Swann's Gorey Results
New York—Collectors and dealers competed for rare illustrated books on October 14 at Swann Galleries’ auction of 19th & 20th Century Literature, and Art, Press & Illustrated Books.
Christine von der Linn, Swann’s Modern Literature and Art & Illustrated Books Specialist, said, “The livres d’artiste and the Edward Gorey material—most of which set records—were the real show- stoppers at this auction, and attracted many new buyers in the process.”
The sale featured nearly 50 Gorey lots from a private collection. Of special note were signed first limited editions of the compendium Amphigorey, with an original drawing of a cat in a striped sweater, New York, 1972, and The Sopping Thursday, with an original drawing of a cat balancing an umbrella on its paw, and bearing an inscription to a well-known science-fiction expert, New York, 1970. They each sold for a record price of $9,600*.
Other record-setting Gorey highlights were signed limited editions of The Beastly Baby by Ogdred Weary, the first book from Gorey's Fantod Press, $1,200; Categor Y, $1,200; L'Heure Bleue, $1,680; The Lavender Leotard; or, Going a Lot to The New York City Ballet, $1,680; and All Strange Away, his collaboration with Samuel Beckett, signed by both, $5,040.
While the Gorey works were modest publications, the auction also featured the two lavishly produced works by the Polish-born artist Arthur Szyk. A signed copy of his celebrated Haggadah, printed on vellum and bound in original gilt-pictorial blue morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe after Szyk’s designs, first edition, London, 1939, brought $45,600; and his Statutes of Kalisz, Paris, 1932, an extremely rare limited edition facsimile of the illuminated manuscript Szyk completed in 1926-27, sold for $36,000.
Fierce bidding resulted in a record price of $13,200 for the first Dutch edition of El Lissitzky’s groundbreaking avant-garde work Suprematisch worden van twedraten in 6 konstrukties , The Hague, 1922.
Also setting auction records were one of 100 deluxe copies of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, a luxurious publication with 56 illustrated text pages by Elihu Vedder, signed and numbered, Cambridge, 1884, $6,240, which was a record for a copy in the original publisher’s binding; and one of only 10 signed copies of Mark Beard’s Nineteen Famous People, Twenty-Two Friends and Six Nudes, hand-colored photographs, New York, 1992, $7,200.
Other Modern art highlights were Henri Matisse’s Florilège des Amours, 126 lithographs, bound, Paris, 1948, $20,400; Fernand Léger's Cirque, the artist's master graphic work, containing 34 color lithographs and 29 black and white lithographs, Paris, 1950, $28,800; and David Hockney’s interpretation of the Grimm Brothers’ Six Fairy Tales, 39 etchings, plus a suite of 6 signed and numbered plates, signed, London, 1970, $13,200.
Private press books of note included the Roycroft Press’s The Deserted Village by Oliver Goldsmith, containing more than 30 pencil sketched vignettes by W.W. Denslow in the margins and his signature on the title page, East Aurora, 1898, $6,000, Denslow is best known for his illustrations for the Wizard of Oz series; the Doves Press English Bible, five volumes, on handmade paper, Hammersmith, 1903-05, $6,480; and the Cranach Press edition of Hamlet, with woodcut illustrations by Edward Gordon Craig, Weimar, 1930, $10,800.
Rounding out the art and illustrated books section were Goya’s Los Caprichos, 80 etchings with aquatint, bound, likely the sixth edition, Madrid, circa 1899, $18,000; Alexandre Iacovleff’s Dessins et Peintures d’Asie, 50 color engravings, heliogravures and offset lithographs, Paris, 1922, $10,200; and the Rockwell Kent-illustrated Moby Dick, or, The Whale, with 280 illustrations, Chicago, 1930, $6,480.
Highlights from the literature section were William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems, first edition, second issue, London, 1798, $7,800; and Ernest Hemingway’s first book, Three Stories and Ten Poems, first and only edition, Paris, 1923, $19,200; and a first limited edition of A.A. Milne’s Winnie-The-Pooh, signed by Milne and illustrator E.H. Shepard, London, 1926, $5,760.
For complete results of the auction, an illustrated catalogue, with prices realized on request, is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, and may be viewed online at www.swanngalleries.com.
For further information, and to propose consignments to upcoming auctions of 19th & 20th Century Literature and Art, Press & Illustrated Books, please contact Christine von der Linn at (212) 254-4710 ext. 20, or via email at cvonderlinn@swanngalleries.com.
*All prices include buyer’s premium.
Rebecca Weiss
Media Relations
Swann Galleries
104 East 25th Street
New York, NY 10010
212-254-4710, ext. 23
rebeccaw@swanngalleries.com
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Christine von der Linn, Swann’s Modern Literature and Art & Illustrated Books Specialist, said, “The livres d’artiste and the Edward Gorey material—most of which set records—were the real show- stoppers at this auction, and attracted many new buyers in the process.”
The sale featured nearly 50 Gorey lots from a private collection. Of special note were signed first limited editions of the compendium Amphigorey, with an original drawing of a cat in a striped sweater, New York, 1972, and The Sopping Thursday, with an original drawing of a cat balancing an umbrella on its paw, and bearing an inscription to a well-known science-fiction expert, New York, 1970. They each sold for a record price of $9,600*.
Other record-setting Gorey highlights were signed limited editions of The Beastly Baby by Ogdred Weary, the first book from Gorey's Fantod Press, $1,200; Categor Y, $1,200; L'Heure Bleue, $1,680; The Lavender Leotard; or, Going a Lot to The New York City Ballet, $1,680; and All Strange Away, his collaboration with Samuel Beckett, signed by both, $5,040.
While the Gorey works were modest publications, the auction also featured the two lavishly produced works by the Polish-born artist Arthur Szyk. A signed copy of his celebrated Haggadah, printed on vellum and bound in original gilt-pictorial blue morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe after Szyk’s designs, first edition, London, 1939, brought $45,600; and his Statutes of Kalisz, Paris, 1932, an extremely rare limited edition facsimile of the illuminated manuscript Szyk completed in 1926-27, sold for $36,000.
Fierce bidding resulted in a record price of $13,200 for the first Dutch edition of El Lissitzky’s groundbreaking avant-garde work Suprematisch worden van twedraten in 6 konstrukties , The Hague, 1922.
Also setting auction records were one of 100 deluxe copies of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, a luxurious publication with 56 illustrated text pages by Elihu Vedder, signed and numbered, Cambridge, 1884, $6,240, which was a record for a copy in the original publisher’s binding; and one of only 10 signed copies of Mark Beard’s Nineteen Famous People, Twenty-Two Friends and Six Nudes, hand-colored photographs, New York, 1992, $7,200.
Other Modern art highlights were Henri Matisse’s Florilège des Amours, 126 lithographs, bound, Paris, 1948, $20,400; Fernand Léger's Cirque, the artist's master graphic work, containing 34 color lithographs and 29 black and white lithographs, Paris, 1950, $28,800; and David Hockney’s interpretation of the Grimm Brothers’ Six Fairy Tales, 39 etchings, plus a suite of 6 signed and numbered plates, signed, London, 1970, $13,200.
Private press books of note included the Roycroft Press’s The Deserted Village by Oliver Goldsmith, containing more than 30 pencil sketched vignettes by W.W. Denslow in the margins and his signature on the title page, East Aurora, 1898, $6,000, Denslow is best known for his illustrations for the Wizard of Oz series; the Doves Press English Bible, five volumes, on handmade paper, Hammersmith, 1903-05, $6,480; and the Cranach Press edition of Hamlet, with woodcut illustrations by Edward Gordon Craig, Weimar, 1930, $10,800.
Rounding out the art and illustrated books section were Goya’s Los Caprichos, 80 etchings with aquatint, bound, likely the sixth edition, Madrid, circa 1899, $18,000; Alexandre Iacovleff’s Dessins et Peintures d’Asie, 50 color engravings, heliogravures and offset lithographs, Paris, 1922, $10,200; and the Rockwell Kent-illustrated Moby Dick, or, The Whale, with 280 illustrations, Chicago, 1930, $6,480.
Highlights from the literature section were William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems, first edition, second issue, London, 1798, $7,800; and Ernest Hemingway’s first book, Three Stories and Ten Poems, first and only edition, Paris, 1923, $19,200; and a first limited edition of A.A. Milne’s Winnie-The-Pooh, signed by Milne and illustrator E.H. Shepard, London, 1926, $5,760.
For complete results of the auction, an illustrated catalogue, with prices realized on request, is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, and may be viewed online at www.swanngalleries.com.
For further information, and to propose consignments to upcoming auctions of 19th & 20th Century Literature and Art, Press & Illustrated Books, please contact Christine von der Linn at (212) 254-4710 ext. 20, or via email at cvonderlinn@swanngalleries.com.
*All prices include buyer’s premium.
Rebecca Weiss
Media Relations
Swann Galleries
104 East 25th Street
New York, NY 10010
212-254-4710, ext. 23
rebeccaw@swanngalleries.com
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