New York — The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today a robust selection of online content and social media initiatives that offer ways for audiences to access and enjoy its collection, programs, and educational resources while the Museum is temporarily closed. The newly launched #MetAnywhere is surfacing content from across the Museum's deep digital reserves, while inviting creative engagement on all platforms. The homepage has pivoted from encouraging onsite visits to featuring web-based highlights, including 360-degree views of iconic spaces; behind-the-scenes videos; and dynamic explorations of exhibitions.

The Met will also continue to share weekly favorites like #TuesdayTrivia and #MetSketch on its social channels, while introducing new ways to feature unique stories from the Museum's followers and for curators to share their thoughts and expertise from home. Over the last week, the Museum's social accounts experienced significant increases in their engagement rates—Instagram increased by 78 percent, Twitter by 63 percent, and Facebook by 34 percent. YouTube views are up by 150 percent compared to weekly averages. Traffic to the website has also increased.
   
Max Hollein, Director of The Met, said, "The Museum's collection represents 5,000 years of the world's creative expression. As we are thinking of everyone in New York City and beyond in this exceptional time, we want to share the riches of the Museum's art and scholarship as a means for inspiration and connection. The website and social media channels have something for all—from a virtual gallery visit, or a close look at a masterpiece alongside a renowned artist, or an engaging activity that can be enjoyed with others. We hope that, even when the buildings are temporarily closed, the Museum can provide some measure of comfort and community through the beauty and wonder of the world's shared cultural history."
 
Highlights

Audiences can virtually tour the Museum's most iconic spaces with the popular and award-winning Met 360 Project; watch contemporary artists as they discuss a specific work or gallery through The Artist Project video series, which features 120 episodes; scroll through more than 450,000 images of over 230,000 distinct art objects available for use without restriction through the Open Access Program; explore highlights of recent acquisitions in MetCollects; dive into exhibitions through digital Primers; or catch up on Met Stories, a new video series and year-long social media initiative that shares unexpected and compelling stories about the Museum. The Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History has hundreds of essays and chronologies tracing the course of art history. Families can discover interactive maps, videos, and fun facts for children with #MetKids; a wide selection of lesson plans for grades K-12, which integrate works of art into each educational resource; and Family Guides with activities that can be enjoyed at home. Series that offer personal perspectives on the collection include 82nd & Fifth, in which one hundred curators each discuss one work of art that has had a significant impact on their lives and scholarship, and Connections, which features voices from across the Museum. MetPublications is a portal to the Museum's comprehensive publishing program with hundreds of downloadable titles. Additional options include browsing the audio guide library or the Museum's extensive video vault, which houses films both made and collected by the Museum beginning in the 1920s. The Museum will continually be updating the website with videos, blogs, collection pages, and features, and new content will be highlighted in The Met's Newsletters.   

Boston — RR Auction's April Fine Autographs and Artifacts sale is highlighted by a great selection of material from renowned artists, including Marc Chagall, Claude Monet, Georges Braque, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Charles Schulz.

Headlining the sale is an original hand-inked four-panel Peanuts daily comic strip drawn by Charles Schulz for May 30, 1958, signed vertically in the last panel with his artist signature, "Schulz."

The comic follows a conversation between Linus and Charlie Brown: Linus asks, "Have you ever heard of the 'Beat Generation,' Charlie Brown?" Looking forlorn, Charlie replies: "Oh yes… I'm a charter member!" Affixed at center is a 1958 United Feature Syndicate copyright notice.

Includes a one-page typed letter about this strip, signed "Charles M. Schulz," personal Peanuts letterhead, June 12, 1958, in full: "I was very pleased to hear that you liked the strip about the 'beat generation.' Now, I do not have the originals here, but I am going to forward your letter to the syndicate, and if it is still available, I am certain that you will get it from them soon." Accompanied by the original mailing envelope for the letter.

"It's an exceptionally desirable, early Peanuts strip, enhanced by Schulz's original correspondence on the subject," said Bobby Livingston, Executive VP at RR Auction.

Among other featured items:

Marc Chagall Artistically inscribed book by the great modernist. Signed book: Chagall by Raymond Cogniat. Paris: Flammarion. Hardcover with dust jacket artistically signed and inscribed on the half-title page in colored pencil, "Pour Edith et Maurice Schlogel, en souvenir, Marc Chagall, 1966," with an additional fantastic sketch of two green figures to the right of a multicolored spectacle.

Claude Monet two-page signed letter in French, Giverny par Vernon letterhead, November 2, 1921. Letter to art critic Gustave Geffroy, an early supporter of the Impressionists. In part (translated): "I very much regret to be obliged to postpone the coming of the photographer, but your letter of the 29th did not reach me until yesterday evening, and you did not think of coming, I would have found myself very embarrassed on the choice of the fabrics to reproduce, and then there is the color reproduction that I do not admit and that absolutely. In short, I need to be fixed by a word from you, and after I can fix you another day." Accompanied by the original mailing envelope, addressed in Monet's hand.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir three-page handwritten letter in French signed "Renoir," 1 Place de l'Eglise-du-Voeu letterhead, January 25, 1914. Letter to art dealer Ambroise Vollard. Writing from Cagnes, Renoir says that he is ready to receive "the sculptor" whom Vollard is sending. He recommends that the sculptor should not miss the "male and female model" that he likes. In part (translated): "If the large statue won't come off, he can handle the clock. He will not be short of work. I am not going to interfere in all that." Accompanied by the original mailing envelope, addressed in Renoir's hand.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec letter by the important French painter and printmaker (1864-1901) whose lively, colorful portrayals of the people and places of fin-de-siècle Paris take place among the most iconic images of the era. The signed three-page handwritten in French, signed "H," undated and untranslated.

Georges Braque original artist's palette drawing by the Cubist innovator. Important French painter (1882-1963) who, along with Picasso, was one of the seminal figures in the development of Cubism. Amazing original ink sketch of an artist's palette, brushes, and vase accomplished by Braque on an off-white sheet, wonderfully signed within the drawing, "G. Braque, 1953." Double-matted and framed to an overall size of 14.25 x 17. A rare opportunity to own an original work by a founder of one of the most important artistic movements in history.

Other highlights include a manuscript by Wilbur Wright, a fully signed Led Zeppelin II album, an important letter by Albert Einstein anticipating WWII, a handwritten letter by Malcolm X written from prison, and flown Robbins medallions from the collection of Apollo 17 moonwalker Gene Cernan.

RR Auction's Fine Autographs and Artifacts Auction, with online bidding scheduled to conclude on April 8. For more information, go to www.rrauction.com.  

New York — Swann Galleries’ Thursday, March 5 sale of 19th & 20th Century Prints & Drawings saw success: “With more internet bidding, particularly via the Swann App, than any previous sale in the 19th & 20th Century Prints & Drawings category at Swann, with action from across the United States, Europe and Asia, and nearly 20% of buyers new to Swann. The most robust sections of the auction were the American prints and modern European prints and drawings,” noted Todd Weyman, the house’s director of prints and drawings.

The American offering included Martin Lewis’ 1933 drypoint Circus Night garnering a record for the image at $22,500. Further drypoints by Lewis included Rainy Day, Queens, 1931 ($23,700), and Rain on Murray Hill, 1928 ($16,250). Additional American highlights featured Gustave Baumann with a 1917 color woodcut, Provincetown, and John Steuart Curry’s 1932 lithograph The Tornado, which each earned $13,750 (both records for the prints); and Stuart Davis’s 1931 lithograph Two Figures and El, which brought $23,750.

Twentieth-century European stalwarts delivered strong results, with Pablo Picasso leading the sale with Nature Morte à la Pastêque, a colorful 1962 still-life linoleum cut of a slice of watermelon and purple flowers, which sold for $39,000. Der Spaziergang I, a 1922 etching by Marc Chagall, brought a record for the image at $17,500. Surrealists proved popular among collectors, with René Magritte’s 1966 etching Paysage de Baucis (Self Portrait with a Hat) bringing $35,000, and Salvador Dalí’s 1935 etching Crânes mous et harpe crânienne, which sold for $20,000. Representing German Expressionism was Edvard Munch’s 1908–09 Den Sinnssyke, which garnered $16,250, a record for the lithograph, and Max Klinger’s 1897–98 Von Tode I. Theil und II. Theil, two portfolios with complete text and 22 drawings, which sold for $13,750.

Additional highlights featured Gathering Fruit, a circa–1893 drypoint by Mary Cassatt (sold for $35,000); and a circa–1925 oil-on-canvas painting of New York by Eduardo García Benito, which set a record for the artist at $20,000. The house’s burgeoning Latin American art offerings rounded out the sale, with Francisco Toledo’s circa–1965 watercolor Formes Surréalistes at $13,750.

Visit swanngalleries.com or download the Swann Galleries App for catalogues, bidding and inquiries.

Leyburn, North Yorkshire, UK — An outstanding manuscript on archery, compiled by Sir Ralph Payne Gallwey of Thirkleby Park, Thirsk, North Yorkshire, sold at Tennants Auctioneers for £2,600 (plus buyer’s premium), in their Book Sale on 18th March, trumping the £600-900 estimate.

Sir Ralph Payne Gallwey (1848-1916), it appears, was a man with an extraordinary fascination for archery. Written in the first decade of the 20th century, the beautifully compiled manuscript tells of his research into Turkish and Chinese archery, a wide variety of bows and arrows, and methods of shooting. Payne Gallwey’s research was practical, and tables of flight distances, detailed illustrations and photographs of bows in use accompany meticulous hand-written notes. The manuscript also includes photographs of the extraordinary collection of weapons housed at Thirkleby Park.

Payne Gallwey had inherited the Thirkleby Park estate in 1881, but after the death of his son, William, in the First World War, he tried to sell the estate at auction. It failed to sell, and Payne Gallwey died shortly afterwards. The main house, Thirkleby Hall, was demolished in 1927, and only the gatehouse and stable buildings remain. Payne Gallwey was an engineer, historian, artist and ballistics expert, who was a published author on several books on shooting and the crossbow.

Despite the difficult circumstances, it was a buoyant sale, and other interesting lots in the sale included An Inventory of the Household Furniture etc., belonging to the Right Hon.ble Lady Charlotte Finch at her House at Charlwood in the Parish of Rickmersworth (sic) in the County of Hertford taken June the 15th 1767 and other subsequent days, which sold for £800 (plus buyer’s premium) against an estimate of £100-200. The manuscript inventory covers the contents of 38 rooms in Lady Charlotte Finch’s house. Finch (nee Fermor), 1725-1813 was the governess to the children of King George III and Queen Charlotte.

A very unusual 1929 folio of outstanding illustrations of sea creatures by Sidonie Gabrielle Collete and Mathurin Meheut entitled ‘Regarde…’ sold for £1,000 (plus buyer’s premium) against an estimate of £200-400. The vivid, graphic illustrations were printed on vellum using the ‘au pochoir’ or stencilling technique. The hand application of pigments allows for dazzling colours that could never be achieved by a printing press, and the technique was a reaction against mechanisation. According to a letter from David Batterham, a London bookseller that accompanied the book, it is in such pristine condition as it was the last copy from the publisher. A 1953 first edition of Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale, published by Cape with an HMS Dolphin stamp to the front pastedown sold for £1,100 (plus buyer’s premium).

The sale resulted in a total hammer price of £26,040 for the 124-lot sale, with an 89% sold rate.

Irvine, CA – This year marks the Centennial of Ray Bradbury’s birth, and to celebrate the life and work of this beloved and visionary author, Suntup Editions is delighted to announce a fine press limited edition of Fahrenheit 451. Highly regarded as Ray Bradbury’s masterpiece, Fahrenheit 451 depicts a dystopian society in which all books are outlawed and burned. The novel follows the personal evolution and journey of Guy Montag, from a fireman for whom it is a pleasure to burn books, to a man disillusioned with the censoring of knowledge and dedicated to the preservation of literature.

In a 1956 interview, Bradbury said, “I wrote this book at a time when I was worried about the way things were going in this country four years ago. Too many people were afraid of their shadows; there was a threat of book burning. Many of the books were being taken off the shelves at that time.” Bradbury has also described the book as a commentary on resistance to conformity, and how mass media can create a lack of interest in reading literature.

Though considered one of the greatest science-fiction novels of all time, much of Fahrenheit 451 has become science-fact. The novel predicted earbud headphones, flatscreen televisions, and 24-hour banking machines.

In 1954, Fahrenheit 451 won the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature and the Commonwealth Club of California Gold Medal. It later won the Prometheus “Hall of Fame” Award in 1984, and a “Retro” Hugo Award in 2004, one of only seven Best Novel “Retro” Hugo Awards ever given.

ABOUT THE EDITIONS
The fine press limited edition of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is presented in three states: Lettered, Numbered, and Artist Gift editions. The editions measure 6” x 9” and feature six full color illustrations by Julia Griffin, as well as an introduction by New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman, which originally appeared in the 50th Anniversary edition. The Artist Gift edition features an illustrated dust jacket by Michael Whelan.

Also included is a 77-page bonus section on the history, context and criticism of the novel edited by Jonathan R. Eller; as well as Bradbury’s short story The Pedestrian and his novella The Fireman, which later evolved into Fahrenheit 451. The Lettered and Numbered editions are signed by Neil Gaiman, Julia Griffin and Jonathan R. Eller. The Artist Gift edition is signed by Julia Griffin and Michael Whelan.

Lettered Edition
The Lettered edition is limited to 26 copies for sale and is a full goatskin binding. The edition provides a retrospective look at the publishing history of the novel. Each of the 26 copies feature a different original book cover, burned and encased behind an acrylic panel which is affixed to the front cover with stainless steel screws.

The spine is hot stamped and endsheets are hand marbled. The edition is printed letterpress on Mohawk Superfine, and is housed in a quarter leather clamshell enclosure with Italian cloth boards.
 
Numbered Edition
The Numbered edition is limited to 250 copies for sale and is quarter bound in Italian cloth with decorative French marbled paper covers. The spine is hot foil stamped, and the edition is printed letterpress on Mohawk Superfine. The top edge is gilded in copper and the edition is housed in a dual cloth covered slipcase with hot foil stamping on the spine.
 
Artist Gift Edition
The Artist Gift edition is limited to 1000 copies with a dust jacket illustrated by multiple award-winning artist Michael Whelan. It is a full cloth smyth-sewn binding with two-hits foil stamping, and is the only edition of the three with the dust jacket. The edition is printed offset, and is housed in a printed paper-covered slipcase. The edition is signed by Julia Griffin and Michael Whelan.

Nantucket, MA — The Nantucket Book Festival celebrates its ninth annual event June 18-21 with an outstanding line-up of award-winning authors as well as local and regional talent.

Diane Rehm, host of “The Diane Rehm Show” on NPR from 1979-2016, now hosts the podcast On My Mind for WAMU. Her most recent book is When My Time Comes: Conversations About Whether Those Who Are Dying Should Have the Right to Determine When Life Should End.

Ocean Vuong is the author of the critically acclaimed poetry collection Night Sky with Exit Wounds and the New York Times bestselling novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous. A recipient of the 2019 MacArthur "Genius" Grant, he is also the winner of the Whiting Award and the T.S. Eliot Prize. His writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Harper's Magazine, The Nation, The New Republic, The New Yorker, and The New York Times.

These authors and more will take center stage at the 2020 Nantucket Book Festival on June 18-21, representing genres spanning fiction, poetry, history, journalism, politics, and memoir. This year the Festival will host 14 New York Times Bestselling Authors, three Pulitzer Prize Winners, two National Book Award Winners, two New England Book Award Winners, two Whiting Award Recipients, a "Read with Jenna" Author, an "Oprah Book Club" Author, a PEN/Faulkner Award Winner, an Indie Champion Award, a National Humanities Medal and Personal Peabody Award, a Winner of the T. S. Eliot Prize and 2019 MacArthur "Genius" Grant, a Thom Gunn Award Winner, and a Forward Prize for Best First Collection. The Festival, presented by the Nantucket Book Foundation, brings acclaimed authors from around the world to Nantucket each June; this year those authors include Sarah Broom, Samantha Power, David Rohde, Richard Russo, and Alice Hoffman, as well as local favorites Rob Cocuzzo, Nat Philbrick, Nancy Thayer, Crocker Snow, Skip Finley, and Betsy Tyler.

Book lovers attending the Nantucket Book Festival can enjoy author presentations throughout the day Thursday through Sunday, including a Celebration of Writers at the historic Unitarian Universalist Meeting House. Most events are free and open to the public. Ticketed events include breakfasts and lunches with select authors, Friday dinner at the host hotel White Elephant, and a festive gathering at Cisco Brewers for the authors and their fans.

The Festival is pleased to spotlight the talents of local authors in the Atheneum Garden Tent during the weekend. Also featured in the garden are story times for children.

A list of authors currently scheduled to appear at the 2020 Nantucket Book Festival is available at www.nantucketbookfestival.org.

New York — On Thursday, March 26, Swann Galleries will offer a sale of Printed & Manuscript African Americana featuring material from the last three centuries with a strong showing of family papers and archives.

Archives include family papers of the distinguished Ruby-Jackson family of Portland, Maine. The collection includes material from five generations dating from 1853 to 1961, with items from an Underground Railroad conductor, a Tuskegee Airman, as well as a state senator in Reconstruction Texas. The archive is expected to bring $3,000 to $4,000. Further family papers include those of Dora Stephens and her family who were enslaved in the household of Confederate Vice President Alexander Hamilton Stephens in Crawfordsville, Georgia, and who continued working there after abolition. The small archive features 19 items with correspondence and family photographs dating from 1866 to 1907, and is estimated at $25,000 to $35,000.

Further items from the slavery and abolition period feature a rare early illustrated German-American anti-slavery broadside printed in 1794 in Philadelphia by Tobias Harte. Likely the first American effort to disseminate the powerful images that would remain an important part of anti-slavery iconography for decades, it is expected to cross the block at $12,000 to $18,000. A seventh printing of the Proclamation of Emancipation by the President of the United States, printed by an abolitionist publisher in Boston and the only one produced in pamphlet form, carries an estimate of $10,000 to $15,000. A circa–1860s carte-de-visite portrait of important abolitionist Reverend Henry Highland Garnet, whose 1865 sermon on the passage of the 13th Amendment was the first address by an African-American to Congress, is estimated $5,000 to $7,500.

Notable pop-culture figures feature throughout the sale. Highlights include comedian Julius “Nipsey” Russell with a large archive featuring photographs and letters from 1929–2000, most notably is a personal letter from Martin Luther King, Jr., signed by his secretary, thanking him for performing at the culmination of the Selma to Montgomery march ($6,000-9,000); and famed boxer Joe “the Brown Bomber” Louis with a circa 1935–45 collection of photographs, assembled by his manager Julian Black ($2,000-3,000). E. Simms Campbell’s A Night-Club Map of Harlem, featured in the inaugural issue of Manhattan: A Weekly for Wakeful New Yorkers, 1933, present in its original wrappers, points to the epicenter of African-American culture during the Harlem Renaissance ($10,000-15,000).

Letters from artist Romare Bearden to longtime friend and collaborator Harry Henderson are among artist-related items. Dating from 1949–87, the letters offers a rare insight into the vision of an important American artist, estimated at $5,000 to $7,500. Also of note is a poster for an exhibition at the Weusi-Nyumba Ya Sanaa Gallery in Harlem Cookin’ and Smookin’: Where We At, Black Women Artists, 1972, which included works by Faith Ringgold, Ann Tanksley and Dindga McCannon, among others. The poster is expected to bring $600 to $900.

The first issue of the iconic Black Panther newspaper The Black Panther: Black Community News Service, April, 1967, issued just a few months after the party’s creation, makes its market debut here at $1,500 to $2,500. The first issue is available alongside a collection of 44 The Black Panther: Black Community News issues, including the second published in May 1967 which demonstrates the professionalization of the production of the publication ($3,000 to $4,000). Additional material from the Civil Rights era include Ernest Withers I Am A Man, Sanitation Workers Strike, a 1968 silver print ($5,000-7,500); and a 1960 poster printed for a protest at the 1960 Republican Convention where more than 5,000 marchers including Martin Luther King, Jr., A. Philip Randolph and Roy Wilkins demanded a conference with the Republican National Committee and a civil rights plank in the party platform ($4,000-6,000).

A run of Back Power posters includes several firsts at auction with Power to the People, 1970, printed by Gemini Rising ($800-1,200); Black Art, 1970, by Charles Bible with a poem by Amiri Baraka, credited as LeRoi Jones ($500-750); and Power to the People Time, Now, 1971, printed by Lonmill Industries ($800-1,200).  

Exhibition opening in New York City March 21. The complete catalogue and bidding information is available at www.swanngalleries.com and on the Swann Galleries App.

Westport, CT – Part 1 of the Forbes Collection – 49 lots of phenomenal items from the estate of Malcolm Forbes (1919-1990), the multimillionaire magazine publisher and discerning collector of Americana – and Part 2 of items from the estate of Beat Generation writer Jack Kerouac will headline University Archives’ next online auction slated for Wednesday, March 25.

The auction will start promptly at 10:30 am Eastern time. In total, 215 lots are scheduled to come up for bid. The catalog has been posted online and bidding is available via LiveAuctioneers.com, Invaluable.com and Auctionzip.com. Telephone and absentee bids will also be accepted. Folks can visit the website and browse the full color catalog now, at www.UniversityArchives.com.

The auction is packed with rare books, manuscripts, relics and more, many of them signed by history’s brightest luminaries. Presidential items span the administrations of George Washington through George H.W. Bush (including a twice-signed Lincoln letter); Americana includes a Civil War Fort Sumter missive; and foreign lots include King George III and William Pitt the Elder.

The literary category features 45 lots from Kerouac alone, plus items from F. Scott Fitzgerald, Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, Jack London and others. The music and entertainment field is extensive and includes Pyotr Tchaikovsky, George Gershwin, The Beatles, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Freddy Mercury, The Who, David Bowie, U2 and many other stars.

The centerpiece of the Forbes Collection is an April 1, 1861 letter twice signed by Abraham Lincoln, inscribed by military officers Montgomery C. Meigs and David D. Porter, and endorsed by Secretary of War Gideon Welles. Not only does the date make this letter exceptional, but its content and subtext are also significant. Revealed within is a conspiracy to thwart Lincoln’s cabinet members and the President himself on the eve of the Civil War (est. $26,000-$30,000).

Also from the collection is a clean and bright first edition copy of George III’s infamous Stamp Act proclamation (est. $7,000-$8,000), as well as an archive of ten letters signed by William Pitt the Elder in 1773, just a few years before the American Revolution, in which he wrote: “Things seem to be hastening to a crisis at Boston… I look forward to the time with very painful anxiety. The whole constitution is a shadow.” The archive carries a pre-sale estimate of $10,000-$12,000.

Part II of the Kerouac collection includes 45 lots of the Beat writer’s compositions, books and beloved possessions, pulled directly from his estate. Top lots include Kerouac’s own first edition copy of his 1957 classic book On The Road (est. $5,000-$6,000); a pencil drawing titled Weird Self-Portrait at Sea, signed by Kerouac as “Jean Louis Kérouac” (est. $4,000-$5,000); and Kerouac’s much-loved silver-toned crucifix attached to a jute cord, expected to hit $600-$700.

Other memorable Kerouac items range from his original haiku poetry and voice recorder to cocktail glasses, Bohemian tunics, and even the writer’s underwear. Items will be accompanied by estate certification signed by John Shen-Sampas, executor of the Kerouac estate by descent.

University Archives is celebrating music, arts, and letters with an impressive array of musical memorabilia, led by a rare first UK pressing of the Beatles’ debut EP, Twist and Shout, signed by all four Beatles on the cover (est. $16,000-$18,000). The four-song EP is on the Parlophone (UK) label. Alexander Calder and Frank Lloyd Wright jockey for prominence in the fine art category.

Die-hard collectors of U.S. presidential memorabilia, Americana, and all wars will appreciate the latest curation of autographs and important documents. Presidents Ronald Reagan (7 lots), Abraham Lincoln (6 lots), Harry S. Truman (6 lots), Franklin D. Roosevelt (5 lots), William H. Taft (4 lots), and Herbert Hoover (5 lots) comprise the bulk of the many presidential offerings.

The following is just a sampling of the many presidential lots being offered in the sale:

•    A letter initialed by George Washington to John Cowper, dated Jan. 27, 1794, in which Washington begs for payment for land he sold in North Carolina (est. $5,000-$6,000).
•    A swatch of fabric used in the wound dressing of the assassinated President Abraham Lincoln, housed in a tooled black leather case and accompanied by a typed card from 1967 and signed by noted Lincoln scholar R. Gerald McMurtry (est. $1,500-$2,000).
•    A signed photo of Theodore Roosevelt, post-presidency, showing him with a look of grim determination, 10 ¼ inches by 13 ½ inches, signed and inscribed (est. $2,400-$2,600).
•    A single page typed letter signed “Harry Truman” to Creighton C. Hart, dated Feb. 1959 on Truman’s stationery, in which he famously says, “A political eunuch is a person with no political influence, and that is the situation of the Vice President” (est. $1,500-$1,700).
•    A two-page draft of a letter written by Ronald Reagan in 1968, while he was Governor of California, in which he discourses on the events of the day and comments on a parade (“the Negro float was the first time one had ever been entered”) (est. $1,000-$1,200).

The preeminent Civil War related item, an April 2, 1861 missive from Confederate Secretary of War Leroy Pope Walker to P.T. Beauregard, commander of Fort Sumter, is sure to elicit interest from collectors. Aficionados will also appreciate the World War II materials, including historical documents related to the Enola Gay, Bockscar, Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, and the Atomic Bomb.

A spectacular framed scroll signed by Hsuan Tung - PuYi, measuring 9 ½ inches by 33 inches (sight) and appearing to be rendered on cloth, has an estimate of $10,000-$12,000. The scroll is accompanied by an autograph letter in a hand similar to that of the PuYi’s English writing, but that cannot be authenticated. The letter is addressed to a W.T. Lawhead and dated July 12, 1933.

Greta Garbo’s personally owned, monogrammed and worn Fredrica three-button mink coat, with a signed check to her furrier (as “Greta Garbo”) in the amount of $37.10 and receipts regarding the coat, is expected to sell for $10,000-$12,000. Also, a menu from the Jack of Clubs nightclub in London, England, signed and inscribed by Muhammad Ali as Cassius Clay (“To Jo, from Cassius Clay, Good Luck, 1963”) prior to his fight with Henry Cooper, should hit $2,000-$2,400.

A one-page autograph letter written in French and signed by the French scientist Pierre Curie (1859-1906), as “P Curie” at the bottom, dated April 7, 1905 and addressed to the secretary of the Royal Society of Surgery and Medicine, has an estimate of $7,000-$8,000. Also, an envelope fully engrossed by the Russian composer Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky (minus the letter, which had been addressed to the conductor Eduard Franzhevich Napravnik), postmarked Feb. 3, 1884 in Moscow and nicely displayed to the right of a quality photo of Tchaikovsky, should make $1,800-$2,000.

University Archives has become world-renowned as a go-to source for rare items of this kind. It is actively seeking quality material for future auctions, presenting a rare opportunity for sellers. Anyone who has a single item or a collection that may be a fit for a future University Archives auction may call Mr. Reznikoff at 203-454-0111, or email him at john@universityarchives.com.

University Archives was founded in 1979, as a division of University Stamp Company, by John Reznikoff, who started collecting stamps and coins in 1968, while in the third grade. Industry-wide, Reznikoff is considered the leading authenticity expert for manuscripts and documents. He consults with law enforcement, dealers, auction houses and both major authentication companies.
 
For more information about University Archives and the Wednesday, March 25th online-only auction, please visit www.universityarchives.com. For phone bidding, please call 203-454-0111.

Washington, D.C. — Out of an abundance of caution, the Library of Congress announced today that all Library of Congress buildings and facilities will be closed to the public starting at 5 p.m. today until Thursday, April 1, 2020 at 8 a.m. to reduce the risk of transmitting COVID-19 coronavirus. Library employees, contractors, authorized visitors and other credentialed Capitol Hill staff will continue to have access to the buildings. During the closure, all Library-sponsored public programs are postponed or cancelled through the end of March.

Whenever possible, the Library will reschedule the public programs originally scheduled during the closure period. We will also provide regular public updates on the operating status of Library facilities.

Because the health and safety of Library employees and visitors is our first priority, the Library is carefully and continuously monitoring information from the Centers from Disease Control and Prevention, local area health departments, and our Federal partners so the Library can respond rapidly as conditions change regarding COVID-19 coronavirus.

The Library has increased cleaning of restrooms, public spaces and elevator lobbies, and has installed additional hand sanitizer stations.

The public can still access many Library resources through LOC.gov, Ask a Librarian and Congress.gov. If you are a user of the U.S. Copyright Office’s services, submit your applications online, browse FAQs, and submit emails with questions through copyright.gov. You may also reach the Copyright Office by phone at (202) 707-3000.

More information about the Library of Congress’ response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic can be found at: loc.gov/coronavirus/

Lynbrook, NY – Rare early stories by the renowned American fantasy and science fiction artist Frank Frazetta (1928-2010), done when he was a boy in his mid-teens and quite possibly the earliest Frazetta comic art in existence, will be centerpiece lots in Weiss Auctions’ next big sale planned for Thursday, March 26th, online and in the Lynbrook gallery at 74 Merrick Road.

The auction, with a 10 am Eastern start time, is packed with more than 500 lots of comics, comic art, sports memorabilia, animation art and Disney collectibles. Highlights include another great group of artwork from the estate of the Polish-born American comic book artist Joe Kubert (1926-2012), Part 1 of “The Golden Age Comic Art Find” from the Bailey Publishing archive.

The Bailey Publishing archive includes hundreds of pages of original Golden Age comic art, covers, stories and more, but it’s also where Frank Frazetta comes into the picture. Frazetta wrote his very first story as a teenage boy, titled "Adventures of the Snowman," published by Bailey in the 1940s. And, while that story is not part of the auction, other related stories and artworks are.

Up for bid will be a complete ten-page, unpublished story by Frazetta titled "Snowman" that’s expected to bring $30,000-$50,000, not unreasonable considering many of his comic pages sell for $15,000-$30,000. And because Frazetta was so young, still a teen, this story is a true slice of comic book history. Also offered will be an unfinished pencil and ink story by Frazetta, six pages, titled Buckeye, signed on the title page by Frazetta – classic Golden Age story roughs.

Also from the Bailey Publishing archive will be other works by 1940s-era artists and original covers from some of the books from that period. Bailey Publishing only operated in the 1940s.

Artworks certain to attract attention include an original color illustration by Jean Henri Gaston Giraud (French, 1838-2012), who worked under the pseudonym Moebius; an original Sunday Peanuts comic art page by Charles Schulz, dated 5/17/1970; a 1937 Disney color production cel from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, titled Dopey with Animals; and original Golden Age comic cover art for Tom Thumb by Frank Little, who once worked as an animator for Dr. Seuss.

Original comic cover art by Joe Kubert will include Our Army at War, featuring Sgt. Rock #245 and #290; Star Spangled War #180; Weird War Tales #7; Kamandi #37; and Weird Western Tales #12. Several full-color Buster Brown Sunday comic pages by Richard Outcault (1863-1928) from the early 20th century, with beautifully hand-colored panels, will also be offered.

John Giunta (1920-1970) was an illustrator of comic books from the 1940s thru the 1960s. He worked on horror titles like Tomb of Terror, Chamber of Chills, Journey into Mystery and Weird Tales. Giunta will appear multiple times in the auction, with an 8-page comic book story titled Funnyman; original cover art for Cisco Kid #1; and original cover art for Tally-Ho Comics #1.

Comic books are plentiful and will include The Amazing Spider-Man #1 (CBCS 4.0), #9 (CBCS 9.0), #12 (CBCS 9.0), #16 (CBCS 8.0), #18 (CBCS 9.2), #19 (CBCS 9.0) and #20 (CBCS 9.0); Avengers #1 (CBCS 3.5), #4 (CBCS 8.5), #5 (CBCS 9.0), #7 (CBCS 9.0), #8 (CBCS 9.0), #10 (CBCS 9.2), #13 (CBCS 9.4), #15 (CBCS 9.0) and #16 (CBCS 9.0); X-Men #1 (CBCS 4.5) and #2 (CBCS 8.5); Daredevil #1 (CBCS 7.0) and #2 (CBCS 7.5) and an attic find of Marvel rarities.

The sports collectibles category is compelling, with items such as a 1934 Tour of Japan page signed by 16 team players, including Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig; a Roger Maris single-signed baseball; a three-sheet poster and lobby card set for the 1962 movie Safe at Home with Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris; and Hall of Fame plaques signed by Napoleon Lajoie and Hugh Duffy.

Internet bidding will be facilitated by Proxibid.com, Invaluable.com and Auctionzip.com. Phone and absentee bids will also be accepted.

Weiss Auctions is always accepting quality consignments for future auctions. To consign an item, estate or a collection, you may call them at (516) 594-0731; or, you can send an e-mail to Philip Weiss at Phil@WeissAuctions.com. For more information about Weiss Auctions and the big auction slated for Thursday, March 26th, visit www.WeissAuctions.com. Updates are posted often.