Charlie Chaplin Archive of Proofs, Letters, and Photographs to Auction
Bonhams
Charlie Chaplin, extensive archive relating to the publication of Charlie Chaplin’s autobiography, My Autobiography. Estimate: £30,000-50,000.
An extensive archive of Charlie Chaplin items assembled by his friend Max Reinhardt, publisher of Chaplin’s autobiography, will go under the hammer at Bonhams' Fine Books, Maps & Manuscripts Sale June 7-20.
The archive is being sold by Max Reinhardt’s daughter, to whom Chaplin was godfather, and is offered with an estimate of £30,000-50,000.
Max Reinhardt was a British publisher who published the work of many writers including George Bernard Shaw, Graham Greene and Alistair Cooke at his publishing house The Bodley Head. In 1964 he published Charlie Chaplin’s autobiography.
“This unique archive offers a rare insight into Chaplin’s creative processes, something he was very reluctant to share," said Matthew Haley, Bonhams Knightsbridge Managing Director, and Head of UK Books & Manuscripts. "Chaplin’s perfectionism and exacting nature come to the fore in the extensive revisions and corrections he made to the many sets of proofs of his autobiography. It is a remarkable and important collection and all the more special that it is being sold to support such a fantastic cause.”
The extensive archive, created ahead of the publication of Chaplin’s autobiography entitled My Autobiography is being sold with the proceeds from the sale benefitting MaxLiteracy, a charity and educational initiative set up in memory of Max Reinhardt and his authors to stimulate literacy through the visual arts in partnership with museums, galleries and writers.
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Bonhams
Extensive archive relating to the publication of Charlie Chaplin’s autobiography, My Autobiography. Estimate: £30,000-50,000.
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Bonhams
Charlie Chaplin, Playbill for Sherlock Holmes, Wolverhampton, Whitehead Bros, Theatrical Printers, 1903. Estimate: £600-800
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Bonhams
Charlie Chaplin photographed by Edward Steichen, one of three photographs of Chaplin. Estimate: £2,000-4,000
The archive features numerous sets of annotated proofs, contracts, photographs and letters including correspondence between Charlie Chaplin and Max Reinhardt and a telegram sent to Chaplin by the author Graham Greene. A total of eight lots related to the Chaplin collection feature in the 274-lot sale.
Additional Chaplin lots from the collection of Max Reinhardt include:
* a very rare playbill from 1903, which lists Charlie Chaplin as ‘Billy’ in Sherlock Holmes at the Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton, one of the earliest survivals of his name in print (estimate: £600-800)
* three photographs of Charlie Chaplin by American photographer, Edward Steichen, a key figure in 20th century photography, dating from 1925 and 1931, the year of his films The Gold Rush and City Lights respectively (estimate: £2,000-4,000)
