Fine Books & Autographs: June 16, 2022 Auction Highlights



Lot 127: Albert Einstein & Rabindranath Tagore, photograph showing the Nobel Prize winners in physics and literature, signed by both, 1931. Estimate $30,000 to $40,000.

Fine Autographs

Sure to arouse curiosity, the summer Fine Books & Autographs sale shines a light into some of the most sparkling gemstones of history. Bidders can explore significant material from world leaders, including a selection of over 40 U.S. presidential autographs from a diverse group of 20 presidents and first ladies, including an extraordinary archive of more than 60 Woodrow Wilson letters written during World War II. Other selections include items by notable civil rights leaders, foremost among them being the Typed Letter Signed by Martin Luther King, Jr., in which he discusses the historical use of the N-word.

Marilyn Monroe is a star of the auction, with two featured autographs, including a pin-up calendar signed and inscribed by her. Elsewhere, stars of science and literature, are represented in the extraordinary photograph taken when Albert Einstein and Rabindranath Tagore met in the summer of 1930—signed by both in 1931. Also included are a selection of astronaut items, featuring an autograph letter signed by Neil Armstrong soon after the 1969 Apollo 11 mission discussing the color scheme of the space suits and lunar lander to help a family build a parade float celebrating the Moon landing.

Also casting a glow are a Vacationland magazine signed and inscribed by Walt Disney, a photograph signed by Mark Twain, a photograph signed by Andrew Carnegie and an autographed letter signed in 1788 by Chief Justice John Marshall offering congratulations on the progress of the ratification of the Federal Constitution.

Related Readings



19th & 20th Century Literature

Highlights in the literature portion of the sale run the gamut from a first edition triple-decker of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, 1847, to a signed, limited edition of The Nobel Lecture by Bob Dylan, 2017, a first collected edition of William Wordsworth’s Poems, 1807, and one of just 30 copies of T.S. Eliot’s Ara Vos Prec, 1919, signed by him.

Continental literature includes a signed copy of proto-Surrealist Raymond Roussel’s most famous work Locus Solus and several scarce works from the Romanian avant-garde, including titles illustrated by Constantin Brancusi and Man Ray. Also on offer is desirable children’s literature, and a high-spot of economics theory, Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham and David L. Dodd.

Lot 289: Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. Edited by Currer Bell, London, 1847. Estimate $12,000 to $18,000.

Art, Press & Illustrated Books

Edward Ruscha’s Flipping, Kicking, Howling, Rolling, Sitting, Standing, Climbing, Telling, one of 35 copies signed by him, and a limited edition of Robert Indiana’s Numbers, one of 250 signed copies, from the artist’s personal collection, are two top lots. There is an excellent sampling of late nineteenth- to early twentieth- century French illustrated works in deluxe editions featuring original art by such notables as Paul-Adolphe Kauffmann, Andre Edouard Marty, and Charles Jouas.

Lot 444: Edward Ruscha, Flipping, Kicking, Howling, Rolling, Sitting, Standing, Climbing, Telling, eight color etchings, Los Angeles, 1988. Estimate $15,000 to $20,000.

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