Rare Books &c. at Auction This Week
At Doyle New York on Tuesday, January 29, an online sale of Americana from the Library of Arnold "Jake" Johnson, in 312 lots. A wide range of material, including a copy of Henry Hind Youle's Explorations in the Interior of the Labrador Peninsula, the Country of the Montagnais and Nasquapee Indians (1863) and a journal of an 1890 hunting trip to Colorado, illustrated with photographs (both, as of the time of writing, bid up to $1,200).
Also on Tuesday, Swann sells Fine Illustrated Books & Graphics, in 201 lots. Kandinsky's Klänge (Munich, 1913) rates the top estimate, at $30,000-40,000. A set of Marie Laurencin's illustrations for the Black Sun Press edition of Alice in Wonderland (1930), could sell for $15,000-25,000. A copy of the complete Nonesuch Dickens, with an original woodblock, is estimated at $5,000-7,500. Many lots from the Cheloniidae Press, as well, so the collector will want to keep an eye on those.
Dominic Winter Auctioneers sells Printed Books, Maps & Documents on Wednesday, January 30, in 578 lots. A collection twenty of rare Mauritius lithographs from the Souvenirs de Maurice series is estimated at £10,000-15,000, while a collection of correspondence between automobile pioneer Charles Stewart Rolls and photographer F. Howard Mercer could sell for £4,000-6,000.
At Forum Auctions on Wednesday, a 568-lot sale of Private Press, Illustrated Books and Modern Editions. Sharing top pegging at £10,000-15,000 are an unsigned, out-of-series copy of Fernand Leger's Cirque (1950; pictured); one of just twenty-five large paper copies of Oscar Wilde's The Sphinx (1894), designed by Charles Ricketts; and a Jessie Marion King ink drawing on vellum, "The Lament," (c.1890s).
Also on Wednesday, Bonhams London holds The Gentleman's Library Sale, in 628 lots. Mostly furnishings, art, &c., but the catalogue is well worth a browse for the bibliophile.
On Thursday, January 30 at Lyon & Turnbull, Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photography, in 470 lots. Among the top-estimated lots in this one are a special edition of Ian Fleming's On Her Majesty's Secret Service (£8,000-12,000) and a set of Captain Cook-related titles (£7,000-9,000).
Freeman's sells Books, Maps & Manuscripts on Thursday, in 414 lots. A collection of 240 volumes relating to Jewish Displaced Persons in Europe in the years following the end of World War II is estimated at $100,000-150,000. A great mix of other material as well.
Rounding out the busy week of sales, Potter & Potter holds a Fine Books & Manuscripts sale on Saturday, February 2. The sale features a wide range of Chicago memorabilia, including a 1929 New York Central Lines railroad poster ($4,000-5,000). Several lots of Frank Lloyd Wright drawings and blueprints will be on the block, including a signed original floor plan for the Louis Frederick House ($6,000-8,000).
