Great Expectations by Charles Dickens in a finely bound first Riviere edition tripled its high presale estimate, selling for $15,000. The first edition was from the collection of Robin and Marsha Garces Williams, dedicated patrons of the modern fine press movement in San Francisco.
Review by W.A. Demers; Photos Courtesy of PBA Galleries
BERKELEY, CALIF. — Great Expectations by Charles Dickens in a finely bound first Riviere edition tripled its high estimate in PBA Galleries’ October 5 auction, selling for $15,000. The first edition with genuine first issue title pages was from the collection of Robin and Marsha Garces Williams. The Williams family were dedicated patrons of the modern fine press movement in San Francisco, and several additional items from their collection were included in the sale.
A total of 313 lots featured rare books in all fields and included sections of fine press, fine bindings, illustrated books and a miscellany of treasures, with something for collectors of all stripes. The sale totaled $287,475 with a sell-through rate of 83 percent. Registered bidders totaled nearly 3,000 and between 15 and 20 countries were represented. “We had bidders from Asia, Europe and the Middle East successfully bid in addition to bidders from the East Coast, West Coast and all through middle America. What was particularly nice is that most lots exceeded expectations; there was not one item or one genre that dominated,” said specialist Gregory Krisilas.
With illustrations designed and cut in wood by Edward Gordon Craig and the title-page cut by Eric Gill, a Cranach Press The Tragedie of Hamlet Prince of Denmarke by William Shakespeare, 1930, sold for $13,750. The volume is considered to be the finest printing of a Shakespeare play and one of the highlights of Twentieth Century book arts. Craig’s sublime woodcuts are paired with the text of the play as well as texts from Shakespeare’s probable sources. It was printed with type designed by Edward Johnston on paper made of pure hemp fiber and linen.
Characterized as the finest printing of a William Shakespeare play, this Cranach Press edition of The Tragedie of Hamlet Prince of Denmarke, 1930, with illustrations designed and cut in wood by Edward Gordon Craig and the title-page cut by Eric Gill, sold for $13,750. It was the leading lot in the sale.
The collection of Robin and Marsha Garces Williams contributed the Doves Press edition of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, 1909, which sold for $9,375. The volume was signed by T.J. Cobden-Sanderson, the English artist and bookbinder associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement, with an inscription to writer and poet Edmond Holmes.
Mark Twain’s first book, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches, 1867, also from the Williams collection, realized $10,000. It was in original purple cloth with a gilt frog stamped at lower left of the front cover and a matching frog in blind at lower left of rear cover. “Perhaps no short sketch of Twain’s so quickly won wide popularity as did The Jumping Frog,” stated the catalog, further noting that Twain’s first published book came into being under the sponsorship of Charles Henry Webb, who also edited it under his pseudonym of “John Paul.” The title story was accompanied by 26 other sketches.
Fetching nearly four times its high estimate, a Zaehnsdorf printing of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám published by Bernard Quaritch, 1879, rose to $4,688 against an estimate of $800-$1,200, Published in London in 1879, it featured an illustrated frontispiece, finely bound by Zaehnsdorf in full brown morocco with elaborate gilt and black and olive morocco inlays, brown morocco doublures and endleaves, its top edge gilt.
A Zaehnsdorf printing of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám published by Bernard Quaritch, 1879, nearly quadrupled its high estimate, rising to $4,688 against an estimate of $800-$1,200
The “leper-priest of Molokai,” Father Damien, drew bidding interest when Father Damien: An Open Letter to the Reverend Dr Hyde of Honolulu from Robert Louis Stevenson crossed the block. Stevenson visited the Hawaiian Board of Health leprosy settlement at Kalawo, Molokai, for a week at the end of May 1889, according to catalog notes, six weeks after the death there of Father Damien, Joseph DeVeuster (1840-1889). The first shipload of leprosy victims had been landed there on January 6, 1866; Damien came to serve as Catholic priest to the settlement seven years later, in May 1873; after more than a decade there, he contracted leprosy and on April 15, 1889. From the collection of Robin and Marsha Garces Williams, the first edition went out at $4,688.
Cosway-style bindings generally feature a portrait of a book’s subject in an oval watercolor inset in the front cover. Such was the case with a 1925 two-volume set of the Life of Samuel Johnson, the great lexicographer, by James Boswell. Published by George Bayntun and bound by Bayntun-Riviere, it tripled its high estimate to bring $4,375. Newly edited with notes by Roger Igpen and with 576 illustrations, facsimiles and maps, the volumes were in full brown morocco tooled in gilt and black, inlays along spine edges to replicate hinges, gilt edges and each with an oval watercolor portrait inset in each front cover.
A novel without words, White Collar: A Novel in Linocuts, circa 1938, by Giacomo Patri, nearly tripled its high estimate to finish at $2,813.
A novel without words, White Collar: A Novel in Linocuts, circa 1938, by Giacomo Patri, nearly tripled its high estimate to finish at $2,813. Instead of words, the author used linocut illustrations throughout. The early graphic novel pitting capital against labor was set against the backdrop of the Great Depression, the tale from the 1930s finds strong resonance with modern day societal trends.
Prices given include the buyer’s premium as stated by the auction house. PBA’s next sale featuring works of the fine press is scheduled for November 16 and will include works of natural history and ecology from the Shawn Donnille collection and rare and antiquarian books. For information, www.pbagalleries.com or 415-989-2665.
