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Rare signed Mao book

Rare signed Mao book hailed in RR Auction May 13

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf
Rare signed Mao book
The selected works of Mao Zedong, inscribed to the special counsel of Cambodia’s King Sihanouk (Estimate: $300,000+). RR Auction image

BOSTON – With over 1,000 lots up for bidding, RR Auction’s May Fine Autographs and Artifacts sale is the biggest thus far in 2020, with online bidding through May 13. View the fully illustrated catalog on LiveAuctioneers.

Highlights include a book boldly signed by Mao Tse-Toung; Oeuvres Choisies de Mao Tse-Toung. Tome IV [Selected Works by Mao Tse-Toung. Volume IV], first French edition, Beijing: editions en Langues Etrangeres, 1962. The hardcover book is bound in brown leatherette with its original slipcase. Prominently signed on an opening page in black ink “Mao Zedong,” brush-written in 1965 shortly before the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, with a rare calligraphic inscription to foreign diplomat Charles Meyer (est. $300,000+).

A rare handwritten letter by Sun Yat-sen, founding father and first president of the Republic of China (1866-1925). The three-page handwritten letter (below) in English, signed “Y-S Sen,” is written on The Republic of China, President’s Office letterhead and dated Nov. 29, 1921. The letter is written to the journalist Mrs. Morton, regarding acts of humanitarian relief. (est. $100,000+).

Rare signed Mao book
Sun Yat-sen on fundraising for humanitarian aid and the Kuomintang party through “theatrical plays, a Tag Day, a week-long bazaar carried on entirely by women” (Estimate: $100,000+). RR Auction image

A letter by Karl Marx concerning the publication of Das Kapital in translation. The one-page handwritten letter, dated Jan. 13, 1872, was apparently written to publisher Maurice Lachâtre (est. $60,000+)

Rare signed Mao book
A Karl Marx letter regarding the publication of his French translation of ‘Das Kapital’ in 1872. RR Auction image

A letter by Claude Monet about Queen Victoria’s state funeral: the eight-page handwritten letter in French is signed “Your old man who loves you, Claude,” on Savoy Hotel letterhead, Feb. 2, 1901. The lengthy letter to his wife, Alice, commenting on the funeral of Queen Victoria (which he had observed earlier that day), meeting the writer Henry James and attending a dinner hosted by John Singer Sargent at a house once occupied by James McNeil Whistler (est. $20,000+)

A battlefield message from the Revolutionary War’s “Swamp Fox,” Francis Marion. Due to his irregular methods, he is considered one of the fathers of modern guerrilla warfare. The Revolutionary War-dated handwritten one-page letter signed “Fran. Marion,” dated Feb. 26, 1781, was to Brig. Gen. Thomas Sumter, written between the battles of Cowpens and Guilford Court House (est. $20,000+)

The sale also features a special Civil War section that boasts the thoroughbred racing saddle of George Custer, and autographs of Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson, William T. Sherman, Robert E. Lee and more.

Rare signed Mao book
The racing saddle of George A. Custer. RR Auction image

The Fine Autographs and Artifacts Featuring Civil War from RR Auction will conclude on May 13 at 7 p.m. Eastern time.

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Rare signed Mao book