Paris — For its Comic Strips sale, Artcurial will be auctioning, for the first time, a collection of original drawings from the adventures of Caroline. These 22 illustrations, estimated between €3,000 and 6,000 have come directly from the illustrator Pierre Probst’s family.

The auction will also be offering a Tintin Indian ink panel, l’Étoile Mystérieuse, drawn by Hergé, estimated between €150,000 and 200,000. A wonderful historic set of drawings and panels by the famous Japanese mangaka Osamu Tezuka will also be presented, the star being a Captain Ken panel estimated at €30,000 - 40,000 and several Astro Boy drawings. A rare collection of illustrations representing Walt Disney’s famous heroes will also be put on sale. These drawings, created in the 1950-60s, were intended to decorate Jouets Vera’s wooden puzzles.

A collection of 22 original Caroline drawings Pierre Probst (1913-2007), an artist from Mulhouse in Alsace, knew from an early age that he would become a cartoonist. With the first album from the series, Une fête chez Caroline, published in 1953, he immediately experienced a huge success, thanks to his colourful drawings illustrating the life of this little girl, joined at the hip with her talking pets. The heroine’s name was a tribute to the illustrator’s grandmother and he used his daughter, Simone, as the model who inspired her character.

A beautiful panorama of Caroline adventures, which are both educational and fun, will also be presented at the auction. Twenty-two original drawings depict the adventures of the young heroine who sometimes explored the capital city--admiring the breath-taking view from the top of Notre-Dame cathedral or at the foot of the Eiffel Tower--while others recount her going back to Prehistoric times, travelling through Europe or even going on an expedition to the Moon, always accompanied by her four-legged friends who end up getting into mishaps (estimate: €3,000 - 5,000 / €4,000 - 6,000).

At the heart of this collection, nine original drawings created for the Caroline comic book covers will also be presented. We also see the little girl in her day-to-day life, when she learns to ride a horse, or when she enjoys a galette des rois (epiphany cake), as well the young heroine’s exceptional adventures: with the “Lilipuchiens”, on the Moon or in the North Pole... Each cover illustration is estimated between €3,000 and 5,000.

An exceptional panel signed by Hergé
In addition, the auction will also be offering a Tintin panel, l’Étoile Mystérieuse, drawn by Hergé and published in November 1941 in the Le Soir newspaper. This rare article illustrates the famous scene where Tintin observes through a telescope the meteorite which threatens to crash into Earth leading to the end of the world. It is estimated at €150,000 - 200,000.

Fans of Tintin can also get their hands on a bronze sculpture of Tintin et Milou by Nat Neujean, made in 1975 under Hergé’s guidance and estimated at between €50,000 and 60,000, as well as a lithography signed by Hergé and by the American astronauts who walked on the Moon, including Buzz Aldrin’s “First moonwalkers after Tintin” inscription (estimate: €10,000-15,000).

Osamu Tezuka
A panel by Osamu Tezuka, the creator of Astro Boy, will also be on sale. It illustrates his hero from the 1960s, the space cowboy Captain Ken (estimate: €30,000 - 40,000) and is part of an exceptional set of 13 panels and drawings which recount a large portion of the famous Mangaka’s career. In particular, there will be a Buddha panel estimated between €30,000 and 40,000, as well as a drawing of the famous Astro Boy in Indian ink (estimate: €15,000 - 20,000).

Walt Disney
A collection of drawings representing Walt Disney’s heroes and illustrations for children’s stories will also be on sale. These drawings, entrusted by the family of Jouets Vera’s creator, were intended for the brand’s wooden puzzles. Amongst these illustrations: Blanche neige (€2,000 - 3,000), Donald, Mickey et leurs amis à la pêche (€2,000 - 3,000), and Cendrillon (€2,000 - 3,000).

The classic comic strip will be represented by Hugo Pratt with an exceptional panel of Corto Maltese en Sibérie (€35,000 - 45,000) and a complete story of 18 panels entitled L’Odio di corazon Sutton (€50,000 - 70,000); by Sempé with a set of 32 cartoons (€2,500 - 3,500 to €200 to 300).

Amongst modern day illustrators, there will be Enki Bilal, Le Vaisseau de Pierre (€80,000 – 100,000), Philippe Druillet, Les 6 voyages de Lone Sloane (€8,000 - 12,000), and Jacques Tardi, Casse pipe à la nation (€11,000 – 14,000).

A few days after this auction, there will be an Online Only sale of Comic Strips from 25th to 28th November.

Dallas, TX – The best copy of the first Marvel Comics issue could bring $1 million or more as the top lot in Heritage Auctions’ Comics & Comic Art Auction Nov. 21-24 in Dallas, Texas.

Marvel Comics #1 Windy City pedigree (Timely, 1939) CGC NM 9.4 Off-white pages. (estimate: $1,000,000+), from the Windy City pedigree, is by far the highest-graded known copy of what is widely considered the ultimate of all Marvel comics, of which only two other copies have earned a grade as high as 9.0. As a matter of perspective, consider that only one other 9.4 exists in CGC’s census for all of the top six most valuable Golden Age issues … combined.

“It is nearly impossible to describe the significance of this issue carrying such a high grade,” Heritage Auctions Senior Vice President Ed Jaster said. “This is an 80-year-old copy of the issue that launched Marvel Comics, and it is in pristine condition. Most collectors never get the chance to see a comic book like this, much less an opportunity to own one.”

The Windy City pedigree collection is known well among high-end Golden Age collectors. Introduced to the market by Chicago dealer Gary Colabuono, the collection was compiled by a Uniontown, Pennsylvania mailman who purchased every first issue he could of both comic books and magazines, starting in the 1940s.

Robert Crumb Your Hytone Comix (nn) “Stoned Agin!” Inside Back Cover Original Art (Apex Novelties, 1971) (estimate: $250,000+) comes from the height of popularity of the artist who is revered for his contribution to the underground comics movement in the 1960s. This image is instantly recognizable, even by many who don’t know Crumb’s work. This legendary image, which has been reproduced countless times, as a blacklight poster, on pinback buttons, postcards, t-shirts, etc., is considered the ultimate must-have item for serious Crumb collectors.

The consignor moved to California in 1970 and met Crumb through mutual friends. The consignor got the image from Crumb, and has held on to it ever since in his own collection. The artwork is accompanied by the cardboard portfolio in which Crumb originally delivered the artwork, which has a handwritten “to do” list, which might have been written by Hytone publisher Don Donahue. Crumb signed the artwork in the lower right of the final panel.

Neal Adams Batman #251 Cover The Joker Original Art (DC, 1973) (estimate: $300,000+) is a spectacular image from one of the most memorable Joker covers of all time. The issue debuted a new version of the villain that became the standard for the character. The issue marked a return of the Joker after a four-year hiatus from Batman comics and presented a “more lethal than laughable Joker,” according to longtime DC publisher Paul Levitz. This was the only Joker cover by Adams during his first stint at DC.

Jack Kirby and Syd Shores Captain America #103 Cover Red Skull Original Art (Marvel, 1968) (estimate: $200,000+) is one of the Red Skull’s most iconic cover images, and one of the finest twice-up Silver Age Marvel covers of all time. So dramatic is the image in this original art that the Red Skull’s maniacal facial expression was toned down on the printed cover by slightly changing his eyes and mouth. Created by Jack Kirby, the co-creator of both the Red Skull and Captain America, the image also features Sharon Carter, a.k.a. “Agent 13.” The cover was created in twice-up scale, and signed in the lower right by Kirby.

Iconic American science fiction and fantasy artist Frank Frazetta’s “Gollum” Painting Original Art (1973) (estimate: $200,000+) is a moody masterpiece portraying the corrupted Hobbit once known as Smeagol. Frazetta’s work has been enormously popular among collectors – Heritage Auctions sold his Egyptian Queen in May 2019 for a world-record $5.4 million, Death Dealer 6 in May 2018 for almost $1.8 million and the original art for the paperback cover of At The Earth’s Core in August 2016 for nearly $1.1 million – and this painting’s connection to a beloved series of classic books only adds to the allure. From the Glenn Danzig Collection and the only painting Frazetta ever made from J.R.R. Tolkien’s book (and later film) epic, this image is signed and dated in the lower left by the artist.

Jack Kirby and Chic Stone Fantastic Four Annual #2 Splash Page 1 Doctor Doom Original Art (Marvel, 1964) (estimate: $150,000+) is as dramatic as any full-page vintage early 1960s splash panels of major characters, and served as the powerful opening to the tale of “The Fantastic Origin of Doctor Doom!” The Monarch of Latveria, Doctor Doom is Marvel’s most popular villain. He is humanized in this story, which was created by the team of Stan Lee (script) and Jack Kirby (illustration). This page from the Glenn Danzig Collection, created in twice-up scale, includes a message from the editors, who declare “We confidently predict that you will call this one of the greatest, most memorable ‘origin’ stories of all time!”

Another highlight of the auction is a trove of 314 sealed video games from the Carolina Collection, which is nothing if not spectacular. The Carolina Collection was curated by Dain Anderson, the founder of the largest Nintendo collecting forum, NintendoAge. It contains some of the most notable rarities on the NES as well as some of the highest-graded sealed examples of games that Heritage Auctions has offered in its auctions.

Mega Man ["Dr. Wright" First Release] - Carolina Collection Wata 9.4 A+ Sealed NES Capcom 1987 USA (estimate: $100,000+) is undoubtedly the coveted centerpiece of this meticulously curated video game collection. It marks the first appearance of Mega Man, and is the first game in the series. This copy is from the first production run of the title, and is rumored to currently be the highest graded sealed copy of this variant known. On this example, the archvillain named on the back of the box is “Dr. Wright,” which was quickly changed to “Dr. Wily” on subsequently released copies. Collectors have estimated that it is likely that the sealed population of this variant is in the single digits.

Was “Dr. Wright” – a name that was changed on later examples to “Dr. Wily.” This game is the first in the series, and features the first appearance of the Mega Man character.

Other top lots in the auction include, but are not limited to:
    •    Superman #1 (DC, 1939) CGC GD 2.0 Cream to off-white pages: $175,000+
    •    Whiz Comics #2 (#1) (Fawcett Publications, 1940) CGC FN 6.0 Off-white to white pages: $175,000+
    •    Sensation Comics #1 (DC, 1942) CGC VF+ 8.5 Off-white to white pages: $160,000+
    •    Amazing Fantasy #15 (Marvel, 1962) CGC VF- 7.5 Off-white pages: $150,000+
    •    Batman #1 (DC, 1940) CGC VG 4.0 Off-white to white pages: $140,000+
    •    Fantastic Four #1 (Marvel, 1961) CGC VF+ 8.5 White pages: $130,000+
    •    Captain America Comics #1 (Timely, 1941) CGC FN 6.0 Off-white pages: $125,000+

New York – Christie’s is pleased to announce Ansel Adams And The American West: Photographs From The Center For Creative Photography, a sale of 150 Ansel Adams photographs to benefit The Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona, which begins with a live auction on 10 December at Christie’s New York and will follow with additional online sales in the spring and fall of 2020. The works explore the American West as captured by Adams and will benefit the Center in establishing a new acquisition endowment with the goal of diversifying their permanent collection.

Highlights from the December sale include Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, 1941, gelatin silver print (estimate: $30,000 – 50,000), Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite Valley, circa 1940, gelatin silver print (estimate: $30,000 – 50,000), The Tetons and the Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, 1942, gelatin silver print ($20,000 – 30,000), and Georgia O’Keeffe and Orville Cox, Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona, 1937, gelatin silver print (estimate: $12,000 – 18,000).

The new acquisition endowment is possible due to Ansel Adams’ lifelong commitment to the field of photography. When Adams co-founded The Center for Creative Photography, he wanted it to be more than a museum solely dedicated to exhibiting his work. His vision, which has become a reality, was to create a seminal place for the exhibition, research, dialogue, and celebration of all photographers and photography throughout time. The distinct group of works in this sale are duplicate prints that were initially placed at the Center by Adams and reside outside of his archive. This sale will allow the Center to continue to further his vision by diversifying its collection.

Darius Himes, International Head of Photography at Christie’s, explained: “We are thrilled to have been entrusted with the sale of these Ansel Adams works from the Center’s important holdings. The reputation of The Center for Creative Photography is one that instantly resonates within the photography community for having set the standard as a working archive and resource. The sales will offer students and collectors alike the opportunity to acquire prints by Ansel Adams of some of his most memorable images — many of which have never before been on the market — and help the Center further their mission of continuing to build an ever-relevant and important collection.”

Anne Breckenridge Barrett, Associate Vice President for the Arts, University of Arizona and Director, Center for Creative Photography, remarked: “The Center is thrilled to be working with Christie’s on this important project. We are continuing Adams’s legacy by using his work to grow and diversify the collection. By adding more 21st century photography to the collection we are expanding our breadth and depth. We are grateful for Adams’s generosity and foresight, which have made this project possible.”

Chicago — Hindman’s November 5 single-owner sale of the Library of a Midwestern Collector featuring landmark works in the fields of science and technology, mathematics, literature, Americana and the social sciences realized over $1.9 million. Strong international bidding set several significant records at auction. 

The top lot of the sale, Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species set a world auction record for a first edition of Darwin’s landmark work. Realizing $564,500, the superb Garden Copy, previously owned by American philanthropist Paul Mellon (1907–1999), sold for more than double the presale estimate of $120,000- $180,000.

Also exceeding presale estimates, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling brought $150,000 against a presale estimate of $80,000 - $120,000. The exceptionally fine copy of a signed first edition achieved the second highest price ever at auction for Rowling’s work. Other highlights from the auction include Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, which realized $112,500 against a presale estimate of $70,000 - $90,000 and Isaac Newtown’s Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica, which sold for $212,500.

Gretchen Hause, Director of Fine Books and Manuscripts: “Active bidding across all channels combined to energize the room and the strong prices realized reinforce the strength of the market for fine copies of the most significant works in a variety of collecting fields. We are thrilled with today’s exceptional results, setting a record sale total for the department.”

The Books and Manuscripts department is currently accepting consignments for spring auctions. For complete sale results, visit www.hindmanauctions.com.

Washington, D.C. — Rosa Parks, the civil rights icon made famous for her refusal to give up her seat to a white man on a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in December 1955, is often mischaracterized as a quiet seamstress, with little attention paid to her full life story. A new Library of Congress exhibition, Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words, will reveal the real Rosa Parks was a seasoned activist with a militant spirit forged over decades of challenging inequality and injustice.

Opening Dec. 5, this will be the first exhibition of the Rosa Parks Collection, which includes her personal writings, reflections, photographs, records and memorabilia. The collection was placed on loan with the Library in 2014 and became a permanent gift in 2016 through the generosity of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation.

Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words will immerse visitors in Parks’ words, reflections, handwritten notes and photographs from throughout her life, allowing her to tell her own life story. Four sections of the exhibition will explore Parks’ early life and activism, the Montgomery bus boycott, the fallout from Parks’ arrest for her family and their move to Detroit, and the global impact of her life.

“Rosa Parks lived a life dedicated to equal rights and social justice, and she helped change the country with the example she set,” said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. “Our new exhibition is an important milestone for Rosa Parks to tell her story for new generations through her own words and pictures now preserved at the Library of Congress.”

Born and reared in Alabama during the Jim Crow era of legally mandated segregation, Rosa Louise McCauley was taught by her grandfather “never to accept mistreatment.” She married Raymond Parks, a charter member of the NAACP branch in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1932, and together they were early activists for racial equality. They would organize to free the Scottsboro Boys in the 1930s. In 1943, Rosa Parks became the secretary of the Montgomery NAACP, and the branch focused on voter registration and cases of racial violence and discrimination.

After the bus incident, she was punished with death threats, unemployment and poverty – but remained committed to the struggle for social justice.

Throughout her life, Parks would advocate for civil rights, workers’ rights, women’s rights, prisoners’ rights and black youth, and she spoke out against apartheid and other injustices around the world.

Highlights from the exhibition include:

    •    The Parks’ family Bible – being exhibited for the first time;
    •    Photographs and letters documenting Parks’ family and early years;
    •    Parks’ account of “keeping vigil” with her grandfather to protect their home from Klansmen;
    •    A manuscript in which Parks recalls a childhood encounter with a white boy who threatened to hit her and how she responded;
    •    Parks’ personal reflections on her arrest for refusing to surrender her seat on a bus to a white passenger on Dec. 1, 1955, recounting the emotional toll of incarceration;
    •    Letters and documentation of the Montgomery bus boycott and its consequences for those who joined the protest;
    •    Political buttons, brochures, photographs and letters documenting the civil rights movement from the Parks papers and the vast NAACP Records at the Library;
    •    A handmade blue dress from Parks’ wardrobe, on loan from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture;
    •    Correspondence to Rep. John Conyers of Michigan when Parks worked on his congressional staff from 1965 to 1988;
    •    The Spingarn Medal citation, the NAACP’s highest honor, awarded to Parks in 1979;
    •    The Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded to Parks at the White House in 1996;
    •    The Congressional Gold Medal awarded to Parks in 1999.

A new book, Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words, is a companion to the exhibition and reveals the civil rights icon through her private manuscripts and handwritten notes. The book, published by the University of Georgia Press in association with the Library of Congress, includes more than 80 color and black-and-white images from Parks’ collection – many appearing in print for the first time

Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words is made possible by support from the Ford Foundation and Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation, with additional support from AARP, HISTORY®, Joyce and Thomas Moorehead and The Capital Group. The Rosa Parks Collection is a gift of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation. The Library of Congress also is grateful to the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development, which worked closely with Rosa Parks to preserve her archive and legacy.

The Library is inviting visitors to Explore America’s Changemakers through a series of exhibitions, events and programs. Another ongoing exhibition drawing from the Library’s collections tells the story of the largest reform movement in American history – the more than 70-year fight to win voting rights for women – in Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote.

New York – This fall, the New-York Historical Society introduces visitors to a little-known artist whose work documented the people and scenes of early America. Artist in Exile: The Visual Diary of Baroness Hyde de Neuville, on view November 1, 2019 – January 26, 2020 in the Joyce B. Cowin Women’s History Gallery of the Center for Women’s History, presents 114 watercolors and drawings by Anne Marguérite Joséphine Henriette Rouillé de Marigny, Baroness Hyde de Neuville (1771–1849). Self-taught and ahead of her time, Neuville’s art celebrates the young country’s history, culture, and diverse population, ranging from Indigenous Americans to political leaders. Curated by Dr. Roberta J.M. Olson, curator of drawings at New-York Historical, this exhibition is the first serious exploration of Neuville’s life and art—showcasing many recently discovered works including rare depictions of European scenes and people at work, a lifelong sociological interest—and is accompanied by a scholarly catalogue.

“Baroness Hyde de Neuville’s status as a woman, an outsider, and a refugee shaped her view of America and Americans, making her a particularly keen and sympathetic observer of individuals from a range of socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds,” said Dr. Louise Mirrer, president and CEO of the New-York Historical Society. “Neuville could never have envisioned that her visual diary—created as a personal record of her travels and observations of early America—would become an invaluable historical document of the early republic. Yet her drawings vividly evoke the national optimism and rapid expansion of the young United States and capture the diversity of its inhabitants.”

Born to an aristocratic family in Sancerre, France, Henriette married ardent royalist Jean Guillaume Hyde de Neuville, who became involved during the French Revolution in conspiracies to reinstate the Bourbon monarchy and was accused of participating in a plot to assassinate Napoleon. In an effort to disprove the charges against her husband, the baroness took her cause directly to Napoleon, who was impressed with her courage and allowed the couple to go into exile. They arrived in New York in 1807 and stayed for seven years. During their second American residency (1816–22), when her husband served as French Minister Plenipotentiary in Washington, D.C., Henriette became a celebrated hostess. John Quincy Adams described her in his diary as “a woman of excellent temper, amiable disposition… profuse charity, yet judicious economy and sound discretion.” In 1818, she presciently stated that she had but one wish “and that was to see an American lady elected president.”

Artist in Exile follows Neuville’s life, reconstructing her artistic education and tracing her artistic practice, which included portraiture, landscapes and cityscapes, ethnographic studies, botanical art, and other genres. Highlights of the exhibition include Neuville’s views of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers, street scenes of her neighborhood (now known as Tribeca), a watercolor documenting an “Indian War Dance” performed for President Monroe, and portraits of subjects ranging from Indigenous Americans to immigrant students at a Manhattan school founded by the Neuvilles. The exhibition opens with Neuville’s miniature self-portrait (ca. 1800-1810) that was likely created for her husband to carry on his travels. Pictured wearing a fashionable daytime empire-waist dress over a chemisette, fingerless mitts, and hoop earrings, the baroness  looks away, not engaging the viewer as is customary with self-portraits that are drawn using a mirror because she based it on another study.

Upon first reaching the United States, the Neuvilles journeyed up the Hudson River and to Niagara Falls, where Henriette was one of the first to record many early settlements, buildings, and rustic scenes. In the watercolor Distant View of Albany from the Hudson River, New York (1807), she drew the panoramic view from the sloop Diana as it traveled downriver from Albany, chronicling the river long before artist William Guy Wall’s renowned Hudson River Portfolio (1820–25). The atmospheric vista conveys the majestic sweep of the Hudson and the reflections on its surface. In Break’s Bridge, Palatine, New York (1808), Neuville, who was intrigued by engineering and technology, depicts a newly constructed Mohawk River bridge destroyed by rushing waters. The couple in the foreground of the image is the Neuvilles, with their pet spaniel, Volero.

Neuville also captured vivid views of New York City residents and buildings—many of them long since demolished—bringing to life the burgeoning urban center and its ethnically diverse population. Corner of Greenwich Street (1810) represents a scene at the intersection of Greenwich and Dey streets. Near the cellar hatch of the brick house at the center stands an Asian man, who may be the Chinese merchant Punqua Winchong, making this work one of the earliest visual records of a Chinese person in the United States.

The Neuvilles contributed to the cultural life in New York as co-founders of the École Économique (Economical School), incorporated in 1810 as the Society of the Economical School of the City of New York. Its mission was to educate the children of French émigrés and fugitives from the French West Indies and to offer affordable education to impoverished children. Henriette sketched the students at the school, and many works from the “Economical School Series” are on view in the exhibition, including the recently discovered life size portrait, Pélagie Drawing a Portrait (1808), which demonstrates the school’s emphasis on drawing. Her series is the only visual record of the school’s existence.

The couple returned to France in 1814 after the fall of Napoleon and the restoration of King Louis XVIII and the Bourbon monarchy. In 1816, Louis XVIII appointed the baron French Minister Plenipotentiary, and the Neuvilles returned to the U.S., settling in Washington, D.C. They became renowned for their lavish Saturday evening parties and their friendships with President James Monroe and James and Dolley Madison. Among the notable events the Neuvilles attended was an “Indian War Dance,” performed by a delegation of 16 leaders of the Plains Indian tribes in front of President Monroe and 6,000 spectators at the White House on November 29, 1821. Neuville’s watercolor documenting the event includes likenesses of half-chief Shaumonekusse (Prairie Wolf) and one of his five wives, Hayne Hudjihini (Eagle of Delight). Later, the “War Dance” was also performed at the Neuvilles’ house.

Neuville’s portraits of individuals celebrate the ethnic and cultural diversity of the early American republic, and her portrayals are notable for their ethnographic integrity and avoidance of stereotypes. In the portrait of Peter of Buffalo, Tonawanda, New York (1807), the sitter has ear lobes pierced with earrings and bare feet, traditional for Seneca tribesmen. Wearing an undershirt, a fur piece, and leggings with garters, he carries a tomahawk, a knife, a powder horn, and a string of wampum. In the portrait Martha Church, Cook in “Ordinary” Costume (1808–10), Neuville depicts a cook in her everyday attire, as part of the artistic tradition of occupational portraits that originated in Europe and appeared in New York in the early 19th century.

The exhibition features works from New-York Historical’s collection, the most extensive in the world, as well as important loans from the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the New York Public Library, the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs; the Museum of the City of New York; Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum; Hagley Museum and Library; and Princeton University, Firestone Library, Rare Books and Special Collections, Graphic Arts Collection. Artist in Exile: The Visual Diary of Baroness Hyde de Neuville sheds light on this fascinating artist, whose life reads like a compelling historical novel.

London — We are delighted to announce that the winner of the 2019 ABA National Book Collecting Prize goes to Oxford University student Manon Schutz, for her collection ‘My friends, the early Egyptologists.’ 
 
The £1,000 Annual Prize for student book-collectors, sponsored by the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association was awarded to the winner at the ABA Chelsea Rare Book Fair at Chelsea Town Hall on Friday 1 November.  Half of the prize money is for the winner to expand her collection and half is to donate volumes for the University Library.
 
Although the number of submissions in 2019 was slightly down, the quality of entrants was again high, and prompted much debate. Of particular note this year, was that all five entrants were young female collectors. Manon’s passion for her collection shone through, however. As she noted in her entrance essay:

"Since I was a child, I was fascinated by pyramids, hieroglyphs, and mummies. I felt so attracted to this culture … that I wanted to become an Egyptologist ever since. In my fantasy, I was constantly roaming around the Egyptian desert like a female Indiana Jones in order to locate hidden treasures and change the path of history through my discoveries."

This passion led her to focus her collection upon biographies and auto-biographies of early Egyptologists, together with works by early travellers and collectors driven by the same fascination with the region. Describing it as her own personal ‘Narnia’, Manon perfectly encapsulated what it is to be a collector:

"What, I wondered, would a collection be without the people who pour their heart and soul into it, who lovingly arrange and rearrange the books on the shelves, who rejoice like children when they finally find a long sought-after volume, who feel comfort in seeing, touching, smelling their books, and who treat each book like an old friend, a confidant."
 
Manon’s collection won against entries from students at Aberdeen: ‘Echoes of the Medieval Far North’ focusing upon books and material inspired by Northern European myths, legends, fairy tales and folklore; London: ‘The ‘Great Man’ theory in British education of the late 19th and 20th century, and Pitt Press Publications’; St Andrews: ‘A century of Photographs, Found in Australia’; and York ‘Head to Toe: Historical Costume from Antiquity to 1930’. All the entries displayed great enthusiasm and passion, and it was again inspiring to see the upcoming generation of young collectors creating unusual collections, with limited means, yet revelling from the thrill of finding hidden treasures.
 
Preparations for the 2019-20 Collecting Prize is already underway, with the winners from all partaking universities being considered for the ABA National Prize in September 2020.
 
The Judges are: Deborah Coltham, Brian Lake (booksellers), Ed Potten (independent researcher formerly of Cambridge University Library) and Lisa Baskin, (collector).

Washington, D.C. — Researchers and students have gained access to seven newly digitized collections of manuscript materials from the Library of Congress, including records of one of the most important women’s suffrage organizations, the papers of President Abraham Lincoln’s personal secretary and collections on the history of federal monetary policy. The availability of these collections added more than 465,000 images to the Library’s already vast online resources.

One highlight is the extensive collection of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. The Library’s ongoing exhibition “Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote” draws heavily from the collection to tell the story of the largest reform movement in American history from 100 years ago.

Curators from the Library’s Manuscript Division highlight the newly available collections:

National American Woman Suffrage Association

The digital release of the records of the National American Woman Suffrage Association gives researchers online access to one of the most important national women’s suffrage organizations in the U.S., said curator Elizabeth Novara. The collection includes more than 26,000 items, most of which were digitized from 73 microfilm reels.

“The records reflect NAWSA’s multifaceted history and include materials related to key figures in the movement, such as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Anna Howard Shaw and Carrie Chapman Catt,” Novara said. “They also provide a wealth of material on the many other women and men who contributed to the suffrage cause.”

Civil War History

The papers of the presidential secretary and biographer John G. Nicolay (1832–1901) consist of 5,500 items scanned from original materials. Spanning the years 1811 to 1943, the collection particularly reflects Nicolay’s tenure as private secretary to President Abraham Lincoln.

The papers “offer Nicolay’s insider observations of the Lincoln White House recorded in his wartime letters,” said curator Michelle Krowl. “Nicolay’s later correspondence and research files document his continued devotion to Lincoln as his biographer and longtime custodian of the Abraham Lincoln Papers (also available online at the Library).”

From the same era, the papers of Confederate general Jubal Anderson Early were also released online.

Olmsted Associates Landscape Architectural Firm

The collection documents the work of the landscape architectural firm originally founded by Frederick Law Olmsted as it was continued by his sons in Massachusetts. It includes nearly 150,000 items scanned from 532 reels of microfilm.

A stand-out collection item — from the perspective of Washington, D.C., residents at least — is a June 1890 letter from John Charles Olmsted to his father, Frederick Law Olmsted, about the site for the National Zoo.

“It represents a major project here in D.C. and also the beginning of the passing of the torch from one generation to the next in the firm,” said curator Barbara Bair.

Federal Monetary Policy

Three newly released collections relate to federal monetary policy: The Nelson W. Aldrich papers document the National Monetary Commission, created in 1908; and the Charles S. Hamlin papers and the Eugene Meyer papers document the Federal Reserve Board during the first three decades of the 20th century.

The Aldrich papers “provide a vantage point from which to observe the nation’s financial transformation in the early 20th century,” said curator Ryan Reft. The Hamlin papers offer a “window into the politics and social history of the nation’s capital,” including race relations, and the Meyer papers “serve as a critical point of observation” into efforts taken by the Federal Reserve during the earliest years of the Great Depression. Meyer was also publisher of The Washington Post

The digitization of the collections is part of a larger effort to make historical materials available online. Other newly digitized collections include news dispatches of The Associated Press, the papers of suffragists Carrie Chapman Catt, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Presidents James Garfield, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, and others. The digitization reflects advancement toward a goal in the Library’s user-centered strategic plan to expand access, making unique collections available when, where and how users need them. Learn more about the Library’s five-year plan at loc.gov/strategic-plan/.

Austin, Texas — Thousands of digitized records reflecting major historical events of the 20th century related to PEN International, a global writers’ organization, are available online beginning this month. A project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and completed by the Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin has resulted in a new online finding aid for researchers, as well as access to teaching guides and nearly 5,000 digitized records.

PEN, an acronym for Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists and Novelists, has member centers in more than 100 countries. Founded in London in 1921 by Catherine Amy Dawson Scott, PEN began as a simple dinner club meant to bring writers together to socialize and share ideas. Later, it evolved into an international advocacy group for human rights and freedom of expression as reflected in the opening words of its charter, “Literature knows no frontiers and must remain common currency among people in spite of political or international upheavals.”

The NEH-funded project, “Writers Without Borders: Creating Global Access to the PEN International and English PEN Records,” brought together multiple departments at the Ransom Center to arrange, describe, preserve and selectively digitize the records of PEN International and its predecessor, English PEN.

“This access initiative gives new meaning to PEN’s founding charter that states literature knows no borders,” Ransom Center Director Stephen Enniss said. “As a result of this project, the 100-year story of PEN’s advocacy on behalf of freedom of expression will be widely available to a global community of students and researchers.”

In an effort to improve research accessibility, portions of the collection, including newsletters, minutes, reports, scrapbooks and ephemera were digitized and made available online Nov. 1, 2019, in the PEN Digital Collection.

The archive is particularly rich in correspondence with its writer-members around the world and in administrative records, photographs, press clippings and ephemera. The new online finding aid for the PEN records describes all materials in one cohesive inventory. The materials are open for research in the Center’s Reading and Viewing Room.

An additional 900 images are available through online PEN Teaching Guides, which allow instructors and students to explore PEN’s interactions with major political and historical issues. The guides engage with topics such as human rights, free speech, the experiences of political prisoners and refugees, and major global conflicts such as World War II and the Cold War.

According to PEN International President Jennifer Clement, PEN International and English PEN were founded to promote friendship and intellectual cooperation among writers and to emphasize the role of literature in developing mutual understanding and world culture. However, a major role of the organization, she said, is to fight for freedom of expression and to act as a powerful voice on behalf of writers harassed, imprisoned and sometimes killed for their views.

“Digital access to PEN’s archive is essential for any past or future study on the global history of literature, human rights and freedom of expression,” Clement said.

PEN’s efforts to defend freedom of expression include aiding writers fleeing Nazi Germany; defending those blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee; reckoning with the tension between religious freedom and freedom of speech in the crisis Salman Rushdie experienced in 1989; and advocating for writers facing imprisonment, deportation, and even death, such as Chinese writers and scholars imprisoned after the Tiananmen Square protests and an American poet at risk of deportation for her support of socialist ideas.

Numerous PEN members during the past century are authors whose work is represented in the archival holdings of the Ransom Center, including H. G. Wells, E. M. Forster, Radclyffe Hall, Storm Jameson, Thornton Wilder, Arthur Miller and J. M. Coetzee.

Acquired by the Ransom Center between 1968 and 2015, the archive occupies 362 boxes and contains materials from 1912 through 2008. These records document the history and activities of the English PEN Centre, PEN International and other PEN centers around the world, from social gatherings to organized protests and campaigns to literary awards. Access the digitized records and teaching guides online at ransom.center/PEN.

Denver, Colorado -- Hindman’s November 7 Arts of the American West auction in Denver, Colorado, will also offer a selection of original paintings by Arthur Roy Mitchell in partnership with The A.R. Mitchell Museum of Western Art in Trinidad, Colorado. The items come to auction as part of an effort to raise awareness of the artist’s legacy and also to perpetuate long-term preservation of the collection.
 
Colorado native Arthur Roy Mitchell was once considered “The King of Pulp” for his significant contribution to the adventure-themed magazines that flourished from the 1920s through the 1940s. Mitchell neither sought nor received the widespread acclaim given to his better-known Western art contemporaries.
 
“By partnering with Hindman, we anticipate introducing Arthur Roy Mitchell’s body of work — as well as his life as an illustrator, fine artist, historian, working cowboy and ardent lover of his native southwest — to a broader audience of art appreciators who may be unaware of this prolific and passionate artist.” -Allyson Sheumaker, Executive Director, A.R. Mitchel Museum

Funds received through the sale will support the Museum in better serving its mission and local community by maintaining the extensive collection of Mitchell original paintings, sketches, Native American and Hispanic artifacts, and personal effects;  making facility upgrades to the 113-year-old former department store building that houses the museum; and publishing a book of A.R. Mitchell’s art.
 
Highlights from the collection include two works by Harvey Dunn titled Cattle Herd and Cowboy and Bet a Stack of Blues both holding a presale estimate at $8,000 - $12,000 and Harold von Schmidt’s River Crossing estimated at $12,000-18,000. Additionally, there will be three works by A.R. Mitchell highlighting the collection: Tit for Tat (presale estimate $3,000-4,000), Morning Friskies (presale estimate $2,000-4,000) and Driving off Rusters (presale estimate $2,000-4,000).
 
Hindman will be hosting a public friend raiser for the A.R. Mitchell Museum on Wednesday, October 30th, 5:30 - 7:30 during the auction preview at the Denver gallery space. Western art collectors and enthusiasts will have an opportunity to learn more about the Pulp Western artist and illustrator as well as the museum, an important venue for art, culture, history and tourism in southeastern Colorado.
 
The sale will be conducted in the Denver saleroom at 10am MT and will be available for preview November 2 - November 6. To view the full catalog online visit hindmanauctions.com.