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Sale 86
The Manuscripts, Collectibles & Space Auction
| The William K. Steiner Collection - Authors |
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| Lot |
Photo |
Description |
Realized |
Lot 388 |
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Steinbeck, John. Autograph letter signed ("John Foster Steinbeck"), 1 page, on yellow legal paper, 12½ x 8 in., Box 1017, Sag harbor, L.I. N.Y., misdated Sept. 1 (envelope is postmarked Aug. 30, 1955). To Marie Fraioli, c/o Elia Kazan. In part: "You may have thought you were shut of me and good riddance, but no such luck. I am about to move back on New York like a new ice age. I have you to a slight extent cornered. Would you like to continue our gay association? Only this time you would get paid?…Pipe Dreams goes into rehearsal the 22nd. There will be the usual correspondence and also the mss for a new book. I shall not be hanging around the office as before and sending you out for pastrami sandwiches…Needless to say I miss you. I miss your violent emotions and your uncontrollable temper. Elaine says…that I miss you as an audience. Maybe so. But if you will consent to do this, you will be the first to see or hear the funniest, saddest, and I might say, the best short book since the book of Job. You may discuss our liason freely with Mr. Kazan. While he might not understand the depth of our association he is always one to give his blessing to the True and the Beautiful…Reply immediately!" With original envelope and carbon copy of Ms. Fraioli's reply accepting the offer, stapled to Steinbeck's letter.
Estimated Value $2,500 - 3,500.
Swann, Nov. 13, 2003, lot 280.
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| Realized
$1,688 |
Lot 389 |
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Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) British Poet Laureate (1850-92). Autograph letter signed ("A Tennyson"), 4 pages, 7 x 4½ in., on mourning stationery, no place, Oct. 9, 1869. To his publisher, Payne, discussing at length the publication and sale of his new "People's Edition" and reproaching Payne "as a friend…for a certain want of courteious sanity….Now don't answer me in the style of Brummel to his tailor, 'fellow don't I employ you?'".
Estimated Value $250 - 300.
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| Realized
$550 |
Lot 390 |
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Andersen, Hans Christian (1805-1875) Danish author best remembered for his fairy tales, such as "The Ugly Duckling," "The Little Mermaid," and "The Emperor's New Clothes." Carte de visite signed ("H.C. Andersen") on the verso. An oval, bust-length profile portrait. Mounting remnants on verso, not affecting the signature, which is somewhat faded. With an autograph quotation signed ("H.C. Andersen"), removed from an album, 5¼ x 8½ in., no place, no date. Quoting Carl Gustav Carus, "Das Leben ist das schönste Märchen" [Life is the most beautiful fairy tale].
Estimated Value $2,500 - 3,500.
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| Realized
$1,563 |
Lot 391 |
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Barrie, James (1860-1937) Scottish author and dramatist, best known as the creator of Peter Pan. Autograph letter signed ("Jas. Barrie"), 1 page, on personal letter, Adelphi Terrace House, Strand, W.C.2., April 4, 1918. To "Dear Golding" (his agent, R. Golding Bright), asking him to "please send me a copy of the last act of P. Pan….I dont seem to have one." As for "that Marriott proposal " he tells Bright to "do as you find best" but suggests getting more information on what the scheme would be worth without tying them to anything. He adds in a postscript, "I can return the act by and by."
Estimated Value $300 - 500.
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| Realized
$600 |
Lot 392 |
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Bierce, Ambrose (1842-c.1914) American newspaperman, satirist, and short story writer; he disappeared in Mexico in 1914. Autograph letter signed, 3 pages, 8 x 5 in, Washington, D.C., Mar. 27, 1910. To Mr. Schoolfields, regretting that he cannot accept his invitation to Galveston, but he is going to sail from New York and must go to Kingston, Jamaica. "It's a fool reason and I'd be ashamed to tell it, but it is non the less controlling. I think I can persuade Robertson to make a settlement with you forthwith. Maybe not….You'll find a lot of 'rot' in Vol. II of 'The Great English Story Writers.' I have yet to see a collection of tales by living writers that was not three-fourths stuff. The editors' judgment is commonly good enough concerning the long-dead ones. No, I think I have not seen notices of Pollard's book in the 'Nation' nor in the 'Evening Post.' But the book has been much 'noticed.' Miss Christiansen…sends love to you. I…will write you again before sailing." Karen (or Carrie) Christiansen was Bierce's longtime secretary and the recipient of his last-known letter, dated December 26, 1913.
Estimated Value $400 - 600.
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| Realized
$720 |
Lot 393 |
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Burroughs, Edgar Rice. Typed letter signed ("Edgar Rice Burroughs"), on letterhead of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., one page, 11 x 8½ in., August 27, 1932. To William Millstein, responding to questions. In part: "…Am glad that you enjoy re-reading my books. Am sorry that I haven't got a photograph to send you for your Tarzan book….I have never been in Africa. There was nothing in particular that suggested the Tarzan idea that I now recall….The United Features Syndicate handles the newspaper strips for me. My own company publishes my books…."
With stamped address panel affixed to blank bottom portion of letter; small closed tear at top edge; mounting remnants in corners of verso.
Estimated Value $1,000 - 1,250.
Maurice F. Neville Collection, Part II - Sotheby's New York, Nov 16, 2004, lot 284.
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| Realized
$600 |
Lot 394 |
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Burroughs, Edgar Rice (1875-1950) American writer, best known as the creator of Tarzan. Typed letter signed ("Edgar Rice Burroughs"), on personal letterhead, one page, 11 x 8½ in., Tarzana, California, March 6, 1939. To John Roth, concerning a Tarzan club: " In the matter of the national Tarzan club which you mentioned, I may say that we have been working on this for a number of years. Just when we shall launch such an organization I don't know, as it depends to some extent upon our other activities. We shall hope to be able to utilize your interest and experience when the time comes." Light toning; normal folds.
Estimated Value $400 - 600.
Spink-Shreves or Spink-Smythe (formerly Smythe), Oct 11, 1995, lot 59.
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| Realized
$276 |
Lot 395 |
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Cain, James M. Autograph letter signed ("James M. Cain"), one page, on personal letterhead, 11 x 8 3/8 in., Hyattsville, Md., December 22, 1965, to Mr. Bean regarding quotations from Cain's works. He mentions his only quotation in Mencken's book "A guitar has moonlight in it," from Serenade, and the most quoted line: "They threw me off the hay truck about noon," from The Postman Always Rings Twice, "as illustrating the feat, in a few words, of starting the action & giving a complete bio sketch of the leading character, all in one fell swoop…." Together with a typed letter signed, one page, 9½ x 6 in., on letterhead of The Shoreham, Los Angeles, June 19,1946. To Ted Robinson of The Cleveland Plain Dealer, thanking him for a review and discussing how some of the New York critics have "torn into me" and have decided that he has been "eaten alive by the movies….If you were to choose a dozen picture producers out here at random…I think they would all tell you that my main defect, from their point of view, is that I will NOT concede a point here and there, and write books that they can make, without an endless headache over censorship…."
Estimated Value $800 - 1,000.
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| Unsold |
Lot 396 |
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Cain, James M (1872-1977) American author and journalist known for his hard-boiled crime novels; considered one of the creators of the roman noir. His novels include The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, and Mildred Pierce. Small collection of letters and documents: 1. TLS (carbon) to Angelus Pictures, agreeing to deliver a script based on Chekhov's "The Shooting Party," 28 June, 1943, with a page of contract additions. 2&3. Two copies of a contract with Loew's for writing services at $30 per week on a photoplay called "Frankie from Frisco", November 2, 1943. 2 pages., signed. 4. TLS ("Jim") to agent H.N. Swanson, Hollywood, December 27, 1943, thanks for a bottle of Scotch, 5. TLS ("Jim"), Hyattsville, Md., 25 June 1953, 1 page, to agent Edgar Carter, details on documents concerning a play. 6&7. Two unsigned items: a carbon of a TLS from Edgar Carter about Otto Preminger's option on "Galatea" and a check stub from the H.N. Swanson Inc. Literary Agency for "Mildred Pierce." (7 items).
Estimated Value $500 - 600.
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| Realized
$313 |
Lot 397 |
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Carlyle, Thomas (1795-1881) Scottish philosopher, essayist, historian and social critic. Autograph nonsense verse signed ("T. Carlyle"), one page, 7¼ x 4½ in., London, April 5, 1851. The verse reads: "Simon Brodie had a cow, / He lost his cow and he could not find her. / When he had done what man could do, / The cow came home and her tail behind her." With a carte-de-visite photograph by W. Jeffrey, Bloomsbury, London, showing a full-length portrait of Carlyle seated and holding his cane; tips of mount trimmed and mounting remnants on verso.
Estimated Value $800 - 1,000.
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| Unsold |
Lot 398 |
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Chandler, Raymond (1888-1959) American novelist and screenwriter; creator of hard-boiled detective Philip Marlowe, who with Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade, is considered to be the "quintessential private detective." His stylistic legacy has influenced successive generations of detective novelists. Typed letter (carbon) signed ("Ray"), 2 pages, 11 x 8 in., Palm Springs, November 24, 1957. Written to Maurice Guinness, his literary agent and friend about a variety of matters, including Hammett.: "…Further to my remarks about Hammett on the back of a group photograph Helga is bringing to you--I know you are interested in him--I was told by Joe Shaw, the editor of Black Mask, that Hammett could only write when he had a sense of reality. He could not improvise, as a rule. He was a terrific drinker and must have had about ten Scotches at this dinner where the photograph was taken, and he showed no sign of being even tight. He was a very nice chap to meet, talked as little as possible, and let Horace McCoy (whom I detest) do all the bragging for him. As to his drinking, I was told that he never showed it, but in the end he would collapse silently on the floor and have to be carried away. I met him only this once. After The Thin Man Alfred Knopf told me that Hammett would never write another book. This up to the moment has been true, but I don't know why. It was probably a stroke of luck for me, much as I regret it, since he would have outranked me for years, if not permanently…."
With a note typed in red at the head, explaining, "I had the original of this in an envelope and stamped, but it disappeared into thin air. Helga says this very clear carbon (I save copies of all my letters) is good enough to send." Also with holograph emendations. The verso has a holograph note signed from Helga Greene to Guinness and his wife. Chandler's wife, Pearl Eugenie (Cissy) Chandler had died in 1954. Helga Greene was Chandler's London literary agent and friend and, at the time of his death, his fiancée. She inherited his estate.
Estimated Value $2,000 - 3,000.
Maurice F. Neville Collection, Part II - Sotheby's New York, Nov. 16, 2004, lot 495.
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| Realized
$3,360 |
Lot 399 |
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Clemens, Samuel / Mark Twain. The Writings of Mark Twain, Autograph Edition, Extra Illustrated and Manuscript. Published by The American Publishing Company, Hartford, Connecticut, 1899. Twenty-five volumes, 8½ x 5¾ in. Signed limited edition page is in volume 1: "The Autograph Edition of Mark Twain's Works is limited to Five Hundred and Twelve Copies, of which this is No. 90," (limitation statement hand numbered in red ink), followed by a double signature, "S.L. Clemens (Mark Twain)." Preceding the half title page is a page with the statement: "This is an Extra Illustrated and Manuscript Copy of the Autograph Edition of the Complete Works of Mark Twain." Illustrations autographed by illustrators in individual volumes containing their work. Each volume has a title page monogram designed by Tiffany and Company and engraved by W. H. W. Bicknel, as well as a flyleaf identifying the edition, engraved portrait frontispieces of Mark Twain, and full-page illustrations protected by tissue guards. Essay: "Biographical Criticism" (pp. v-xxxiii), by Brander Matthews, signed by Matthews at the end. Volume X is signed by Charles Dudley Warner. Bound in full, dark red-brown morocco leather. Five raised bands on the spine (nicks to one band on two volumes), gilt titling, and a gilt floral design on the spine and front covers, with doublures of green and dark red-brown morocco. Pages gilt at top, deckled at side and bottom edges. Scattered foxing to some of first 25 pages of Vol. XII. Printed on paper watermarked "Clemens" in Volumes 1- 23; Volumes 1- 21 copyrighted in 1899; Volume 22 copyrighted in May 1900; Volume 23 was added in 1903 and offered to buyers of original sets. Volumes 24 and 25 were copyrighted in 1907 (these two volumes were added by Harper and Brothers and offered to buyers of original sets). Near fine.
Estimated Value $10,000 - 15,000.
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| Realized
$16,200 |
Lot 400 |
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Clemens, Samuel / Mark Twain. Autograph note signed ("Mark Twain") and "S.L. Clemens" in the text, on an album leaf, 4 5/8 x 7½ in., Hartford, Mich., 1883. "To Miss Julie with regards & kindest remembrances of Mark Twain (known to the police as S.L. Clemens.") Light toning, else fine. With an 8½ x 6½ in. photo, worn and soiled, with a hole to the right of Twain's coat jacket, inscribed and signed ("Mark Twain") in dark lower left area, rendering most of the writing illegible, dated Oct. 5, 1909; imprint of Paul Thompson, 1909 on the verso.
Estimated Value $1,500 - 2,000.
Profiles in History, August.
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| Realized
$2,313 |
Lot 401 |
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Clemens, Samuel / Mark Twain (1835-1910) American author, lecturer and humorist who wrote under the name of Mark Twain. Photograph inscribed and signed, "To Mrs. William H. Allen, with the high esteem & guarded affection of Mark Twain / Bermuda, Apl. 9/10," 11 x 14 in. Photo by Underwood, N.Y., 1906, showing an ailing Twain propped up in bed, a book on his lap. Sepia-toned photo is spotted and stained. Twain (1835-1910) died of heart failure twelve days after signing this photograph.
Estimated Value $900 - 1,200.
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| Realized
$2,640 |
Lot 402 |
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Colette, Sidonie-Gabrielle (1873-1954) French novelist and music-hall performer. Postcard photograph signed ("Colette Willy"), 5½ x 3½ in., no place, no date. A three-quarter photo by F.C. & Cie. Born Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, she married Henry Gauthier-Villars, a writer and critic known as "Willy," who discovered her talent for writing. He locked her in a room to force her to focus on writing and published her first four books, the Claudine series, under his name. She left Willy in 1906 and continued to write. Her novel Gigi (1944), was adapted for both stage and screen, and a musical film version was made in 1958, starring Maurice Chevalier, Louis Jourdan, and Leslie Caron. Colette was made a member of the Belgian Royal Academy (1935), the French Académie Goncourt (1945), and a grand officer of the Legion of Honour--all honors rarely granted to women.
Estimated Value $500 - 600.
Christie's New York, Apr. 17, 1996, lot 63.
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| Realized
$575 |
Lot 403 |
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Collection of Authors: James Whitcomb Riley, Upton Sinclair, Booth Tarkington, A.J. Cronin. Riley (1849-1916) American poet. Autograph quotation signed, 3 x 5 in. card, laid to larger paper, Indianapolis, Oct. 29, 1902. The lines read: "They's nary doctor livin'--town er county, nary one-- / That's saved more lives, and lost more fees, than old Doc Sifers' done. Very truly James Whitcomb Riley." We don't find these lines in his poem "Rubáiyát of Doc Sifers" but it refers to it. Upton Sinclair (1878-1968) was an American novelist and social crusader, best known for The Jungle, an exposé of the meat-packing industry. Autograph note signed ("U Sinclair"), 1 page, on personal letterhead, 5½ x 8½ in., Pasadena, Ca., April 23, 1924. Toned, with edge chips. To the editor of New Republic, asking for "a decision on the Gillette article which I sent you some time ago…." Booth Tarkington (1869-1946) best known for The Magnificent Ambersons; two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Typed letter signed, 1 page, on personal letterhead, 7½ x 5½ in., Kennebunkport, Me., Aug. 2, 1939, to Murray Morrison, thanking him for birthday wishes. With a card signed, 2 x 3½ in. A.J. Cronin 1896-1981) Scottish novelist and physician whose best-known novel was The Citadel. Autograph letter signed, 2 pages, on personal letterhead, 10 x 6¼ in., Greenwich, Conn., Dec. 27, n.y. To "Sam," describing a novel he had just finished (possibly The Green Years), about "a little boy who wants to be a great scientist and of his adventures (and troubles) amidst a colorful and beautiful background." (5 items).
Estimated Value $300 - 500.
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| Realized
$213 |
Lot 404 |
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Conrad, Joseph (1857-1924) Polish-born British novelist and short-story writer whose works include the novels Lord Jim (1900), Nostromo (1904), and The Secret Agent (1907) and the short story "Heart of Darkness" (1902). Typed letter signed ("Joseph Conrad"), on personal stationery, 2 pp, Kent, May 3, 1919. To "My dear Mr. Adams," thanking him for inquiring about Conrad's son, who had returned safely from the war, and apologizing for his behavior during an earlier discussion on the question of individual liberty. In part: "…Your candid letter was very pleasant reading for me, mainly because my point of view has become practically demonstrated to you….there is much to say for the other - I may call it the ethically utilitarian attitude. In fact it is the undeniable strength of that attitude that makes it so exasperating to the objectors of my sort. The foundation of my argument was really the feeling that there is more than one kine of utility, whether in the moral or in the material sphere…."
With holograph closing and corrections. Soiling and tape repairs on verso, not affecting the very bold signature. Elbridge L. Adams wrote a biography of Conrad, Joseph Conrad the Man, which was published in 1923.
Estimated Value $400 - 600.
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| Realized
$288 |
Lot 405 |
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Coward, Noel (1899-1973) English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer. Four items signed in blue ink by the delightfully witty Coward: (1) Four pages of lyrics from "Mad About the Boy / from Words and Music, 1932" with a descriptive paragraph by Coward at the beginning, signed at the bottom of the first page (2) autograph musical quotation signed, on his personal note card, 3¾ x 5 1/8 in., no place, no date. One verse of lyrics from "Dance, dance, dance little lady": "Dance, dance, dance little lady" / Life is fleeting / To the rhythm beating / In your mind. Noel Coward" (3) photograph signed and dated 1931, 8 x 6 in. A head-and-shoulders portrait by Dorothy Wilding, 22, Old Bond St. W.1.; and (4) photographed signed, 9½ x 6½ in., no place, no date. A dapper, three-quarter portrait with imprint of Islay Lyons, La Vagnola, Cetona (Siena) Italy on verso. (4 items).
Estimated Value $800 - 1,000.
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| Realized
$840 |
Lot 406 |
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Dickens, Charles (1812-1870) English author; greatest novelist of the Victorian era and creator of some of the most popular characters in literature. Autograph letter signed, 2 pages, 6¾ x 4¼ in., Tavistock House, March 17, 1854. An emotional letter to Lady Talfourd, upon the death of her husband, English judge and author Sir Thomas Talfourd(1795-1854), who had died of an apoplectic seizure in court at Stafford while addressing the jury from his judge's seat.
Dickens writes: "My Dear Lady Talfourd, When I heard, on Monday afternoon of the bereavement we both in our far different places so heavily deplore, I went instantly to Thincle Square You were not long gone, and I left a note (such as I could write, in the first agitation of so sudden a shock) for Frank [son of Thomas]. Mrs. Dickens has called at your door every day since, but I have not obtruded myself upon you. For I well know (or have hoped so) that if I could be of the smallest service or comfort to you or to anybody dear to you, you would instinctively trust my love for my dear departed friend. I have written a brief remembrance of him for the Household words of next week. I venture to enclose it to you [not present]. It consists of only a few plain words out of my heart, but they may speak to yours. God comfort you!" Two-sided matting showing recto and verso of letter, with an engraving of Dickens, framed to an overall size of 15¼ x 16½ in.
Estimated Value $1,200 - 1,500.
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| Realized
$3,960 |
Lot 407 |
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Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan (1859-1930) Scottish writer and physician, best known for creating the character of detective Sherlock Holmes. Autograph letter signed ("A Conan Doyle"), 2 pages, on letterhead of The Grand Hotel Melbourne, Nov. 2, 1920. Reflecting Doyle's belief in Spiritualism, he advises "My dear Seymour" not to follow through on his "Russian idea….Do not reach out for more, but if more is ordained it will come to you with no doubt and no effort. If you take this spiritual matter seriously & quickly not only cultivate it but spread it around you, you will do great work. God has His own purposes in Russia and will pick up the right tool for His work, without the tool needing to worry over it. I send you a 'Harbinger of Light'…Up to now I have been greatly upheld & feel as fit as when I started. Adelaide was glorious. Melbourne is heavy and material but we make an inpression. I have one last meeting…and then to Sydney where we culminate….I am glad I came--but I never had much say in the matter--a tool also, but a very willing one." He expects that Seymour will be going to India soon and recommends spiritual books by Emma Hardinge Britton, calling her "a female St. Paul, with a man's virile brain, clear, fearless & herself a great medium. In A.J. Davis, Hardinge Britton, Stainton Moses, and Vale Owen you have the spiritual sequence." Light toning, fold wear, small tape repairs to folds and small edge splits. Twenty of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's books are about Spiritualism and he traveled all over the world to promote his ideas, including a trip to Australia and New Zealand in 1920 and 1921.
Estimated Value $1,400 - 1,800.
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| Realized
$1,110 |
Lot 408 |
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Eliot, Thomas Stearns (1888-1965) Poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary and social critic; winner of the Nobel prize in literature (1948). Typed letter signed ("T.S. Eliot") on Faber and Faber Limited letterhead, one page, 8 x 7 in., London, December 20, 1951. To Charles Ede at The Folio Society Limited in London, thanking him for suggesting a special edition of some of Eliot's poems. "But the copyright in my work is controlled by Messrs. Faber & Faber Limited, and my Board see no reason why they should licence any other editions than those which they are prepared to undertake themselves." Neatly signed in blue ink. Eliot joined the publishing firm of Faber and Faber in 1925 and remained there for the rest of his life, becoming a director.
Estimated Value $350 - 450.
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| Realized
$252 |
Lot 409 |
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Farrell, James T (1904-1979) American novelist, short-story writer, and poet; best remembered for the Studs Lonigan trilogy. Four autograph letters signed ("Jas Farrell"), 18 pages, 10¾ x 8 in., New York, 1968-69. To John Barkham, book reviewer at The Satuday Review. Farrell attempts to secure a column in The Satuday Review, as a platform to gain national attention and deal with material which he will later use in his fiction. The first letter (7 pages) explains his credentials and motives and manner; the second (1 page) enlists Norman Mailer in support, in the third (2 pages) he "might as well let the matter drop. It's a waste of my time to try and write for American publications…I have never had a fair chance … or equal opportunity in my own country, and I'll never get it." The last (8 pages) describes his difficulties: he is without help and was so fatigued that he fell down from exhaustion, but is now well and writing again, and has at least four books ready, including the most beautiful writing he's done; his most powerful novel Invisible Swords is 80% ready and has been since 1955; Adlai Stevenson, Paul Douglas, Hubert Humphrey and Eugene McCarthy have recommended him for the Nobel Prize; he has 50,000 pages of unpublished writing; his best-selling books are out of print, but he continues to work. With a 1 page Farrell manuscript concerning Studs Lonigan: "This work remains a challenge to those who intepret American literature. Few have analyzed Studs Lonigan and some of its admirers attacked, or ignored it, until I had written additional books…these people, originally hostile to Studs L. began to say that they lilked this work -- so that they could knock off later books. This kind of dishonesty is common in the literary political world. JTF."
Estimated Value $800 - 1,000.
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| Realized
$600 |
Lot 410 |
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Farrell, James T. Autograph commentary on his own trilogy, Studs Lonigan, signed ("James T. Farrell") at top right and initialed ("J.T.F.") at the bottom, 1 page, on yellow, lined paper, 8 x 5 in., no place, no date. Farrell sneers at self-serving critics, in part: This work remains a challenge to those who interpret American literature. Few have analyzed Studs Lonigan and some of its admirers attacked or ignored it, until I had author[ed] additional works. Thus, those people originally hostile to Studs L. began to say or to imply that they liked this work so that they could punch off later books. This kind of dishonesty is…in the literary world."
Farrell (1904-1979) wrote from his own experience growing up in a lower-middle-class Irish American family in Chicago. His writing reflected his conviction that destinies are shaped by environment. Norman Mailer was one of the writers who claimed Farrell as an inspiration. The Studs Lonigan trilogy, Farrell's best-remembered work, was made into a film in 1960 and a television series in 1979.
Estimated Value $400 - 500.
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| Unsold |
Lot 411 |
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Fitzgerald, F. Scott (1896-1940) American author; chronicler of the Jazz Age. Autograph letter signed ("Scott Fitzg"), 2 pages, in pencil, 13 x 8½ in. [Hendersonville, N.C., 9 November 1935]. To Isabel Owens. With original holograph envelope. "The Post story was begun & dished as I'm not sending out another doubtful, thank you. I'd Die for You evidently hasn't sold yet, nor the radio idea (which of course will be slow). This money came from Esquire. I can't see coming back with the Post story unfinished & trying to do it with the inevitable storms breaking around. Everything was going well until the offspring of my Tryon friend arrived with the idea that I was playing fast and loose with Mama. My God! when he probably couldn't be sure who his own father is --…. I had to let this snippy Etonian kid (and they're trained to be snooty) - I had to let him sass me when I could have killed him, this time without beer openers!….All is well now but it cost me three days work." About 200 words. Very good condition.
Fitzgerald's Tryon friend was Nora Phipps Flynn, one of the famous Langhorne girls of Virginia, and a sister of Nancy Astor. Her husband, Lefty, had been a football star at Yale, and a Hollywood actor and stuntman. It was her Etonian son, Tommy, who provided Anthony Powell with the title for his novel A Question of Upbringing. Bruccoli notes in Some Kind of Epic Grandeur that "Fitzgerald's 1925 story, 'The Intimate Strangers,' was a thinly disguised account of the Flynns' marital histories."
Estimated Value $8,000 - 10,000.
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| Realized
$5,760 |
Lot 412 |
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Galsworthy, John (1867-1933) English novelist and playwright, best remembered for The Forsyte Saga (1906-1921) and its sequels; he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1932. Autograph quotation signed, 1 page, on "Bury House" letterhead, 10 x 8 in., Sussex, no date. Darkly-toned paper. "I, at least, like to regard the English language as still in the making, capable of new twists and bold captures; and yet I think our attitude toward it should bear more reverence; that we should love our mother tongue as we love our country and try to express ourselves with vigour dignity and grace." With an autograph letter signed, 2 pages, 8 x 5 in., Grove Lodge, Hampstead, Sept. 18, 1919. To an unidentified recipient, telling him to tell a Mr. Charles Freeman "…'Mr. Galsworthy…had not contemplated giving his plays to anyone who was so hard pressed. He feels that in such circumstances they have no chance of an adequate production, and thinks the agreement had better be cancelled'….The California Repertory Theatre may do 'The Eldest Son' & 'The Pigeon' …Each at 150$ the week."
Estimated Value $300 - 500.
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| Realized
$168 |
Lot 413 |
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H.M. Herrin Sketches of Rudyard Kipling, Sinclair Lewis, & H.G. Wells. Three 12 x 9¼ in., original pencil sketches by artist H.M. Herrin. H.G. Wells and Sinclair Lewis signed in the lower border; Lewis added the date, June 30, 1942; the place and date (London June 4 1940) are written in a different hand on Wells' sketch. Kipling's name is written on a 2 x 3 5/8 in. piece of paper, which is affixed below his image. Some soiling and staining. Three sketches, together with an autograph letter signed ("Rudyard Kipling"), 1 page, 10 x 7¾ in., no place, no date. To a Mr. Harsey regretting that he cannot help him with sales. "…I can't give you any pointers in that direction."
Estimated Value $500 - 600.
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| Realized
$575 |
Lot 414 |
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Haggard, Sir Henry Rider (1856-1925) English author of adventure novels, mostly set in Africa, the most famous of which is King Solomon's Mines. Good content typed letter signed ("H. Rider Haggard"), 2 pages, on personal letterhead, 7 x 9 in., Ditchingham House, Norfolk, Feb. 25, 1893. Split at vertical fold, easily repaired. To Laurens Maynard: "…I cannot say that the African tribes possess anything that can be dignified by the name of poetry. They have songs, mostly war songs like the famous Ingoma of the Zulus, the sound of which is said to have had the power of driving an army almost to madness. (vide my romance 'Nada the Lily'.) Also othey have love songs, but the charm of these consists in their tunes….the prose 'poetry' in my books is wholly original & my own composition….Also, although the Zulus do not write poetry, their language is very figurative & poetical, so that Umbopa in 'King Solomon's Mines' might have broken out into his paean of triumph over the death of Twala, though that paean is of course a faint imitation of the Old Testament style." With a postcard photograph signed ("H. Rider Haggard") in the lower margin.
Estimated Value $250 - 300.
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| Realized
$263 |
Lot 415 |
 |
Haggard, Sir Henry Rider (1856-1925) English writer of adventure novels, best known for King Solomon's Mines. Autograph letter signed ("H. Rider Haggard"), 4½ pages (last one-half page is written vertically and signed over the first page), Ditchingham House, Bingay, July 15 (1883). To author J. Cordy Jeaffreson, informing him that Haggard finally his Lord Byron book from the Bingay library. "…your definition of him as an 'inspired madman' describes him better than anything….I have rewritten rather more than half my novel, and I think that it is considerably improved….I hope to have it finished written within six weeks….I think that miserable publisher hunting business is the most unpleasant and humiliating think about writing…." With transmittal envelope. Haggard wrote several unsuccessful novels before King Solomon's Mines, which was published in 1885. Together with a sentiment signed and dated, "Believe me very faithfully yours H. Rider Haggard 1888" on personal stationery, 6 x 3¾ in.
Estimated Value $200 - 300.
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| Realized
$138 |
Lot 416 |
 |
Hammett, Dashiell (1894-1961) Author of hard-boiled detective fiction. Typed letter signed ("SDH"), 1 page, 10½ x 8 in., Aleutians, April 3, 1945. An affectionate letter to Prudence Whitfield, who was married to Hammett's friend and hard-boiled writing colleague, Raoul Whitfield. With pencil and pen marks in the margin. Hammett writes: "A small shower of four letters from you makes me feel very opulent today and also as if God does indeed reward those who live right." He remarks about his injured foot and his fear that he could have "a touch of rheumatism or arthritis or one of the other curses of age which I was hoping to avoid till I was, say, a hundred and four or five years old…. " He writes about the novel he's planning: "Since the novel--if I stay here and do it instead of flitting off elsewhere--will deal with a painter in Alaska I'm filling my spare time with whatever books on painters and painting I can scrape up, which are not as few as you'd think, probably because there are a great many hopeful artists in the army. Anyhow I'm having a good time … with [Robert] Henri's THE ART SPIRIT. He was a dialectical materialist at heart….I must find out if his book has ever been translated into Russian. They'd like it. Did I tell you our cartoonists are bring (sic) out a booklet of reprints from the paper worked up a little with wash?… I'm writing a foreword and will send the ensemble on as soon as it's printed and bound and shipped."
Hammett (1894-1961) had served in World War I in the Motor Ambulance Corps until he contacted Spanish influenza. When World War II broke out, he enlisted in the Army, even though he was in his late 40s. He wound up on Adak, editing the camp newspaper, The Adakian.
Not in Selected Letters of Dashiell Hammett, ed. Layman.
Estimated Value $2,000 - 2,500.
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| Unsold |
Lot 417 |
 |
Hardy, Thomas (1840-1928) English novelist and poet; his novels include Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891), and Jude the Obscure (1895). Autograph letter signed ("T. Hardy"), 1 page, with embossed address, "Max Gate. Dorchester," 7 x 4½ in., March 27, 1899. To Leonard Summers at 65 Vineyard Road / Richmond S.W.: "I do not at present contemplate writing anything that will require illustration. But if such a case should arise I will not forget that you are desirous of turning your attention more particularly to that kind of work." Accompanied by the transmittal envelope.
Estimated Value $400 - 600.
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| Realized
$781 |
Lot 418 |
 |
Harte, Bret (1836-1902) American author and poet, best known for his short fiction featuring figures from the California Gold Rush. Autograph letter signed as U.S. Consul to Glasgow, 2 pages, 7¼ x 4½ in., Glasgow, Mar. 28, 1884. To Charles A. Dana, asking a favor. Harte writes that he is "so out of the political world that I don't know who of my old friends would be influential enough with the incoming administration to ask for my continuance in office. He asks Dana to consult with another man and let him know what needs to be done.
Estimated Value $250 - 300.
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| Realized
$180 |
Lot 419 |
 |
Hemingway, Ernest (1899-1961) American novelist and short-story writer; winner of the 1954 Nobel Prize for Literature. One autograph letter signed ("Ernest") in pencil and three typed letters signed, two ("Ernest") and one ("Hemingstein"), all in pencil, one from Sun Valley, Idaho (with envelope postmarked Oct. 27, 1939), the others probably from Havana and Wyoming and probably ranging from August 1939 to early or mid 1940, all to Jane Armstrong, a friend who was a State Department employee in Havana. The ALS is 2 pages, 11 x 8½ in., regarding how to type the manuscript of For Whom the Bell Tolls ("triple space with 2 carbons") and how to send it; if she thinks her daughter Phyllis can't handle it (because of the content), "just call it all off and I will travel in an armoured car with it until get it finished. Am so damed spooked of something happening to original and there being no copy…." He says to tell Phyllis that he is paying the same for typing his manuscript as Martha (Gellhorn) pays and tells Jane that if she can't get it all done, to do as much as she can of the first seven chapters "and do chapter Eight as have to have that to refer to when working on the trip."
Two typed letters (one with an envelope with no postmark), regarding delivery of the manuscript, thanking Jane and Phyllis for the wonderful job, family news of spending time with the kids ("Bumby back in school and others in K.W."), Marty being sick ("just when she was sailing for abroad for Colliers"), and thanking her for comments about the manuscript ("What you wrote about the Mss. made me very happy; really happy"). The third TLS, which has a large bold signature, asks Jane and Phyllis for emergency help in making another copy of the manuscript: "I know how difficult I am to type and that nobody but you and your you-trained offspring can do it properly. I would truly do it myself but I cannot write and copy both. Mary would but she aint accurate. It's worse for me to correct her mistakes than to write it in the first place….I have been working since six a.m. and now there will be no tennis which aint good for work tomorrow. Neither is having a goddamned wife try to put you out of business when you are writing the best book you ever wrote." In a postscript, he asks Jane to let him know if she likes the book. "When I read the chapters you just typed I thought it was wonderful. But then I am maybe nuts too which wouldn't be odd under all the circumstances…." With nine related items (a cable, a copy of a cable, carbon copies of two Jane Armstrong letters to Hemingway, a mailing label, Air Express receipts, etc.) primarily regarding the mailing of the typescript.
Estimated Value $6,000 - 8,000.
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| Realized
$9,300 |
Lot 420 |
 |
Hemingway, Ernest. Typed letter signed ("Ernest"), 2 pages, 11 x 8½ in., Key West, Feb. 4, 1935. With holograph place, date, and seven words. Paper is toned and brittle; two small edge tears. To Esquire editor Arnold Gingrich, regarding Green Hills of Africa. In part: "I was asleep when you called…thought you were very thoughtful t worry about the lousy disease. Have been fairly sick with it. Max Perkins [Hemingway's literary editor] was down here and a bastard from Cosmopolitan that would buy it for plenty money if I would cut it to 45,000 words (I can't) and you can't do business or refuse to do business and fill up on emetine and entertain a publisher while taking castor oil every two hours. As I read that paragraph in the Trib there is nothing for me to do but turn over whatever money you get for those mss. to various writers and painters….So will give you a list of who to send dough to. If they announce a sale for indigent writers; to indigent writers it bloody well goes. What I had hoped to do was to raise some jack for myself….
In the meantime I am broke pending selling serial rights to the book and need money for my taxes and three hundred bucks I had promised to send for Bumby's schooling the end of last month. So will have to raise that somewhere else. You tell me what Mss. money you get and I will write you how to dispose of it or give you a receipt and an accounting of where to send it. Max is crazy to serialize the book in Scribners but they won't be able to pay much jack. I doubt if I could get ten grand. Would you be interested in it? I know you haven't serialized anything yet but you are at a stage where you can make your policy as you go along. I have been held up sending it waiting for Max to get through with it and then Dos [Pasos] wanted it before I had chance for pauline to correct the carbon. Max and Dos both were very strong for it and Max would not be if it wasn't good as all he would have to do would be pick faults to save money. Dos has always been honest with me and very critical. I hope you will like it. Have divided it into three parts and it has thirteen chapters. Have a good title and it has shaped well. I really ought to gt some good money out of it as it is worth it….After you wrote about reading Farewell to Arms again I read some of it myself and it's good all right. But it is very ghostly to read your own stuff after a long time. How many the hell love stories do they want a guy to write? Max will run the book in either six or seven installments….I'll send it to you as soon as Pauline corrects the carbon. I gave Dick Armstrong's wife the hand-written mss. for typing it."
Hemingway talks about fishing for sailfish, which are "thick as grunts" and invites Gingrich to come down, then asks him to send a copy of the magazine to Spanish artist, Luis Quintanilla, who was imprisoned in his own country for political activities. Friends in the international intellectual community, including Hemingway and Dos Passos, circulated petitions for his release and he was freed after serving a little over eight months. Hemingway expresses concern for the illness of Gingrich's wife, and adds "I'll write the Knopf boy sometime…I couldn't write him now. And what to write someone you've never seen and the son of some one you have no respect for….So long Mr. G…."
Green Hills of Africa was Hemingway's second work of nonfiction. It is an account of a month on safari he spent with his wife Pauline in East Africa during December 1933. It initially appeared in serialization in Scribner's Magazine, and was published in 1935.
Estimated Value $4,000 - 6,000.
Maurice F. Neville Collection, Part II - Sotheby's New York, Nov 16, 2004, lot 326.
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| Realized
$4,800 |
Lot 421 |
 |
Hemingway, Ernest. Typed letter signed ("Ernest"), 13 word holograph postscript 1 page, 11 x 8½ in., Key West, July 25, 1936. To Richard Armstrong, head of the International News Service in Havana, seeking help for To Have and Have Not: "I have something I need for this damned book I'm working on …. What [I] want is contemporary newspaper (eye witness accounts) that I can re-write or steal from what facts I want of these events. The Park massacre, Sacking of Machado palace and hunting of porristas, the Nacional Fight, Atares, the A.B.C. massacre, Funeral of Mella, the last Autentico United front general strike that failed and that the army put down, and an account of the Seigles body finding. Also killing of Guiteras and any Joven Cuba stuff you have….I know this is a hell of a job but if you can get them for me will give you any amount of Mss. first editions items etc. If there are contemporary Cuban accounts send as many as you run into….Have postponed the book of stories because I want to use the One Trip Across, Tradesman's return, and three others that have to do with the same people plus the one I was telling you about Cuba and need this stuff for background. They all link up and I want to have the Cuban stuff in between sort of like the chapters in between the stories in In Our Time. What I need is this stuff I'm writing you for as source material to make up out of. Can you tell or write me the original of the story you told me about the shooting of the father and sons. I want to contrast the events in K.W. and Havana and carry a thing through both of them…." With original envelope type-addressed by Hemingway. Together with carbon copies of two long typed letters from Armstrong to Hemingway, Havana, August 27 and September 12, 1936, 13 pages total, 11 x 8½ in., supplying the detailed Cuban political background material requested--much of which Hemingway used in To Have and Have Not.
Estimated Value $3,000 - 5,000.
Christie's New York, Feb. 21, 1996, lot 137.
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| Realized
$3,600 |
Lot 422 |
 |
Hemingway, Ernest. Letter signed ("Ernest Hemingway"), 1½ pages, 8½ x 5½ in., January 15, 1961. The transmittal envelope is postmarked Rochester, Minn., where the Mayo Clinic was located. Hemingway spent time there, ostensibly to treat his high blood pressure, but really to treat his depression. To Roy P Gates in Los Angeles, who had known Hemingway's son, Jack, when the two were in a private school in France, l'École du Mont Cel., telling Roy where to find Jack, or "Bumby" as he was called. The letter is written in a feminine hand, whether by Hemingway's wife, Mary, or by a nurse. In part: "You can find Bumby, they call him Jack, at 301 Montgomery Street, San Francisco….I know he'd be glad to hear from you, so let him know where you are. When we ran the recon into Paris the head of the Army, Le Clerc and Co., went a little to the left of where you guys were at school together. Thanks very much for writing me here. Everything is under control, they tell me now and it's only a matter of holding the weight down to a poundage that is difficult for me to make, but not impossible. Should be finished here the end of this week. Best always and I hope we will meet again before too long." Accompanied by two pages from the July 12, 1990 issue of the Daily News, showing Roy Gates holding this letter and claiming that it was the last letter written by Hemingway, who shot himself on July 2, 1961. It is certainly one of the last letters Hemingway wrote.
Estimated Value $2,500 - 3,000.
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| Realized
$840 |
Lot 423 |
 |
Hemingway, Ernest. Autograph letter signed ("Ernest Hemingway"), one page, 10½ x 7¼ in., Key West, February 12, 1935. To Mr. Meyers: "I would be very glad to sign the book if you send it here. If, however, there should be any delay in it being returned to you do not be worried as, if I were not here when it arrived it would not be sent on after me but would wait here to be signed. Yours very truly, Ernest Hemingway." Written very neatly, unlike the hurried scrawl Hemingway used when writing to friends.
Estimated Value $2,500 - 3,500.
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| Realized
$2,813 |
Lot 424 |
 |
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Sr (1809-1894) American physician, poet, professor, lecturer, and author. Autograph quotation signed, 1 page, 3 x 6 in., being one verse of the poem, "For the Window in St. Margaret's / In Memory of a Son of Archdeacon Farrar:
Afar he sleeps whose name is graven here,
Where loving hearts his early doom deplore;
Youth, promise, virtue, all that made him dear
Heaven lent, earth borrowed, sorrowing to restore."
With an autograph note signed ("O.W. Holmes"), 1 page, 6 x 4 7/8 in., Boston, March 15, 1886. To Charles Morris, "I shall refer your request to my Publisher…."
Estimated Value $300 - 400.
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| Realized
$175 |
Lot 425 |
 |
Hughes, Langston (1902-1967) American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist; a leader of the Harlem Renaissance. Typed letter signed ("Langston"), 1 page, 11 x 8½ in., New York, September 12, 1950. Page browned along the bottom edge. To Prentiss Taylor, the artist, and Hughes' sometime collaborator: "My new opera, THE BARRIER, starring Lawrence Tibbett and Muriel Rahn, is opening at the Gayety Theater in Washington on September 26. I shall be in town for the remainder of that week and certainly hope to have a chance to see you….I found your ART AS PSYCHOTHERAPY most interesting reading and would certainly like to hear more about your work. This has been a terrifically busy summer for me, as I have had THREE shows on my hand all at once!…. At the moment I have to rush off to a BARRIER rehearsal…."
Estimated Value $800 - 1,000.
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| Unsold |
Lot 426 |
 |
Hughes, Langston. Sheet music inscribed and signed "For the Melodaires--Sincerely--Langston Hughes," on the cover, 12 x 9 in., no place, no date. Music and lyrics for "On the Dusty Road," a song from Series II of Hall Johnson Songs With Piano Accompaniment, published by Carl Fischer, Inc. Cooper Square, New York. Boldly penned and signed in black ink.
Estimated Value $400 - 600.
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| Unsold |
Lot 427 |
 |
Kaufman, George (1889-1961) Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and director whose collaborators included Moss Hart, Edna Ferber Ring Lardner, the Gershwins, The Marx Brothers and the members of the Algonquin Round Table. Typed letter signed ("George"), 1 page, on personal letterhead, 11 x 8½ in., New York City, Nov. 9, 1935. To actor, songwriter, author and theatrical producer John Golden (1874-1955): "I don't know whether we ever settled our financial arrangement of 'To-Morrow's a Holiday!' In fact, I'm pretty sure we didn't. What do you say to a 25% interest, without investment? If this is all right we can draw up the papers later --I like to have it set down, only in case you or I gets bumped off by Joe Schildkraut or somebody." Toning and normal folds.
Estimated Value $250 - 300.
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| Realized
$150 |
Lot 428 |
 |
Kerouac, Jack (1922-69) American novelist; On the Road (1957) established him as the leader and spokesman of the Beat Generation. Six letters, comprising three autograph letters signed and three typed letters signed, 6 pages (11 x 8 1/5 in.), St. Petersburg, and Lowell, Massachusetts, February 11 to May 15, 1965, and July 29 and September 13, 1967. Important letters to Ellis Amburn, his editor at Coward-McCann (and author of the 1998 biography, "Subterranean Kerouac), concerning Desolation Angels (published May 3, 1965) and Vanity of Duluoz (published in February 1968). In the letter of February 11, 1965 Kerouac corrects Seymour Krim's introduction to Desolation Angels, listing errors, or judgments he disagrees with, on 11 pages; Amburn has checked them off in ink in the left-hand margin. Kerouac writes: "Krim's introduction corrected as follows:…Not 'all' of my novels, but 'most' of them, covered the beat generation…[William] Burroughs was never a department store thief but he did hold up a Turkish bath 'for a Gidean laugh'… Burroughs and Ginsberg and I met around 1943, not 'before' the war. And I never was, or wanted to be, a homosexual, so I inserted the truth: our hero 'compassionately include(d) non-participant acceptance of the homosexuality of his literary confreres'. If this change is not instituted, Krim will have to give me satisfaction…Krim says I'm not an original thinker in any technical sense but has just finished describing my invention of a new prosody: so I inserted 'prose-theorist' to avoid his contradicting himself, and to set the fact straight about my technical original thought, which is my due…The ' I ' of Kerouac is always surrounded by appearing, disappearing and reappearing characters from book to book in the 'Duluoz Legend,' and there is, therefore, a chronological order which has to be vouchsafed. This is the part of the intro I don't like, because while praising me for minor reasons of 'charm' etc., the structure of my work, block by block, is being bulldozed (and why?)…As I told you over the phone, no need to have 'dirty words' in an intro to a book that has no dirty words in it. Dirty words are no longer revolutionary innovations, but simple braggart vandalism now. For 'jacking off' substitute 'onanism' or, if you prefer, 'masturbation.' 'Fucksack' is dirty afterthought, we can substitute 'sexsack' and mean same. This kind of stuff could also prevent Desolation Angels from selling widely…"
April 20, 1965 (responding to an early copy of Desolation Angels): "The book looks superb and I want to thank you for the perfect transcription to print…I'm writing Seymour Krim and congratulating him on how fine his intro looks now that I see it in print and with my little solipsistic corrections out of the way…be sure to mail the editor's manuscript of ANGELS to agent Sterling Lord as soon as feasible: we're donating it and other things to Morgan Library or someplace for tax deduction purposes…The intro will sell twice as many copies as it would have sold, I can see now, among college students for instance. Will give reviewers more meat than dust cover meat for lazy critiques…Notwithstanding what they say about 'Duluoz Legend,' as it goes on into future it will not be repetitious and eventually Duluoz will fade away like the narrator in Maugham's marvelous series of stories. I write nothing I haven't seen with my own eyes - (advice from Scott Fitz[gerald], who really didn't take his own advice with all that fictionalizing of what he saw.) (Just finisht Last Tycoon). Let me know about reprint sale, movie sale, world premiere and all the rest…." April 26, 1965: "And now, Ellis, I want to take that trip to Europe at last and write that new book in a quiet room by candlelight - I'll visit Paris a couple of times but my writing room will be in some German or Dutch city - So I would like that first installment of $3,999.60 right now, since my first royalty statement won't be till 1966…"
May 15, 1965: "Thanks for sending Algren review [of Desolation Angels] - He aint read about my real 'youth' yet (Vanity of Duluoz next book) and it certainly wasn't 'defensive' at all: - football, war, 300 love affairs, 2 marriages, jail and the rest -- As to whether I'm 'Kerouac' or not, what kind of logic is that? How could Trib print such an inept turn of mind? Advertising plans show you aren't being taken in by [Saul] Maloff's 'gagging' puke [in the Times Book Review] or anybody else's slobbering fury - (Say, I must be pretty good!) (To get my work hated) like that)…" July 29, 1967: "Negatives following--making copies for ourselves--The bill will follow from Parkway Photo, Lowell--Hope these O.K."
September 13,1967 (regarding Vanity of Duluoz): "I like your 'endpaper' montage very well. Now all I want to know is did you receive the further photos I had prepared for you?… I had included a photo of me taken last November 1966, profile, laughing in chair, did you get that? I want that one for the cover…Waiting right now for the galleys, already to go, my proofreader friend gave me last-minute instructions…(I read your instructions before for our 1964 galleys of Desolation Angels.)…I haven't changed [since the 1966 photo], as you'll see when I bust in on you with my Boston Costa Nostra gang and raid your office of erasers…P.S. Astronomical charges yourself [for author's alterations on galleys] - do you want perfection in literature or don't ya?…"
The letter of February 11, 1965 is included in Selected Letters 1957-1969, ed. Charters; the others are presumed to be unpublished.
Estimated Value $16,000 - 20,000.
The Maurice F. Neville Collection of Modern Literature (Part II), Sotheby's New York, Nov. 16, 2004.
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| Realized
$19,800 |
Lot 429 |
 |
Kerouac, Jack. Corrected typescript carbon copy of a story, "Visions of Gerard" signed ("John Kerouac") in pencil at the end, 3½ pages, 11 x 8½ in., no place, no date. Single-spaced carbon typescript on onion-skin paper, with extensive manuscript revisions by Kerouac on the first page, and a few on the others, totaling 45 words in his hand. Probably the earliest extant fragment of Kerouac's Legend of Duluoz. This draft typescript, identified by Kerouac on the first page as a "short short," is the germ of the novel of the same title, which was written in January 1956.
Kerouac tells stories of his saintly eight year-old brother Gerard feeding birds on his windowsill, his rescue of a mouse, which his cat then ate, and others which appear in the novel. Here Kerouac uses the name Daoulas as his family name; possibly connecting this draft with his unfinished Michael Daoulas book, written in 1945; he had also used that name before settling on "Martin" for the family in The Town and the City and before adopting a more French sounding version "Duluoz." The cat is named "Kewpie" but changed in manuscript to "Ti-Gris (Little Gray)." In a lengthy confessional letter to Neal Cassady, dated December 28, 1950, Kerouac tells these same stories, he writes of the mouse and cat story: "My mother heard every word of it; the text has been translated to me a million times, now it's garbled. If I could only have heard his exact words. Don't you see, Neal, I never told you, I believe my brother was a saint…I could not live without this confession." Folded twice for mailing.
Estimated Value $5,000 - 7,500.
Maurice F. Neville Collection, Part II - Sotheby's New York, Nov 16, 2004, lot 366.
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| Realized
$5,700 |
Lot 430 |
 |
Kerouac, Jack. Typed letter signed ("Ti Jean"), 1 page, 11 x 8½ in. (Lowell, Mass.), Nov. 11, 1967. To former girlfriend Lois (Sorrels) and her husband, painter Jacques (Beckwith): "Well I had nothing to say. Memere [Jack's mother] got paralyzed October 1966 in Hyannis…I tried to take care of her 24 hours a day by myself, couldnt, so married Sebastian Sampas' sister Stella (Stavroula) Sampas, who…still has to see her own mother every day (old) so we all moved to Lowell….Nothing more fancy than that. Actually not too bad. The strain, or stress, made me write my best book since Road, which is to be published 68 [Vanity of Duluoz], but since Stella does all the shopping I dont walk to store no more and so I now weigh 196 instead of my usual 189. Awful. But the domestick scene is okay." He asks for their New York itinerary and says he might meet them there, "return together to West Cornall cause I wanta see those woods Aint been even to NYC since 1964. Been to Paris, Montreal, homcountry Gaspé. I guess I'm still the same and I guess you're still the same….Lois, write some poems…Jacques, finger out the secret of the tree and mail it to me. In return, I'll mail you a four-unit Diesel locomotive postage due & cash on delivery. (ugh). Whatever happens to all of us in our lives, must be a trial laid on us by the Holy Ghost or whatever…as an interesting byplay to the fact and the truth that the only reality is Human Character, probably….see how it runs, see how it runs….Frère Jac-ques….Anyway, it's not true I dont like you any more, it's just this awful mess I'm in. My wife is a serious and sollemn Greek sorta peasant and that's what I've become but I like it better than being a glittering New York hip wiseguy otherwise and so that's good too. For blowing off steam, I shoot pool and drink at brother in law's bar. I have small woods in back of house and I'm going to meditate in em when I get money to build fence. Time marches on. I love you as far as the stars, so, write soon Ti Jean."
Kerouac was born Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac in Lowell, Mass., to parents who were from Quebec, Canada, so he spoke French at home before learning English at school. "Ti Jean" was a diminutive of Petit Jean, or Little John. Drinking at his brother-in-law's bar would contribute to Kerouac's death less two years later at the age of 47.
Estimated Value $3,000 - 4,000.
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| Realized
$1,800 |
Lot 431 |
 |
Kerouac, Jack. One autograph letter and two typed letters signed ("Ti-Jean" "Jack" and "J."), all on postcards, Northport, N.Y., Sept. 22 and Dec. 16, 1959, July 18, 1960. To his girlfriend, Lois Sorrells. The first is written at the beginning of their affair, "I'll be in town [Sorrells lived in Manhattan] Friday, call you in the evening….I'll call you from Lucien's at suppertime. I'll stay the weekend. My Mexico trip is being infringed upon fast, now Steve Allen wants I shd be in Hollywood Nov 16 to read my winter fly before 30 million people….If Tom Payne [editor at Avon] calls tell him I'm bringing in that poor old battered typewriter….Not drinking today, feeling fine. I going to buy shack in Berkshires right soon, before Mexico trip, Lucien will drive me…Maybe I'll live…I mean, the bottle's got me down. Hell is oneself, dreamt it last night, the words I AM THE FLAMES. …" Dec. 16: "When you do come to Nport I'll give you that $10 I owe you, Am resting beautifully in my new attic…Just read Tristessa and will leave it as is, just like Lucien and Cessa say….getting ready for next spring, fixing my rucksack…gonna go dharmabummin agin….if get money, get jeepster like Lew's with snow tires…and drive off road in desert to arroyos ten miles away and cook over little fires…." On July 18, 1960, Kerouac was leaving for California, where he would borrow Lawrence Ferlinghetti's cabin in Bixby Canyon, and he writes: "When you read this I be gone on train. I be back in the Fall healed & in good shape. I no write nobody, no mailbox -- I think for first time in 3 years. I stay maybe till October--- It has been too much, these 3 years, pulled in everybody's direction till I don't know why I'm alive. I go sleep in Ti Jean heart."
Estimated Value $2,000 - 3,000.
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| Realized
$3,000 |
Lot 432 |
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Kilmer, Joyce (1886-1918) American writer and poet best remembered for the poem, "Trees." Autograph letter signed ("Joyce Kilmer"), 1 page, on The New York Times letterhead, New York n.d. [April 1917]. To Burton Egbert Stevenson, author and anthologist, probably concerning Stevenson's edition of The Home Book of Verse: "I am perfectly willing for you to quote the Belloc poems, but I suggest that you get the permission of Laurence Gomme….I suppose the Mr. Dolben about whom you ask is Digby Dolben, a precocious genius who died at the age of 20, having written some of the most beautiful Catholic poetry of modern times. He was a first cousin of Robert Bridges, the Laureate…. You can easily obtain [biographical details] by writing to Dolben's cousin…Gerald Dolben Paul, British Consulate General, New Orleans… How is the War going in Chillicothe? I'm drilling 10 hours a week - Officers Training Corps - and expect to go into camp at Ft. Hamilton on May first. Not much time for poetry!" With a holograph draft of a poem titled "To My Mother," 1 page, 11 x 8½ in. In pencil, with numerous corrections. Kilmer was a member of Columbia University's illustrious Philolexian Society. He was deployed to France during World War I and was killed by a sniper's bullet at the Second Battle of the Marne in 1918.
Estimated Value $1,000 - 1,500.
Sotheby's New York, Dec 10, 1993, lot 414.
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| Realized
$781 |
Lot 433 |
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Lawrence, D.H (1885-1930) English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic, and painter. His works include Sons and Lovers, Lady Chatterley's Lover (banned in the U.S. until 1959), The White Peacock, The Rainbow and Women in Love. Autograph letter signed, 2 pages, 10½ x 8 1/8 in., Oaxaca, Mexico, January 22, 1925. Written in brown ink on both sides of a sheet of beige paper; corner tips are discolored. Holograph envelope is missing upper right corner with stamp. To Carlo Linati in Milan, regarding an article Linati had written about Lawrence:
"The Corriere della Sera with your article on me, wandered in today. It makes me laugh a bit. I never knew I was so frenetico. You leave me quite out of breath about myself….I have been busy down here in Mexico doing a novel I began last year; it's nearly done. I dread to think of its going out into the world. I call it Quetzalcoatl [published as The Plumed Serpent the following year]. But really, Signor Linati, do you think that books should be sort of toys, nicely built up of observations and senations, all finished and complete? - I don't. To me, even Synge, whom I admire very much indeed, is a bit too rounded off and, as it were, put on the shelf to be looked at. I can't bear art that you can walk round and admire. A book should be either a bandit or a rebel or a man in a crowd. People should either run for their lives, or come under the colours, or say how do you do? I hate the actor and audience business. An author should be in among the crowd, kicking their shins or cheering them on to some mischief or merriment. That rather cheap seat in the gods where one sits with fellows like Anatole France and benignly looks down on the foibles, follies, and frenzies of so-called fellow-men, just annoys me. After all, the world is not a stage - not to me: nor a theatre: nor a show-house of any sort. And art, especially novels, are not little theatres where the reader sits aloft and watches - like a god with a twenty-Lira ticket - and sighs, commiserates, condones and smiles. That's what you want a book to be: because it leaves you so safe and so superior, with your two-dollar ticket to the show. And that's what my books are not and never will be. You need not complain that I don't subject the intensity of my vision - or whatever it is - to some vast and imposing rhythm - by which you mean, isolate it on to a stage, so that you can look down on it like a god who has got a ticket to the show. I never will….Stick to Synge, Anatole France, Sophocles: they will never kick the footlights even. But whoever reads me will be in the thick of the scrimmage, and if he doesn't like it - if he wants a safe seat in the audience - let him read somebody else…."
Estimated Value $3,000 - 5,000.
Sotheby's New York, Dec. 12, 2001, lot 179.
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| Realized
$3,960 |
Lot 434 |
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Lawrence, D.H. Autograph letter signed, 1 page, on recto of a lettersheet, 9 x 6½ in., Zell-am-See bei Salzburg Austria, July 30 (c. 1921). To J.C. Squire at The London Mercury: I had your cable the other day - unintelligible. Curtis Brown is doing my agenting - ask him for things. He has Ms [manuscript] of a Sardinia travel book: & might be able to get you plates from America of the very interesting color-illustrations thereto, done by Jan Juta: a real hit. So ask him - 6 Henrietta St. Hope you had the answer to your cable. Fools in Taomina - your letter just forwarded from there." Address is written on verso of the lettersheet, which was folded over and sealed.
Accompanied by a First English Edition of Lawrence's book Sea and Sardinia, published by Martin Secker, London, 1923. Housed in a brown slipcase gilt-stamped "SEA AND SARFINIA / D.H. LAWRENCE / AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED / LONDON 1923." Two desirable D.H. Lawrence literary items, with a postcard portrait.
Estimated Value $1,500 - 2,000.
R.M. Smythe, June 4, 1998, lot 181.
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| Unsold |
Lot 435 |
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Leonard Lyons Collection: Truman Capote & 22 Others. Collection of letters and cards to Leonard Lyons who wrote a column--"The Lyons Den"--in the New York Post from 1934 to 1974; the column was syndicated in over 100 newspapers.
Truman Capote sent seven autograph letters signed and nine postcards signed, from various places in Europe and covered in tiny writing, between 1952 and 1962. A 1952 ALS discusses the presidential election; he was for Stevenson and said about Eisenhower that "an old man-little boy" grin was no way to choose a candidate. He wonders, "Do you think they really will keep Chaplin from coming home…it is offering the European press a field day in anti-U.S. propaganda." In May 1961, he writes that Chaplin has finished his autobiography, has been offered $500,000 for it, and Graham Greene is editing it; he includes news of Lee Radziwill. In Oct. 1961 he reports that he has written more than half of his next book which will be titled, "In Cold Blood" and he is pleased that "the reviews of the "Breakfast" film…seemed rather good; several of his letters mention that he has to go to Kansas again. An undated letter reports, "Last week, in Madrid, the following celebrated folk dined together: Tenn. Williams, Ken. Tynan, Ors. Welles, Ava Gard., and…Jim Michener…." On Feb. 1, 1962, he says, "Oona Chaplin is pregnant again and has promised to give me the baby as she has no more room in her house…." and in Dec. 1962 he gives two pages of details of his lunch with the Queen Mother; topics included baseball, the Brontê sisters, Jane Austin, abstract painting, television, and her desire to serve on a jury one day.
Other letters in the collection include:
Eric Maria Remarque ANS, no date, sending flowers and good wishes from the author of "All's Quiet on the Western Front";
William Inge TLS (1955) regarding a column about "a noted playwright";
Russel Crouse TLS (1961) on his early years as a reporter with Ernest Hemingway;
Paddy Chayefsky ALS (1961) with condolences on Hemingway's death;
Lillian Hellman TLS (1939) about some charity work she is doing;
Princess Grace of Monaco printed Christmas card (1962) with family photo;
Anita Loos ALS (1962) to Mrs. Lyons
Somerset Maugham TLS (1962) thanking him for a birthday cable and good wishes;
Milton A. Caniff ALS (1943) saying the Army rejected him and he will continue to do "Terry [and the Pirates]"; a TLS (1946) thanking Lyons for a mention of the "Terry" movie;
Thornton Wilder ALS (1967) on a postcard, worrying about an Israeli friend in the Six-Day War;
Noel Coward TLS (1955) from Jamaica, saying the "Tippa Tappa has arrived" and thanking him; a 1962 TLS mentions that "Sail Away" is doing fine at the Savoy, and Stritch has made a great personal success"; with two signed Christmas cards.
Sammy Cahn TLS (1960) asking for the column about Milton Berle's birthday party;
Brendan Behan ALS (n.d.) describing an Irish funeral, and two telegrams;
Erskine Caldwell nine TlsS, one ALS (1938 - mentions future wife Margaret Bourke-White), a postcard, and a printed Christmas card;
Taylor Caldwell two TlsS (1957), one excoriating Lyons as being anti-Israel and a Protestant (he was an Orthodox Jew); with a carbon of his reply and her long reply
James Michener TLS (1958) mentions Truman Capote and says, "god bless the talented little twerp"; a second 1958 TLS mentions a book he is finishing and a play he is going to write;
Marc Chagall Just a "Merci! Chagall" on NYC hotel letterhead;
Ludwig Bemelmans TLS (1962) correcting a column saying he was collaborating with Allan Jay Lerner;
Clare Boothe Luce TLS (1942) correcting misinformation;
Also, notes from portrait photographer Philippe Halsman, author Fannie Hurst, playwright and producer Marc Connelly.
Estimated Value $8,000 - 10,000.
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| Realized
$5,250 |
Lot 436 |
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London, Charmian (1871-1957) Wife of American writer Jack London; considered his soul-mate. After his death in 1916, she spent the last 40 years of her life keeping his books in print and before the public. Five typed letters signed (all "Charmian London"), total of 6 pages, July 14, 1920-April 6, 1921, 11 x 8½ in. (except for 1 page), all with printed, stamped, or typed "Jack London" and Glen Ellen address at top. To Mrs. Margaret Oliver of Santa Cruz, CA, a writer and medium who intends to publish a book which she says Jack London dictated to her from beyond the grave. Charmian tells her that she cannot claim "Jack London, Deceased" as the author of the proposed work, "Death's Sting," and explains that "If I allowed a book to come out under such 'authorship,' immediately every faker in the land--and they are legion--would have perfect right to do the same….the selling value of bona fide work of Jack London's would be more or less injured, and too much depends on this…." She continued her correspondence with Mrs. Oliver, and in 1921 she wrote, "If I should ever be convinced, beyond the flutter of a doubt, I'd eat cyanide of potassium so quickly that I'd be on the Other Side, groping around for Jack, before I had time to think about it!" Very interesting content. Some waterstaining and soiling. Accompanied by a 2-page letter from one Edward B. Payne to Mrs. Oliver, proposing an article about Jack London, about which Mrs. London should have no right of decision.
Estimated Value $800 - 1,000.
Christophe Stickel Autographs.
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| Realized
$1,800 |
Lot 437 |
 |
London, Jack (1876-1916) American novelist, short-story writer, and adventurer. His best-known novels include The Call of the Wild, The Sea Wolf, and White Fang. Eight letters and two notes: seven typed letters signed, one typed letter (stamped signature), one autograph note signed, and one typed note signed, to Spiro D. Orfans. Glen Ellen, California, and Honolulu, December 21, 1910-October 19, 1916. All signed "Jack London." 16 1/2 pages, five of the letters professionally de-acidified and encapsulated in mylar (the encapsulation process is reversible). Spiro D. Orfans (1886-1948) was a Greek immigrant who became a carpenter, and then an artist after he moved to Seattle in 1908. He became friendly with the Londons and often stayed at the ranch. In the five letters and notes to Orfans dating from 21 December 21, 1910 to December 13,1914, London invites Orfans up to Glen Ellen, gives him advice on "clear thinking" (Orfans had a "predisposition towards metaphysics"), talks of events at the ranch, and writes about his travel and others plans. During this period, Orfans virtually became a London disciple.
The break between the two, as shown in the subsequent letters, came when, after reading The Mutiny of the Elsinore, Orfans wrote London in November and December 1915 challenging his attitudes and beliefs about race. London responds in his letter of January 25, 1916: "… you say that my main proposition of race in The Mutiny of the Elsinore is not quite clear to you. Next, you want me to tell you all about it. Nobody asks anybody to bow before anybody. Either they bow or they do not bow. They are made to bow, or they cannot be made to bow. God abhors a mongrel. In nature there is no place for a mixed breed …" London then gives several examples of what he means by the mongrelization of pure breeds, and continues: "There's no use in talking to me about the Greeks. There are not any Greeks. You are not a Greek. The Greeks died two thousand years ago, when they became mongrelized … The Greeks were strong as long as they remained pure … when they mongrelized themselves by breeding with the slush of conquered races, they faded away, and have been playing nothing but a despicable part ever since in the world's history. This is true of the Romans; this is true of the Chaldeans; this is true of the Egyptians; this is not true of the Gypsies, who have kept themselves pure. This is not true of the Chinese, it is not true of the Japanese, this is not true of the Germans, this is not true of the Anglo-Saxons. This is not true of the Yaquis of Mexico. It is true of the fifteen million mongrels of Mexico; it is true of the mongrels that inhabit the greater portion of the West Indies, and who inhabit South America and Central America … Read up your history. You will find it all on the shelves. And find me one race that has retained its power of civilization, culture, and creativeness, after it mongrelized itself …"
March 22, 1916 (in response to Orfans' letter of February 24): "… You prove that you are not a clear thinker, you prove that you have no homogeneity of blood in you, you prove that you have a base heterogeneity of blood in you when you treat me the way you do. You make a noise … as though you talked science. You don't know the first word of science … No man can be scientific and personal at the same time … What you are is not a Greek, ethnologically considered. The Greeks died over two thousand years ago …You who come along, fawning and lick-spittling at my feet, kissing my hand, saying that you are a disciple of my great God-Almightiness of intellect, and have read all that I have written and swallowed it whole, and assert that I am the most magnificent and wonderful human-thinking creature that ever came down the pike - you do all this, as you have done from my first contacts with you, and then, because you have happened to have read one of my latest novels, proceed to get in and worry me, and challenge me, and ding-dong at me, for me to tell you what I really meant in said latest novel, and I finally patiently come through and tell you what every written word of mine has uttered from my first book I every published. Read 'The Son of the Wolf' short-story in my very first book, entitled The Son of the Wolf. Read the dedication in that book. Find there that I laid down the very principle that I have ever continued to lay down …" [The dedication reads: "To the sons of the wolf who sought their heritage and left their bones among the shadows of the circle."] "… Because you are a boob, because you are the stupid thing that you are, because only at this late date you learn what my printed stuff has always stood for, you come back and call me a quack and a hypocrite, and a thrower of bull. In reality you crucify yourself upon your own colossal stupidity - the cross is all the stuff you have ever read and have never grasped … You scream there are no mongrels, you scream because I called you a mongrel. And you mix it all up with the added scream that I refuse to give you a letter of introduction to a lady….What the hell do I care … that the paramount reason why you do not make love to another man's wife is, not because it is against one of the Commandments, but because you couldn't look that man in the eye and tell him to go to hell if you felt like it. You silly slush! Let me give you the tip: After you have successfully loved and possessed another man's wife is the very time you can look that man in the eye and tell him to go to hell." London discusses Lord Byron in Greece for a paragraph, and closes: "… Well, you claim you are a glorious Greek. How have you treated this white man me? … I have given you much. You sought me out … At the end of it all you have behaved toward me as any alleged modern Greek peddler has behaved toward the superior races he has contacted with anywhere all over the world. You weak, spineless thing. One thing remains to you. Get down on your hams and eat out of my hand. Or cease forever from my existence …"
As the animosity between the two grew, Orfans demanded that London send him a bill for his room and board for his stay at the ranch. They settled on a $60 charge, then argued whether or not it had been paid. In London's last letter, of October 19, 1916 - written a month before his death - he encloses a duplicate of the missing letter/receipt and remarks: "… Now you are trying to pull it over by denying that you ever received the letter. This is a stereotyped habit of mongrels. Mongrels are always subterranean…In your case, when I see you repeatedly using the one favorite phrase of vituperation on your list, namely, 'you chuck of bluff,' I can only conclude that you are continually advertising your own weakness. This weakness is bluff … Please remember that only a mongrel can mistake vituperage [sic] for logic. Please remember, Spiro, that you have to sleep by yourself, and that it is up to you to decide, when you run over your entire affair with me, from beginning to end, whether you are a good fellow with which to sleep." On Orfans' last letter to London, dated November 18, 1916 (London died at his Glen Ellen ranch on 22 November), he added a note many years later: "S. F. Jan. 24th 1937. As I read this letter over twenty one years later I regret that Jack died three days later. He was a fine man although a little oversure of himself when he dealt with a 'lesser mortal' like me … now I feel and always did that it was better if he had lived and I lost forty such arguments with my right hand to boot."
With: 11 letters and 1 card from Charmian London to Orfans, 1913-1938; 7 retained drafts or carbons of letters from Orfans to Jack London, Feb 24.-Nov. 18, 1916, and 5 autograph letters signed (some retained drafts?) from Orfans to Charmian, 1916-1917; a photograph of Jack London and Charmian, inscribed and signed from Charmian to Orfans and also signed by London, all on the verso, 3 x 4 in., mylar encapsulated; 9 photographs of London, London and Charmian, and London and Orfans fencing, etc; 12 photographs of Orfans and his family; a group of letters from Peter Orfans (Spiro's son) giving his view about the London-Orfans relationship; and some other related items. Nearly all of the items are housed in a green half morocco and cloth quarto-size binder.
Estimated Value $14,000 - 18,000.
Christie's May 29, 1998, lot 70.
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| Realized
$1,800 |
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