PBA Platinum Auction Features Rare Books, Manuscripts & Art

Berkeley, CA -- A select gathering of rare books, manuscripts, art and other fine material in all fields will be offered at PBA Platinum on September 10. Included are early and important treatises on science, medicine, alchemy and the occult; landmarks of literature; rare Americana and Californiana; illustrated and color plate books; original art and livres d’artiste; fine press books; key historical works; and much more.

Derain’s Pantagruel, 1 of 15 with original watercolor

André Derain’s livre d’artiste of François Rabelais’ Pantagruel, with 180 color woodcuts, one of 15 copies with an original watercolor bound in and an additional suite of plates on Madagascar paper. Finely bound in full crushed morocco by Jacques Anthoine Legrain. Estimate: $30,000-$50,000

https://www.pbagalleries.com/view-auctions/catalog/id/537/lot/176623/

Inscribed to former King Edward VIII

Winston Churchill’s 1939 work, Step by Step, inscribed and signed by him to the Duke of Windsor – the former King Edward VIII – the month of publication. In custom binding by Lucie Weill with the crowned cipher of Windsor. Estimate: $20,000-$30,000

https://www.pbagalleries.com/view-auctions/catalog/id/537/lot/175341/

One of 100 signed by Oscar Wilde

The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde, first edition, one of 100 copies on large paper signed by the author. Estimate: $20,000-$30,000

https://www.pbagalleries.com/view-auctions/catalog/id/537/lot/175768/

Watercolor by Diego Rivera commemorating Russian Revolution

Original watercolor by Diego Rivera, the design for the cover of the March 1932 issue of Fortune Magazine, based on his sketches made in 1927 at the Moscow commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the Russian Revolution, inscribed by him to the founders of the American Communist Party. Estimate: $20,000-$30,000

https://www.pbagalleries.com/view-auctions/catalog/id/537/lot/175395/

LEC Ulysses signed by Joyce & Matisse

The Limited Editions Club printing of James Joyce’s Ulysses, 1935, illustrated from etchings and drawings by Henri Matisse, one of 250 copies signed by both Joyce and Matisse – the remainder of the run of 1500 copies was signed by Matisse only. Estimate: $15,000-$25,000

https://www.pbagalleries.com/view-auctions/catalog/id/537/lot/176658/

Cornerstone of Hermetic literature, 1650

The Divine Pymander of Hermes Mercurius Trismegistus, in XVII Books, 1650, the rare first edition in English of the core texts of the ancient Egyptian gnosis, the cornerstone of Hermetic literature, believed to date from the first century A.D. Estimate: $10,000-$15,000

https://www.pbagalleries.com/view-auctions/catalog/id/537/lot/176450/

Man Ray’s first monograph

Photographs by Man Ray, 1920-1934, with 84 photographs printed in gravure and 19 additional rayographs, the rare first issue of the first edition, Man Ray’s first monograph. Estimate: $10,000-$15,000

https://www.pbagalleries.com/view-auctions/catalog/id/537/lot/175339/

First edition of Darwin’s Descent of Man

First edition of The Descent of Man, by Charles Darwin, two volumes, each in the first issue, an exceptional copy in the original cloth. Estimate: $8,000-$12,000

https://www.pbagalleries.com/view-auctions/catalog/id/537/lot/176404/

Hand-colored lithographs of ballerinas, c.1846
Les Gloires de l'Opéra, published in Paris around 1846, comprising twelve striking hand-colored lithographed plates of the leading ballerinas of Europe, quite rare. Estimate: $7,000-$10,000

https://www.pbagalleries.com/view-auctions/catalog/id/537/lot/176404