On Thursday October 22, PBA Galleries offer a collection of fine literature from 19th & 20th Centuries Easton Press – “Alcoholics Anonymous Collection.”

 

Perhaps the most notable highlight in PBA Galleries’ sale of 19th & 20th Centuries Easton Press is the sixth printing of the Alcoholics Anonymous “Big Book,” inscribed by the three founders of A.A., Bill Wilson, Dr Bob and Bill Dotson. The “Big Book” (estimate: $30,000/50,000) is a part of a large and significant collection of A.A. books, many of which are inscribed by Bill Wilson.  

 

Other significant items, include:

• An exceedingly rare first edition, first issue of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, which comes in original full leather, complete with uncancelled p.283 showing a curve on the fly of Uncle Silas' trousers. Estimate: $10,000/15,000.

 

• A rare first edition, first printing of Alcoholics Anonymous, the cornerstone text of the organization, one of the most influential and important books of the twentieth century. Estimate: $10,000/15,000.

 

• J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, first American edition, 1938, predecessor to The Lord of the Rings, first state with the bowing Hobbit vignette on title page, in the rare original dust jacket. Estimate: $8,000/12,000.

 

• Cannery Row, inscribed and signed on the title-page by author John Steinbeck and by his close friend marine biologist Ed Ricketts, who served as the model for the leading character Doc and to whom the book is dedicated. Estimate: $5,000/8,000.

 

• Aristophanes' play Lysistrata, illustrated and signed by Pablo Picasso, one of 1500 copies, part of a small selection of Limited Editions Club publications. Estimate: $4,000/6,000.

 

• Autograph note initialed by James Joyce, regarding Herbert Gorman's 1924 biography of Joyce and referring to passages in the first chapter. Estimate: $3,000/5,000

 

 

Ofcourse there are plenty of other items of considerable interest. For the full catalogue list, please visit:

http://www.pbagalleries.com/live/index.php

 

On October 19, Bonhams & Butterfields will offer a fine array of Surfing History and Memorabilia selected from the Collection of Mark Blackburn, Honolulu, Hawaii.

 

The Blackburn collection covers the history of surfing from the basic wave-riding of the indigenous Hawaiian people through to the high-tech fibreglass boarding of the present day.

 

A major highlight of the auction are the gigantic signed framed handprints of the legendary Godfather of surfing Duke Paoa Kahanamoku (est. $8,000 – 12,000). The “Duke” was famed for his strong hands, and the handprints show that his hands measured a staggering 9-inches long and 6-inches wide. In 1929, the legendary swimmer made the longest ride ever recorded to date, measuring one mile at Waikiki Beach. 

 

Other featured highlights from the Collection include:

 

- a letter and "Bathing costume" from early hot-dogger John "Hawkshaw" Paia, known

for his idiosyncratic  ability to play the ukulele while surfing ($1,000-2,000)

 

-       a "passport-style" invitation, commemorating big-wave pioneer Rick Grigg's participation in the Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surf Championship which he won in 1967 (est. $2,000-3,000)

 

-       an extensive archive of California surfing history, featuring photographs, letters and printed items from sporting greats Bruce Brown, Doc Ball and Lance Carson.

 

Also on offer is an incredibly rare first edition of the 1931 surfing text The Art of Wave Riding, inscribed by the author Ronald Blake Drummond, which is expected to make in excess of $500. It was published several years before Tom Blake's The Hawaiian Surfboard, the first definitive book on the subject; a presentation copy of the first edition of that work is also included in the sale (est. $3,000-5,000).

 

The October sale also boasts two remarkable documents dating from the birth of the State of California and an archive of rare correspondence related to the personal life of author A.A. Milne.

 

For more information, please visit:   http://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/wspd_cgi.sh/pubweb/publicSite.r?sContinent=EUR&screen=HeadlineDetails&iHeadlineNo=4402

Swann Galleries, New York will conduct a major auction of 19th & 20th Century Literature; and Art, Press & Illustrated Books on Thursday, March 12, with strong material in each department.

Among the desirable 19th-century literary works are Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, in its first one-volume edition, which is also the first illustrated edition, and first to credit Shelley as the author, (estimate: $2,000 to $3,000), Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist; or, the Parish Boy’s Progress, in three volumes, illustrated with 24 George Cruikshank drawings,  ($5,000 to $7,000); a signed, first limited edition of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray ($3,000 to $4,000); and a signed, first limited edition of Joyce’s Finnegans Wake, ($5,000 to $7,000).

Among the 20th Century Literature books, is a copy of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s second novel, The Beautiful and Damned, ($6,000 to $9,000), and some unusually bright copies of John Steinbeck’s classics Of Mice and Men, ($2,000 to $3,000), and The Grapes of Wrath, New York, ($2,500 to $3,500).

The art session, held in the afternoon, keeps up the high standards established by the 19th & 20th Century Literature collection.

In the field of Modern art key players include, the first book illustrated by Maurice Denis, Voyage d’Urien, one of 300 copies, ($5,000 to $7,000); Henri Matisse’s Cinquante  
Dessins, inscribed and signed to Walter Pach, organizer of the 1913 Armory show of Modern Art, ($5,000 to $7,500); and one of only five copies on Japan of Livret de folastries, with 43 etchings after drawings by Aristide Maillol, Paris, 1940 ($4,000 to $6,000)....and the list goes on.

To view the extended list of highlights, of which there are many, an illustrated catalogue is available online at:

http://www.swanngalleries.com.

A collection of mauchline ware books, considered to be more extensive than that in the National Library of Scotland, is going to be offered in Bloomsbury Auctions Children’s Books, Private Press & Limited Editions, Livres d’Artistes, Modern Illustrated Books and Original Artwork sale, on Thursday February 26th.

Consisting of 54 lots, the collection is the result of 25 years painstaking work, and the books offer diversity in subject matter, covering a spectrum of subjects from prayer books, bibles and books on the language of flowers or birds’ eggs to poetry books by H W Longfellow, Robert Burns, or Lord Alfred Tennyson.

Of the latter category, there is a particularly appealing Burns work. The Poetical Works and Letters by Robert Burns decorated with transfer vignettes ‘from Pitnacree, Dunkeld’ and ‘Dinna forget Pitnacree’ and with an unexpected vignette of the Italian patriot Garibaldi (estimate £150-200).

Another eye-catching item for the Burns collector is his Scottish Keepsake (lot 17) with a Campbell tartan mauchline binding and gilt leather spine, dated 1845 and estimated to sell for £300-400.

The collection highlight, again a poetic work, is a six-volume box of Select Poetry by Sir Walter Scott in mauchline tartan bindings with a cameo bust of Scott on the lid. This estimated £1000-1500 and datable 1869-70, Edinburgh.

These beautifully crafted, decorative wood mementos were designed by William and Andrew Smith in the first half of the nineteenth century and made until about 1930. Initially created using sycamore and later other local woods, they were often covered in a tartan and then embellished with engravings of Scottish views.

For more information on the mauchline collection, please visit:

http://www.bloomsburyauctions.com/auction/677

A lively collection of Children’s Books, Private Press & Limited editions, Livres d’Artistes, Modern Illustrated Books and Original Art Work compiled from a wide variety of private collections will be offered at Bloomsbury Auctions on Wednesday 26th February.

An unquestionable highlight of the sale is the strong Livres d’Artistes section, which incorporates over 200 major figures from, Matisse, Chagall, Buffet, Braque, Calder, Derain and Dufy to Ernst, Vlaminck, Frink, Foujita, Goya and Hockney. A particular feature among the Livres d’Artistes collection is the bold woodcut illustrations by Derain, which stand as a rare example of multi-colour printing from single blocks. Estimate £8,000-12,000.

Highlights from the Book section of the sale include:
A copy of Selections from Poems, in which Henry Moore and fellow Yorkshireman W H Auden describe their intense fascination with the Yorkshire Moors landscape (estimate £1,000-1,500).

From the Children’s Books, a fine example of the rare variant deluxe edition and first trade edition of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, which comes in modern buckram and suede lined morocco drop-back Bayntun-Riviere (1902). Estimate £5,000-6,000.

While the heated ‘Golliwogs’ controversy remains a subject of great sensitivity, Bloomsbury is offering a rare chance to own the complete 13 volume set of the Golliwog books dating from 1896-1909 by Bertha and Florence Upton(lot 217), for £2,500-3,500.

For further examples of intriguing lots, please visit:
http://www.bloomsburyauctions.com/auction/677