-2010). In honor of this generous gift, the Morgan will display a selection of these remarkable items in the installation A Merchant Ivory Production from June 26 to October 28, 2018.

Over the course of nearly four and a half decades, Ivory collaborated with Indian-born film producer Ismail Merchant and German-born novelist Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. Merchant and Ivory worked on dozens of films together, twenty-two of which were written by Jhabvala. Well-known for their exquisite adaptations of the literature of Henry James (1843-1916), E. M. Forster (1879-1970), and Kazuo Ishiguro (b. 1954), the trio also collaborated on many original screenplays. 

Two of their films have won multiple Academy Awards. Most recently, Ivory won both an Oscar and BAFTA for Call Me by Your Name (2017), making him the oldest-ever winner in any category for both awards. Their extraordinary partnership is documented in more than 1,500 letters and telegrams that form part of this collection. Their correspondence reveals the collaborative origins, the artistic developments, and the logistical feats that went into the films of Merchant Ivory Productions. Ivory has called one 10-page letter from Jhabvala about their film Shakespeare Wallah (1965) “the most important letter [she] ever wrote to [him] concerning [their] collaborative work as screenwriters.” Many letters also include script fragments, press clippings, and other ephemera, which remain with the collection. 

Beginning June 26, visitors will be able to view the collection’s many highlights in the Lower Level of the Morgan, including the script materials for Call Me by Your Name and Ivory’s annotated copy of André Aciman’s 2007 novel of the same title that he used while writing the screenplay. Ivory’s added notes, changes, sketches, and inserts transform the scripts into an important research collection. 

The installation also features James Ivory’s annotated shooting scripts for the adaptations of Henry James’ The Bostonians (1984), E.M. Forster’s Maurice (1987), Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day (1993), and scripts of the production company’s films set in India such as Shakespeare Wallah (1965). Other exceptional items on view will be Ivory’s editing notebooks and the annotated “small scripts” that the director would use as quick reference on set and in the editing room.

“For a long time I’ve wanted to find a safe place nearby in New York for all the scripts I carried on to the sets of my films, a page or two each day, folded up in my back pocket, with things scribbled on them,” Mr. Ivory said. “I could never have imagined—dared not think—that they might someday end up in close proximity to the working papers of Albert Einstein and Galileo in the Morgan Library! But so it has happened, for which I’m very grateful to the Morgan for this honor and to its enthusiastic custodians for putting this installation together.”

“In addition to James Ivory’s achievements as a director and a screenwriter over the course of his sixty-year career, he was an innovator of filmmaking strategies,” said museum director Colin B. Bailey. “These materials will be the first of their kind in the Morgan’s collection, and will complement our Carter Burden Collection of American Literature, which includes strong holdings of screenplays and continuity scripts. We are enormously thankful for this extraordinary gift that will serve future generations of film scholars and historians.”

This July, Christie’s will present Quentin Blake: A Retrospective; Forty Years of Alternative Versions, a series of illustrations offered directly from the personal collection of one of Britain's best-loved illustrators. As part of Christie’s Classic Week, a selection of 30 illustrations by Quentin Blake will be presented in the Valuable Books and Manuscripts auction on 11 July, alongside a dedicated online sale of 148 illustrations open for bidding from 3 to 12 July. The works from this sale are being sold to benefit House of Illustration, Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's Charity and Survival International. Quentin Blake: A Retrospective; Forty Years of Alternative Versions will be on view and open to the public from 7 to 10 July at Christie’s London. Estimates range from £200 to £10,000. 

The collection comprises works from the past 40 years of Quentin Blake’s career, showcasing some of the most celebrated literary characters of today, which have captured the imagination of generations of children including Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Twits, and James and the Giant Peach to David Walliams’s Mr Stink. Alongside these cherished children’s stories, the sale presents collectors the opportunity to acquire works from various other projects that Blake has worked on including editions illustrated for The Folio Society and artwork for J Sheekey Restaurant, along with illustrations for various public spaces, such as St George’s Hospital, Tooting and the Maternity Unit at Angers University Hospital in France. 

Highlights include works for The Enormous Crocodile, Roald Dahl’s first book to be illustrated by Blake, and preliminary drawings showing the genesis of one of Roald Dahl’s best-loved creations, the Big Friendly Giant. These illustrations will be presented alongside further children’s favorites, including Fantastic Mr Fox, Billy and the Minpins and perhaps two of the most fearsome and wicked of Roald Dahl’s characters The Twits. In 2016, Blake completed a series of works for the Roald Dahl Centenary Portraits project, celebrating 100 years since the author’s birth: Charlie, Willie Wonka and Grandpa Joe, Matilda, and Sophie and the BFG are among the famous Roald Dahl characters depicted in a series of ten portraits by Blake, who asks the viewers to imagine the characters have been invited to sit for their portrait, thus truly bringing these well-known characters to life. Further works in the sale include drawings of Blake’s marvellous portrayal of Beatrix Potter’s protagonist for her long-lost work from 1914, The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots. The story was rediscovered in the archives of the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2015 and Blake’s illustrations of Kitty and her adventures have helped establish the story as a firm favourite within children’s literature. 

Alternative aspects of Blake’s work will be explored, including a group of pencil drawings from his exhibition Arrows of Love, depicting women avoiding or embracing Cupid’s arrow. These rarely-seen nudes reveal Blake’s personal reflections on the joy, folly and sorrow of love. Further illustrations presented in the sale include his work for the Atlantic Bar at J Sheekey restaurant in London, portraying J Sheekey’s chefs, sommeliers and patrons swimming among shoals of fish and sea-creatures. The under-the-sea theme is a particular favourite of Blake’s and is continued in the auction with drawings from the Jerwood Gallery's exhibition in 2015 'Life under Water: A Hastings Celebration', capturing the vibrancy of this historic seaside town. Blake’s work for The Folio Society presents a unique aspect of his oeuvre and the sale will include various examples from The Golden Ass by Apuleius, in which Blake captures the comic spirit of the text, along with the complexity of tone. Further works from the Folio Society will be presented, such as Victor Hugo’s 1829 novel Notre Dame de Paris and Russell Hoban’s genre-defying masterpiece Riddley Walker. 

Quentin Blake is one of today’s most recognised illustrators, known for his collaboration with writers such as Russell Hoban, Joan Aiken, Michael Rosen, John Yeoman and, most famously, Roald Dahl. He has also illustrated classic books and created much-loved characters of his own, including Mister Magnolia and Mrs Armitage. His books have won numerous prizes and awards, including the Whitbread Award, the Kate Greenaway Medal, the Emil/Kurt Maschler Award and the international Bologna Ragazzi Prize. He won the 2002 Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration, the highest international recognition given to creators of children's books. In 1999 he was appointed the first UK Children’s Laureate and in 2005 was created CBE. This was followed in 2013 by a knighthood for 'services to illustration' in the New Year's Honours. In 2014 Blake was admitted to the Legion d'Honneur.

Los Angeles, California - Van Eaton Galleries, one of the world’s premier animation artwork and collectibles galleries located in Sherman Oaks, California, has announced an extraordinary auction event highlighted by never-before published photographs of Walt Disney’s personal life, as well as a 1953 construction plot plan that Walt Disney drew on to show the boundary for Disneyland. The “A Brief History of the Walt Disney Studios” auction will take place on July 7, 2018 at Van Eaton Galleries located at 13613 Ventura Blvd in Sherman Oaks, California. The auction includes some of the most closely-related artifacts to the life of Walt Disney that have ever been offered for public sale.

Rare highlights include a complete set of exceptional personal photographs of Walt Disney and the Rancheros Visitadores social club. The photo archives depict Walt Disney riding on horseback and camping during one of the Rancheros Visitadores’ yearly excursions through the Santa Ynez Valley. This set includes several never-before-published photos of Walt Disney who took part in the excursions in the late 1930s and into the 1940s.

The photos clearly show a down-to-earth and very casual side of Walt Disney that few have ever seen (Estimate: $6,000-$8,000). Additionally, Van Eaton Galleries will offer a Walt Disney personally-signed Rancheros Visitadores Camp Site sign. This incredibly detailed hand-painted sign was for Walt’s camp site, “Camp Cine Q”.

The sign features the signatures of several of the club’s members including American artist Victor Clyde Forsythe who also created a sketch next to his signature. It also features Walt Disney’s signature accompanied by his personal drawing of Mickey Mouse. Original drawings of Mickey Mouse by Walt are among some of the most sought after Disney artifacts and are rarely seen (Estimate: $12,000-$15,000).

“The ‘A Brief History of the Walt Disney Studios’ auction doesn’t just tell the story of the Studio, but it tells the story of Walt and his team of talented artists and individuals who helped build the company,” says Mike Van Eaton, Co-Owner of Van Eaton Galleries. “We consider this one of the rarest opportunities we have had to show the world a side of Walt Disney that few have ever seen, through personal photographs and personally-signed or hand-drawn items. Many of these items have never come to auction before and are among the only such examples of these items that we have ever seen. To say we are excited about this auction is an understatement. Anyone who recognizes the incredible value of such items from Walt’s personal life will understand how significant this auction is.”  

A plot plan for Disneyland is among one of the rarest and most historically important items to be offered. In August of 1953, shortly after acquiring land in Anaheim, Walt Disney took a grease pencil and drew a triangle on this plot plan to represent where he wanted the Disneyland trains to run, thus creating the boundaries for the park and the beginnings of Disneyland as we know it. This original drawing by Walt represents the earliest known appearance of the shape of Disneyland and its location in Anaheim, and also represents Walt Disney’s personal involvement and input in every aspect of the creation of his park. (Estimate: $100,000-$200,000).

Walt Disney loved railroads so much that he had one built in his backyard. Van Eaton Galleries will offer a piece of Railroad Track from Walt Disney’s own backyard railroad (Estimate: $50,000-$60,000) as well as an extremely rare Walt Disney signed “Laugh-O-Gram” stock certificate from Walt’s early animation studio (Estimate: $8,000-$10,000). 

Nearly 600 items will be offered in the “A Brief History of the Walt Disney Studios” auction that range from furniture from the 1940’s Walt Disney Studio in Burbank, original Disneyland props, animation art from Disney cartoons and films from the 1920s through the 1980s, and much more. Other highlights include a Mickey Mouse Writing Tablet Salesman Sample (Estimate: $3,000-$5,000); a 1934 Colson Mickey Mouse Tricycle (Estimate:  $1,000-$2,000); a Disneyland “Snow White’s Scary Adventures” Tree Prop (Estimate: $5,000-$7,000); a Disneyland Donald Duck Walkaround Character Head (Estimate: $2,000-$3,000); A Disneyland Pluto Walk Around Character Head (Estimate: $2,000-$3,000); a Disneyland “Indiana Jones Adventure” Wait Time Sign (Estimate: $4,000-$6,000) and a Walt Disney “Mousecar” Award (Estimate: $2,000-$3,000)                  

New York - Christie’s New York Books and Manuscripts sales total $12,853,250, across the two auctions that took place on June 14, 2018. The dedicated single-lot sale for John James Audubon’s The Birds of America (1827-1838) realized $9,650,000, establishing the second-highest price at auction for a full folio-set, with proceeds to benefit the Knobloch Family Foundation.

Other notable results included Audubon’s folio Quadrupeds of North America, 1845-46-48, which realized $348,500; the first issue of Shakespeare’s Second Folio, which sold for $175,000; an autograph manuscript by Charles Darwin (1809-1992) from his radical treatise on human evolution, which realized $112,500; and an autograph manuscript and letter by Thomas Paine (1737-1809), which sold for over three times the low estimate for $93,750

Additionally, strong results were achieved for 20th-Century lots including the first Olympic Gold Medal awarded for Basketball, to George Louis Redlein (1885-1968), St. Louis, 1904 which sold for $125,000; and Paul McCartney's 1970 affidavit initiating his lawsuit to break up the Beatles, with John Lennon's handwritten annotations throughout, which realized $125,000