Our Bright Young Collectors series continues today with Margaret Landis of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Margaret was recently an Honorable Mention in the 2018 Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize for women collectors 30 and under.  

Where are you from / where do you live?

I'm originally from the Pacific Northwest, and I'm in Albuquerque, NM now.

What did you study at University? What do you do now for an occupation?

I studied physics and astronomy as an undergraduate, and I earned my PhD in Planetary Sciences from the University of Arizona this past spring. I'm currently a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at the Planetary Science Institute.

Please introduce us to your book collection. What areas do you collect in?

I read a lot, and still mostly on paper so I have a bunch of books I've been dragging along with me across a few states. The ones I specifically collect are about the history of women and under-represented minorities in science and exploration. I have a much smaller collection started on polar exploration.

How many books are in your collection?

I have about 30 at last count, which probably means it's 1-2 books behind.

What was the first book you bought for your collection?  

Miss Leavitt's Stars: The Untold Story of the Woman Who Discovered How to Measure the Universe by George Johnson (2006).

How about the most recent book?   

Tilly Edinger: Leben Und Werk Einer Judischen Wissenschaftlerin, Rolf Kohring and Gerald Kreft (eds.) (2003). I was in Frankfurt for a work trip and went to the natural history museum and found a display about Tilly Edinger. Most of this book is in German, but not quite all of it. Dr. Edinger grew up and worked in Germany, founding the field of neuropalentology, until she had to flee the Nazis in 1938. She taught at Harvard and Wellesley and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1953.

And your favorite book in your collection?   

Chasing Eclipses: The Total Solar Eclipses of 1905, 1914, 1925 by Rebecca R. Joslin (1929). Three trips to finally see a total solar eclipse, told from the first person by the author. I've tried to find some more information about Joslin online, and she wrote other books but I haven't (yet) been able to find out why a Bostonian DAR decided to spend two decades finally trying to see a total solar eclipse.

Best bargain you've found?

In terms of time investment, definitely Madame Curie: A Biography by Eve Curie. I was browsing a booth at Tucson Festival of Books, and it was right there for a pretty reasonable price. I'd been wanting to add a copy to my collection after I'd read a few chapters for an undergraduate research project and adding a copy to my collection had always been on my to do list, but I hadn't gotten around to it. I really like finding something for the collection when I'm just generally browsing--it feels like a very happy coincidence.  

How about The One that Got Away?

I've been very fortunate in that the books I've been adding to the collection have been relatively straight forward to find. I try to be on the ball about new releases out of professional and personal interest, and part of my I'm building my collection is so I have recommendations for people who either 1) don't see themselves in the history of science or 2) don't know that women and people of color have been here since the beginning (like using spectroscopy to understand the composition of other stars). Still, I would really like to add a signed first of The Woman Who Smashed Codes by Jason Fagone (2017) and I need to start expanding my collection of titles printed before about 1990.

What would be the Holy Grail for your collection?  

Something like Our famous women by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (1884). Something that would document maybe the first phase of writing about women pioneers in science for the public. While women and currently under-represented minorities in science have always been part of the history of science, I'm particularly curious to explore the phenomenon of popular writing about them and how it reflects larger social trends of the time.

Who is your favorite bookseller / bookstore?

One of my favorite standbys is Powell's in Portland, and my favorite in grad school was Antigone Books (Tucson). 

What would you collect if you didn't collect books?

I would probably collect maps, especially geologic maps. I think they're a fascinating way of displaying 3D information on a 2D surface.

There seems no better time than the eve of Halloween to feature the artwork of Charles Addams, the American illustrator whose penchant for the macabre gave us The Addams Family, as well as many wonderfully dark New Yorker cartoons. Besides, one of his most interesting pieces is headed to auction in two weeks. 

On November 13, Doyle will offer the original drawing for the dust jacket of Addams' Dear Dead Days: A Family Album, published in 1959, that indeed features the famous family, each of whom appears to be contemplating their demise. The ink and gouache on board is signed and further inscribed "For Margie & Alex with affection - Chas Addams, New York 1959"--"Alex" being Alexander King, author and mid-century media personality, from whose estate this drawing derives. 

The estimate is $20,000-30,000. 
 

Another very busy week in the book-auction world:

PIASA in Paris will hold a two-day sale of modern books from the library of François Mitterand, with lots 1-334 sold on Monday and lots 335-683 on Tuesday. The sale includes a good number of signed and inscribed copies, as well as many volumes bound by Mitterand's wife Danielle. Mitterand often noted on a small inserted slip of paper where and when he acquired each book, and the price he paid.

Also ending on Tuesday, October 30, Doyle New York's online sale of Travel Literature and Sporting Books from the Library of Arnold 'Jake' Johnson, in 272 lots.

Sotheby's online single-item sale of a poster for the 1932 film The Mummy, starring Boris Karloff, ends on Wednesday, October 31. The starting bid is $950,000.

Leslie Hindman Auctioneers sells The Adventure & Exploration Library of Steve Fossett, Part I on Wednesday, in 215 lots. A copy of the rare variant of Aurora Australis, signed by Shackleton, could sell for $60,000-80,000. An unrecorded issue on vellum of Humboldt and Bonpland's Vues des Cordillères (1810) is estimated at $30,000-40,000. For the travel/exploration collector, certainly a sale to which attention should be paid. (More on that sale in our fall auction guide.)

Autographed Documents, Manuscripts, Photos, Books & Relics are the order of the day on Wednesday at University Archives, in 283 lots. A manuscript of Bob Dylan's lyrics for "The Times They Are A-Changin'" is estimated at $50,000-60,000, while a rosary once owned by JFK could fetch $20,000-24,000.  

On Thursday, PBA Galleries sells The Joel Harris Collection of Original Illustration Art and Illustrated Books (with additions), in 360 lots. Among the examples of original illustration art on offer are Kam Mak's oil painting used for the cover of Katherine Kirkpatrick's Keeping the Good Light ($3,000-5,000).  

Addison & Sarova holds a sale of Rare Books & the Harrison Forman Archive on Saturday, November 3, in 367 lots. A first edition of Donne's Pseudo-Martyr (1610) is estimated at $12,000-18,000. A 1590 copy of Spenser's Faerie Queene which once belonged to scholar H. W. Garrod (whose research concluded that it had been inscribed by Spenser's wife) could sell for $10,000-15,000. Lots 306-367 include material from the collection of reporter and photographer Harrison Forman (1904-1978), including photographs of Tibet and Mongolia, film reels, notebooks, &c.

Booksellers have always had to contend with warding off book thieves hungry for valuable volumes. As part of its ongoing efforts to deter book crime, Raptis Rare Books in Palm Beach, Florida, is employing a new piece of technology called synthetic DNA.

According to the product's creator, UK-based SelectaDNA, so-called "synthetic DNA" can help fight inventory loss and theft and has been employed in casinos, hospitals, banks, museums, and other institutions worldwide for over a decade to identify and protect valuables. Earlier this month, Raptis became the first bookseller in the United States to incorporate synthetic DNA for authentication and inventory management.

"Think of each unit of synthetic DNA as a high-tech fingerprint," explained SelectaDNA vice president Joe Maltese. "Each application of Synthetic DNA generates a unique code, providing clients with the ability to identify and recover lost or stolen rare books. Raptis is using the technology to demonstrate their rare books have been authenticated and sold by them."

   
For book collectors worried this serum might mar their treasures, fear not: the non-toxic, water-based serum is invisible to the naked eye. Applied to a book, the serum can last up to five years and has a lifespan of 4 to 6 weeks on skin--helpful to pinpoint a thief who has been inadvertently misted with a special spray, also sold as part of an alarm system by SelectaDNA. The company says their product reduces theft by 83 percent when incorporated into such an alarm system. If triggered by a burglar, the system releases a mist containing a unique DNA code and UV tracer. Shining an ultraviolet light on the suspect will reveal whether he or she purloined the goods in question. 

Raptis is using the DNA Asset Marking System which is applied to books with a special stamp; the images below show Raptis is using a stamp in the shape of an "R." 

"Raptis Rare Books takes extraordinary measures to ensure authenticity of its collection of literary treasures," said Raptis founder Matthew Raptis. "The use of SelectaDNA is an excellent complement to our rigorous authentication protocols," he continued. "It provides our clients with added confidence in purchasing these rare literary gems."

Five years ago, bookseller Elizabeth Young was profiled in our "Bright Young Booksellers" series. What's she up to now? In December, she is opening a brick-and-mortar bookshop in Brooklyn dedicated to "cooking, cocktails, and culture." We asked her to tell us more about it. 

You started your business, lizzyoung bookseller, in 2012 with a focus on the culinary arts books and ephemera, what led you to the rare books trade?

Cookbooks have always held a fascination for me. As most cookbook lovers will tell you, it is not necessarily the recipes that grab you and take you in, it is the place you go in your head while reading a cookbook. I guess you could call it something like virtual cooking. You don't really have to take a pot or pan out, you don't have to get your kitchen dirty, you can cook a remarkable meal for family and friends, in your head. 

Our Bright Young Collectors series continues today with Marielle Stockton of Bellingham, Washington. Marielle was recently awarded an Honorable Mention in the Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize for women 30 and under.

Where are you from / where do you live?

I'm from Everett, Washington, but am currently living in Bellingham while attending Western Washington University.

What do you study at University? What do you do for an occupation?

I am an English Literature major, minoring in Sociology and Classical Studies. I work at the university library as an Information Desk attendant, as well as the Washington State Archives Northwest Regional Branch in Bellingham as a student organizational assistant. I am also a research assistant to Dr. Laura Laffrado, director of the Ella Higginson Recovery Project.

Please introduce us to your book collection.  What areas do you collect in?

I collect books by and about once-forgotten first Poet Laureate of Washington State Ella Rhoads Higginson (1862-1940). Higginson was a poet, novelist, and essayist who lived in Bellingham and gained international fame at the turn into the twentieth century. Unfortunately, by the time she died she was almost completely forgotten for several reasons, the most prominent being WWI, when the majority of books went out of print. When the war was over, Higginson's books didn't come back into print save for her one nonfiction guidebook to Alaska and her only novel Mariella of Out West.
 

There were very few writers in the Pacific Northwest to begin with, even fewer women writers, and none with her level of success. Due to Higginson's unusual position as a prolific female author in a sparsely-populated corner of the country, there was no one who could compare and therefore no way to find her through the recovery of other female turn-of the-century writers.
 

My collection has expanded over time from purely books by Higginson, to books about Higginson, to books about Bellingham when Higginson was alive, to postcards and sheet music featuring her work, and now to books by her contemporaries or texts in connection with her. The collection currently paints a picture of the Pacific Northwest that Higginson lived in and wrote about, as well as the literary culture she was writing to and within. My ultimate goal is to collect a copy of each book Ella Higginson wrote, as well as each edition, and moreover collect as many inscribed books as are surviving.

How many books are in your collection?

I have eight books written by Higginson (three are signed by Higginson); two books about Higginson; thirteen books that Higginson drew inspiration from or were published during her own career; one magazine featuring Higginson's work; two sets of sheet music where Higginson's poems were used as lyrics; and eight postcards featuring Higginson's poems. In all, the collection currently consists of thirty-four pieces.

What was the first book you bought for your collection?

The first book I bought was Mariella of Out-West, Higginson's only completed novel published in 1902 by Macmillan. The novel is largely based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, in which Higginson takes the narrative of the adulterous woman out of the Northeast and informs the reader of the consequences of an adulterous woman in the Pacific Northwest. It is a riveting social commentary about women's agency, regionalism, and industrialization on the West coast. When first published, critics compared it to the work of Leo Tolstoy, Jane Austen, and Zola.

How about the most recent book?

The most recent book added to the collection was a biography of Higginson written in 1985 titled The Lyric Singer: A Biography of Ella Higginson. Dr. Laffrado's research has revealed numerous inaccuracies in this biography, however. Since it was published extremely locally, there are few copies to be found. While incorrect in many ways, it is still a piece of Higginson history. This copy came to me by way of a friend who was at a used bookstore in Oregon. They knew of my current research on Higginson and kindly picked it up for me.

And your favorite book in your collection?

If I had to choose, it would be a signed copy of Higginson's The Vanishing Race that was posted to eBay this past January. Originally, the seller did not include a picture of the signature but did so upon my inquiry. The picture revealed the following inscription on the first page of the book: "For dear Zoe, With love and best of wishes . . . Ella Higginson." I knew immediately that this was an authentic inscription (I know her handwriting better than I know my own) and I knew who it was meant for. Mabel Zoe Wilson came to Washington State from Ohio in 1902, hired by the president of the Washington State Normal School at Bellingham to be the school's first librarian. Higginson lived right across the street from the normal campus. Mabel Zoe Wilson gave her entire career to the normal, a tremendous forty-three years of service. During this time, she and Ella Higginson became very sweet friends. In 1953, over a decade after Higginson's death, Mabel Zoe Wilson donated a collection of letters to the University of Washington that Ella Higginson had written to her over three decades. These letters reveal a friendship based on similar literary interests, a fascination with Mabel Zoe Wilson's extensive travels on Higginson's part, and a mutual investment in the wellbeing of the normal school and the wider Bellingham community. We have record of Ella Higginson inscribing books to Mabel Zoe Wilson and sending them to her with some of these surviving letters, but until this copy of The Vanishing Race, we had found none. This copy, a very slim and plain volume, gives me hope that the remainder of the books Higginson gave to Mabel Zoe Wilson still survive. They are a testament to a beautiful bond between two intelligent and hardworking women.

Best bargain you've found?

A postcard featuring Higginson's most famous poem "Four-Leaf Clover" once turned up on eBay shipping from Romania. That currently stands as the furthest away a Higginson-related piece has ever traveled and then returned to Bellingham (there being 5,613 miles between the two places). However, there are a few copies of Mariella of Out-West floating around Australia that have not been retrieved, and a couple of her volumes in Germany are still there. For the postcard from Romania, an invaluable piece that has survived by miracles only, the seller asked five dollars.

How about The One that Got Away?

There was once on eBay a copy of Higginson's A Forest Orchid for sale at a price much too high. This was due to the fact that it was signed, but at first glance it was obvious that the signature was fake (and clumsily done with a modern blue ball-point gel-ink pen). I was able to talk the seller down, but not low enough. There was other writing in the book, though, which I and Dr. Laffrado positively identified as Higginson's. However, the content of the writing was of no significance. I would have liked to have the book anyways, for preservation's sake, but not at the price the seller was set on. A few days later, the listing was removed and the book was, presumably, not sold online. I wondered for a long time after if I had done the right thing, but you can't have them all.

What would be the Holy Grail for your collection?

The crown jewel of any Ella Higginson collection would not be a book by her, but her copy of The Scarlet Letter. As previously noted, Mariella of Out West is largely based on the Nathaniel Hawthorne classic. To own Higginson's inspiration for what she considered to be the best piece of fiction she ever wrote would be like owning Herman Melville's copy of Paradise Lost.

Who is your favorite bookseller / bookstore?

Powells Books in Portland is wonderful, but locally I enjoy Village Books in Fairhaven, Washington.

What would you collect if you didn't collect books?

Antique, carved, mother of pearl nib pens. I once had five or so in my possession, but I have limited myself to only one and gifted the rest to my closest friends. I keep pen-pals and when occasion calls, I will use my emerald-green ink and my gold-nibbed mother of pearl pen, the shaft of which is carved in a delicate spiral, like that of an elongated turret shell.

This past weekend the British Library opened a major, "once-in-a-generation" exhibition, the largest ever on the history, literature, and culture of Anglo-Saxon England, according to a press release from the BL. "From stunning illuminated manuscripts to the earliest surviving will of an English woman, Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: Art, Word, War will highlight the key role manuscripts played in the transmission of ideas, religion, literature and artistic influences throughout England and across political and geographical boundaries, as well as the sophisticated skill and craftsmanship of the artwork produced at this time."

The show defies the very idea of "high points," but here's a look at six stunning manuscripts you can see in London now through February 19, 2019.  

The Codex Amiatinus is the earliest surviving complete Bible in Latin, made at the monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow in the northeast of England in the early 8th century and taken to Italy in 716 as a gift for the Pope. It will be returning to England for the first time in more than 1,300 years, on loan from the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence. Credit: Sam Lane Photography

The British Library's unique manuscript of "Beowulf." It is one of four manuscripts of Old English poetry on exhibit, along with the Vercelli Book, the Exeter Book, and the Junius Manuscript. Credit: British Library Board

On loan from The National Archives is the Domesday Book, the most famous book in English history and the earliest surviving public record. Credit: The National Archives

The Lindisfarne Gospels, pictured here, is one of several outstanding illuminated and decorated manuscripts on display, alongside the St. Augustine Gospels, the Book of Durrow, and the Echternach Gospels. Credit: British Library Board

The oldest intact European book with its original binding is the St. Cuthbert Gospel, made at the monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow in the northeast of England in the early 8th century; it was acquired by the British Library in 2012. Credit: Sam Lane Photography

The Vespasian Psalter includes the oldest translation of part of the Bible into English and depicts two musicians playing similar instruments. Credit: British Library Board

Quite a busy auction week coming up:

On Tuesday, October 23, Mexico City auction house Morton Subastas sells Libros y Documentos: Colección de un Bibliófilo, in 261 lots. Brasseur and Waldeck's Monuments Anciens du Mexique Palenque et Autres Ruines de l'Ancienne Civilisation du Mexique (1866) rates the top estimate, at 500,000-800,000 pesos (roughly $26,000-41,000). A 1585 Mexico City imprint, Estatutos Generales de Barcelona, could fetch 300,000-400,000 pesos ($16,000-21,000).

Also on Tuesday, Lettres et Manuscrits Autographes at Ader in Paris, in 453 lots. A George Sand manuscript is estimated at ??12,000-15,000.  

There are some books and manuscripts among the 255 lots in the Arts of the Islamic World sale at Sotheby's London on Wednesday, October 24. A thirteenth-century two-volume copy of Ibn Sinna (Avicenna)'s Canon of Medicine is estimated at £80,000-120,000, while a volume of surgeon Ibn al-Quff's commentary on the Canon, also from the thirteenth century, could fetch £70,000-90,000. A manuscript of two astronomical works collected together and copied around 1295 is estimated at £50,000-70,000 (pictured above).  

Bonhams Edinburgh hosts the Sporting Sale on Wednesday, in 391 lots. There are some books on angling and so forth at the start of the sale.

Swann Galleries sells Rare & Important Travel Posters on Thursday, October 25, in 232 lots. Emil Cardinaux's St. Moritz (1918) could fetch $15,000-20,000, and sharing estimates of $12,000-18,000 are Burkhard Mangold's Winter in Davos (1914) and Philip Zec's striking By Night Train to Scotland (1932).  

Forum Auctions has an online sale of Books and Works on Paper on Thursday, in 126 lots. Lots 1-70 come from the collection of the late Sol Rabb, and lots 115-126 are from the collection of James Stevens Cox, F.S.A.

Finally, and also on Thursday, Heritage Auctions sells Historical Manuscripts, in 301 lots. An Abraham Lincoln letter to George McClellan of October 29, 1862, just a week before McClellan's sacking, has a $60,000 reserve. A large Civil War archive of Massachusetts cavalryman William B. Arnold has a $14,000 reserve.

Could Macbeth be to Halloween what A Christmas Carol is to Noël? Based on the number performances starring the Thane of Cawdor this month, all signs seem to point to yes. Among the various renditions, Shakespeare's tragedy exploring the darkest and bloodiest elements of human nature appears in wildly different venues on either ends of the country this month.

Starting October 20 and running through November 3, the Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles opens its "immersive" production of Macbeth. Directed by former Royal Shakespeare Company member Kenn Sabberton, The Tragedie of Macbeth is set in a haunted house where audience members walk through the play as it is happening. The show starts in the Shakespeare Center's parking garage, which stands in for the mysterious witches' heath, then winds its way through the castle. Pared down to seventy minutes with nine actors playing everyone from Macbeth to Banquo, the intimate nature of the show limits fifty spectators per performance. 

In Cambridge, Massachusetts, catch a glimpse of Macbeth through the fog art installation currently set up at Harvard University's Arnold Arboretum. Fog x Macbeth takes place on Sunday, October 21 at 5 pm, and like the Shakespeare Center's adaptation, it is an abridged portrayal. This show is part of a larger exhibition by Japanese fog artist Fujito Nakaya, whose five fog sculptures situated in and around Boston are helping celebrate the twenty-year anniversary of the Emerald Lake Conservancy, a group dedicated to conserving the area's century-old park system created by Frederick Law Olmstead.  

The Actor's Shakespeare Project  (ASP), a Boston-based theater company whose mission is to share Shakespeare's immortal words with contemporary audiences, uses an adaptation by playwright Migdalia Cruz, whose full play is on stage now through November 11 at Brookline's United Parish.  

Meanwhile, with jets of gray mist pulsing at various intervals as the backdrop, Sunday's free presentation will take place on the lawn next to the arboreteum's Hunnewell building. Audience members are welcome to bring lawn chairs or blankets and are encouraged to dress for the elements. 

And finally, Macbeth was recently staged at a place where both actors and audience members deeply related to the characters they portrayed: Twin Rivers Correctional Institution in Umatilla, Oregon. One of the actors portraying Macbeth is currently serving life in prison for murder. (Reporter Noelle Crombie at the Oregonian goes into great detail about the performance and the organizations that bring acting programs to inmates.)  

"I have done the deed" takes on new meaning, doesn't it? 

On Monday, October 15, there were some notable books and manuscripts at the Sotheby's New York auction of Gallison Hall: The James F. Scott Collection. In fact, it was a copy of the rare first edition of Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia which garnered the top price of the sale at $300,000 (this copy was previously sold at Sotheby's as part of the James S. Copley library in 2010 for $254,500). Also selling well were a copy of the 1814 edition of Lewis & Clark's History of the Expedition ($75,000) and an 1826 Thomas Jefferson letter to Robert Mills about a plan for a monument to George Washington ($43,750).  

Swann Galleries sold Early Printed, Medical, Scientific & Travel Books, including Phillippine Imprints, on Tuesday, October 16, in 276 lots. The top lot was a copy of a 1488 Strassburg edition of Mandeville's history of the world, the seventh printed edition in German: it sold for $106,250 over estimates of just $8,000-12,000. A 1734 navigation manual printed in Manila fetched $55,000 (pictured). At $45,000 were a 1494 Zaragoza edition of Boccaccio's De claris mulieribus in Spanish, as well as a 1668 Paris edition of Fontaine's Fables.  

Chiswick Auctions sold Travel, Natural History, Sporting & Sciences on Wednesday, October 17, in 289 lots.

On Thursday, October 18, PBA Galleries will sell Modern Literature & Poetry with Books in All Fields, in 558 lots. Among the expected top lots are the Black Sun Press edition of Hart Crane's The Bridge ($30,000-50,000); a first issue of Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage, with the dust jacket ($15,000-25,000); and a set of unbound sheets of Lovecraft's The Shunned House ($7,000-10,000).  

Potter & Potter sells Houdiniana on Saturday, October 20, in 438 lots. This sale includes the Houdini collection of John Bushey, as well as additional magic-related books, props, &c.