Camus Manuscript, Durandelle Opera House Negatives, First American Moby-Dick: Auction Preview

Here's are the sales I'll be watching this week:

At Tajan on Tuesday, June 5, 125 lots of Livres et Manuscrits, including one of two known autograph manuscript copies of Camus' L'Étranger (€500,000–800,000). The sale also includes a complete 100-volume set of the Jannink L'Art en Écrit (1991–2017), in a custom bookcase designed by Tadashi Kawamata (€30,000–40,000). There are also a number of interesting bindings available.

Chiswick Auctions sells 376 lots of 19th & 20th Century Photographs on Wednesday, June 6. Gustave Le Gray's c.1855 photograph "Vue de la Foret de Fontainebleau, Pave de Chailly," rates the top estimate at £15,000–20,000. Peter Beard's Loliondo Lion Charge, 1964 (printed 1977) is expected to sell for £8,000–12,000.

At Freeman's | Hindman on Wednesday, Fine Literature from the Collection of Richard C. McKenzie, in 297 lots. A first American edition copy of Moby-Dick is expected to lead the way at $12,000–18,000; copies of the first, second, and third series of Emily Dickinson's Poems sold together are estimated at $10,000–15,000. A mixed-issue copy of Dickens' Great Expectations could fetch $6,000–8,000.

Ader sells 336 lots of Photographies on Thursday, June 7. More than 200 original glass-plate negatives of Louis-Émile Durandelle's photographs documenting the construction of the Paris opera house (1861–1875) are expected to sell for €60,000–80,000.

On Thursday at Freeman's | Hindman, 379 lots of Fine Books and Manuscripts, including Worlds of Tomorrow, and Americana. Hamilton and d'Hancarville's Collection of Etruscan, Greek and Roman Antiquities (1766–1776) rates the top estimate at $70,000–90,000. An extensive composite atlas is expected to sell for $30,000–40,000, and the 1504 Julian Notary edition of Caxton's translation of the Golden Legend is estimated at $16,000–20,000.