Rare Book Monthly

Articles - November - 2013 Issue

Graham Arader: Defining the space between auction and retail

The Arader Galleries this month continue to explore the relationship between the retailing of important images in their shops and their selling of them at auction.  The entire category of collectibles is in transition and the firm, the leading dealer in the printed images field, testing the dividing line between these two very different markets.  Interest in their material, Audubon and other exceptional prints, is unabated but increasingly buyers are looking for market confirmation for the prices they pay.

 

To manage this shift Mr. Arader has been offering, in a series of auctions, material with high estimates of $10,000 and less on an unreserved basis.  This has made it possible for conservative bidders to acquire very nice lots at very affordable prices.  It has also acquainted them with the Arader Galleries and opened paths for the firm to become, for these buyers, a regular source for many of the more expensive prints that rarely pass through the rooms.  It is a remarkable effort.

 

Illustrating this story are 10 of the lots that will be sold without reserve.  On most AE pages the Arader Galleries have also posted images, brief descriptions and links to other lots, in many cases more expensive lots.  The education that Mr. Arader is getting is not tuition free and he has prepared himself for the possibility of occasionally losing money on lots in exchange for the clarification such sales provide.   

 

For bidders, with the holidays at hand, it looks like Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa are arriving early.  If so, we now know that Santa lives in Pennsylvania.

 

The firm describes the sale this way:

 

‘A superb exhibition of nearly one third of the original hand-coloured aquatints from John James Audubon's magnificent double-elephant folio "The Birds of America", the single most important work on North American ornithology; about half of the original hand-colored lithographs from his Imperial folio "The Viviparous Quadrupeds", the first great all-American color-plate book; and some beautiful original watercolors on vellum from Pierre-Joseph Redoute's magnum opus "Les Liliacees."  All are currently on view at the Gallery at 1016 Madison Ave., NYC, NY 10021.’

 

The sale is on the 9th beginning at 1:00 pm at 1016 Madison Avenue in New York.  On the 8th, at 6:00 pm, Barney Lipscomb, the Leonhardt Chair of Texas Botany at the Botanical Research Institute Texas is giving an illustrated lecture “Art and Science:  A Botanist’s Eye:  Redoute and the Art of Floral Illustration.”  The public is invited.

 

To arrange to view lots in person or to learn about bidding options contact:

 

The Arader Gallery

1016 Madison Avenue [bet. 78th and 79th]

New York, New York 10021

 

View the entire sale on Live Auctioneers and on Proxibid

 

Arrange to Visit:  call 212-628-7625

 

Arrange to bid: Please contact Guernsey’s Auctioneers at 212-794-2280

 

Personally discuss your collecting interests with Graham Arader:  212- 628-3668

 

Descriptions for the numbered images accompanying this article.

 

Lot 12

John James Audubon
Red-tailed Hawk
Plate 51

Aquatint engraving with original hand color

37 5/8 x 25 ¼ inches

Retail price: $17,500

Estimate $4,000-5,000
No Reserve

 

Lot 13

John James Audubon

Chuck Will’s Widow

Plate 52

Aquatint engraving with original hand color

25 3/8 x 37 3/8 inches

Retail price: $25,000

Estimate: $6,000-8,000

No Reserve

 

Lot 90

John James Audubon

Ruddy Duck

Plate 343

Aquatint engraving with original hand color

38 1/8 x 26 5/8 inches

Retail price: $18,000

Estimate: $4,000-6,000

No Reserve

  

Lot 106

John James Audubon

Snow Goose

Plate 381

Aquatint engraving with original hand color

38 1/8 x 25 ¼ inches

Retail price: $18,000

Estimate: $5,000-7,000

No Reserve



Lot 113

John James Audubon

Red-breasted Merganser

Plate 401

Aquatint engraving with original hand color

38 ½ x 25 inches

Retail price: $45,000

Estimate: $7,000-10,000

No Reserve



Lot 140

John James Audubon

Canada Porcupine

Plate 36

Hand colored lithograph

21 ½ x 27 ¼ inches

Retail price: $14,000

Estimate: $3,000-5,000

No Reserve

 

Lot 169

John James Audubon

Common American Deer (Fawn)

Plate 81

Hand colored lithograph

21 x 27 1/8 inches

Retail price: $25,000

Estimate: $6,000-10,000

No Reserve

 

Lot 206

John James Audubon

American Black Bear

Plate 141

Hand-colored lithograph

20 ½ x 26 5/8 inches

Retail price: $22,500

Estimate: $7,000-8,000

No Reserve

 

Lot 221

Charles Lucien Bonaparte

American Ornithology; or, the Natural History of Birds Inhabiting the United States not Given by Wilson. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Carey; Carey & Lea, 1825-1833.

4 volumes

Folio (15 2/8 x 12 inches)

27 fine hand-colored engraved plates

Retail price: $13,750

Estimate: $8,000-10,000

No Reserve

 

Lot 256
George Brookshaw
Plate LXI-Grape Lady Bathurst Tokay, from Pomona Brittanica

Stipple engraving

Single sheet: 18 x 22 ½ inches

Image size: 13 ¼ x 17 inches

Retail price: $7,000

Estimate: $1,000-2,000

No Reserve

 

Rare Book Monthly

  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD
  • Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG BEADED JUDICIAL COLLAR. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A COMPLETE RUN OF VISIONAIRE MAGAZINE THROUGH 2010. $6,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: LAW REVIEW OFFPRINT SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: META REBNER'S WORKING SCRIPT OF THE LOVED ONE. $1,500 - $2,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A KATHY GROVE PORTRAIT OF CYNDI LAUPER FOR THE FEBRUARY 1989 DETAILS COVER. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A PLASTIC COAT BY MILLIE DAVID FEATURED IN SOHO NEWS STYLE SECTION, FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANNIE FLANDERS. $500 - $700
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG JEWELRY BOX. $600 - $900
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A SET OF JONI MITCHELL LYRICS FOR "IF I HAD A HEART." $2,000 - $3,000
  • 19th Century Shop
    Catalogue 198 just published
    19th Century Shop. Darwin and Wallace, first printing of the first paper on natural selection
    19th Century Shop. Shakespeare’s Poems, first collected edition
    19th Century Shop. Walt Whitman portrait inscribed with a Leaves of Grass poem
    19th Century Shop. Major Elizabeth Barrett Browning manuscript notebook
    19th Century Shop. Spock's Baby Book, original MS
    19th Century Shop. Cellarius, Harmonia Macrocosmica, the great celestial atlas
  • Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HARRISON, Benjamin. Document signed (“Benj Harrison”) as governor of Virginia, certifying the service of Daniel Cumbo, a Black Revolutionary soldier. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HIGHLY IMPORTANT MORMON ARCHIVE. ALLEY, George. Archive of 23 Autograph Letters Signed by Mormon Convert George Alley to His Brother Joseph Alley. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [AVIATION]. [ARMSTRONG, Neil A.] Aviation Hall of Fame Gold Medal MS64 NGC, Awarded to Neil Armstrong in 1979. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: NEWLY DISCOVERED FIRST PRINTING OF "WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE... " FROM THE ONLY NEWSPAPER ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL PROCESSION. $4,000 to $8,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: A VERY RARE ACCOUNT OF BLACKBEARD’S DEATH AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PIRATE ITEMS EXTANT. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [VIETNAM WAR]. The original pen used by Secretary of State William P. Rogers to sign the Vietnam Peace Agreement, Paris, 27 January 1973. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: SONS OF LIBERTY FOUNDER COLONEL BARRÉ ANNOTATED TITLE-PAGE, “WHICH OUGHT TO ROUSE UP BRITISH ATTENTION”. $4,000 to $6,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: [Shakespeare (William)]. [Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies], second folio edition, [by Tho.Cotes, for Robert Allot], [1632]. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Bible, Czech Biblia Bohemica, first complete Bible printed in the Czech vernacular, Prague, August 1488. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Shabthai Tzvi.- Collection of four printed and illustrated broadsides detailing the appearance, rise and fall of the false messiah, Shabthai Tzvi, Augsburg, 1666-67. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Leaf from the Beauvais Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [Northern France (perhaps Beauvais or Amiens)], [fourteenth century (c.1310)]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Aubrey (John). [Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme], manuscript in English, Latin and Greek, [c. 1693]. £30,000 to £50,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Poems on Various Occasions, first edition, Harriet Maltby's copy, Newark, Printed by S. & J. Ridge, 1807. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression with dust-jacket, 1937 [but 1938]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Blake (William).- Thornton (Robert John). The Pastorals of Virgil, 2 vol., engraved plates by William Blake, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: America.- Mount (William J.) & Thomas Page. The English Pilot…, [bound with] The Fourth Book, describing The West Indies Navigation from Hudson's-Bay to the River Amazones, 1721. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Oldfield (Henry Ambrose), Rajman Singh Chitrakar & others. An album of 160 photographs and 13 original artworks, (1833-1919), [c. 1850s-1880s]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.

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