Detective Fiction, Don Henley Advice, and Napoleon: The Week in Rare Books
A selection from a group of 400 titles, most first editions, at Freeman's Hindman
This weekly auction result is provided by Spencer W Stuart, an independent collections advisor specializing in rare books and manuscripts as well as fine photography and prints. He is also the author of Contemporary Issues in Rare Books & Manuscript Collecting and host of the monthly webinar Collecting Insights.
These are the three lots that stuck out this week because of either uniqueness or exceeding expectations:
Eight Decades of Mystery: A group of 400 titles of detective fiction, most first editions, including Thomas Burke's, The London Spy (London, Thornton Butterworth, 1922, in dust jacket), Frances Hodgson Burnett's Editha's Burglar (Boston, Jordan, Marsh & Company, 1888), Patricia Highsmith's The Glass Cell (Garden City, NY, Doubleday & Company for The Crime Clube, 1964, in dust jacket), Gastron Leroux's The Masked Man (New York, The Macaulay Company, 1929, in dust jacket), and Stuart Martin's The Fifteen Cells (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1928, third printing, in original dust jacket with printed wrap-around band and original unbroken interior seal). Estimate $1,000 - $2,000, sold for $5,525.
Don Henley's Worthy Advice: A long autograph letter by the Eagles' singer-songwriter Don Henley about the band's identity, and success in the music industry, including: "You will need lots of drugs, neuroses, a couple of good doctors, a big ego, pride, a psychiatrist, unbending will, a few good breaks, a lot of patience, time, tons of luck, a certain amount of cunning & deviousness, reasonable intelligence plus some insanity...You might need a little talent too" Sold for $15,344.
Bound for More - Rivière & Son: Emmanuel, comte de Las Cases' journal-memoir Memorial de Sainte Hélène focusing on Napoleon's exile in Saint Helena., 4 vol. in 8, bound by Rivière & Son, 1823. Estimate: £400 - £600. sold for £4,200.
