Swann delivers bounty of Fine Books & Manuscripts, June 15

John Carleton Atherton, ‘Fall Bounty’ cover design for ‘The Saturday Evening Post,’ estimated at $10,000-$15,000

NEW YORK — The Thursday, June 15 sale of Fine Books & Manuscripts at Swann Auction Galleries features a standout offering of rare autographs and books with a special selection dedicated to illustration art. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.

The autographs portion of the sale features remarkable items signed by U.S. Presidents, musicians and entertainers, as well as a special selection of autographs by historical figures who aspired to great heights, be they revolutionaries, writers, artists or aviators. Of note is Pancho Villa, whose letter implores the governor of Chihuahua to persuade authorities to release him from prison. The letter was signed and written entirely in his hand while facing execution by firing squad, and has an estimate of $7,000-$10,000. Also on offer are letters and documents by Emiliano Zapata and Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.

Pancho Villa signed 1912 autograph letter to Chihuahua Governor Abraham Gonzalez in Spanish, estimated at $7,000-$10,000

Additional highlights feature three lots from Mahatma Gandhi, including an autograph letter signed to descendants of his old friend Dr. Pranjivan Mehta, urging that they take up a life of public service, which has an estimate of $10,000-$20,000, as well as autographs from Queen Elizabeth II, Oliver Cromwell and Napoleon.

A run of lots dedicated to Ernest Hemmingway are on offer, starting with a high school scrapbook kept by his classmate and signed three times in 1917 by Hemingway using playful nicknames, estimated at $600-$900, ending with film rights contracts and letters addressed to Hemingway’s attorney concerning Old Man and the Sea and A Farewell to Arms, estimated at $1,500-$2,500. Additional offers include a 1950 typed letter signed by J.D. Salinger mentioning the completion of Catcher in the Rye, estimated at $7,000-$10,000, and a typed letter signed by Kurt Vonnegut warning his brother in 1946 of the imminent nuclear destruction of humanity, estimated at $3,000-$4,000.

Charles Dickens, ‘The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, Prime Pickwick,’ believed to be one of a few first editions bound in book form, estimated at $30,000-$40,000

The 19th- and 20th-century literature portion of the sale is led by one of the earliest known copies of Charles Dickens’ The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, printed in London in 1837, one of an early few deemed a Prime Pickwick, with this copy bound in book form and bearing an estimate of $30,000-$40,000. Further Dickens titles include a first edition of A Christmas Carol in the original cloth, estimated at $4,500-$6,000. Other notables include a finely-bound first American edition of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, produced in Boston in 1954-56, estimated at $9,000-$12,000; and a group of five first editions from Lewis Carroll that includes a copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, published in London in 1866, estimated at $6,000-$9,000.

Gustav Klimt, ‘Das Werk von Gustav Klimt,’ complete with 50 printed collotype plates, estimated at $25,000-$35,000

Highlights from the art, press and illustrated book offerings include Das Werk von Gustav Klimt, created in Vienna in 1918, complete with all 50 plates and estimated at $25,000-$35,000; a very elusive 1986 Edward Gorey item, Elefantomas, one of 26 signed and lettered sets, which has an estimate of $10,000-$15,000; and seldom-seen artist proof copies of both Letters and Numbers dating to 1968 by Erte (Romain de Tirtoff), estimated at $6,000-$9,000 and $4,000-$6,000, respectively.

The final portion of the sale consists of original illustration art, including cartoons and animation, examples of book and magazine works, and fashion and theater-related material. Headlining this section is John Carleton Atherton’s Saturday Evening Post wartime 1943 oil Fall Bounty, estimated at $10,000-$15,000. Other notables include a substantial group of drawings by Charles Schulz with nearly all the Peanuts core characters represented, estimated at $8,000-$12,000; and a fine Madeleine by Ludwig Bemelmans that has an estimate of $5,000-$7,500.

Click to view top auction results on LiveAuctioneers: https://www.liveauctioneers.com/pages/recent-auction-sales/