Complete Set of Tasha Tudor “Corgiville” Watercolors at Waverly Rare Books’ Sept. 12 Auction

Falls Church, VA – The Waverly Rare Books division of Quinn’s Auction Galleries will conduct a Sept. 12, 2019 auction packed with 471 lots of rare books, high-quality prints, autographs and other ephemera. A featured lot is a complete set of original watercolors by beloved children’s author Tasha Tudor for her 1966 book, The Great Corgiville Kidnapping, with impeccable family provenance.

Additional highlights include early editions of James Joyce’s Ulysses and Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage; rare documents signed by John Hancock, Gustave Flaubert, Johannes Brahms and Honore de Balzac; and original artworks prepared for the U.S. Capitol and the George Washington Masonic Temple by the muralist Allyn Cox.

Tasha Tudor (1915-2008, Mass./Vt.) was a beloved illustrator and writer of children's books. The original Tudor watercolors in the auction – 55 in all, 41 of which are signed and dated – comprise the complete collection used for The Great Corgiville Kidnapping (Little Brown, Boston, 1997). The art has been consigned by Thomas Tudor, Tasha Tudor’s youngest son. The lot includes a first-edition copy of the book in illustrated, glazed boards and carries an estimate of $60,000-$90,000.

A partly printed document signed by John Hancock (1737-1793) in Boston and dated March 26, 1781, when Hancock was governor, should change hands for $3,000-$4,000. The document appoints Jesse Bullock of Freetown as Justice of the Peace for Bristol County. It is countersigned by John Avery Jr., Secretary, and bears an intact seal above Hancock’s large, trademark signature.

A second-state etching with drypoint on heavy laid paper by the Dutch Master Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669), titled The Hundred Guilder Print (or “Christ Healing the Sick”), is estimated to bring $3,000-$5,000. The 17th-century print, on a sheet measuring 11½ inches by 15¾ inches, is graded VG+ condition.

A second-edition copy of Stephen Crane’s classic book The Red Badge of Courage (D. Appleton & Co., N.Y., 1896) should reach $1,000-$2,000. The tan dust jacket with red and black text decoration shows ads on the back for “Gilbert Parker’s Best Books” and “A. Conan Doyle.” There is an ownership inscription on the front flap of the dust jacket.

An unfinished, hand-painted and illuminated copy of John Milton’s poem In the Morning of Christ’s Nativity, in a modern brown leather binding with gilt decorations and dated 1894, is expected to make $800-$1,200. The last few pages have sketches, but watercolor was never applied. Each sheet, on J. Whatman paper, is 7¾ inches by 9¼ inches and is in a bound sleeve.

Allyn Cox (American, 1896-1982) was a muralist best known for his works in the U.S. Capitol and the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia. The lot pertaining to Cox consists of five pieces: a watercolor with four tracing paper sheets from the Washington Masonic Temple’s Grand Hall murals, featuring George Washington. It should settle in the $400-$600 range.

A circa-1520 woodcut and letterpress print of Wolf Traut’s (circa 1485-1520) Battle for Liege, from the Triumphal Arch of Emperor Maximilian I, designed by Albrecht Durer and with Latin prose by Benedictus Chelidonius, in VG+ condition, has an estimate of $300-$500. The sheet, which measures approximately 9 inches by 6 inches, includes a label from Ferdinand Roten Galleries in Baltimore.

An etching on wove paper of Francisco de Goya’s (Spanish, 1746-1828) Le Petit Prisonnier (circa 1810), printed in Delatre (Paris) as part of a posthumous edition published in Gazette des Beaux-Arts, is in near-fine condition and is framed, with the plate measuring 4¼ inches by 3½ inches. De Goya was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker and is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th/early 19th century. Estimate: $200-$400.

The Sept. 12, 2019 auction will be held at Quinn’s gallery, 360 South Washington Street in Falls Church, Virginia 22046. All remote forms of bidding will be available, including absentee, phone and live via the Internet through LiveAuctioneers or Invaluable. The auction will commence at 6 p.m. ET. Previews will be held Saturday, Sept. 7, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Monday, Sept. 9, from 10-5; and Tuesday through Thursday, Sept. 10-12, from 10-6.

For additional information about any item in the Thursday, Sept. 12 auction, call 703-532-5632, extension 575; or e-mail waverly@quinnsauction.com. Visit Quinn’s and Waverly online at www.quinnsauction.com. Quinn’s is always accepting consignments for future auctions.