Oxford, England - The Bodleian Libraries has presented novelist Sir Kazuo Ishiguro with the Bodley Medal. Sir Kazuo received the award at the FT Weekend Oxford Literary Festival on 3 April 2019, when he delivered the annual Bodley Lecture.

Sir Kazuo appeared in conversation with Richard Ovenden, Bodley’s Librarian, who presented him with the medal at the end of the event.

Ovenden said: “Sir Kazuo Ishiguro is one of the greatest living novelists whose work has made a major contribution to literature and culture. He has formed a highly original, distinctive and compelling literary voice, one which brings to the fore major themes of inner conflict, the challenges of memory, the struggles between modernity and the past, and the realities of human emotion. We are delighted to honour him with the Bodleian Libraries’ highest honour, the Bodley Medal.”

Sir Kazuo said: “Libraries play a crucial role in shaping our memory of who we are, and the narratives that determine who we’ll become. In this sense, writers and libraries share a common - and solemn - responsibility. I’m especially moved and proud, then, to receive this rare honour from Oxford University’s Bodleian Libraries - an institution that can claim to be not only one of the greatest in the world, but in western history.”

Sir Kazuo is an award-winning British novelist, screenwriter, short story writer and songwriter. He is widely considered one of the greatest contemporary fiction authors in the English-speaking world.

He was born in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1954 and moved to Britain at the age of five. His eight works of fiction have earned him many awards and honours around the world, including the Nobel Prize in Literature (2017) and the Booker Prize (1989). His work has been translated into more than 50 languages. His novels The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go were made into acclaimed films. Sir Kazuo was given a Knighthood for Services to Literature in 2018, and also holds the French decoration, Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and the Japanese decoration, Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star.

The Bodley Medal is awarded by the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the worlds in which the Bodleian is active including literature, culture, science and communication. Past winners include biographer Claire Tomalin, novelist and screenwriter William Boyd, classicist Mary Beard, physicist Stephen Hawking, film and theatre director Nicholas Hytner, novelist Hilary Mantel, the late poet Seamus Heaney, writer and actor Alan Bennett and inventor of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

The Bodleian Libraries is a cultural partner of the FT Weekend Oxford Literary Festival, which runs from Saturday, 30 March to Sunday, 7 April 2019. Events will take place at the Bodleian’s Weston Library and Divinity School as well as at venues across the city.

New York — The Morgan Library & Museum announces a new exhibition of satirical drawings and prints by renowned artist William Hogarth (1697-1764). Best known for his humorous political commentary, Hogarth’s work engaged a broad audience and agitated for legislative and social change. His intricate drawings and richly anecdotal scenes depict the ills and injustices of eighteenth-century urban life, exploring the connections between violence, crime, alcohol abuse, and cruelty to animals. He hoped his graphic work would amuse, shock, and ultimately edify his audience. Opening May 24, Hogarth: Cruelty and Humor tells the story of Hogarth’s iconic images and the social realities of life in Georgian London that inspired him to advocate for reform through popular works of art. It is the first show at the Morgan devoted to this artist, whose style was so influential in British art that the word “Hogarthian” remains a recognizable way of describing works of satire. 

Featuring over twenty works, the show investigates Hogarth’s creative process and examines his embrace of humor, highlighting the Morgan’s exceptional cache of preparatory drawings for his two most acclaimed print series from 1751: Beer Street and Gin Lane and The Stages of Cruelty. Hogarth’s prints documenting the dangerous impact of the gin craze, Beer Street and Gin Lane, generated popular support for the 1751 Gin Act and other reform efforts, while the Stages of Cruelty reflects the growing anxiety about episodes of human brutality in London. Included in the show are the only other two known studies related to the Stages of Cruelty; these works reveal the complex generative process of the series. Also on view are drawings from The Royal Collection Trust that represent Hogarth’s first and last forays into satire.

Fiercely independent, Hogarth was driven to innovate in order to elevate the status of British art, creating new genres and modes of expression in his painting, printmaking, and drawing. His compositions are rich with narrative detail. It was his adoption of such “low” subjects, no less than his use of humor, that led him to struggle to be taken seriously throughout his career. 

“William Hogarth’s works should be enjoyed for their artistry, humor, and activism, and as such hold a special place in our drawings and prints collection,” said Colin B. Bailey, director of the museum. “The artist was a keen observer of his city, and his visual anecdotes were a brilliant means of communicating to a wider public.”

“Looking closely at Hogarth’s passion for socially relevant subjects reveals the challenges he faced in being known as a satirical artist,” said Jennifer Tonkovich, Eugene and Clare Thaw Curator of Drawings and Prints. “I think our current appetite for satire allows us to appreciate Hogarth’s tremendous intelligence and ambition in constructing narratives that he hoped would change the world around him.”

Image: William Hogarth (1697-1764), Detail ofFourth Stage of Cruelty, 1750-51, red chalk, some graphite, on paper, incised with stylus. The Morgan Library & Museum,III, 32e, purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1909. Photography Steven H. Crossot, 2014.

Los Angeles - A letter by Albert Einstein on the Jewish People’s rights to defend themselves sold Friday morning for $134,344 at Nate D. Sanders Auctions. The letter received 23 bids.     

Albert Einstein wrote the June 10, 1939 letter, postmarked from Princeton to Dr. Maurice Lenz in New York. Einstein wrote in full, “May I offer my sincere congratulations to you on the splendid work you have undertaken on behalf of the refugees during Dedication Week.  The power of resistance which has enabled the Jewish people to survive for thousands of years has been based to a large extent on traditions of mutual helpfulness. In these years of affliction our readiness to help one another is being put to an especially severe test. May we stand this test as well as did our fathers before us. We have no other means of self-defense than our solidarity and our knowledge that the cause for which we are suffering is a momentous and sacred cause. It must be a source of deep gratification to you to be making so important a contribution toward rescuing our persecuted fellow-Jews from their calamitous peril and leading them toward a better future...[signed] A.Einstein.''

Einstein had long worked to save European Jews by issuing affidavits.

Bidding for the letter began at $12,000.

New York - Printed & Manuscript African Americana at Swann Galleries on Thursday, March 28 saw a sell-through rate of 90%, a record for the category. Enthusiastic bidding was seen across all sections of the sale, resulting in seven records, with significant interest from institutions.

A 1958 edition of The Negro Travelers’ Green Book by Victor H. Green broke a record for any edition of the publication at $27,500. The travel guide for African-American families was indispensable during a time when long-distance travel would be a cause for apprehension about finding lodging, gasoline, or even a restroom. Also of note was a rare survival of the Jim Crow era, a circa late 1950s letterpress sign by the Tennessee Public Service Commission proclaiming Notice: This Part of the Car for Colored People, which sold for $10,400, and a first edition of Martin Luther King’s Why We Can’t Wait, 1964, signed by the Civil Rights leader, which brought $8,750.

The sale was led by volume one, number one of The Mirror of Liberty, July 1838, the first black periodical published in the United States, edited by David Ruggles-one of New York’s leading abolitionists. The radical abolitionist publication earned $37,500. Records were set for An Oration on the Abolition of the Slave Trade, Delivered in the African Church, 1808, by Peter Williams, at $15,000, and Life of Isaac Mason as a Slave, 1893, by Isaac Mason, at $1,5000 Additional material relating to slavery and abolition included a substantial archive of correspondence to John Augustine Washington III relating to Mount Vernon, other family estates, the heirs of America’s Founding Father, often discussing the enslaved people on whom their fortune was built. The archive brought $32,000. A signed document from Newport, R.I. recording the illegal act of an American captain agreeing to bring slaves from Africa to Havana in 1806, garnered $11,250; and a circa-1850 letterpress broadside proclaiming Union with Freemen­-No Union with Slaveholders. Anti­-Slavery Meetings!, issued by the Western Anti-Slavery Society, was won for $7,500. 

Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, the first play by an African-American woman and African-American director on Broadway, took the spotlight in a run of literary works. A draft typescript, signed “Lorraine’s Copy” by the author, with manuscript notes throughout, earned $30,000. Phillis Wheatley’s Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, London, 1773, brought $20,000, and a first edition Our Folk Tales: High John the Conqueror and Other Afro-American Tales, circa 1967, a collection of African-American folk songs compiled by Julius Lester, earned $2,375, a record for the book. 

Black Panther material included Emory Douglas’s You Can Jail a Revolutionary, but you Can’t Jail a Revolution, 1969-70, which set a record for the poster with $8,125. The black and blue poster features a photographic image of the Chicago Panther leader Fred Hampton, who had been killed in his sleep by the Chicago police.  

Photographic highlights featured a previously unknown 1878 carte-de-visite portrait of Frederick Douglass ($18,750), a circa late 1866 signed photograph of Preston Taylor as a drummer with the 116th United States Colored Troops ($15,000), and a collection of 44 Philadelphia-area portraits, circa 1860-1900, that included the notable Thomas J. Dorsey family ($8,750).

Additional highlights included Bannaker’s Maryland … Almanack and Ephemeris, for the Year of our Lord 1796, 1795, by Benjamin Banneker, which sold to a bidder on the Swann Galleries App for $13,750, and an archive of Sister Makinya-Kouate, one of the leading popularizers of Kwanzaa at $13,750. Other records were set by Romare Bearden’s 1982 campaign poster for Toby Moffett with $3,750, as well as a circa 1973 portfolio of five black-and-white lithographs by Elizabeth Catlett with $4,500.

The next auction from Swann Galleries’ Books & Manuscripts Department will be Printed & Manuscript Americana on April 16. Visit swanngalleries.com or download the Swann Galleries App for catalogues, bidding and inquires.

Dallas, TX - More than 150 images from a collection regarded as one of the most important of its kind will be featured in Heritage Auctions’ Illustration Art Auction April 23 in Dallas, Texas.

The collection comes from Investment Rarities Incorporated founder Jim Cook and his wife, Diane, who have forged a reputation as elite collectors in numerous categories, including Fine Art, Comic Art, Sports and Entertainment. The Cooks are shrewd collectors with an innate ability to spot quality and rarity, and the 158 lots from the collection in the sale include images by renowned illustrators whose works usually generate high demand, including Alberto Vargas, Gil Elvgren, Peter Driben, Harry Lemon Parkhurst, Charlie Dye and Arthur Sarnoff.

“This is an exceptional collection that reveals the foundation of knowledge and experience that the Cooks bring to collecting illustration art,” Heritage Auctions Senior Vice President Ed Jaster said. “Their consignment includes one of the most important collections of science fiction art ever offered at auction.”

Among the top lots from the IRI Collection:

Gil Elvgren Smoke Screen, 1958 (estimate: $40,000-60,000) was reproduced as figure No. 253 in Gil Elvgren All His Glamorous American Pin-Ups by Charles G. Martignette and Louis K. Meisel. The 30-by-24-inch oil on canvas is signed lower right by Elvgren.

Walter Beach Humphrey Reflection, Collier's magazine cover, June 15, 1929 (estimate: $15,000-25,000) reflects the architectural elements of the Art Deco era. The impact of the image is multiplied by the perfect reflection in the mirror-like surface of the water. The 36-by-24-inch oil-on-canvas is signed center right by Humphrey.

Ken Kelly The Mighty King, 1991 (estimate: $15,000-25,000) plays on a popular theme, with the petite damsel Ann Darrow facing Kong, who is so bold that it’s easy to miss the fact that the stone pedestal on which Darrow sits is completely surrounded by a giant snake. The large (53-1/2-by-41-inch) oil on canvas is signed and dated lower right by Kelly, a favorite artist among fans.

The cover image for the auction catalog is Walter Martin Baumhofer Red Snow, Doc Savage magazine cover, February 1935 (estimate: $12,000-18,000). The painting shows a dramatic scene with several men floundering in the water as a lifeboat takes on water, a measure of chaos that is punctuated by the presence of a handgun. The image appeared on the cover of Doc Savage magazine, named after the fictional character who first appeared in American pulp magazines during the 1930s and 1940s.

The IRI Collection has numerous intriguing lots, but not all of the most appealing items in the sale are included in the collection. Other highlights include:

Patrick Nagel Untitled (estimate: $60,000-80,000) is another from the extremely popular artist who is known for his unique interpretation of women, who often are depicted with black hair and red lips juxtaposed against white skin in a style that descended from Art Deco. The work offered here was reproduced on page 87 of Nagel: The Art of Patrick Nagel by Patrick Nagel, as well as in a limited-edition serigraph titled Commemorative #12.

Rolf Armstrong Carmen, Brown & Bigelow calendar illustration, 1929 (estimate: $50,000-70,000) is one of four monumental nudes by the artist after he returned from a year in Paris, where he was inspired by the exotic beauties captured by French artists seen in the salons, museums and galleries. Named after Georges Bizet’s famous opera, Carmen is the last of Armstrong’s four Paris nudes to be offered at auction. It’s large (60-by-80-inch) size highlights its importance and underscores the seductive nature of the Spanish dancer.

James Allen St. John Tarzan and the Golden Lion, book frontispiece, 1922 (estimate: $40,000-60,000) presents a harsh view of the risks involved with challenging the balance of nature. The illustration was published as an interior book illustration for Tarzan and the Golden Lion by Edgar Rice Burrows (A.C. McClurg, 1922).

Another popular pulp cover is Hugh Joseph Ward The Man Who Carried Death, Spicy Detective Stories magazine cover, August 1940 (estimate: $30,000-50,000). The Spicy Detective series is one of several in the weird menace for which Ward is known.

Other top lots include, but are not limited to:

·         Patrick Nagel Untitled - estimate: $60,000-80,000

·         Alberto Vargas Martini Time, 1935 - estimate: $40,000-60,000

·         Gil Elvgren Miss Sylvania’s Mishap, circa 1955 - estimate: $30,000-50,000

·         Gil Elvgren Some Help! (Down, Boy), Brown & Bigelow calendar illustration, 1952 - estimate: $30,000-50,000

·         John Held Jr. The Gamble, Life Magazine cover, August 11, 1927 - estimate: $10,000-15,000

Visit Heritage Auctions’ Sunday Internet Comics, Animation & Art Auction #121852 to browse high-resolution images of the auction’s 598 lots of comic books, original comic book art and memorabilia. Bidding opens at 6 p.m. (Central Time) on HA.com.

New York - Autographs on March 21 at Swann Galleries saw significant interest in Americana, scientists and popular figures. Of the sale Marco Tomaschett, the house’s autographs Specialist, noted: “Highest prices were mostly for historical autographs, demonstrating that the broad interest in history continues.”

A 1776 autograph letter signed by Joseph Brant, Thayeadanegea-the leader of the Mohawk people and military, and British Loyalist-writing with news after he had been in England meeting with King George III, recounting events related to the American rebels, brought $35,000, a record for a letter by Brant.

Founding Fathers proved to be popular, with a 1793 ALS by Alexander Hamilton, as Secretary of the Treasury, to the President and Directors of the Bank of the U.S. expressing that they will receive an appropriation for giving advances to the Mint ($12,500); George Washington’s signed ticket for the Mountain Road Lottery from 1768 earned $8,450; two autograph documents signed from 1764 and 1765 concerning payment for services rendered in various lawsuits by John Adams brought $3,900; and Thomas Jefferson was present with a 1792 printed document signed, as Secretary of State, that sold for $5,000. 

An 1875 photograph signed and dated by Ulysses S. Grant led an assortment of signatures from U.S. Presidents, earning $10,000. A partly-printed document signed by Abraham Lincoln, appointing John T. Hogeboom as Appraiser of Merchandise in April of 1864, brought $5,500, and a group of five typed letters, signed by Theodore Roosevelt from 1902-05 to his sister Corrine Roosevelt Robinson, was won for $3,380.

Of British interest was a group of six ALS from 1989-92 by Diana, Princess of Wales, to her friend Elizabeth Tilberis, the editor of British Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, as well as an 1884 ALS by Queen Victoria to Alfred, Lord Tennyson, expressing her sorrows over the death of her son Leopold ($10,400 and $5,750, respectively).

Scientists and inventors were present with a 1944 ink-and-wash portrait by Charlotte Berend-Corinth of Albert Einstein, signed by the physicist, at $9,100; two offprints signed by Linus Pauling, which featured his articles The Nature of the Chemical Bond, 1931, and Ascorbic Acid and Cancer, 1979, brought $4,500, and Nikola Tesla’s 1935 signed monogrammed correspondence card sold for $4,250.  

Additional highlights included a 1950-56 guestbook for Lüchow’s-a New York City restaurant that was a popular meeting place for the city’s entertainers, artists, musicians and athletes. The book featured over 400 signatures from the likes of Joe DiMaggio, Al Hirschfeld, Grace Kelly, Joan Miró, Cole Porter, Eleanor Roosevelt and Barbara Streisand, and sold for $6,500. Charles B. Driscoll’s personal copy of his book Doubloons, with over 500 signatures and inscriptions from the 1930s-40s, sold for $4,750. The first edition featured authors, artists, entertainer and others, including Einstein, Aldous Huxley and Thomas Wolfe’s signatures on the same page. 

The next auction from Swann Galleries’ Books & Manuscripts Department will be Printed & Manuscript Americana on April 16. Visit www.swanngalleries.com or download the Swann Galleries app for catalogues, bidding and inquires.

Additional highlights can be found here.

New York — How did a carpenter’s son, grammar school dropout and sometime hack writer become America’s greatest poet? To commemorate Whitman’s 200th birthday on May 31, 2019, this landmark exhibition showcases New York's role in the extraordinary transformation of Walter Whitman Jr. to “Walt Whitman, a kosmos, of Manhattan the son.”  On public view at the Grolier Club from May 15 to July 27, 2019, the exhibition brings together over 200 extraordinary books, manuscripts, photographs, and other objects to show how this obscure young New Yorker transformed himself into one of America’s great artists, the Poet of the Body: New York’s Walt Whitman.

Whitman is now universally acclaimed as the "Good Gray Poet" and for his Civil War writings, though less is known of his early years as a Long Islander, Brooklynite, and self-described "Manhattanese."

The exhibition presents the story of his coming of age as a poet through a unique assemblage of rare books and other artifacts, many rarely or never before on display, from both private and public archives.  Featured are family collections of the descendants of Whitman’s friends and associates, including one of the original printers of the first edition of Leaves of Grass; the Feinberg Whitman Collection of the Library of Congress and the New York Public Library's Berg Collection; and forgotten holdings from such repositories as Bryn Mawr College's Special Collections and the Brooklyn College Library.  Of special interest are treasures from the library of Susan Jaffe Tane, a leading Whitman collector.

A celebration of Whitman's enduring relationship with the metropolis that sired and inspired him, the exhibition is curated by collector Ms. Tane and Dr. Karen Karbiener, NYU professor and internationally recognized Whitman scholar.

Highlights

• every American edition of Leaves of Grass published during Whitman's lifetime, including three copies of America’s “declaration of cultural independence,” the first edition of Leaves of Grass (1855)
• Whitman’s annotated copies of The Complete Works of Robert Burns (1879), Shelley’s Works (1847), Homer’s Iliad (1857), and several other books from his personal library
• Manuscripts including a never-before-exhibited early iteration of the poem “So Long!”, Whitman’s technical specifications for building a Brooklyn house, his notes towards a self-help manual on “Manly Training”, and his eighteen-page fair copy of the poem “A Carol of Harvest,” the longest Whitman manuscript remaining in private hands
• correspondence to Whitman from Fred Vaughan (probably the poet’s first serious love interest), Whitman’s annotated photos and notes on Fred Gray (namesake of America’s first gay men’s club), the poet’s notes towards the homoerotic poetic cluster “Live Oak, with Moss,”and one of fifty copies of John Addington Symonds’ A Problem in Modern Ethics (1891), a landmark study of homosexuality
• a substantial collection of original images of the poet, including photographs by Mathew Brady and Thomas Eakins, a stereocard by Jeremiah Gurney, and an oil portrait of Whitman in his prime by fellow New Yorker Charles Hine
• Whitman’s pen, cane, bronzed cast of his hand, and locks of his hair encased in exquisite Victorian rings designed by eminent New York jeweler John H. Johnston
• A collection of work by Whitman’s most ardent supporters, including one of Horace Traubel’s notebooks documenting the poet’s words and actions and Henry Saunders’ handmade One Hundred Whitman Portraits
• Examples of Whitman’s legacy in the book arts, including books by Thomas Mosher and the Roycroft Press and original artwork by Brian Selznick and Allen Crawford
• Ephemera including a lively array of advertisements both by and about Whitman, such as an oversized broadside advertising Leaves of Grass designed by the poet himself and examples of Whitman’s commercial appearance on cigar boxes, food labels, album art, and clothing catalogues
• Interactive features of the exhibition allow visitors to experience Whitman and his New York in 3-D using modern stereograph technology, to take a virtual walk with Walt down Broadway circa 1850, and examine a colorful, surprising array of Whitman-related ephemera.

Catalog and Commemorative Medallion

Poet of the Body: New York’s Walt Whitman (Grolier Club, 2019), a book based on the exhibition with text by Ms. Tane and Dr. Karbiener, is available from Oak Knoll Books (orders@oakknoll.com).  

A commemorative three and one-half inch bronze medallion honoring Whitman’s 200th birthday has been specially commissioned from sculptor Marc Mellon.  For information and to order, please contact Maev Brennan: mbrennan@grolierclub.org

Public Programs

Free Exhibition Tours: Free guided tours of the exhibition, led by curators Susan Tane and Karen Karbiener, will be held on Wednesday, May 15, from 12 to 1 pm; Wednesday, May 22, from 11 am to 12 noon.; and Thursday, May 30, from 6:30 to 7:30 pm. No reservations required.

Lectures and Presentations

• Wednesday, May 22, 12:00-1:00 pm - “Printing Walt Whitman’s Faces,” lecture by Barbara Henry, Harsimum Press.
• Thursday, May 30, 5:30-6:30 pm - “ ‘This is the city, and I am one of the citizens’: Walt Whitman, The Body, and the City,” lecture by Ed Folsom, University of Iowa.
• Tuesday, June 18, 12:00-1:00 pm - “I Sing the Exhibition Digital,” presentation by Jesse Merandy and the Bard Grad Center’s Digital Media Lab.
• Thursday, June 20, 5:30-6:30 pm - “A Year in the Basement with Walt Whitman,” presentation by Allen Crawford, illustrator.
• Tuesday, July 23, 5:30-6:30 pm - “Whitman’s Live Oak, with Moss,” multimedia presentation by Brian Selznick and Karen Karbiener.

Whitman Symposium: Saturday, June 1, from 9 am to 5 pm 

Twelve internationally acclaimed scholars will deliver presentations on the theme of “Walt Whitman and New York,” including one Pecha Kucha session; the Dessoff Choirs will perform a selection of Whitman song settings; and Whitman scholars Betsy Erkkila and Kenneth Price will deliver keynote lectures. Admission is free, but reservations are required by e-mailing mbrennan@grolierclub.org.

Whitman 2019 Consortium: Curators Susan Tane and Karen Karbiener are also co-Directors of the Consortium, a global collective of more than 70 institutions, organizations, venues and individuals celebrating Whitman’s 200th birthday. For more information on events, a print copy of the publication and schedule is available at the Grolier Club; or visit: http://waltwhitmaninitiative.org/whitman-2019-consortium/

Falls Church, VA - On April 4, the Waverly Rare Books division of Quinn’s Auction Galleries will present a 262-lot catalog auction of rare and important books, prints and maps on the subject of travel, exploration and the natural world.  

Titled “Exploring the Globe - Prints, Maps & Books,” the auction features the personal library of William E. Davies (1917-1990), a former U.S. Geological Survey geologist, polar explorer and recipient of the Antarctic Medal from the U.S. Congress. His collection of books from the Heroic Age of Arctic Exploration includes John Ross’ A Voyage of Discovery (1819). 

The travel and exploration portion of the catalog will include works from the Middle East, the archive of author Jane Geniesse (with 70+ letters by British explorer Freya Stark), maps of early America, circa-1856 watercolors of Pacific species of fish, and the compass used during the Kantuta Raft expeditions. The auction will conclude with a group of rare natural history prints.

A strong candidate for the auction’s top lot is an Edition de Lux copy of Arctic Days, published by Andrew Melrose (London, 1913), written and signed by Sir Ernest Shackleton. Estimated at $3,000-$5,000, this book is an account of the Nimrod Expedition (1907-09). It includes sketches of polar life by two of Shackleton’s men, James Murray and George Marston, who also signed the book. 

John Ross’s A Voyage of Discovery is a first-edition copy from 1819 and carries an estimate of $800-$1,200. Published by John Murray in London, the volume is quarter leather with marble boards. It is Ross’s first-hand account of how he led an expedition to find the Northwest Passage, only to turn around before what is now called the “Parry Passage” (named after W.E. Parry, the captain of the Alexander).

The archive of material from author Jane Geniesse, comprising 10 boxes, four tubs and a folder, relates mostly to her two books The American Priestess (2008) and Passionate Nomad: The Life of Freya Stark (1999), but also includes more than 70 signed letters, postcards and other items from Freya Stark to friends, including Lucy Beach, Sir Sydney Cockerell and others. The lot estimate is $1,000-$1,500.

An aquatint engraving of the now-extinct Pied Duck (Plate 332), from a first-edition copy of John James Audubon’s (American, 1785-1851) iconic The Birds of America, should take flight for $800-$1,200. The lower right reads, “Engraved, Printed and (Hand) Coloured by R. Havell, 1836.” The Pied Duck, or Labrador Duck, was last spotted in Elmira, New York, in 1878.

A second-edition folio copy of Diaz Del Castillo’s Conquista de la Nueva-Espana, the most important recounting of the expeditions of Spanish explorer Hernan Cortez and the conquest of Mexico, published in Madrid in 1632, is estimated to reach $3,000-$4,000. Diaz participated in 120 battles during Cortez’s campaign through Central America and conquest of Mexico (1519-1521).

A double-page, hand-colored, engraved map of the Mid-Atlantic coast - to include Virginia, Carolina, Maryland and New Jersey - beautifully rendered by German cartographer Johann Baptiste Homann (1644-1724), should reach $1,000-$1,500. The map, housed in a 26½-inch by 30¼-inch frame, was published in Nuremberg circa 1720. It is both important and decorative.

A rare Viceroy Edition copy of Captain F. Brinkley’s The Oriental Series: Japan and China, published by J.B. Millet (Boston, 1901-1902), #26 of 50, is expected to make $800-$1,200. The 12-volume set is green-gilt-decorated morocco leather and includes silk doublures and endpapers, watercolor-on-silk frontispieces, and illustrations throughout (some colored and on silk or vellum).

A first U.S. edition (in English, translated from the original Norwegian) two-volume set of Roald Amundsen’s The South Pole, an account of his famous dash to the South Pole, arriving on Dec. 14, 1911, five weeks before Robert Falcon Scott’s British Expedition, has an estimate of $500-$700. A pencil inscription reads, “Compliments of Lee Keedick for R. Amundsen, July 1913.”

The actual compass used by explorer Eduard Ingris for the two Kantuta Expeditions, which followed in the footsteps of the legendary Kon-Tiki expedition led by Thor Heyerdahl, should easily change hands for $400-$600. Housed in a wooden case, the compass is believed to have been given to Ingris directly by Heyerdahl. Also included in the lot is Kon-Tiki and Kantuta-related material.

A group of four botanical plates from 1827 by Pierre Joseph Redoute (French, 1759-1840), each one an engraving of a flower, from Choix des Plus Belles Fleurs et des Plus Beaux Fruits, with engraving by Langlois (Paris), should hit $400-$600. The stipple engravings with original hand-coloring include plates for Mauve hibiscus trionum, Clematis Viticella, plus two other flowers.

Auction start time is 6 p.m. ET. All forms of bidding will be available, including absentee and live via the Internet through LiveAuctioneers. Preview at the gallery on Saturday, March 30 from 10-12, then Mon.-Thurs., April 1-4 inclusive from 10-6. For additional information about any item in the sale, call 703-532-5632, extension 575; or e-mail waverly@quinnsauction.com. View the online catalog and register to bid absentee or live online, at LiveAuctioneers.com. Visit Quinn’s and Waverly online at http://www.quinnsauction.com. Quinn’s is always accepting consignments for future auctions.

Image: Edition de Lux copy of Arctic Days, published by Andrew Melrose (London, 1913), written and signed by Sir Ernest Shackleton, an account of the Nimrod Expedition, est. $3,000-$5,000.

In celebration of the Persian New Year, also known as Nowruz, the Library of Congress has digitized and made available online for the first time the Rare Persian-Language Manuscript Collection, which sheds light on scientific, religious, philosophical and literary topics that are highly valued in the Persian speaking lands.

This collection, including 150 manuscripts with some dating back to the 13th century, also reflects the diversity of religious and confessional traditions within the Persian culture.

From the 10th century to the present, Persian became the cultural language for a large region stretching from West Asia to Central and South Asia. Today, Persian is the native language spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and some regions of Central and South Asia and the Caucasus.

The unique manuscripts feature beautifully illuminated anthologies of poetry by classic and lesser known poets, written in fine calligraphic styles and illustrated. It includes the Shahnamah, an epic poem that recounts the history of pre-Islamic Persia. Also, it contains the most beloved poems of the Persian poets Saadi Shirazi, Hafez and Jami, along with works of the poet Nizami Ganjavi. 

One of the historic materials addresses the life of Shah Jahan (1592-1666), a ruler of India from the Mughal dynasty, during whose reign the Taj Mahal and other architectural wonders were built. Other items highlight a gold leaf map that clearly demonstrates how the world was viewed in the medieval Islamic period and Quran manuscripts with elaborate calligraphy.

The collection was digitally preserved by the Library of Congress at loc.gov/collections/persian-language-rare-materials/about-this-collection/.

“These rare Persian-language manuscripts clearly reflect the diversity and cosmopolitan nature of the collection,” said Hirad Dinavari, reference specialist for the collection at the Library’s African and Middle Eastern Division. “Since many of the items originate in India, Central Asia, the Caucasus and regions under Ottoman rule, in addition to the native Persian speaking lands of Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan.”

In addition to the manuscripts, the Library will expand the Rare Persian-language Collection with lithographs, early imprint book and Islamic book bindings in the following months.

Most of these Persian manuscripts and lithographic books were procured for the Library in the 1930s by Kirkor Minassian (1874-1944), a renowned dealer in fine Islamic and Near Eastern arts. The Minassian acquisitions included treasures from the entire Middle East with rare books and manuscripts in Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Armenian languages.  

The Library's African and Middle Eastern Division showcased over 40 of these rare Persian manuscripts and lithographic books for the first time, for the public to see, in the exhibition "A Thousand Years of the Persian Book" between March 27, 2014 and September 20, 2014.

The African and Middle Eastern Division (AMED) was created in 1978 as part of a general Library of Congress reorganization. AMED consists of three sections - African, Hebraic and Near East - that cover 78 countries and regions from southern Africa to the Maghreb and from the Middle East to Central Asia and the Caucasus.

The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States - and extensive materials from around the world - both on-site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. Explore collections, reference services and other programs and plan a visit at loc.gov, access the official site for U.S. federal legislative information at congress.gov and register creative works of authorship at copyright.gov.

Boston, MA — RR Auction's April Fine Autograph and Artifact sale features an impressive selection of pop culture material with online bidding through April 10, 2019. 

Highlights include Andy Warhol's personally-owned 14K white gold Elgin Crusader pocket watch, with a back that opens to reveal an ornate engraved filigree pattern, along with the make and model. The face is white with gold Arabic numerals and gold hands, and has an inset seconds dial. Provenance: The Andy Warhol Collection, Sotheby's, April 1988.

Warhol had an appreciation of art which translated into his penchant for luxury watches. He was once quoted as saying: 'I don't wear a [Cartier] Tank watch to tell the time. In fact, I never wind it. I wear a Tank because it's the watch to wear.' Warhol himself was an avid collector of watches, said to own over 300 pieces, the most beloved of which he kept in a canopy hung over his bed. This superb, sophisticated timepiece is an exceptional example boasting exquisite provenance. (Estimate: $10,000+) 

Also featured the iconic two-piece suit worn by Colonel Harland Sanders. The white two-piece suit made by Merton Chesher of Toronto, consisting of a light fabric double-breasted dress jacket and matching pleated trousers, both of which feature manufacturer tags identifying them as belonging to the Kentucky Fried Chicken founder. 

The jacket tag is sewn into the inner right breast pocket; the pants tag is located on the front inner waistband: “Name: Col H Sanders 5271L, Date: May 17/67.” Also included is Sanders’s white dress shirt made by Arrow Belmont Club with inner collar stamped: “Bard Sanforized Plus 2, 17-33CC.”  The outfit is accompanied by a black tie that was not worn by Sanders. 

A rare opportunity to own what is perhaps the most iconic suit in the history of the American fast food industry, said Bobby Livingston, Executive VP at RR Auction. (Estimate: $5,000)

Highlights from the literature section of the online offering include a Henry David Thoreau manuscript sought-after handwritten manuscript contained within the first volume of the 1906 'manuscript edition' of Thoreau's works, one page both sides, apparently being his journal entry from August 24, 1854. In part: "They appeared to suffer more than any trees, except the white ash. Their leaves (and also those of the alders, hickories and grapes, and even oaks more or less) were so curled on the upper 3/4 of the trees, that their foliage had a singularly glaucous hue. Seen at a distance in rows along the river, they had somewhat of the same effect with the silvered tip of the swamp white oak. The sight suggested a strong wind constantly blowing and turning up their leaves. I went ashore & felt of them. They were more or less crisped & curled permanently. It suggested that, to a slight extent, occurs every year. On the Cliffs, so many young trees & bushes were withered, that from the river, it looked as if a fire had run over them." 

The sheet is professionally inlaid into a larger sheet, which was subsequently bound into the first volume of the twenty-volume set The Writings of Henry David Thoreau. Manuscript edition, limited issue, numbered 555/600. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin and Company, 1906. Hardcover, 6.25 x 9, 435 pages. The other volumes of the set are not included. Book condition: G+/None, with ex-library labels and markings. Autographic condition: very good, with possible reinforcement to a long diagonal crease, and old tape repairs to splitting along the central horizontal fold. 

Fifty years after Thoreau's death in 1862, his manuscripts passed through a few hands until they were inherited by E. Harlow Russell. He then negotiated with publisher Houghton Mifflin to sell the literary rights of Thoreau's unpublished journals, also selling at least six-hundred pages of his original manuscripts to the firm. These were then broken up and included, one page at a time, in the first book of each copy of this enormous twenty-volume limited 'manuscript edition' set. This example resembles the published versions of his journal from August 1854, but does not correspond exactly as the compilers took editorial liberties. Offering outstanding observations on nature, this is an ideal Thoreau piece of the utmost desirability. (Estimate: $15,000+ ) 

Other top items include a letter by Queen Elizabeth I, an important letter by Thomas Jefferson about the Bonaparte family, a rare check by Charles Darwin, and a handful of vintage Topps baseball card sets. 

The Fine Autographs and Artifacts Auction from RR Auction will conclude on April 10.  For information, visit the RR Auction web site at www.rrauction.com.