Edinburgh — Outstanding examples from the Royal Collection’s holdings of South Asian works of art have gone on display for the first time in Scotland at The Queen’s Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse. Eastern Encounters: Four Centuries of Paintings and Manuscripts from the Indian Subcontinent, opened Thursday 23 July, includes vivid depictions of the Mughal court, royal portraits, architectural studies and vibrant illustrations of Hindu epics from the area historically called India (now covered by India, Pakistan and Bangladesh). Together with decorative arts, prints, drawings and photographs, these works explore the 400-year shared history of the British Monarchy and the rulers of South Asia.

On display for the first time, an enameled gold locket, studded with diamonds and rubies, contains a miniature Quran measuring just 46 x 35mm. Dating from around 1700, the locket is said to have belonged to Zinat Mahal, wife of the last Mughal emperor, and was subsequently presented to Queen Victoria in the late 19th century. Also on display are an imperial Mughal spinel, a stone similar to a ruby, presented by Raja Sir Hira Singh of Nabha to King Edward VII as a coronation gift, and an early 17th-century Mughal dagger, known as a ‘khanjar’, with a rock-crystal handle inlaid with rubies.

The Mughal dynasty ruled between the 1500s and 1800s. In the 17th century, the Empire was richer and stronger than any European power, extending across most of the Indian subcontinent and ruling more than 150 million subjects. The Royal Collection’s holdings of Mughal works include 16th-century books of poetry and 17th-century portraits of Mughal courtiers and princesses. The Padshahnama (‘Book of Emperors’), a chronicle commissioned by the fifth Mughal Emperor Shah-Jahan (famous for commissioning the Taj Mahal) as a celebration of his reign and dynasty, was presented to George III in 1798 by Lord Teignmouth, Governor-General of India, as a gift from the Nawab of Awadh. Teignmouth described the Padshahnama as ‘the most splendid’ manuscript he ever saw.

The rise of the East India Company is reflected in many Indian works of art presented to and acquired by successive British monarchs.  A European-style oil painting, recently identified as a portrait of the Mughal emperor Akbar Shah II and his sons, was sent as a gift to George IV in 1830 in an attempt to garner the king’s support as  relations between Akbar and the Company became strained. One of the Princes was to become Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal emperor. Colonel Colin Mackenzie, a Scottish army officer in the East India Company and the first Surveyor General of India, commissioned detailed architectural drawings from South Indian draughtsmen. They include a study of an elevation of the temple at Srirangam, one of the most important Hindu pilgrimage sites in India.

Queen Victoria received many illuminated royal letters from Indian rulers and gifts of paintings and manuscripts from South Asia. Among them is a volume of her own published journals, The Queen’s Travels in Scotland and Ireland, translated into Hindi by the Maharajah of Benares. The volume was given to her son King Edward VII, when Prince of Wales, during his 1875–6 tour of India for presentation to his mother on his return. Victoria's interest in South Asian culture continued throughout her life. Her studies of the Hindustani language, undertaken in her seventies with her Indian secretary Abdul Karim, are recorded in her Hindustani diaries, which are displayed in the exhibition with her Hindustani phrasebook.

The future King George V and Queen Mary first undertook a royal tour of South Asia in 1905–6. They became the first reigning British monarch and consort to set foot on Indian soil when they visited for a second time as Emperor and Empress of India for a Coronation Tour in 1911–12. Queen Mary compiled albums and scrapbooks of the visit, and noted in her diary that she was ‘particularly interested in the exquisite drawings’ by modern Indian artists. She acquired numerous South Asian works of art, including the final work in the exhibition, Queen Tissarakshita, 1911, by Abanindranath Tagore, founder of the Bengal School of Art.

Imtiaz Dharker, a British poet who grew up in Glasgow, has written new poetry in response to works in the exhibition and the stories behind their creation. Visitors to The Queen’s Gallery will be able to hear Imtiaz reading her poems on the exhibition’s multimedia guide.

Eastern Encounters: Four Centuries of Paintings and Manuscripts from the Indian Subcontinent is at The Queen's Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse from 23 July 2020 to 31 January 2021.

The accompanying publication, Eastern Encounters: Four Centuries of Paintings and Manuscripts from the Indian Subcontinent, is published by Royal Collection Trust, price £29.95.

London - Christie’s announces highlights featuring in the forthcoming innovative Classic Art Evening Sale: Antiquity to 20th Century, taking place as a live auction on 29 July. This season the Classic Art group has joined together to present an evening sale comprising 69 lots of exceptional paintings, drawings, manuscripts, sculpture and decorative arts spanning antiquity to the 20th century.

Clementine Sinclair, Head of Sale, comments, "This season’s Classic Art Evening sale presents a rich array of works of art and objects of different periods and mediums which are unified by their exceptional artistry and craftsmanship. Taken collectively, they give a fascinating overview of developments and innovation, from antiquity to the early 20th century, and offer both interesting parallels and juxtapositions. It will be exciting to see these works of art exhibited together when the view opens on 25 July at Christie’s London."

Highlights from the sale include:

Lot 8, Sir Peter Paul Rubens (Siegen 1577-1640 Antwerp), Portrait of a young woman, half length, holding a chain. This powerful ad vivum portrait is an early work, datable to 1603-06, either painted during Rubens’ years in Italy or during his first trip to Spain. Showcasing the artist’s bravura painting technique, which adds a sense of modernity to the work, it may have been an unfinished painting or a sketch painted quickly from life that would serve as a model for a more finished portrait. It is one of the most exciting recent discoveries in the artist’s portrait oeuvre. (Estimate £4,000,000 - 6,000,000)

Lot 17, The Almanac Hours, a masterpiece by Monypenny Master of the Monypenny Breviary and Associates. The Almanac Book of Hours, in Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Bourges, c. 1490s], is a lavishly illustrated manuscript of outstanding iconographic variety, its exceptional border cycles including weeping eyes for the Passion, an Armorial, the Planetary Deities, the Liberal Arts, the Fifteen Signs of Doomsday and a Dance of Death featuring the illuminator himself. The Almanac Hours takes its name from the quantity of pictorial information in its extraordinarily rich border decoration, comprising some 400 subjects. Its artist, responsible for most of the miniatures, can be identified as the Monypenny Master, noted for his successful interpretations of unusual subjects and named from his work alongside Jacquelin de Montluçon in the Monypenny Breviary of c.1485-90, one of the great monuments of French illumination. (Estimate £400,000- 600,000)

Lot 6, Burgundian Master, circa 1480, Portrait of a man holding a prayer book, bust-length, in a fur-lined coat and cap, is a highly refined Northern Renaissance portrait. Previously attributed to Quentin Massys, the modelling of the flesh tones shows the influence of Hans Memling, while the drawing of the hands shows a debt to Rogier van der Weyden. It could originally have formed part of a diptych, possibly paired with a devotional image of the Virgin and Child. It has exceptional provenance, having been part of the celebrated collections of both Sir Robert Walpole at Houghton Hall, Norfolk and Horace Walpole at Strawberry Hill. (Estimate £400,000-600,000)

Lot 15, Attributed to Antonio Lombardo, (circa 1468-1516 Ferrara), is a marble relief depicting The Death of Lucretia. An important rediscovery, this relief was sitting unrecognized in a private European collection. It was executed in circa 1510, probably for the Duke of Ferrara, Alfonso d’Este, for whom Lombardo was court sculptor between 1506 and 1516. Lombardo was from a family of important sculptors and architects working at the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th centuries. Lombardo’s works can be found in numerous museums around the world; the largest single holding is 28 panels in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, which are traditionally thought to have been executed for the celebrated Camerino di Alabastro in the Ducal palace in Ferrara. The present relief is related to those panels as well as a series of smaller reliefs, many of them depicting tragic heroines. Among this latter series this is the largest and the most complex. (Estimate £500,000-800,000)

Lots 56, 57 and 58, are three sheets by Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (Venice 1727-1804), Punchinello learning to walk, signed ‘Dom.o Tiepolo f’. Among the finest examples from the celebrated Punchinello series these three works were drawn towards the end of the artist’s life, the series (totalling 104 sheets) which illustrates the life of Punchinello, a central character from Italian popular theatre, or commedia dell’arte. This series is generally considered Tiepolo’s greatest artistic achievement. The drawings were bought over eighty years ago by Sir Brinsley Ford, and have remained in the same family ever since. The outstanding and timeless quality, as well as their condition make these drawings particularly appealing. (Estimate £300,000-400,000)

Lot 42, The Marquess of Rockingham’s silver sauceboats. A pair of George II sauceboats, stands and ladles. The stands bear the mark of Nicholas Sprimont, London, 1746, while the sauceboats and ladles are unmarked, attributed to Nicholas Sprimont, circa 1745. These museum quality rococo masterpieces feature bands of shells and crustacea, recalling the magnificent pieces Sprimont created for the Prince of Wales’s Marine Service, which remains in the Royal Collection. Created for the Marquess of Rockingham, they were used at his London residence and at his seat Wentworth Woodhouse. The design of the distinctive stands was no doubt much admired. Sprimont later employed the form at the Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory. (Estimate £70,000-100,000)

Lot 53, The James Cox ‘Spinning Star’, a George III gold and agate mounted automaton watch, with an ormolu and agate musical and automaton cabinet from the workshop of James Cox, London, circa 1770. The watch is signed and numbered '1391', the cabinet’s musical movement numbered ‘11’, and adapted to accommodate the timepiece. Dating from the eighteenth century, this magnificent watch and musical and automaton cabinet is a tour-de-force of the craftsmanship of the London jeweller, gold/silversmith and automata supplier, the pre-eminent and entrepreneurial James Cox (c. 1723-1800) of 103 Shoe Lane, London. James Cox led the field in the export of watches, musical clocks and automata to the Qing Dynasty Emperors and the Imperial Court. His most celebrated works include the great peacock automaton in the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, and the Silver Swan automaton now in the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle. The St. James's Chronicle of 27-29 August 1772, reported that a shipment of 'English Toys' had been refused entry to China and had returned to London. This appears to have been the impetus behind Cox's opening of a Museum at Spring Gardens, Charing Cross, where the paying public could view his stock in trade. It was in the kunstkammer tradition and such private museums of curiosities were much in evidence at this period; such as Sir Ashton Lever's 'Leverian' (opened 1775). 1760s and 1770s saw the British craftsman look beyond the home market exporting goods to all corners of the world. (Estimate £400,000-600,000).

Lot 38, Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, Bt., A.R.A., R.W.S. (Birmingham 1833-1898 London). A folio of twenty letters, the majority illustrated, together with seven envelopes. Nineteen are letters to the artists granddaughter Angela Thirkell (née Mackail), and one apparently to his daughter Margaret Mackail (née Burne-Jones). These are extraordinary communications between Burne-Jones, often unwell, and his beloved grand-daughter, who he’s unable to visit. Eight of the letters are on a larger scale (12x 8 ins), all are vividly coloured and full of his mischievous sense of humour. His gently mocking self-caricature as the melancholic bearded artist appears in many of the drawings, at times with the diminutive figure of Angela beside him - tugging at his trouser leg. Written when the author was elderly and overly concerned with his health, these letters are likely to resonate widely in the current global climate. The letters are being sold by the family by direct descent and were included in the recent Burne-Jones exhibition at Tate Britain 2018-2019. (Estimate £80,000-120,000)

Lot 10. Sir George Clausen, R.A., R.W.S. (1852-1944), Head of a young girl (Rose Grimsdale), executed in chalk on paper. Clausen is a key British Impressionist artist and like many other painters of his generation, Clausen was fascinated by the romantic idea of the human spirit soaring at the sound of the lark. Children in country areas were taught to read the sky, and the movement of birds was a vital clue to what might happen to untended crops or livestock. Rose Grimsdale was Clausen’s favourite model of the late 1880s and early 1890s. When it was exhibited in 1890, the reporter for The Illustrated London News declared that of ‘Mr George Clausen’s brilliant studies of peasant life ... the head of a red-haired child recalling somewhat the expression and colouring of Reynolds’ Infant Samuel’ was particularly praiseworthy’. (Estimate £250,000-350,000)

Lot 41, Joachim Wtewael (Utrecht 1566-1638), The Dutch maiden leading the Prince of Orange to battle, signed ‘Jo Wte/ Wael’. Previously unknown, this sheet is an important addition to Wtewael’s small drawn œuvre which consists of some 30 drawings. Wtewael was one of the most celebrated Utrecht artists of his time, and this work depicts the revolt of the Northern Netherlands against the Habsburg rule of King Philip II of Spain. It’s part of a series of designs for glass panels which were commissioned in 1610 for the town hall of Woerden. (Estimate £100,000-150,000)

Lot 34, Property of Gloria, the late Dowager Countess Bathurst, (1927- 2018). Sarah Bernhardt (French, 1845-1923), Autoportrait en chimère, encrier (Self-portrait as a Chimera, inkwell). Circa 1879. This fantastical inkwell is a self-portrait of the great actress and artist Sarah Bernhardt in the form of a chimera or sphinx. A rare and early cast of the model, this example is provenanced as a gift from Sarah Bernhardt to Sir Algernon Borthwick Bt. (1830-1908), later Lord Glenesk (cr. 1895), who was the owner of the Morning Post (which merged with The Daily Telegraph in 1937). Lord Glenesk’s daughter and sole heiress, Lilian Margaret Frances Borthwick married Seymour Bathurst, 7th Earl Bathurst in November 1893, and the inkwell passed by descent to be offered here for the first time in its history. (Estimate £20,000-30,000)

Lot 61, Ferdinand Georg Waldmuller (Austrian, 1793-1865). View of Lake Altaussee and the Dachstein, 1834. This fine oil on panel was restituted in 2020 to the heirs of Dr. Herman (1860-1953) and Hortense Eissler (1895-1983). It was part of a very significant collection which included works by Rodin, Goya, and Rudolf von Alt. The painting was acquired by the dealer Maria Almas-Dietrich in May 1939 for the ‘Linz Collection’, then stored in the `Altausee salt mine from 1943 (located in the foothills to the right of the painting) and seized by the Monuments Men in May 1945’. It has been on loan to the Staatlichen Kunsthalle in Karlsruhe since 1949. The work exhibits all the essential qualities of a Biedermeier Landscape, with its fine glazes, inspired nuance of colour and well balanced composition making it a significant work within the artists oeuvre. Landscapes from this period by Waldmüller are highly regarded by collectors for their modernity. (Estimate £100,000-150,000)

Highlights from the Classic Art Evening Sale: Antiquity to 20th Century auction will be on view at Christie’s London in the lead up to the sale from 25 – 29 July. The sale is available to browse online now at www.christies.com

The sale will close a newly expanded and hybrid series of eight on-line and four live sales comprising Classic Week, taking place from 1 – 29 July. Classic Week celebrates craftsmanship and the story of creativity across time from antiquity to the 20th century, and across artistic media including Old Master and 19th Century Paintings, Drawings and Prints; Sculpture and Antiquities; Books and Manuscripts; and the full diversity of Decorative Arts.

London — The British Library has announced that the visual archive of writer, artist and illustrator Mervyn Peake (1911-1968) has been acquired for the nation from the Peake Estate, with the generous assistance of donations from Art Fund, with a contribution from the Wolfson Foundation and a contribution in memory of Miranda Stonor, the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the British Library Collections Trust, and the Friends of the National Libraries. This news follows the Library’s acquisition of Peake’s literary archive in 2010.

Mervyn Peake’s Visual Archive comprises over 300 original illustrations, including drawings from his critically acclaimed Gormenghast series, together with original illustrations for his own books for children Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor and Letters From a Lost Uncle and other classic works of English literature, such as Treasure Island, The Hunting of the Snark, Household Tales by the Brothers Grimm, and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Also included are unpublished early works, preliminary sketches, and drawings of famous literary, theatrical and artistic figures such as Laurence Olivier and W.H. Auden. This acquisition brings Peake’s archive together in one place, making it fully accessible to the public for the first time.

Mervyn Peake was an English writer, artist and illustrator, best known for creating the fantasy trilogy Gormenghast. A Royal Academy trained artist of great versatility and inventiveness, he has been seen as arguably the finest children’s illustrator of the mid-20th century. Combining technical mastery with an innate ability to evoke fear, delight and wonderment in young readers, he redefined the cosy nature of children’s book illustrations.
Despite his originality, Peake’s fondness and respect for the work of other artists is evident in the archive, from the influence of Hogarth, Doré and Blake to Dickens’ illustrator Phiz and Boys’ Own artist Stanley L. Wood.
The archive is notable for Peake’s exquisite Treasure Island illustrations from 1949, which remain some of his finest work, described by critics as ‘tense, eerie and dramatic’ and ‘one of the few editions which have come near to meeting the demands of the author’s text’. Treasure Island was Peake’s favourite book and his love for the story is evident in the archive from the watercolour illustrations he painted aged 15, to the large number of preliminary sketches and annotated proofs which show his commitment to perfecting the 1949 edition.

Peake also wrote and illustrated original works for children including Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor (1939), Letters from a Lost Uncle (1948) and a book of nonsense verse, Rhymes Without Reason (1944). The illustrations for all three books are present in the archive, offering a window into Peake’s playful and eccentric sense of humour as well as his aptitude for creating anthropomorphic creatures. Captain Slaughterboard has been credited as being ‘way ahead of its time’ as a book about a pacifist pirate who strikes up a relationship with an ambiguously-gendered Yellow Creature.

Drawings for an unpublished early work called The Moccus Book (1929) reveal Peake’s talent for creating fantasy worlds, and also show the importance of his early influences in his development as a writer and artist. His childhood in China, his love of reading, and his obsession with islands and isolation are all significant presences in the Moccus books as well as many of his later successes.

Highlights of the archive include:
    •    27 illustrations, plus preliminary drawings and annotated proofs for Treasure Island, some of Peake’s finest illustrations
    •    10 illustrations of Gormenghast characters
    •    Illustrated early draft manuscript of Peake’s pirate children’s book Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor together with a complete set of final illustrations, in which Peake included hidden portraits of himself and his family in one of the pirate’s tattoos
    •    Juvenilia including watercolour illustrations of his favourite book Treasure Island, and his earliest surviving drawing depicting people he encountered on a Sunday afternoon walk while living in China, aged 7
    •    Drawings for early unpublished work The Moccus Book revealing his talent for creating fantasy worlds
    •    Illustrations and preliminary drawings for Lewis Carroll’s The Hunting of the Snark
    •    Watercolour illustrations for television adaptation of his children’s book Letters From a Lost Uncle
    •    Illustrations for his 1953 magical realist novel Mr Pye
    •    Drawings of 15 well-known writers, artists and theatrical figures including Laurence Olivier, W H Auden and Peggy Ashcroft

The Mervyn Peake Visual Archive joins the Library’s extensive collection of contemporary literary archives, with acquisitions in recent years including the papers of Andrea Levy, Hanif Kureishi, Shiva Naipaul, James Berry, Margaret Forster, Will Self and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. It complements the Library’s existing holdings by bringing together Peake’s work on a number of books, enabling further study of his synesthetic creative process whereby he drew pictures to stimulate his writing. Peake’s illustrations for Lewis Carroll’s The Hunting of the Snark (1941) will join his drawings for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass which are already held by the Library, together with Lewis Carroll’s original manuscript ‘Alice Underground’ and the manuscripts of another master of nonsense verse, Edward Lear.

The Visual Archive will be available for research on completion of cataloguing in 2022. There will be an opportunity to see highlights from the archive in future British Library exhibitions.

Zoë Wilcox, Curator of Contemporary Performance and Creative Archives at the British Library, said: ‘Mervyn Peake sits in the great tradition of writer-artists like William Blake and Edward Lear for whom drawing is integrated into their writing process. Therefore it feels only right that this archive of illustrations should join the rest of Peake’s papers here at the British Library. In particular they convey how his sense of humour and idiosyncratic imagination made him the perfect illustrator and writer of children’s books, willing to risk scaring his readers while also making them laugh.

Peake’s work has influenced creative artists working across many different genres from Neil Gaiman and Angela Carter to The Cure, and I hope that acquiring his Visual Archive for the nation will inspire many more budding creatives to be as boldly individualistic as he was.’

Fabian Peake, artist, writer and son of Mervyn Peake, said: ‘The family of Mervyn Peake is thrilled and delighted that his Visual Archive has been acquired by the British Library. The acquisition is doubly exciting because it will join Mervyn Peake’s Literary Archive which was bought by the Library a few years earlier.

It is wonderful to know that so much of his work is housed in this illustrious institution. This acquisition, together with the Literary Archive, acknowledges the breadth and depth of Mervyn Peake’s work, demonstrating his complete command over literature, illustration poetry, theatrical work and many other art forms.

Mervyn Peake’s visual work covers a vast range of human qualities and attributes – from the absurd to the portentous; from the loosely informal sketches to the heights of his technical abilities as a draughtsman. The British Library now holds a world-class collection of Mervyn Peake’s major work.’

Jenny Waldman, Director, Art Fund, said: ‘With this acquisition the British Library unites Peake’s archives, an exciting evolution of its collection which Art Fund is particularly delighted to support following the key role it played in the Library’s acquisition of the literary archive in 2010. I’m sure that the extraordinary, imaginative illustrations contained within the visual archive will thrill and inspire British Library audiences for generations to come.’

René Olivieri, Interim Chair of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, said: ‘Covering the entirety of Peake’s life as an artist and author, this is a fantastic archive of original work and the National Heritage Memorial Fund is delighted to award this grant to bring the collection into public ownership and make it available for all to explore and enjoy.’

New York — Fine Books & Manuscripts come to auction at Swann Galleries on Thursday, July 30. The sale includes an exceptional offering of autographs, including the Enrico Caruso Collection of Albert M. Bary, as well as early printed books with notable works in travel and medicine, nineteenth- and twentieth-century literature, and art, press and illustrated books.

A standout selection of autographs opens the sale, and features the Enrico Caruso Collection of Albert M. Bary. The extraordinary collection is led by an archive of 47 letters signed by Caruso to Sybil Seligman, the daughter of a wealthy London merchant who was friends with several notable authors and musicians. The letters date from 1906 to 1920 and carry an estimate of $7,000 to $10,000. Numerous caricatures of Caruso are underscored by an uncommonly large self-caricature signed and dated, 1905, with a large autograph musical quotation by Ruggero Leoncavallo of two bars from the first act of La Bohème ($1,500-2,500). Also in the collection are numerous signed photographs, several of which portray Caruso in some of his well-known roles.

Further autographs of note include a fiery letter signed by Andrew Jackson, railing against Congress for having censured him after removing the deposits from the United States Bank, expected at $12,000 to $18,000. The White House: An Historic Guide with a White House card signed and inscribed by Jacqueline Kennedy, as First Lady, to philanthropist and White House Fine Arts Committee member Jane Engelhard is available at $4,000 to $6,000. A photograph signed and inscribed by George Gershwin with a musical quotation from An American in Paris, days after the premiere of the musical, carries an estimate of $8,000 to $12,000. Outstanding autographs by writers, entertainers and others round out the selection.

Early printed books are led by a first edition of Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, 1776, descended from William Alexander—a prominent member of high society during the colonial and revolutionary period ($70,000-90,000). Additional highlights feature an illuminated fifteenth-century Book of Hours in Flemish ($8,000-12,000); Gerrit de Veer’s Diarium Nauticum seu Vera Descriptio Trium Navigationum Admirandarum, Amsterdam, 1598 ($10,000-15,000); and Friedrich Martens’ Spitzbergische oder Groenlandische Reise Beschreibung gethan im Jahr 1671, Hamburg, 1675 ($3,000-4,000). A section of travel works includes a first limited edition of Ernest Shackleton and Robert F. Scott’s South Polar Times, London, 1907-14 ($7,000-10,000). The South Polar Times was conceived to keep the crew’s spirits afloat when weather precluded on the two Antarctic voyages. Works on medicine, science, and social sciences spans the centuries with important contributions, early imprints, and first editions of high spots including a first edition of William Molyneux’s rare work Dioptrica Nova. A Treatise of Dioptricks, London, 1692, the first on optics published in English ($3,000-5,000).

From the nineteenth and twentieth century literature portion of the sale comes a limited edition of James Joyce’s Ulysses, 1922, one of 750 printed, bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe and retaining the original fragile wrappers ($10,000-15,000). Children’s literature features a sketch book for Disney Studios’ Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 1938, number four of five signed and numbered copies by Walt Disney ($3,500-5,000). A major desideratum for any collection of economic theory is the first edition in English of Friedrich Engels’ The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844, 1887, the translation by noted reformer and progressive Florence Kelley Wischnewetzky, an important figure in her own right ($5,000-7,500).

Among the art, press and illustrated books closing the sale is a superb copy of the Deluxe Limited edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland illustrated by Salvador Dali, one of just 200 copies, signed twice by Dali ($10,000-15,000); a complete portfolio with text of Robert Rey’s Estampes, 12 color wood engraving, 1950 ($12,000-18,000); and a scarce first and only edition of Carl Einstein’s Léon Bakst: 42 Tafeln und 6 Abbildungen, number 69 of 330, circa 1925 ($4,000-6,000).

Limited previewing (by appointment only) will be available from July 27 through July 29, to be scheduled directly with a specialist in advance and conforming to strict safety guidelines. Swann Galleries staff will prepare condition reports and provide additional photographs of material on request. Advance order bids can be placed with a specialist or on Swann’s website, and phone bidding will be available. Live online bidding platforms will be the Swann Galleries App, Invaluable, and Live Auctioneers. The complete catalogue and bidding information is available at www.swanngalleries.com and on the Swann Galleries App.
 
Additional highlights can be found here.

New York — The Museum of Modern Art has received a monumental gift of photographs from the Gayle Greenhill Collection, made in her memory by her husband Robert F. Greenhill. Gayle Greenhill (1936–2017) was deeply involved with the Department of Photography at MoMA from 1989 to 2013, serving as a member of the Committee on Photography for more than two decades. This transformative gift comprises more than 300 works by 103 photographers; it is Mr. Greenhill’s intention that a group of these will form the Gayle Greenhill Collection of photographs at the Museum, while the remainder of the works will be sold to establish the Gayle Greenhill Endowment Fund to support future MoMA photography exhibitions and acquisitions.

The many rare and important works in this gift include iconic images by Edward Steichen, Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon, Karl Blossfeldt, Chuck Close, William Eggleston, Robert Frank, Jan Groover, André Kertész, Robert Mapplethorpe, László Moholy-Nagy, Man Ray, Charles Sheeler, Cindy Sherman, JoAnn Verburg, and Edward Weston.

In addition to masterworks by established figures, the Greenhills collected a wide variety of documentary and press photography, much of it unattributed. These include many photographs taken during World War II—some by Steichen’s photography corps—and the Korean and Vietnam wars. The Greenhills had a keen interest in exploration, collecting extensively in the areas of early aviation, including photographs of the Wright Brothers’ foundational experiments (1903–1911), and the golden age of Antarctic exploration (1910–1915). Of particular note is a comprehensive set of prints by Herbert Ponting documenting Robert F. Scott’s expedition that began in 1910, a disastrous venture during which many, including Scott, perished.

Sarah Meister, Curator in the Robert B. Menschel Department of Photography at MoMA, remarked, “We are deeply honored that Mr. Greenhill has made this extraordinarily generous gift to memorialize Gayle in support of photography at the Museum. The collection is filled with singularly important treasures and lesser-known surprises that span the history of the medium, cumulatively suggesting the spirit of adventure and exploration that were at the heart of Gayle’s interests. No less significant, the collection’s strength and depth will provide generously for the future of photography at MoMA and its many audiences.”

Robert Greenhill observed, “Gayle’s deep love of photography and her longstanding connection to MoMA led us to the decision that this gift would be a fitting way to honor her memory. We look forward to future generations being inspired by her example, encouraging a sense of curiosity and engagement that was a hallmark of her connection to the medium of photography and her belief in MoMA’s programs.”

In addition to this gift made in her memory, during her lifetime Gayle and Robert Greenhill generously supported numerous acquisitions in response to strategic priorities established by the Department of Photography, including 44 inventive and unique photographs, photo collages, and video works by Lucas Samaras, a number of rare, early Conceptual works by William Wegman, and 28 prints from Robert Frank’s landmark series The Americans. All of these are regularly featured in collection displays and temporary exhibitions, both at MoMA and on loan to other peer institutions.

In recognition of the extraordinary quality and scope of the works in the Gayle Greenhill Collection, the Museum intends to organize an exhibition of its highlights—as well as other important works previously gifted by the Greenhills—and produce an accompanying publication in the future.

About Gayle Greenhill
Gayle Greenhill began to collect photographs in the early 1980s, and during the decades that followed she assembled a body of work that spans the history of the medium. She was a trustee of the International Center of Photography from 1985 to 2016, serving as Chair of the Board from 2001 to 2008. At MoMA, she became a member of the Fellows of Photography in 1989, and served on the Committee on Photography from 1992 until 2013. Gayle was born in 1936 in San Antonio, Texas, and met her future husband, Robert F. Greenhill, while a student at Vassar College. They married in 1958, and went on to have three children and eight grandchildren. Gayle and Robert’s partnership embraced all aspects of their life together, including Gayle’s activities as a collector. Since her death in 2017, Robert has cared for the collection, and has entrusted it to MoMA as a way of honoring her longstanding commitment to the institution, as well as her impact on the field of photography at large.

Boston — RR Auction's inaugural Science & Technology auction chronicles innovation across the ages: from the Wright Brothers' first flight to Neil Armstrong's first step on the Moon; the development of the telegraph to the communications revolution enabled by computers and the internet; military cipher machines that have puzzled and captivated since the days of World War II; and the geniuses that made it all possible.

Featured highlights include; an Alfred Nobel signed document, in which Nobel gives permission for the production of dynamite in Italy. The important partially handwritten one-one-page document and twice-signed document in French, signed "Alfred Nobel" and "A. Nobel," January 24, 1873. The agreement entails that a company ("anonymous Italian society for the production of dynamite") is to be founded, in which Alfred Nobel will receive 1,200 shareholdings, while the other shall receive 340 shareholdings. Nobel concludes by clarifying that this agreement does not, in any way, restrict the Nobel patent for the dynamite. Letters and documents by Nobel are very rare, especially when the word "dynamite" is mentioned. This document does not only mention ”dynamite,” it's strictly about dynamite, which is what defined his life and legacy. (Estimate: $25,000+)

Albert Einstein signed letter proclaiming the success of his Unified Field Theory. The one-page handwritten letter in in German, signed “Albert,” Hamburg-Amerika Linie letterhead, January 1932. Significant letter to his sister Maja. Writing from Los Angeles as he disembarked from his boat for his second visit to Cal Tech, Einstein communicates his confidence and inner thoughts about his most recent work on 'The Unified Field Theory of Gravity and Electricity’. Written in collaboration with mathematician Walter Meyer, the theory presented a new formalism in which the fifth dimension was no longer an 'extension of the physical continuum.' This theory and work is deemed one of Einstein’s major scientific papers. (Estimate: $15,000+)

Alan Turing signed postcard by the influential British mathematician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist considered the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence. Addressed to Dr. Franz Greenbaum and his children, Turing sent it from his Club Mediterranee holiday on Corfu on July 23, 1953. What is especially notable about this example is the unexpected religious imagery, as Turing was an atheist (Estimate: $30,000)

Stephen Hawking signed book: Superspace & Supergravity: Proceedings of the Nuffield Workshop, Cambridge, June 16-July 12, 1980. First edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981. Hardcover with dust jacket, 527 pages. Signed on the first free end page in black ink, "Stephen Hawking," and signed and inscribed by Judy Fella, Hawking's first secretary and later his nursing coordinator, "May 11 1981, To Eric, With love and affection, Judy.” (Estimate: $20,000+)

Among the several cipher machines featured in the sale; WWII American M-209-A, a portable hand-operated mechanical cipher machine initially developed in the late 1930s by the entrepreneur and inventor, Boris Hagelin. Hagelin fled Sweden for the United States at the outbreak of WWII and worked with the US Military to refine his cipher machine design. The M-209 was the result of this collaboration and the machine would be used by the US during WWII, as well as many other countries for decades after the end of the war. (Estimate: $5,000+)

Relic Battlefield-Found Enigma I Cipher Machine. Historic battlefield-found, relic three-rotor Enigma I machine recovered from the ground outside the village of Sülstorf, Germany, approximately 120 miles northwest of Berlin. This is where the German 3rd Panzer Army, commanded by General Hasso-Eccard von Manteuffel, found itself on the last days of WWII. This Panzer Army had been engaged in holding back Russian forces in defense of Berlin. Following a defeat at Stettin, Germany, they were forced to retreat to the region of Mecklenburg. On May 3, 1945, General Manteuffel negotiated with British generals, including Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, so that 300,000 German soldiers would surrender to the British rather than Soviet forces. A framed display of a TLS and signed photograph of von Manteuffel is included. This relic Enigma machine was found at the bottom of a meter-deep hole. The treasure hunter said that the area became a huge prison camp when the Germans surrendered to the British. The German soldiers intentionally buried any equipment they did not want to have fallen into the Allies' hands. (Estimate: $20,000+)

Highlights from a remarkable assortment of meteorites include; Canyon Diablo Meteorite. Iron meteorite IAB-MG, Coconino County, Arizona, USA, first known in 1891. Sculptural specimen with good surface features, 12.2 kg (26.75 lbs). Some collectors prefer meteorites that show their natural gunmetal color, and to that end, this specimen has been gently cleaned to remove much of the oxidation, although some of it's desert patina remains. This hefty specimen displays numerous good surface features and stands up naturally in several orientations, making it an attractive display piece from the world's most celebrated impact site. (Estimate: $35,000+)

Northwest Africa (NWA) 11303 Lunar Meteorite. Lunar meteorite, feldspathic breccia. Northwest Africa, found in 2017. Exceptional whole specimen. This world-class specimen would be the envy of many museums and significant university collections. A whole stone in as-found condition, clearly showing light and dark patches typical of NWA 11303. It is this brecciated mixture that produces the alluring, high-contrast slices seen in other lots in this auction. A large, visually appealing, and highly impressive example of our nearest celestial neighbor, with impeccable provenance from Aerolite Meteorites, Inc., and examined and classified by the Department of Earth at Space Sciences at the University of Washington, Seattle. (Estimate: $45,000+)

The Science & Technology auction featuring Meteorites from RR Auction will conclude July 16. For more information, go to www.rrauction.com.

Washington, D.C. — Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced that Colson Whitehead, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novels “The Nickel Boys” and “The Underground Railroad,” will receive the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction during the 2020 Library of Congress National Book Festival on Sept. 25-27.

Whitehead, 50, is the youngest person to receive the Library’s fiction award for his lifetime of work.

“Colson Whitehead’s work is informed by probing insights into the human condition and empathy for those who struggle with life’s sometimes harrowing vicissitudes,” Hayden said. “In novels such as ‘The Nickel Boys’ and ‘The Underground Railroad,’ he has expanded the scope of historical events, transforming them into metaphors for today’s world.”

Hayden selected Whitehead as this year’s winner based on nominations from more than 60 distinguished literary figures, including former winners of the prize, acclaimed authors and literary critics from around the world. The prize ceremony will take place online during the National Book Festival.

One of the Library’s most prestigious awards, the annual Prize for American Fiction honors an American literary writer whose body of work is distinguished not only for its mastery of the art but also for its originality of thought and imagination. The award seeks to commend strong, unique, enduring voices that — throughout long, consistently accomplished careers — have told us something essential about the American experience.

"As a kid, I'd walk into great New York City libraries like the Schomburg and the Mid-Manhattan, on a field trip or for a school assignment, and feel this deep sense of awe, as if I'd stumbled into a sacred pocket in the city,” Whitehead said. “I hope that right now there's a young kid who looks like me, who sees the Library of Congress recognize Black artists and feels encouraged to pursue their own vision and find their own sacred spaces of inspiration."

On Thursday, July 16, Whitehead will join Hayden in a conversation on race in America, part of a video series called “Hear You, Hear Me.” The conversation will be available at 7 p.m. on the Library’s Facebook and YouTube channels and at https://go.usa.gov/xwuFk.

Colson Whitehead was born in New York City in 1969. He is a graduate of Harvard University and has taught at Princeton and New York universities. In 2002, he received a MacArthur Fellowship. His seven novels include his first, “The Intuitionist” (1999), which Esquire magazine named the best first novel of the year.

“The Underground Railroad” (2016) was selected for Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 and featured on President Barack Obama’s summer reading list. The Pulitzer judges called the novel “a smart melding of realism and allegory that combines the violence of slavery and the drama of escape in a myth that speaks to contemporary America.” Of “The Nickel Boys,” the Pulitzer judges noted its “spare and devastating exploration of abuse at a reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida that is ultimately a powerful tale of human perseverance, dignity and redemption.”

Whitehead’s two books of nonfiction are “The Colossus of New York” and “The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky & Death.” His work has been widely published in The New York Times, The New Yorker and Harper’s, among others. In 2019, Time magazine named him “America’s Storyteller.”

Whitehead is married to literary agent Julie Barer and lives in New York.

For more information on the prize, including previous winners, visit loc.gov/about/awards-and-honors/fiction-prize/.

Dallas – For a second day, an auction filled with original comic art was as thrilling as anything DC or Marvel has ever published. And by sale’s end, another $1,414,680 had been spent on some of the finest art to be had no matter the medium or maker.

Friday’s fourth session in Heritage Auctions’ Comics & Comic Art event marked the halfway point in a signature auction that wraps Sunday. And with two days left, already the sale has realized $7,126,216 following blockbuster buys in the comics, comic art and video game categories, including a world record set Friday morning for the most money ever paid for a single video game.

Session 4 was devoted solely to original comic art and illustrations, almost every single one of which – again – sold for well over pre-auction estimates.

If ever one needed proof that the line between fine art and comic art has been erased, here it is – especially as an increasingly popular icon (and iconoclast) again rose to the top of a list filled with revered legends and beloved artists: Frank Frazetta.

Several of the illustrator’s pieces realized high five figures Friday, led by his Fire and Ice concept painting from 1981, two years before the release of the animated swords-and-sorcery epic Frazetta made with director Ralph Bakshi. The painting, done in charcoal, gouache and watercolor, opened at $16,500. But as they’ve done throughout this auction, phone and Internet bidders wrestled over the piece until it climbed to a final price of $78,000.

Several other Frazettas were also at the center of several feisty tugs of war, including his 1971 The Gods of Mars frontispiece illustration, featuring no less than John Carter towering over a bested White Ape of Barsoom. That piece sold for $43,200 – almost nine times its original estimate. And his 1975 work titled, simply, Nude Woman on Horseback garnered $31,200.

On the absolute other end of the spectrum, an original Charles Schulz Peanuts strip sold for $48,000. That’s a relative bargain given its size (this ran on a Sunday in May 1972) and its subject (baseball).

Another mere mortal, this one surrounded by superheroes and villains of his co-creation, was the subject of a spirited bidding war: none other than Jack Kirby, whose self-portrait opened the day at $18,500 and went to a new owner who paid $44,400 for the handsome rendering. This is an unpublished specialty drawing, and those rarely sell for high prices. Then again, seldom seen are works by the King in which he’s surrounded by his co-creations: The Thing, the Red Skull and Doctor Doom.

Superheroes – and villains – of course featured prominently during the event’s fourth of seven sessions, among them Darth Vader, who was seldom seen on the cover of Star Wars comics in the 1970s. Carmine Infantino and Bob Wiacek’s cover to 1979’s Star Wars No. 23 – which also featured the Millennium Falcon, also making an extraordinarily rare appearance on the title’s cover – began the bidding at $16,500 and jumped to lightspeed, eventually selling for $38,400.

Another rare offering proved nearly as valuable: John Buscema’s first-ever Conan the Barbarian sold for $31,200. This shouldn’t surprise: It’s a stunning piece, a collaboration with the great Ernie Chan, and served as the very first page to issue No. 27 in 1973. What does surprise is that it sold for more than four times its pre-auction estimate.

Every lot was a highlight, but here are a few more worth spotlighting:

Keith Pollard and Frank Giacoia’s team-up on the cover for 1979’s Fantastic Four, featuring Galactus and the whole team, which sold for $38,400

Charles Vess’s cover to 1985’s Web of Spider-Man No. 8 sold for $30,000

Todd McFarlane’s Amazing Spider-Man No. 320 Page 8, for Marvel in 1989, which sold for $26,400

Frank Miller and Joe Rubinstein’s Wolverine No. 4 Page 2, another Marvel piece from 1982, which sold for $24,000

Dave Cockrum’s X-Men No. 100 Page 16, done for Marvel in 1976, which sold for $23,400

It’s worth mentioning, too, a piece that bidders, well, freaked out over as the fourth session came to a close Friday afternoon: underground comix great Gilbert Shelton’s back cover to the third issue of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, published in 1972. At $31,200, this drug-induced farewell was quite the score.

Heritage Auctions’ Comics & Comic Art Auction continues Saturday and Sunday. For complete results, register for free at HA.com.

London — The winner – Alexandra Plane – and six other finalists have been announced for this year’s Anthony Davis Book Collecting Prize, which aims to encourage students at an early stage of collecting physical books, manuscripts and printed material.

The competition is open to any student studying for a degree at a London-based university, and this year received a record-breaking 64 applications – the largest number in the prize’s history. Universities represented included Birkbeck, Queen Mary University of London, Goldsmiths, SOAS, King’s College London, and UCL which hosted the prize for the first time this year.

Collectors under lockdown

Despite the pandemic, students applied from wherever they found themselves during lockdown, from Norway to Texas, Bulgaria to China, Vienna to North Wales, with many applicants unexpectedly reunited with, or separated from, their collections.

The range of collection themes was similarly wide, from Singaporean debut poets to Slovakian Beat poetry, Norfolk history to a 20th-century novelist who used eight different pseudonyms, photobooks and queer manga to bilingual parallel texts and women’s genealogical health.

Finding the collectors of the future

The guidelines of the competition specify that ‘the intention is to encourage collecting and we expect that applicants’ collections will be embryonic, so their size, age and value are irrelevant. What is much more important is the enthusiasm and commitment of the collector, the interest of the theme and the vision of how the collection will be developed’. But selecting a winner from so many applicants was a challenge.

After a process of longlisting, shortlisting and interviews, the judges have chosen Alexandra Plane for ‘Books that built a zoo’: her collection of works by Gerald Durrell. Alexandra is studying for an MA in Library And Information Studies at UCL.

The other finalists were:
    •    Imogen Grubin for her collection of early 20th-century editions of Victorian literature
    •    Blake Harrison who collects material on James Joyce’s Ulysses
    •    Jiayue Liu for a collection of early 20th-century English Private Press editions
    •    Naomi Oppenheim who collects editions produced by Black British publishers in the mid 20th century
    •    Bori Papp for her collection of Hungarian translations of English literature illustrated by the artist Piroska Szántó
    •    Kit Rooney for a collection of hand-written inscriptions in books.

See the finalists present their collections online

Join us for this summer’s UCL Rare-Books Club Online, every Tuesday lunchtime, to hear the winner and finalists discuss their collections and present some of their books, starting on 14 July with Alexandra Plane, introduced by Anthony Davis.

Judges

The judges included representatives of the UK’s Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association, the UK’s Bibliographical Society, and Senate House Library who hosted the prize last year, as well as UCL Special Collections.

For the Special Collections team, it was also a great pleasure to collaborate this year with the founder of the prize, Anthony Davis, and to share his inspiring enthusiasm for books and collecting with the students. We hope many of them will continue to develop and cherish their collections long into the future.

You can read more about this year’s winner here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/information-studies/lis-student-awarded-antony-davis-book-collecting-prize

New York – Sotheby's is pleased to share that the summer Fine Books & Manuscripts Online Auction, Featuring Property from the Eric C. Caren Collection is now open for bidding through 21 July.

The auction is distinguished by a compelling selection of books, letters, archives, newspapers, broadsides, and other printed and manuscript artifacts, including many from the Eric C. Caren Collection, illustrating “How History Unfolds on Paper.”
 
Exceptional Documents of African American History
 
The auction features an exceptional selection of historical documents chronicling African American history, from the 18th century to 20th century. The group is led by a 1794 signed indenture granting land for the use and benefit of the African Free School ($250,000 – 350,000), a landmark document of social equality that created a first-of-its-kind institution in America (full announcement attached from February for further background).
 
The sale also includes remarkable and unusual documentation of African American soldiers fighting in the Revolutionary War, including five manuscript fragments with signatures from some of the very first African American to enlist for the American Revolution following Lexington & Concord in 1775 ($10,000 - $15,000). There is also an especially notable document signed by Benjamin Harrison, a Signer of the Declaration of Independence (and great-grandfather of the president of the same name) that certifies Daniel Cumbo, a black veteran of the Continental Army, is eligible for a grant of land for his service ($10,000 - $15,000).
 
There are also a number of remarkable anti-slavery and abolitionist items, including an 1848 handbill promoting an Ohio abolition newspaper whose motto was “No Union with Slaveholders” ($1,500 - $2,500); Frederick Douglass’s stirring speech against the Fugitive Slave Law printed in his own newspaper ($2,500 - $3,500); and broadside announcing the formation of committee in Massachusetts to resist the admission of Texas (then an independent nation) into the United States as a slave state ($2,000 - $3,000).
 
From a later period, there is a Civil Rights banner decrying lynching as the “Shame of America,” circa 1937, and it is a striking visual statement produced by The Rebel Arts Groups, founded in 1934 in New York City ($1,500 - $2,500).
 
Additional Highlights From the Sale
 
Among the important property includes in the sale is an autograph manuscript of a Sherlock Holmes story, “The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter,” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ($350,000 – 450,000), a tour-de-force of deductive observation that is a prime example of Doyle's genius, and underscores the originality of his characters; a letter signed by Adams, Franklin, and Jefferson establishing diplomatic relations with Sicily ($900,000 – 1,200,000), which helped lay the foundation for diplomatic service of the new nation; a handmade edition of The Surf Riders of Hawaii ($30,000 - $50,000), a lovingly self-published volume circa 1914 that is the first book dedicated to surfing, with many early photographs capturing surfers in action; and many other important items related to Americana, American and English Literature, and cultural history.