Rare Books &c. at Auction This Week
Another very busy week in the book-auction world:
PIASA in Paris will hold a two-day sale of modern books from the library of François Mitterand, with lots 1-334 sold on Monday and lots 335-683 on Tuesday. The sale includes a good number of signed and inscribed copies, as well as many volumes bound by Mitterand's wife Danielle. Mitterand often noted on a small inserted slip of paper where and when he acquired each book, and the price he paid.
Also ending on Tuesday, October 30, Doyle New York's online sale of Travel Literature and Sporting Books from the Library of Arnold 'Jake' Johnson, in 272 lots.
Sotheby's online single-item sale of a poster for the 1932 film The Mummy, starring Boris Karloff, ends on Wednesday, October 31. The starting bid is $950,000.
Leslie Hindman Auctioneers sells The Adventure & Exploration Library of Steve Fossett, Part I on Wednesday, in 215 lots. A copy of the rare variant of Aurora Australis, signed by Shackleton, could sell for $60,000-80,000. An unrecorded issue on vellum of Humboldt and Bonpland's Vues des Cordillères (1810) is estimated at $30,000-40,000. For the travel/exploration collector, certainly a sale to which attention should be paid. (More on that sale in our fall auction guide.)
Autographed Documents, Manuscripts, Photos, Books & Relics are the order of the day on Wednesday at University Archives, in 283 lots. A manuscript of Bob Dylan's lyrics for "The Times They Are A-Changin'" is estimated at $50,000-60,000, while a rosary once owned by JFK could fetch $20,000-24,000.
On Thursday, PBA Galleries sells The Joel Harris Collection of Original Illustration Art and Illustrated Books (with additions), in 360 lots. Among the examples of original illustration art on offer are Kam Mak's oil painting used for the cover of Katherine Kirkpatrick's Keeping the Good Light ($3,000-5,000).
Addison & Sarova holds a sale of Rare Books & the Harrison Forman Archive on Saturday, November 3, in 367 lots. A first edition of Donne's Pseudo-Martyr (1610) is estimated at $12,000-18,000. A 1590 copy of Spenser's Faerie Queene which once belonged to scholar H. W. Garrod (whose research concluded that it had been inscribed by Spenser's wife) could sell for $10,000-15,000. Lots 306-367 include material from the collection of reporter and photographer Harrison Forman (1904-1978), including photographs of Tibet and Mongolia, film reels, notebooks, &c.
