The Arthur Ronnie Book & Autograph Collection for Sale
Los Angeles, January 12, 2013--Blacksparrow Auctions is pleased to present The Arthur Ronnie Collection: Books and Autographs, to be held on Sunday, February 10, 2013, at 11am PST. James Gray Gallery at Bergamot Station Art Center in Santa Monica, CA will host the live auction. Public preview is available from February 4 to 9, also at James Gray Gallery.
This is an unprecedented selection of over 200 lots assembled by an individual collector who personally interviewed many authors and obtained autographs for over 70 years throughout his career as a newspaper reporter and as a publicist in the entertainment field.
Examples of subject matters feature presidents, explorers, aviation, and Hollywood entertainment. A few of the many highlights of the collection include:
- Under the North Pole: The Wilkins-Ellsworth Submarine Expedition, Lincoln Ellsworth’s copy
- 20 hrs. 40 min. Our Flight in the Friendship. The American Girl, First Across the Atlantic by Air, Tells Her Story, Amelia Earhart’s personal copy with piece of fabric from the Friendship
- The Fun of It: Random Records of My Own Flying and of Women in Aviation, Amelia Earhart’s copy with her bookplate and signature, as well as the signatures of other early aviatrixes
- The Spirit of St. Louis, Presentation Edition signed by Charles A. Lindbergh, T. Claude Ryan, Otto W. Timm, and Bud Gurney
- WE. The Famous Flier’s Own Story of his Life and his Transatlantic flight, together with his views on the future of Aviation, Signed Limited Edition, additionally signed by T. Claude Ryan, Otto W. Timm, and Bud Gurney
- Memoirs by Harry S. Truman, both volumes inscribed
- The White House Years: Waging Peace, 1956-1961, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Signed Limited Edition
- My Experiences in the World War, John Pershing, Author’s Autograph Edition
Complementing the signed books is a group of signed color lithographs, including a who’s who of early and instrumental aviators such as Charles Taylor, Grover Loening, Douglas Campbell, William Bishop, Gianni Caproni, Richard E. Byrd, A.V. Roe, Ruth Law, Ernest Hall, Jacqueline Cochran, Charles Lindbergh, Katherine Stinson, Henri Farman, and much more.
The featured item of the sale is a 2-volume set of The Lafayette Flying Corps (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1920, First Edition). An inscribed card, signed by James N. Hall and Charles Bernard Nordhoff, is tipped to the front free endpaper of Volume I, “For Doctor Gros, with warm regards, James N. Hall, Chas. Nordhoff, Tahiti, Oct. 14, 1927.” It is additionally signed by five surviving members of the Corps who signed on their respective biographical pages: Henry Batchelor (page 113), Edward Hinkle (page 267), Charles Kinsolving (page 301), William Wellman (movie director, page 483), and Herman Whitmore (page 487). Slipcase and dust jackets intact.
Dr. Gros was an American doctor in Paris who was instrumental in organizing the Lafayette Escadrille, and is pictured on page [70] of Volume I). Young men from neutral America during World War I were recruited to come to France and fly in the Escadrille in combat against the Germans. When America entered the war, the Lafayette Escadrille became the Lafayette Flying Corps. This is a cornerstone of any serious aviation collection. It is rare to find books in such fine condition, and especially desirable with the signatures of Hall, Nordhoff, and Flying Corps members.
Interested bidders will be able to bid live in-person, by telephone, via absentee, and on the Internet as facilitated by iCollector. A print catalog will be available for purchase at blacksparrowauctions.com.
About Blacksparrow Auctions
Blacksparrow Auctions, a subsidiary of Haxbee, Inc., has a collective number of 80 years’ experience dealing with Hollywood memorabilia and pop culture collectibles. The company recently announced a countrywide tour and auction of the screen-worn costumes from the hit blockbuster, The Hunger Games.
