Letter by Samuel Johnson to a 12-year-old Sophia Thrale, estimate £8000-12,000 at Chorley's.
Among a cache of family correspondence found on a routine valuation in a Gloucestershire country house by Chorley’s is this letter by Samuel Johnson, (1709-84).
The essayist, biographer and lexicographer penned the letter to a 12-year-old Sophia Thrale (1771-1824), the daughter of the author Hester Lynch Thrale (1741-1821) with whom he corresponded regularly.
Letter by Samuel Johnson to a 12-year-old Sophia Thrale, estimate £8000-12,000 at Chorley's.
In the letter the elderly Johnson chides Sophia for not thinking of herself as his favourite; ‘my favour will, I’m afraid never be worth much, but its value more or less, you are never likely to lose it.’
He also praised her arithmetical ability; ‘Never think, my Sweet, that you have arithmetick enough, when you have exhausted your master, buy books, nothing amuses more harmlessly than computation’, and pointing her to a ‘curious calculation’ relating to the capacity of Noah’s Ark in John Wilkins’s Real Character, he says; ‘an essay towards a real character and a philosophical language’.
The letters between Johnson and the Thrale family began in 1765, but their correspondence ended following Hester Lynch Thrale’s second marriage to an impoverished Italian music teacher who had taught her children (Gabriel Mario Piozzi). Johnson did not approve, and their correspondence ceased in 1783.
The letter, one described as ‘present location unknown’ in The Letters of Samuel Johnson (1994) edited by Bruce Bedford, carries an estimate of £8000-12,000 as part of the sale titled The Library: Printed Books & Manuscripts at Chorley’s on September 19.
Civil right
Sammelband of 27 pamphlets recording the events during the English Civil War, particularly in Colchester, estimate £5000-8000 at Dominic Winter.
The library sale of the late Christopher Foyle (1943-2022) at Dominic Winter will be held across two auctions: on September 27 and January 31, 2024.
Foyle, an entrepreneur and philanthropist, was the grandson of William Foyle – the founder of Foyle’s famous bookshop in London’s Charing Cross Road. His library, inherited from his grandfather via his aunt, was held at the family home at Beeleigh Abbey, a 12th-century monastery near Maldon.
A number of books and documents in the collection focus on Essex history with a significant portion relating to the Civil War and to the 2nd and 3rd Earls of Essex.
Pictured here is a sammelband of 27 pamphlets recording the events during the English Civil War, particularly in Colchester. The volume is estimated at £5000-8000.
Expedition sketched out
Sotheby’s sale that runs online until September 21 includes a portfolio of sketches chiefly relating to Captain James Clark Ross’ scientific exploration of the Antarctic in 1839 to 1843, estimate £200,000-300,000.
Sotheby’s sale devoted to Travel, Atlases, Maps & National History that runs online until September 21 includes a remarkable portfolio of sketches chiefly relating to Captain James Clark Ross’ scientific exploration of the Antarctic in 1839 to 1843 with the ships Erebus and Terror.
The archive comes by descent from the family of Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911), the assistant surgeon aboard HMS Erebus during the four-year voyage to locate the Magnetic South Pole.
Of the approximately 130 sketches in pen, ink and watercolour, most are by Hooker himself, each captioned and signed by him.
The expedition was thwarted in its object of locating the pole but made huge advances in establishing the contours of the continent of Antarctica, the science of glaciology, and the zoology and – thanks to Hooker – botany of the region. Estimate £200,000-300,000.
Poignant Titanic letter
Heritage Auctions’ September 21 Historical Manuscripts Signature Auction includes this letter sent from the RMS Titanic by first-class passenger Alfred G Rowe.
Heritage Auctions’ September 21 Historical Manuscripts Signature Auction includes this letter sent from the RMS Titanic by first-class passenger Alfred G Rowe (1853- 1912).
Dated April 11, 1912, the letter discussing the acquisition of some agricultural land, was addressed to his brother Charles Graham Rowe in Liverpool. He finishes: "It is very pleasant here at sea. Not cold, smooth, & fine & sunny. Ship too big that is all."
Rowe had emigrated to America in 1878, establishing a prosperous cattle ranch in Donley County, Texas but by 1910 had moved back to England with his wife and three young children, choosing instead to return to Texas a couple of times a year. On hearing of the death of his brother, a devastated Charlie added the annotation Drowned Early A.M. on April 15th, 1912!! to the top margin of Alfred’s letter.
Bidding for the letter, which is offered in Dallas without reserve, had reached $11,000 at the time of writing.
Keep it short
The books sale at Semley Auctions on September 16 includes this copy of The Whole Book of Psalms in Metre According to the Art of Short-Writing written by Jeremiah Rich, estimate £200-300.
The books sale at Semley Auctioneers in Wiltshire on September 16 includes this copy of The Whole Book of Psalms in Metre According to the Art of Short-Writing written by Jeremiah Rich.
Rich, who learnt shorthand from his uncle, was a leading stenography specialist of the period. His tiny volume of the Psalms, written in stenographic characters, was published in 1659 with a companion volume, the New Testament, appearing in the same year. This copy, missing the title page, is guided at £200-300.
Einstein letter among Oxfam family donation
One of two letters to Sir William David Ross from Albert Einstein, estimate £4000-6000 at Chiswick Auctions.
A remarkable collection of correspondence penned by giants of the 20th century to an Oxford academic come for sale in London in the autumn.
The 22 letters from people including Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Charles De Gaulle and Chiang Kai-shek were recently gifted by the family of Sir William David Ross (1877-1971) to the Oxfam store in Ealing. The proceeds of the sale at Chiswick Auctions on October 10 are expected to raise more than £20,000 for the charity.
Sir William David Ross, a Scottish philosopher, translator, First World War veteran and civil servant was provost of Oriel College, Oxford, from 1929-47, and vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford from 1941-44. Sitting on many governmental committees, his address book included many of the great and the good of 20th century society.
One of two letters to Ross from Albert Einstein was written (in German) from Cromer in north Norfolk on October 1, 1933. At the time Einstein and his wife Elsa, who had fled from Germany when Hitler came to power, was receiving refuge in the UK before moving to the US on October 17.
Concerned for the well-being of a colleague, he writes: “Professor Zangger at the University of Zurich, asked me to make you aware of Prof. Stenzel in Kiel, who lost his position. He researches the history of science in ancient Greece and he is not in the position to contact you from Germany. The question is if there is a possibility to invite this gentleman to England or America as a guest lecturer.”
Einstein suggests Ross contact Zangger directly “especially as I will be soon travelling to America (Princeton)”.
Professor Julius Stenzel, a classical philologist and philosopher, was a member of a disciplinary committee that had expelled some Nazi students from the university in 1930.
In 1933, he was transferred to the University of Halle where he died two years later.
The letter is estimated at £4000-6000.
Complete Qu'ran
A Qajar-era Iranian illuminated Qur’an, with painted and varnished covers and dated to 1851, estimate Aus$20,000-25,000 at Artvisory.
A Qajar-era Iranian illuminated Qur’an, with painted and varnished covers and dated to 1851, will be offered in Australia on September 19.
The complete copy, written in Arabic in Naskh script on handmade paper across 302 leaves, is signed by the calligrapher Mahmod Ebn Akhond Mola Hossaine Kermanshahi. The book features extensive marginal annotation.
It will be offered with an estimate of Aus$20,000-25,000 at Artvisory in South Yarra, Melbourne, Victoria in Australia and had provenance to a family collection from Kermanshah in Iran.
It is one of 51-lots in Artvisory’s Exceptional in Australia sale.
Booth blossoms
Raymond Booth pencil and oil on paper of a branch of apples, estimate £1200-1800 at Tennants.
Raymond Booth (1929-2015) was perhaps the greatest botanical artist and illustrator of his generation.
A collection of works from the Leeds artist’s estate will be sold in a single-owner sale at Tennants on October 7. The Raymond Booth Studio Sale will comprise around 90 lots of his botanical paintings including this pencil and oil on paper of a branch of apples (estimate £1200-1800).
Booth’s career began in earnest when he submitted work to a Royal Horticultural Society exhibition in London. After being commissioned to illustrate a two-volume book on Camellias, he went on to exhibit first at the Walker Galleries and then the Fine Art Society.
Although he exhibited at the Bond Street gallery for close to 50 years Booth attended only one of his private views.
Eastern curiosity
Johann Christoph Wagner’s Delineatio provinciarum Pannoniae et imperii Turcici in oriente, estimate €15,000 at Venator & Hanstein.
The Rare Books sale at Venator & Hanstein in Cologne on September 22-23 includes a copy of Johann Christoph Wagner’s Delineatio provinciarum Pannoniae et imperii Turcici in oriente.
Published in Augsburg 1684-89, the first two volumes catered to a rapidly growing interest in eastern geography and all things oriental in the wake of the 1683 Battle of Vienna and the ongoing war against the Ottomans Turks.
In addition to the first two parts, this copy includes a rare volume on China, which contains many curious stories about a country that the author probably never visited. Illustrated with over 150 copper plates, it is estimated at €15,000.
Steinbeck family value
Unbound galley proof of East of Eden by John Steinbeck, estimate $2000-3000 at Bonhams New York.
This unbound galley proof of East of Eden by John Steinbeck (1902-68) forms part of the family collection from the author’s sister Mary Steinbeck Decker. The 10-lot sale will be held by Bonhams New York on October 25.
These 243 lightly-thumbed leaves were sent by Viking Press at the direction of Steinbeck to his nephew-in-law David Heyler in 1952. In a letter Steinbeck had written to Hayler some months earlier (a copy included with the lot) he says: “Finished the first draft of the book [East of Eden] 946 pages. Am re-writing now. I think it is pretty good. I asked to have a galley pulled for you thinking you might like to have it. You’ll get it sometime in January.”
Steinbeck was fond of his niece’s husband and began sending him books, manuscripts and memorabilia when the young man became interested in book collecting. Estimate $2000-3000.
Dedicated Dumas sale
Calligraphic manuscript of L’Alchimiste, a five-act drama that was written by Alexandre Dumas with Gérard de Nerval, estimate €60,000-80,000 at Artcurial.
Image credit ©Artcurial
A single-owner collection devoted to the works of Alexandre Dumas (1802-70) is to be offered by Artcurial on September 27 in Paris.
It was put together by Geneviève and Jean-Paul Kahn and will offer around 240 works by the author of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo including over 80 novels as well as plays, short stories, travelogues, historical essays and manuscripts.
As well as an eight-volume 1844 first edition of Les Trois Mousquetaires in a contemporary binding (estimate €10,000-15,000), the sale will offer rarities such this calligraphic manuscript of L’Alchimiste, a five-act drama that was written with Gérard de Nerval.
Calligraphic manuscript of L’Alchimiste, a five-act drama that was written by Alexandre Dumas with Gérard de Nerval, estimate €60,000-80,000 at Artcurial.
Image credit ©Artcurial
This copy illustrated with paintings by several different French artists was made for presentation to Tzar Nicholas I of Russia. It comes in a silk velvet binding with engraved silver-gilt mounts and has a dedication reading: A sa Majesté Nicolas 1er Empereur de toutes les Russies Son très humble Et très obéissant serviteur A. Dumas. It has an estimate of €60,000-80,000.
Brooker prized
October 11 brings the first sale from the T Kimball Brooker library of Renaissance books and bindings.
Numbering more than 1300 French and Italian 16th century books in their original bindings, Sotheby’s New York believes “a library with the theme and concentration of Brooker’s has never before been assembled outside of Europe.” The collection, began in earnest in the 1960s, includes close to 900 Aldines (volumes published by Aldus Manutius in Venice from the 1490s to the 1590s), the largest assemblage to come to market in a century.
The inaugural auction in an estimated $25m series, titled Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library will feature approximately 90 representative highlights.
Large-format, blue paper copy of Sebastiano Serlio’s Terzo libro printed in Venice and bound in France for presentation to potential French patrons, estimate $400,000-500,000 at Sotheby's New York.
It is led by a large-format, blue paper copy of Sebastiano Serlio’s Terzo libro (1540) printed in Venice and bound in France for presentation to potential French patrons. Estimate $400,000-500,000.
Mapping the career of a London book dealer
One of two first edition copies of the Greenwood London maps published in 1827. Estimate £5000-10,000 each at Sworders.
Sworders’ sale of Books and Maps this autumn will include the collection of London book dealer Paul Bentley (1931-2022). The c.200 lots come for sale from his niece.
Bentley, who grew up in wartime London had enjoyed some success in the advertising industry as a copywriter. But he had always loved maps, landscape and walking, and in the 1970s he left the office behind to set up in business with his wife, Mary, dealing in antiquarian books and maps.
He became a recognised specialist in the field and his research is credited in both James Howgego’s Printed Maps of London 1553-1850 and Ralph Hyde’s Printed Maps of Victorian London 1851-1900.
Two first edition copies of the Greenwood London maps published in 1827. Estimate £5000-10,000 each at Sworders.
The sale includes a large number of London maps and notably two first edition copies of the Greenwood London maps published in 1827. Brothers Christopher and John Greenwood spent three years on their new survey of London (1824-26) producing a highly detailed map of on a scale of 8in to a mile. Engraved by James and Josiah Neele, it outlined plans for the development of Belgravia and Bayswater and the recent additions of both the Grand Surrey Canal and Regent’s Park.
Each map has an estimate of £5000-10,000.
Great Gatsby owned by a Rolling Stone...
Christie’s sale Charlie Watts: Gentleman, Collector, Rolling Stone combines stardust with an extraordinary library of modern first editions.
The collection of the Stones drummer will be sold in two parts with a live sale in London on September 28 and on online sale running from September 15-29. Leading the sale is this famous presentation first edition copy of F Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece, The Great Gatsby.
Famous presentation first edition copy of F Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece, The Great Gatsby, owned by Charlie Watts, estimate £200,000-300,000 at Christie's.
Fitzgerald’s friendship with Hollywood screenwriter Harold Goldman is mostly undocumented, yet the playful warmth of the inscription suggests that the two knew each other well. It reads: For Harold Goldman, The original “Gatsby” of this story, with thanks for letting me reveal these secrets of his past.
The gift of this book would seem to date from their shared stint at MGM as screenwriters, during which time they worked on the 1938 film A Yank at Oxford starring Robert Taylor and Vivien Leigh. As his inscription makes clear, Fitzgerald was less than satisfied with his time in Hollywood, He finishes his note: Alcatraz, referring to the MGM complex and Cell Block 17 to his office in the writers’ building.
The copy remained in Goldman’s family until it was sold by Bonhams in New York in 2015. It is estimated at £200,000-300,000.
...and Verne works owned by Lalique
An 1885 copy of the novel L’Epave du Cynthia (The Wreck of the Cynthia) by Jules Verne, estimate $200-800 at Lion & Unicorn.
American auction house Lion & Unicorn is currently dispersing property from Marie-Claude Lalique, the granddaughter of the jewellery and glass designer René Lalique.
On September 20, the Hollywood, Florida firm will offer her collection of books by Jules Verne (1814-86) inherited from her grandfather. It is said that René Lalique and Jules Verne were close acquaintances, and these books were personally given to Lalique by Verne.
An 1885 copy of the novel L’Epave du Cynthia (The Wreck of the Cynthia) by Jules Verne, estimate $200-800 at Lion & Unicorn.
The collection will be offered in 41 lots with most editions guided at $200-800 each. This 1885 copy of the novel L’Epave du Cynthia (The Wreck of the Cynthia) was written by Verne after a manuscript by Andre Laurie (Jean Francois Paschal Grousset, 1844-1909). Published by Pierre Jules Hetzel et Cie, Paris, the illustrations are by George Roux.
He was the second-most prolific illustrator of Verne’s novels, after Leon Benett, drawing the illustrations for 22 novels between 1885 (L’Épave du Cynthia was the first) and 1919.
Beautiful binding
Alaric Watts’ Lyrics of the Heart and other poems (1851), its premier attraction its binding signed Guild of Women Binders, estimate £12,000-18,000 at Forum.
The sale of Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions in London on September 28 includes this copy of Alaric Watts’ Lyrics of the Heart and other poems (1851). Its premier attraction is its binding signed Guild of Women Binders.
The Guild was founded in 1898 by the London bookseller (and founder of The Hampstead Bindery) Frank Karslake to teach the craft to women and market their bindings. Karslake hosted the Guild’s first Exhibition of Artistic Bookbinding by Women at his shop, which ran from November 1897 to February 1898. The Guild came to an end in 1904.
Estimate £12,000-18,000.
Calculating support
Autograph letter by Charles Babbage, estimate £1000-1500 at Lyon & Turnbull.
In this autograph letter Charles Babbage (1791-1871) makes a last-ditch attempt to drum up aristocratic support for the doomed Difference Engine No. 1.
Writing on May 30, 1834 (just months away from the final collapse of the project), Babbage invites Dunbar James Douglas, 6th Earl of Selkirk (1809-85), to a lecture ‘Having learned from the Duke of Somerset that you have a great desire to see the Calculating engine’.
At the time, Babbage was producing a fully functioning demonstration piece representing about one-seventh of the whole machine, which as the first known automatic calculator. The letter has a guide of £1000-1500 at Lyon & Turnbull’s Rare Books & Manuscripts sale in Edinburgh on September 21.
