Connecticut River Book Auction
JANUARY 3rd, 2025 at 6pm
949 Main Street in South Glastonbury, CT 06073
www.ctriverbookauction.com

SOUTH GLASTONBURY, CONN. — At its Friday, January 3 sale, Connecticut River Book Auction (CRBA) will offer a multi-volume set issued by one of the most important but unrecognized booksellers of the last century. Unless steeped in the history of book collecting, the name of Gabriel Wells is unlikely to resonate with the reader. Unlike his contemporary Abraham Rosenbach, Wells’ activities purchasing and selling the written word drew less public attention.

Perhaps, his most notable action was acquiring a damaged copy of the Gutenberg Bible and then deciding to break up the volume. Wells sold pages for between $100 to $150 depending on their condition, enabling institutions to complete copies with missing pages. Further, this action provided the book collector of the time the opportunity to acquire a single page of the most important work ever published at an affordable price. Interestingly, recent auction records of these pages suggest this would have been a wise investment as those pages now are selling for in excess of $100,000.

Our connection with Wells begins in 1922 when he paid $200,000 to acquire the rights from Harper to publish The Writings of Mark Twain. Issued in 37 volumes and limited to 1,024 copies, what makes this set of interest is that it included a page signed twice by Twain — once as Samuel Clemens and again as Mark Twain. These signed sheets were intended for a Harper publication but with Clemens’ death in 1910, that project was set aside. The signed sheets were consigned to a shelf in a vault and left untouched for more than a decade. As an aside, it is alleged that Wells used Harper’s illustrations for his “Definitive Edition” without permission. It should be noted that while the set CRBA is selling is missing four volumes, the signed volume is present.

The January auction also begins the sale of a library that has hibernated in storage for nearly a quarter of a century. It was assembled by a collector primarily interested in signed material. Some of the signed first editions to be sold from this collection include William S. Hart’s (1919) Pinto Ben and Other Stories, Laurence Housman’s (1922) A Doorway in Fairyland, O’Flaherty’s (1927) The Fairy Goose and Two Other Stories, Aldous Huxley’s (1929) Leda, Sinclair Lewis’ (1934) Work of Art and more.

The auction begins at 6 pm at the South Congregational Church, 949 Main Street. For information, www.ctriverbookauction.com or 860-908-8067.

will hold a LIVE and IN-PERSON BOOK AUCTION on JANUARY 3rd, 2025 at the South Congregational Church located at 949 Main Street in South Glastonbury, CT 06073. Inspection begins at noon with the auction starting at 6 pm. ABSENTEE / PHONE BIDDERS call 860-908-8067 for Information.
We just received a consignment that hibernated in storage for over a quarter century that belonged to a collector of signed material.
Here are several items from that collection: the 1922 definitive edition of “The Writings of Mark Twain.” While the set is not complete, having 31 of the 37 required volumes, it does have volume one signed by both Mark Twain and Albert Bigelow Paine. Other first signed editions from this consigner include Henry Miller (1952) “Remember to Remember,” Philip Roth (1980) “A Philip Roth Reader,” Aldous Huxley (1929) “Leda,” William S. Hart (1919) “Pinto Ben and Other Stories,” E. L. Doctorow (1971) “The Book of Daniel,” Stephen Spender (1936) “The Burning Cactus,”Lafcadio Hearn (1950, limited edition) “A Drop of Dew,” and W. Somerset Maugham (1944) “The Razor’s Edge.”
For the lover of art consider Bruce Weber’s (2014) “Detroit Has Been Good To Me,” and several other volumes of his photography, Aldous Huxley (1960) “On Art & Artists,” signed in dj and Ireland (1965) “The Works of George Inness” An Illustrated Catalogue Raisonne,” to name of few.
History readers should be attracted to: Gavin (1947) “Airborne Warfare,” by the commanding general of the 82nd Airborne, Hub Zemke (1988) “Zemke’s Wolf Pack,” and O’Brien (1918) “Outwitting the Hun: My Escape from a German Prison Camp.” All are signed first editions. Also consider a limited edition of Moore (1926) “Sailing Ships of War 1800 – 1860,” and a first edition “Recollections of the Early Days of the National Guard comprising the Prominent Events in the History of the Famous 7th Regiment: N.Y. Militia,” published in 1868.
Add to this a touch of murder and mayhem with a copy of Von Feuerbach (1846) “Narratives of Remarkable Criminal Trials,” Whittington-Egan (1975) “A Casebook on Jack the Ripper,” inscribed to crime mystery writer K. Hale and Taylor (1883) “The Principles and Practice of Medical Jurisprudence,” with the bookplate of Richard D. Muir considered the “greatest” prosecutor for the British Crown at the time and you have the making of an enjoyable evening.
For more information on this 6 pm, Friday, January 3rd book auction to be held at the South Congregational Church, 949 Main Street, South Glastonbury, CT 06073, visit ctriverbookauction.com
South Congregational Church • 949 Main St, South Glastonbury, CT • www.ctriverbookauction.com • 860-908-8067