Rare Book Monthly

Articles - March - 2014 Issue

The Gordon Waldorf Collection of Modern Literary High Spots at Sotheby's on April 1st

An exceptional collection of 20th century high spots

On April 1st Sotheby’s in New York will conduct two sales, both single owner and one a two-item offering.  The Gordon Waldorf Collection of modern literary high spots includes ”truly fine [and thus truly rare] copies of such titles as The Sun Also Rises and The Hobbit, as well as the best example of The Great Gatsby in jacket to come to market in decades.  The sale also boasts remarkable presentation copies, including Faulkner to his mother, Hemingway to his wife Martha, Eliot to his literary patron, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald both inscribing to a fellow author, and Kerouac at last identifying himself as the narrator of On the Road.”

 

Mr. Waldorf, now in his early 80’s, came to book collecting late in life and relied heavily on Glenn Horowitz for expert advice.  The 50 examples he carefully acquired represent the best and most interesting copies, many of them association or condition rarities, he could find.

 

His motive and approach are well explained in the introduction to his sale that has been, very appropriately, written by Mr. Horowitz.  It explains this sale but is useful reading to all who collect or have aspirations to do so:

 

“Gordon Waldorf and I met over a lunch arranged long distance by his London based, South African cousin Clive Hirschhorn, a theater and film historian and a prodigious collector of first editions.  Clive presciently had sensed that Gordon was ripe for an expansive project that would stand in stark contrast to any he had previously embarked upon. The lunch Gordon and I shared lasted late in to the afternoon, and by the time we parted we had mapped out the terrain we would follow - the path reflected in this catalogue.  We never veered from the original design: to gather, primarily, unique copies of key texts of American and English literature of the 20th century.  Politics and essays were to be eschewed; fiction and, to a lesser degree, poetry were front and center.  We kept our eyes trained on books we felt would also appeal to subsequent buyers, to collectors who would at a later date  assume care for them.  We believed that by remaining disciplined and patient - often difficult postures to maintain when the impulse to gather has been whetted - we would achieve our goal.  The moment when each of the books in this catalogue was acquired remains vivid, alive to us. The copy of Lolita presented by Nabokov to Henry James's nephew and executor was electrifying, linking as it does two generations of indisputable greatness, even though it entailed a slight chronological hiccup.  A Fable inscribed by Faulkner to his mother caused us to reflect on how a copy of a book could encapsulate a long nourishing relationship.  The Hogarth Press edition of The Waste Land, in unblemished condition, given by Eliot to his patron Lady Rothemere spoke eloquently to both sides of that complicated but crucial relationship.  Flappers and Philosophers inscribed by both Scott and Zelda not only crowned the run of Fitzgerald first editions we were fortunate to bag but embodies the Jazz Age, a golden moment the two have come to  define. The acquisition of  On the Road, maybe the most American of American books in this catalogue, provided endless pleasure: Copies of consequence of this title pops up with alarming infrequency, and this one provides a snapshot of the poignantly brief moment in which Kerouac experienced the pride and pleasure of creating enduring art from his experience of the world.  But the book that provided the most mischievous of pleasures when it was first in hand is the copy of A Streetcar Named Desire signed by Tennessee Williams and his colleagues who first gave it life on Broadway.  When I appeared with it and insisted we add it to the collection Gordon initially balked and then after I began sputtering suggested we put a call in to Clive in London and solicit the counsel of a seasoned collector of theater books.  After getting Mr. Hirschhorn on a speaker in Gordon;s office and walking him through the merits of the copy a long silence ensued: I thought maybe the trans Atlantic connection had been lost. But after a few additional moments of stillness had elapsed Clive softly said: sell that book to me, not to Gordon.

So with this sale at Sotheby's our hope is that similar sentiments are shared by others in the room on the day of the auction, or on phone lines and computers at distances comparable to the one between London and New York when the three of us who conceived of this project came together in the spirit of camaraderie.”

 

Glenn Horowitz

 

For him the collecting of great books was not big game hunting but rather catch and release.  On April 1st they go back into the wild.

 

On the same day, on behalf of the Indiana Historical Society, Sotheby’s will sell a complete set of Audubon’s Birds of America, a set of extraordinary importance that has achieved two distinct lives, one as a complete and increasingly rare set, the other as 435 images that are individually coveted as significant collectibles.  Mike Stillman has written a story about this other sale and it appears elsewhere in this issue of AE Monthly.  

 

The Sale on April 1st

Rare Book Monthly

  • 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.
  • 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

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