CONNECTICUT RIVER BOOK AUCTION
will hold a LIVE and IN-PERSON BOOK AUCTION
FRIDAY, JUNE 9TH, 6 pm
South Congregational Church
949 Main Street
South Glastonbury, CT 06073.
www.ctriverbookauction.com or call Tom at 1-860-908-8067

SOUTH GLASTONBURY, CONN. — The Friday, June 9, Connecticut River Book Auction at 6 pm at the South Congregational Church offers attendees and absentee bidders two unusual books that could not be further apart. The first item is associated with Alfred G. Vanderbilt, son of Cornelius Vanderbilt II and a New York real estate and railroad baron in his own right. The object is a small, oblong, red crushed leather volume titled Venture London-Brighton 1910. Consisting of 19 photos with titles, the small volume commemorates a coach trip.

After a rather scandalous affair, which led to a divorce, Alfred left New York City to spend considerable time in England engaging in the sport of driving horse-drawn coaches — an activity that he apparently thoroughly enjoyed. He and other wealthy individuals would take their vehicles and journey from London to Surrey, Brighton and elsewhere. What makes this copy of one such trip unique is not only its scarcity but the fact that it is signed by Alfred and dated May 1910.

What makes Alfred stand out more than, say, your average wealthy turn-of-the-century elite is his actions aboard the RMS Lusitania on May 7, 1915. It was on that day that a German submarine torpedoed the luxury liner quickly sinking it. It was during this frightening time aboard the ship that Vanderbilt willingly gave his lifejacket to a mother and child, fastening it to her body himself. What makes this selfless act even more heroic is that Vanderbilt did not know how to swim. Sadly, he did not survive, and his body was never recovered.

The second item is a group of African American stories collected by Abbie Holmes Christensen and published as Afro-American Folk Lore Tales. Christensen was a remarkable individual in a time of remarkable women who sought to escape the confines placed upon them by a male-dominated world. An educator of African Americans who helped establish the Port Royal Agricultural School, a temperance leader and a suffrage activist, she used the royalties from the sale of this book to support the school. This copy was privately published by Christensen in 1898 and is signed by her on the front free endpaper.

These two items are joined by signed material by Robert Frost, President Benjamin Harrison, Carl Sandburg and a plethora of other interesting material.
The South Congregational Church is at 949 Main Street. For additional information, www.ctriverbookauction.com or 860-908-8067.

Inspection begins at noon with auction starting at 6 pm.
For more information on this 6 pm, Friday, June 9th book auction to be held at the South Congregational Church, 949 Main Street, South Glastonbury, CT 06073
June is upon us, and it’s time to decide whether your summer reading will trend towards the past in the form of history or towards fiction. Then again, it might fall somewhere in between, say, a good children’s book or fine art book. The good news is that we will have something for nearly everyone at this month’s auction. For history buffs we have a 3 ring binder of 160 political buttons and a President Benjamin Harrison (1893) signed framed land grant for a parcel in Arkansas (Homestead Act). There are 1st edition copies of Herbert Hoover’s (1922, signed) American Individualism, Churchill’s (1938, in dj) Arms and the Covenant, a nice 5 volume set of Bates (1869) History of Pennsylvania Volunteers 1861 – 1865, and two rarely found WWII items. The first is an Anti-Nazi cartoon book by Low (1945) Valka Zacala Mnichovem published in London and inscribed by Low to British politician Harold Laski. The second is a defense of Japanese actions by Kurusu (1944) titled Kurusu Speaks in English and issued by the Nippon Times. For aficionados of fiction, we continue to be rich in mysteries of which much is signed. In the signed 1st edition fiction category consider these novels by Kurt Vonnegut Fates Worse Than Death, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, and Bluebeard. Like Twain, then how about a 1st edition, mixed state copy of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. Oh, and those mysteries of which we spoke. There are Chandler’s (1949, in dj) Little Sister, and the first appearance in 1939 of his Pearls Are A Nuisance with LeCarre’s (1989,
signed) The Russia House, and a 1946 comic book version of Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon to go along with a signed copy of Browne’s Murder Wears A Halo. Need a map, then how about a large framed 1904 Street Railway Map of Connecticut? Like ephemera? We have several boxes
of old postcards, photos, political material, and autographed material by Alfred G.Vanderbilt, Henry Ward Beecher, Tennessee Williams, and Robert Frost to name just a few.