Books on Witchcraft Boost Anne Rice's Personal Library Auction to Exceed Estimates

The recent Bonhams auction Elegance of the Eternal: The Collection of Anne Rice featured more than 200 objects from the home and personal library of the prolific supernatural and Gothic historical fiction writer.

Over 75% of lots sold above their estimate and the 87 lots of books from her library achieved white glove results and included signed copies of her works, heavily annotated novels, and groupings of books used for research. 

An annotated copy of her Interview with the Vampire which sold for $7,040, more than five times its estimate, and a group of 18 books on witchcraft which went for 25 times their estimate to sell for $5,120. Overall, the sale achieved $864,781.

Other highlights included:

• a 1925 first edition of Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (sold for $7,040, 14 times its estimate)
• a 1936 copy of Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, heavily annotated and tabbed by Rice ($3,328, 11 times its estimate)
• a group of 30 annotated books on Italian History ($2,560, 12 times its estimate)
• a signed presentation copy of Rice's 1990 The Witching Hour ($1,920, six times its estimate)

The sale also offered a large number of flatware services which Rice used to entertain in her home in New Orleans including a 19th century Gorham sterling silver flatware service with Mythologique patterns ($19,200) as well as a Tiffany & Co. Chrysanthemum pattern sterling silver part flatware service ($19,200). Among the selection of chess sets on offer a Piero Benzoni gilt and silvered bronze set sold for $4,096, and an Anri Knights of the Round Table set for $2,816.