Rare Book Monthly

Articles - April - 2013 Issue

So many items, so little time

Royani1

Items from prior Roy Davids sales

The Roy Davids sale of Poetical Manuscripts & Portraits of Poets  [A-K] at Bonhams in London on April 10th will test the mettle and self-confidence of the most serious collectors of poetry for there are many things for the determined to buy.  Does one mortgage the family estate?   Such material does not often come around although this said, there is a second catalogue, the L-Y volume already in the wings and yammering for attention in May.  Perhaps first and second mortgages are in order.
   

Poems are words, each freighted, their sequence, sound and pace ordered into images and ideas to trigger feeling.  They are at once the crown jewels of the written word and the stodgy half-wits of the narrative sentence.  They, like modern art, are seen and heard by many and understood by few.  They are the language within the words, their original examples difficult to collect.  When the words are famous it's easy enough to find bidders.  When the words are important but the audience more academic it’s less clear who will raise their paddles.  At such moments the interested must have self-confidence for sales of this caliber do not often occur.  And here they occur twice and in short order.

For collectors all three pillars for an important sale are present here. 

[1] A single owner sale of a collection built over four decades.  A single owner sale suggests perspective.

[2] Unique material.  Manuscripts are by their nature one-ofs.

[3] Estimates that make sense.  Prior dispersals of the Davids collection [these are the 3rd and 4th] did well, achieving a high percentage of lots sold - confirming that estimates and reserves were modest.
  

To put this sale in context I asked Matthew Haley, Head of Books and Manuscripts at Bonhams in London for his perspective.

“These are largely 19th century or earlier, 20th century highlights [because I asked] include: T.S. Eliot, 'The Journey of the Magi'; Ted Hughes, 'The Thought-Fox'; Robert Lowell, 'Fall 1961'; and Betjeman, 'The Arrest of Oscar Wilde at the Cadogan Hotel.'

 

In terms of estimates and reserves, I think the estimates adequately reflect the scarcity of this material. As Roy Davids says in his introduction to the catalogue for the April sale, the collection was assembled over forty years and could not be replicated today in any meaningful way. At the same time, there are a good number of more affordable manuscripts in the sale and quite a few that will be offered without reserve.

 

Taken together there are some magnificent items in the sale representing the high points of English literature. We're looking forward to both auctions in April and May and watching over five hundred items find new homes.”

I also asked for lots to look at for their quality and importance and his response is instructive.  He listed 8 items from the two prior sales and 7 items upcoming.

1.

Isaac Newton

Autograph Manuscript on abstaining from blood

Sold for £102,000

 

2.

John Keats

Autograph Letter to Fanny Brawne

Sold for £96,000

 

3.

Portrait of T.S. Eliot by Sir Gerald Kelly

Oil on canvas

Sold for £50,400

Rare Book Monthly

  • <center><b>Hindman Auctions<br>Fine Books and Manuscripts<br>November 12-13, 2020</b>
    <b>Hindman Auctions, Nov. 12-13:</b> MACHIAVELLI, Niccolò. <i>Nicholas Machiavel's Prince. Also, The life of Castruccio Castracani of Lucca…</i> Translated by Edward Dacres. London, 1640. $25,000 to $35,000.
    <b>Hindman Auctions, Nov. 12-13:</b> FILSON, John. <i>The Discovery, Settlement and present State of Kentucke: and An Essay towards the Topography, and Natural History of that important Country…</i> Wilmington, Del.: James Adams, 1784. $20,000 to $30,000.
    <b>Hindman Auctions, Nov. 12-13:</b> ELUARD, Paul. <i>Un poeme dans chaque livre.</i> Paris: Louis Broder, 1956. $20,000 to $30,000.
    <center><b>Hindman Auctions<br>Fine Books and Manuscripts<br>November 12-13, 2020</b>
    <b>Hindman Auctions, Nov. 12-13:</b> LEWIS, James Otto. [<i>Aboriginal Port Folio.</i> Philadelphia: Published by the Author, 1835-1836]. $15,000 to $25,000.
    <b>Hindman Auctions, Nov. 12-13:</b> [ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS]. BOOK OF HOURS, use of Rome, in Latin. [Southern Netherlands (Ghent or Bruges), c.1460]. $8,000 to $12,000.
    <b>Hindman Auctions, Nov. 12-13:</b> MORE, Thomas, Sir. <i>The Workes ... wrytten by him in the Englysh tongue.</i> Edited by William Rastell. London, 1557. $8,000 to $12,000.
    <center><b>Hindman Auctions<br>Fine Books and Manuscripts<br>November 12-13, 2020</b>
    <b>Hindman Auctions, Nov. 12-13:</b> [KELMSCOTT PRESS]. MORRIS, William. <i>Love is Enough.</i> Hammersmith: The Kelmscott Press, 1897. $5,000 to $6,000.
    <b>Hindman Auctions, Nov. 12-13:</b> LINCOLN, Abraham. Autograph endorsement signed as President (“A. Lincoln”), 24 February 1863. $4,000 to $6,000.
    <b>Hindman Auctions, Nov. 12-13:</b> WASHINGTON, George. Address panel with autograph free frank signed ("G:o Washington"), as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, 5 August 1777. $3,000 to $5,000.
    <center><b>Hindman Auctions<br>Fine Books and Manuscripts<br>November 12-13, 2020</b>
    <b>Hindman Auctions, Nov. 12-13:</b> GOREY, Edward. <i>The Beastly Baby.</i> N.p.: The Fantod Press, 1962. $1,000 to $1,500.
    <b>Hindman Auctions, Nov. 12-13:</b> FROST, Robert. Photographic reproduction signed and inscribed ("Robert Frost”), to R.V. Thornton, 1955. $1,000 to $1,500.
    <b>Hindman Auctions, Nov. 12-13:</b> GOREY, Edward. <i>The Bug Book.</i> New York: Looking Glass Library, 1959. $500 to $700.
  • <b>Swann Auction Galleries Oct 27:</b> Book of Hours with Illuminated Miniatures, France, mid-15th century. $15,000 to $25,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Oct 27:</b> Conradus de Alemania [Halberstadt the Elder], <i>Concordantiae Bibliorum,</i> Strassburg, 1474. $20,000 to $30,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Oct 27:</b> Christopher Marlowe, <i>The Jew of Malta,</i> London, 1633. Earliest extant edition of this antiauthoritarian Elizabethan play. $40,000 to $60,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Oct 27:</b><br>Sir Isaac Newton, <i>The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy,</i> first edition in English, 2 volumes, London, 1729. $20,000 to $30,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Oct 27:</b> John Rae, <i>Narrative of an Expedition to the Shores of the Arctic Sea in 1846 and 1847,</i> first edition, London, 1850. $3,000 to $4,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Oct 27:</b> Philip Pittman, <i>The Present State of the European Settlements on the Mississippi…,</i> first edition, London, 1770. $10,000 to $12,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Oct 27:</b> Cyanotype of an anatomy class at Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1895. $300 to $400.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Oct 27:</b> Equine veterinary formulary, manuscript on paper, East Earl, Pennsylvania, circa 1860. $400 to $600.
  • <b>Christie’s, Nov 3 :</b> REGAMEY, Felix (1844-1906). Unique drawing showing Verlaine and Rimbaud in London, September 1872. €70,000 to 100,000
    <b>Christie’s, Nov 3 :</b> LABORDE, Alexandre de (1773-1842). <i>Voyage pittoresque et historique de l’Espagne.</i> Paris : 1806-1820. €20,000 to 30,000
    <b>Christie’s, Nov 3 :</b> BOCCACE, Jean (1313-1375). <i>Il Decamerone…</i> Venise : Gabriele Giolito di Ferrari, 1542.<br>€ 12,000 to 15,000
    <b>Christie’s, Nov 3 :</b> LAMBERT, Yvon (1936). Full collection of writings from <i>Une rêverie émanée de mes loisirs.</i> Paris : 1992 - 2018. €50,000 to 70,000
    <b>Christie’s, Nov 3 :</b> JOUVE, Paul (1878-1973) -- KIPLING, Rudyard (1865-1936). <i>La Chasse de Kaa.</i> Paris : Javal & Bourdeaux, 1930. €2,000 to 3,000

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