Heritage Auctions – Rare Books
Signature® Auction | June 27
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DALLAS — William Strutz’s library, consisting of more than 15,000 books — the result of a “lifelong labor,” the attorney’s hometown newspaper, The Bismarck Tribune, once noted — makes its auction debut on June 27 at Heritage.

Strutz began collecting books in college in the late 1950s, on subjects ranging from astronomy to psychology, religion to law, philosophy to history. Soon after he began to focus on books of great literary significance, in superb original condition and with important provenance. This accounts for the profusion of presentation and association copies found in his library, many are of great rarity.

But Strutz wanted more than just a copy of the book itself. He sought out copies held by — touched by, gifted by, loved by — their authors. He wanted books presented from one notable to another. As a result, Strutz assembled “one of the most important collections of English and American literature that has come on the market in decades,” said Francis Wahlgren, Heritage Auctions’ international director of rare books and manuscripts.

More than 225 books, letters and manuscripts from Strutz’s collection are offered in this inaugural event, which is now open for bidding. This auction includes some of the greatest works of English and American literature from the Sixteenth to Twentieth Centuries. Heritage will then offer selections from Strutz’s coveted collection over a series of auctions throughout this year and next.

“He never wanted to part with his books in his lifetime because they were a major part of his life,” Wahlgren said of the Bismarck attorney, who died at 89 in January. “He loved his books too much.”

Even a cursory browsing of the offerings in this auction explains why.

His copy of Frankenstein alone merits headlines as one of only three known first editions in the original pink boards (and the only one in private hands). Even the few copies in private collections are found in the more common plain blue-gray boards used at the time. Apart from his copy, anyone hoping to see a set without a trip to Bismarck would have to visit the New York Public Library, where the other two known copies in pink boards reside in the Pforzheimer and Berg Collections. Strutz, who acquired his copy in 1975, had the foresight to obtain the only known copy in private hands — and now the only copy ever to be offered at auction.

Strutz’s The Great Gatsby is no less extraordinary, from its superior dust jacket to its inscription inside: “For D.L. Shelton / from his Sincerely / F Scott Fitzgerald / Feb 1927.” There is also a first edition presentation copy of J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1937 The Hobbit, with a dust jacket so brilliant-bright its snow-capped mountains seem to burst out of its famously verdant landscape. Tolkien gave this copy to dear friends, writing inside, “Charles & Dorothy Moore / from. / J.R.R.T / with love / September 1937.”

Strutz sought presentation copies whenever possible, particularly focusing on association copies, books inscribed to meaningful recipients and even dedication copies. Among them are Tolkien’s 1949 Farmer Giles of Ham (with an autograph letter to its recipient, the dedicatee as well), Katherine Anne Porter’s 1962 Ship of Fools (twice inscribed to its dedicatee, publisher Barbara Harrison Wescott) and Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1878 An Inland Voyage. The latter is especially significant, as it contains a lengthy inscription from Stevenson to his mother, a potent piece of prose that reads, in part, “My dear Mother / May I present you with an unworthy grandchild? I am sure it would have been fifty times better, if I had been fifty times like you; and I am sure, if it had been a hundred times worse, you would have given it a kind welcome for my sake. So be it in this, and in all.”

While browsing this catalog one will find no shortage of presentation copies of classic works of poetry and literature, among them Ernest Hemingway’s rare first book, Three Stories & Ten Poems (1923), inscribed to the journal publisher in Paris of some of his earliest appearances; Herman Melville’s first collection of poetry, Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866), inscribed to one of the subject of one of its poems; and Henry David Thoreau’s masterpiece Walden (1854), inscribed to literary executor (and hiking companion) Harrison Gray Otis Blake.

Strutz was especially enamored of poetry and verse, including the works of Robert Frost and John Keats, the latter of whom is represented in a rare autograph letter, as well as a copy of his Poems (1817) in its original boards. His favorite poem by his favorite American poet, William Cullen Bryant, was “To a Waterfowl.” Over many decades he added the first book appearance of the poem, an original fair copy manuscript, as well as the rare first printed appearance in a journal, which turned out to be his very last purchase in late 2023. It demonstrates his passion for his favorite authors, as well as his patience and determination to add depth to his collection.

For information, 214-409-1887 or www.ha.com.

Important English and American Literature: THE WILLIAM A. STRUTZ LIBRARY, PART I
[From left to right] The Great Gatsby – Scarce inscribed copy of Fitzgerald’s masterpiece in a superior dust jacket; Frankenstein-, or, The Modern Prometheus – The superb Kern-Hersholt-Kettaneh copy of Mary Shelley’s classic tale of terror, uncut in original boards; The Hobbit – A very fine presentation copy in a superlative dust jacket.
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