Fine Books & Autographs: October 27, 2022 Auction Highlights View Lots Browse Catalogue Lot 88: George Washington, autograph document signed, two holograph plat maps with corresponding surveys representing tracts on the Shenandoah River, 1751. Estimate $40,000 to $60,000. A large assemblage of extraordinary Americana autographs includes a sweeping group of presidents, and many founding fathers. More than three items are signed by George Washington, including an autograph survey of two tracts on the Shenandoah with the plat maps, signed before he turned 20. The sale also offers a document signed by Benjamin Franklin: a 1785 pay order for £15,000 in paper money. Author autographs include Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, and Virginia Woolf, and a remarkable autograph note signed by George Bernard Shaw on a postcard in which he characterizes his literary works as his children and grumpily adds that genius in any family is a nuisance. Among scientists is a letter by Darwin in which he mentions being unfamiliar with a certain observation about the nesting of birds. Musicians include an uncommon autograph manuscript signed by George Gershwin in 1927 containing 30 bars from “Funny Face.” At auction October 27: left: Lot 33: Frederick Douglass, autograph letter signed, remarking that “there is no entirely satisfactory biography of John Brown,” 1882. Estimate $10,000 to $20,000; right: Lot 46: Charles Darwin, autograph letter signed, confessing ignorance of an observed nesting behavior of birds, “14 February.” Estimate $7,000 to $10,000. Related Reading The Voice & Hand of Frederick Douglass Autographs & History Part I: U.S. Presidents At auction October 27: left: Lot 30: Charlie Chaplin, photograph signed & inscribed, showing him as a young man. Estimate $1,000 to $2,000; right: Lot 54: Elizabeth Taylor, nearly life-size photograph signed & inscribed, showing her at 11 years old during wardrobe test for National Velvet, 1990s. Estimate $5,000 to $7,500. Lot 96: George Gershwin, autograph musical manuscript signed & inscribed, sketch of opening 30 bars of “Funny Face,” 1927. Estimate $7,000 to $10,000. Fine Books Highlights in the literature portion of the sale include James Joyce’s Exiles and the first English editionof Alexander Dumas’s The Count of Monte-Cristo. Also here is the advance proof copy of Ian Hamilton’ssuppressed biography of J.D. Salinger, A Writing Life. Continental literature includes works by RobertWalser, Raymond Roussel and scarce appearances of L’Eve Future by Auguste Villiers de L’Isle-Adamand Le Fantôme de l’Opéra by Gaston Leroux, both retaining their original wrappers. At auction October 27: left: Lot 224: Gertrude Stein, Portrait of Mabel Dodge at the Villa Curonia, first edition, Firenze, 1912. Estimate $2,000 to $3,000; right: Lot 234: Auguste Villiers de I’Isle-Adam, L’Eve Future, first edition, Paris, 1886. Estimate $2,500 to $3,500. Lot 206: George Orwell, Animal Farm, first edition, London 1945. Estimate $3,500 to $4,500. Artist’s books include Ten Works by Ten Painters, ex-collection of Robert Indiana and featuring works by him and others, this copy the deluxe issue, just one of 50 copies, as well as Die Fürstin by Max Beckmann, also the deluxe edition, one of 35 copies with each of the six etchings signed by the artist. Lot 260: Robert Indiana, Numbers, the complete set of 10 color screenprints, signed, 1968. Estimate $30,000 to $40,000. Get Notifications for Auction Day Sign-Up for Email Updates Download the Swann Galleries App Share Facebook Twitter October 4, 2022Author: Swann CommunicationsCategory: Art Press & Illustrated Books Tags: Charles Darwin Charlie Chaplin Elizabeth Taylor Frederick Douglass George Orwell George Washington Gertrude Stein Robert Indiana Previous African American Art—Works to Watch in the Fall 2022 Sale Next Family Papers of Lincoln’s Secretary of the Navy Brings $281k in Fall 2022 Americana Auction at Swann Recommended Posts Auction Highlights: Autographs — November 14, 2024 Autographs October 24, 2024 Records & Results: Autographs Autographs March 28, 2019 John Augustine Washington III & Mount Vernon Printed & Manuscript African Americana March 27, 2017