Category: Rare Books

Austen Literary History & Criticism · Books · Jane Austen · Literature · Publishing History · Rare Books

Austen on the Block! ~ Sotheby’s June 17, 2011

BookLady Deb1 Comment

The exciting news this past week on the impending sale of the manuscript pages of Jane  Austen’s The Watsons certainly sent most us into a mild depression about how unattainable such a piece is for most of us. But today, Sotheby’s has made its New York June 17th auction of Fine Books and Manuscripts available online, and I see there are several Austen titles up for sale, still perhaps unattainable for most of us, but a little more reasonable just the same… again, one can only lament how Austen struggled to earn a pittance for her labors, and how Cassandra sold all the copyrights believing that her sister’s popularity had crested as she sank rather rapidly into obscurity!  Aah! Hindsight!

Here are the six lots for sale ~ you can go to the Sotheby’s website for more information on these lots and how to bid online:   

 Sotheby’s Sale No. NO8755: Fine Books and Manuscripts

LOT 5

Pride and Prejudice: A Novel. London: T. Egerton, 1813

3 volumes, 12mo (6 3/4 x 4 in.; 170 x 100 mm). Half-titles; light, scattered staining in all 3 vols. but withal a clean copy, a few short marginal tears in vol. 1, oxidized catchword in 1:O8, paper creased in lower right corner of 2:F1 and so printed. Contemporary mottled calf, smooth spines with gilt rules resembling chained links; spine labels lacking on vols. 1–2, vol. 1 boards detached, joints starting on vols. 2–3, craquelure on spines, minor loss to head of spine of vol. 3.   25,000—35,000 USD

 LOT 50


Sense and Sensibility. London: Printed for the Author and published by T. Egerton, 1811 

3 volumes, 12mo (6 3/8 x 3 7/8 in.; 161 x 98 mm). Lacks half-title in vol. 1 and terminal blanks in all 3 vols., half-title guarded in vol. 3, strong offsetting from morocco library label in vol. 1 to title-page, washed and pressed with residual foxing and staining throughout vol. 1, quires A–F in vol. 2, and quire B in vol. 3. Sympathetically bound in half mottled calf antique over marbled boards, spines in 6 compartments, russet and black lettering and numbering pieces, plain endpapers, edges uniformly marbled with boards.  15,000—25,000 USD

LOT 51

Pride and Prejudice: A Novel. London: T. Egerton, 1813

3 volumes, 12mo (6 3/4 x 4 1/16 in.; 170 x 104 mm). Lacks all half-titles, washed and pressed with residual staining and browning but less pronounced in vols. 2–3, strong offsetting from morocco label and binding to title-page and B1 in vol. 1, offsetting from binding to title-pages and terminal leaves in vols 2–3, short tears to inside lower left corners in vol. 1, quire B. Modern half black calf over marbled boards, spines in 6 compartments, red morocco labels, endpapers and edges plain.  10,000—15,000 USD

 LOT 52

Mansfield Park.London: Printed for T. Egerton, 1814

3 volumes, 12mo (7 x 4 in.; 175 x 100 mm). Lacking final blanks in vols. 2–3 and all 3 half-titles, long tears at 1:P12 costing at least 4 words, quire 1:Q loose, long tear in 2:C1 touching 5 lines, small perforations in gutters of 3:C3–6, title-page tipped in vol. 3, occasional light staining, chiefly marginal, a few short tears. Modern brown buckram, black morocco spine labels, plain endpapers and edges.  6,000—8,000 USD

 LOT 53

Emma: A Novel. London: Printed for John Murray, 1816

3 volumes, 12mo (6 3/4 x 4 1/8 in.; 170 x 104 mm). Half-titles; washed and pressed with some residual foxing and staining, particularly to half-titles, short split to vol. 1 half-title near gutter. Half mottled calf, marbled boards, spines in 6 compartments (2 reserved for lettering pieces), the others ornamented with gilt marguerites and floral cornerpieces, plain endpapers, top edges gilt; joints and spine ends a trifle rubbed, endpapers renewed. Blue holland paper slipcase; faded and stained.  10,000—15,000 USD

LOT 54

Northanger Abbey: and Persuasion. London, John Murray, 1818

4 volumes, 12mo (6 3/4 x 4 1/8 in.; 170 x 104 mm). Lacking half-titles in vols. 2–4 and blanks P7,8 in vol. 4 called for by Gilson, marginal offsetting to title-pages from bindings, washed and pressed with some residual toning and foxing. Uniformly bound with Emma (see previous lot); joints rubbed. Blue holland paper slipcase; faded and stained.   6,000—8,000 USD

Go in and browse the online catalogue – there are amazing items in this sale: Dickens, Bronte, Dickinson, Beatrix Potter and Arthur Rackham, Steinbeck letters,  Mark Twain, and so much more !

[Images and description text from the Sotheby’s catalogue]

Copyright @2011 by Deb Barnum, of Jane Austen in Vermont 
Austen Literary History & Criticism · Jane Austen · Literature · News · Rare Books

On the Block! ~ Jane Austen’s The Watson’s

BookLady Deb3 Comments

Breaking news from The Guardian:  [and now all over the blogsphere!]

Jane Austen rare manuscript
up for sale

A rare, handwritten manuscript of Jane Austen’s unfinished novel The Watsons is to be sold at auction at Sotheby’s in London.

by Mark Brown, The Guardian, May 20, 2011

An incredibly rare handwritten manuscript of an unfinished novel by Jane Austen – the only one that is still in private hands – is to appear at auction inLondon.

The neatly written but heavily corrected pages are for her unfinished work The Watsons, a novel which many believe could easily have been as good as her six completed works.

Gabriel Heaton, Sotheby’s senior specialist in books and manuscripts, said it was “a thrill and privilege” to be selling it: “It is very exciting. This is the most significant Austen material to come on the market since the late 1980s.”

It is unquestionably rare. Original manuscripts of her published novels do not exist, aside from two cancelled chapters of Persuasion in the British Library.

The novel is considered around a quarter completed and the manuscript has 68 pages – hand-trimmed by Austen – which have been split up into 11 booklets.

It is most but not all of Austen’s unfinished novel. The first 12 pages were sold by an Austen descendent during the first world war to help the Red Cross and are now in New York’s Pierpont Morgan Library, while the next few pages were inexplicably lost by Queen Mary, University of London which has been looking after the manuscript.

The college’s director of library services Emma Bull said it happened six years ago, before she arrived, and had resulted in a full investigation which, alas, “did not really come to any firm conclusions about what specifically happened.” There had been a hope that they would turn up, but clearly that is now highly unlikely.

The Watsons manuscript shows how Austen’s other manuscripts must have looked. It also shines an interesting light on how she worked. Austen took a piece of paper, cut it in two and then folded over each half to make eight-page booklets. Then she would write, small neat handwriting leaving little room for corrections – of which there are many. “You can really see the mind at work with all the corrections and revisions,” said Heaton.

Scene from Pride & Prejudice, by Isabel Bishop - Morgan Library

At one stage she crosses so much out that she starts a page again and pins it in. It seems, in Austen’s mind, her manuscript had to look like a book. “Writers often fall into two categories,” said Heaton. “The ones who fall into a moment of great inspiration and that’s it and then you have others who endlessly go back and write and tinker. Austen is clearly of the latter variety. It really is a wonderful, evocative document.”

The Watsons was written in 1804, not a hugely happy time for Austen professionally – she had one novel rejected and another bought by a publisher who failed to print it.

It was also a difficult time personally and one reason it was not finished may be because fact came too close to the fiction. The Watsons heroine is Emma, one of four sisters who are daughters of a sick and widowed clergyman. The novel would have had the father die leaving Emma in a precarious financial position. In real life, Austen’s clergyman father died leaving her in a similar pickle to her fictional heroine.

Had Austen completed The Watsons there are many who believe it would have been a classic. Margaret Drabble described it as “a tantalising, delightful and highly accomplished fragment, which must surely have proved the equal of her other six novels, had she finished it.”

The manuscript was bought by the present owner in 1988 when it was sold by the British Rail Pension Fund. It had been bought from Austen descendents in the 1970s when manuscripts, rare books and fine art seemed like perfectly sensible things for nationalised pension funds to buy.

The manuscript has been valued at £200,000 to £300,000 and will be sold at Sotheby’s in London on 14 July.

You can see this page from The Watsons at the Pierpont Morgan Library’s online exhibition A Woman’s Wit: Jane Austen’s Life and Legacy:

[Image:  The Watsons,  Pierpont Morgan Library Online Exhibition]

The Sotheby’s auction page is here, English Literature & History, Sale No. L11404, though there are no details yet online.  I will keep you posted! – and more on The Watsons in the coming weeks… you can read it online here at The Republic of Pemberley or a PDF version here,  or learn more about it here at Jane Austen’s Fiction Manuscripts where you can also read along with the digitized copy.

Copyright @2011 by Deb Barnum, of Jane Austen in Vermont
Jane Austen · Literature · News · Publishing History · Rare Books · Women Writers

On the Block! ~ Sarah Burney’s Copy of ‘Pride & Prejudice’

BookLady Deb3 Comments

Heritage Auction Galleries: 2011 April New York Signature Rare Books Auction #6053 ; Lot # 36518

Novelist Sarah Burney’s Copy of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

[Jane Austen]. Pride and Prejudice: A Novel. In Three Volumes. By the Author of “Sense and Sensibility.” London: Printed for T. Egerton, 1813.

First edition. Three twelvemo volumes (7 3/8 x 4 1/2 inches). [4], 307, [1, blank]; [4], 239, [1, blank]; [4], 323, [1, blank] pp. Half-titles present but that for the first volume is in facsimile. Most sheets watermarked 1808.

Contemporary half green roan over marbled boards, smooth spines with gilt rules and lettering, edges sprinkled red. Some rubbing to joints and extremities. Scattered foxing. A very good copy with a fine association.

Sarah Harriet Burney’s copy, with her signature on the title of all three volumes. English novelist Sarah Harriet Burney (1772-1884), half-sister of Fanny Burney, published five novels during her lifetime. Among her more famous works are Tales of Fancy and Geraldine Fauconberg. Her work was admired by Jane Austen who, in one of her letters, remarks that she is reading one of Sarah Burney’s novels for the third time. In turn, Sarah Harriet Burney received Jane Austen’s novels from her publisher, and was one of the earliest readers to publicly recognize her genius. Sarah Burney’s life has strong echoes of Jane Austen’s fiction, but with scandalous overtones. In 1798, she eloped with her half-brother Captain James Burney, 22 years her senior, settling eventually in lodgings in Tottenham Court Road, “living in the most groveling mean style.” In 1803 James went back to live with his wife. Sarah then took a job as a governess, wrote novels as a means of earning money to support herself, and eventually left England for Florence, where she mixed with a circle or artists and authors including Henry Crabb Robinson. She received great sympathy from her three remaining half-sisters, Esther, Fanny, and Charlotte, on the death of James Burney in 1821. In 1822 she gained the post of governess to the grandchildren of Lord Crewe, with her own house and a salary of 300 pounds a year. She spent the last years of her life in ill health at a boarding house in Bath. In 1840, on the death of Fanny D’Arblay, Henry Crabb Robinson wrote that she bequeathed Sarah “1,200 per annum for her life.” She continued to socialize with Robinson and his friends until her death at Cheltenham on February 8, 1844. Some of her property was left to her half-nephew, Martin Charles Burney, James Burney’s son.

Gilson A3. Grolier, 100 English, 69. Keynes, Austen, 3. Sadleir 62b. Tinker 204.

Estimate: $90,000 – up.  Starting bid is $45,000.

*Absentee bidding has opened and ends on April 6, 2011.
*Live auction on April 7, 2011.

[Image and text from the Heritage Galleries website]

Copyright @2011 by Deb Barnum, of Jane Austen in Vermont
Books · Rare Books · Regency England · Social Life & Customs

On My ‘Books Wanted’ List ~ ‘Ackermann’s Regency Furniture’

BookLady Deb10 Comments

What does one do with the books we want but cannot now justify the expense or even afford at all?  I maintain an endless list of such books I discover in my reading or book-hunting travels.  I periodically search to see if I can find a copy that doesn’t break the bank.  Here is one book I have had on my wish-list for ages, but it is impossible to find for much less than $200.  But is is oh! so lovely! and I want it – I see it today in the Joslin Hall Rare Books catalogue and other than drooling all over my keyboard for a bit, I shall have to pass on the $300. price tag, yet again:

[Page Image from JHRB March Catalogue]

Agius, Paul[ine]. “Ackermann’s Regency Furniture & Interiors” Marlborough; The Crowwood Press: 1984. Published between 1809 and 1828, Ackermann’s ‘Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashions and Politics’ provides an unparalleled window into the high-class world of Regency England. Gathered here are several hundred illustrations of furniture and interiors as first published by Ackermann. A Regency-style tour de force. Hardcover. 10″x11″, 200 pages, color and b/w illustrations, dj. Minor wear. $300.00

For Sale at Joslin Hall Rare Books

Anyone out there fortunate enough to have a copy? or perhaps a second copy you don’t know what to do with?

Copyright@2011, by Deb Barnum at Jane Austen in Vermont
Austen Literary History & Criticism · Books · Jane Austen · Rare Books

Austen on the Block ~ Auction Results!

BookLady Deb1 Comment

Well, I have been immersed in the long 18th century these past several days [and will shortly post on the fabulous AGM in Portland in the next few days] – but while there, the October 28 Sotheby’s auction that I posted about last month, The Library of an English Bibliophile Part I, took place and here are the results

and the winner? Pride and Prejudice at £139,250! – whatever would Jane say?!

 

 
LOT 1

[AUSTEN, JANE.]
SENSE AND SENSIBILITY: A NOVEL… BY A LADY. LONDON: PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR BY C. ROWORTH AND PUBLISHED BY T. EGERTON, 1811

40,000—60,000 GBP
Lot Sold.  Hammer Price with Buyer’s Premium:  49,250 GBPLOT 2

[AUSTEN, JANE.]
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: A NOVEL. LONDON: G. SIDNEY FOR T. EGERTON, 1813

75,000—100,000 GBP
Lot Sold.  Hammer Price with Buyer’s Premium:  139,250 GBP

LOT 3

[AUSTEN, JANE.]
EMMA: A NOVEL. LONDON: C. ROWORTH FOR JOHN MURRAY, 1816

20,000—30,000 GBP
Lot Sold.  Hammer Price with Buyer’s Premium:  30,000 GBP

LOT 4

[AUSTEN, JANE.]
MANSFIELD PARK: A NOVEL. LONDON: FOR  J. MURRAY, 1816

1,500—2,000 GBP
Lot Sold.  Hammer Price with Buyer’s Premium:  1,875 GBP

LOT 5

[AUSTEN, JANE.]
NORTHANGER ABBEY: AND PERSUASION…WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF THE AUTHOR. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, 1818

20,000—30,000 GBP
Lot Sold.  Hammer Price with Buyer’s Premium:  43,250 GBP

 Further reading and other results in this auction at Sotheby’s website

Books · Jane Austen · Rare Books

Austen on the Block! ~ Auction Update

BookLady Deb2 Comments

The Heritage Auctions offering of Jane Austen’s novels on October 14-16, 2010 has published the results.  See my previous post here for the details.

  • Emma ~ $8,962.50  [opening bid:  $7500.; est. $15,000.]

  • Mansfield Park – not sold [opening bid:  $5000.; est. $10,000.]
  • Northanger Abbey / Persuasion ~ not sold [opening bid: $3750.; estimate: $7500. ]
  • Pride and Prejudice ~ not sold [opening bid:  $15,000.; estimate: $30,000.]
  • Sense and Sensibility ~ not sold [opening bid: $20,000.; est. $40,000.]

Hmmm – what is this all about??

Stand by for the Sotheby’s October 28th auction – details here.

Books · Jane Austen · News · Publishing History · Rare Books

MORE Austen on the Block!

BookLady Deb5 Comments

Sotheby’s  has just announced the following October 28th  auction in London:

 

The Library of  an English Bibliophile, Part I.    Jane Austen is duly represented and is among the great company of the Brontes, Burney, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Gaskell, Eliot (George and T. S.), Darwin, Fielding, Hardy, James, Joyce, Keats, Mary Shelley, Wollstonecraft, and many more, and interesting in only having ONE Dickens [Lot 40, A Christmas Carol, est. 150,000 – 200,000 GBP]

Here are the five Austen lots: [# 1-5]

SENSE AND SENSIBILITY: A NOVEL… BY A LADY. AND PUBLISHED BY T. EGERTON, 1811.  LONDON: PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR BY C. ROWORTH 

12mo (187 x 114mm.), 3 volumes, first edition, half-titles, watermarks, uncut in the original publisher’s boards, original pink paper labels on spines, preserved in folding brown cloth chemises and quarter brown morocco slipcase, rebacked preserving most of the original spines, occasional spotting and foxing, some slight marginal stains on D10-D11 in volume 1, minor discolouration and staining of a few gatherings in volumes 2 and 3, short tears on B11 and H5 in volume 2 (affecting three lines and two lines respectively), tiny paper flaw on I2 in volume 2, some slight wear to boards.

ESTIMATE 40,000 – 60,000 GBP 

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: A NOVEL. LONDON: G. SIDNEY FOR T. EGERTON, 1813

12mo (182 x 110mm.), 3 volumes, first edition, watermarks, uncut in the original publisher’s drab boards, half-titles, advertisements dated November 1812 inserted at the beginning of volume 1, preserved in folding blue cloth chemises and quarter blue morocco folding box by Zaehnsdorf, spines repaired (some cracks and slight tears present), upper joint of volume 3 slightly split, without spine labels (volume numbers stamped on spine), skilful repairs to inner margin of half-title, title-page and first text leaf of volume 1.

ESTIMATE 75,000 – 100,000 GBP 

EMMA: A NOVEL. LONDON: C. ROWORTH FOR JOHN MURRAY, 1816

12mo (186 x 110mm.), first edition, half-titles, uncut in the original publisher’s blue-grey boards with grey-brown spines, preserved in quarter brown morocco folding box, rebacked preserving significant portions of the spines, original spine labels, tear to lower corner of P1 in volume 1 (not affecting text), occasional spotting, some slight further wear to binding.

ESTIMATE 20,000 – 30,000 GBP 

MANSFIELD PARK: A NOVEL. LONDON: FOR J. MURRAY, 1816

12mo (176 x 104mm.), 3 volumes, second edition, half-titles, contemporary or near contemporary blue half morocco, marbled boards, speckled edges, leaves C6-7 in volume 1 partially loose, some slight foxing and spotting, one gathering in volume 3 crudely opened, some slight wear to edges of binding.

ESTIMATE 1,500 – 2,000 GBP 

NORTHANGER ABBEY: AND PERSUASION…WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF THE AUTHOR.  LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, 1818

12mo (189 x 112mm.), 4 volumes, first edition, watermarks, half-titles as called for by Gilson, uncut in the original grey-brown boards, original spine labels, preserved in red quarter morocco folding box, some spotting and foxing, neat repairs to a few minor tears on spines, some wear to labels and edges and extremities of binding, boards slightly spotted, corners very slightly bumped.

ESTIMATE 20,000 – 30,000 GBP

************************

You can view the entire catalogue with pictures and fuller description online at the Sotheby’s website.  An Exhibition is to be held in Paris, then London prior to the auction on October 28th [see site for details]; a catalogue can be purchased for $53.

Can’t wait to see Part II!

[Image of  Thomas Rowlandson’s “Doctor Syntax at an Auction” from The Private Library]
[Posted by Deb]

Books · Collecting Jane Austen · Jane Austen · News · Publishing History · Rare Books

Austen on the Block!

BookLady Deb1 Comment

Auction Alert!   Heritage Auction Galleries has announced its upcoming “Signature Rare Books Auction”, October 14-16 – Beverly Hills, CA.  Auction #6048.  You will all be happy to see that all of Jane Austen’s first editions will be on the block! – all in lovely bindings and now viewable online and open for bidding: [note the opening bid and estimated value, and buyer’s premium; if there is a reserve it has not been noted] 

*First Edition of Jane Austen’s Fourth Novel in a Full Morocco Binding by Rivière & Son:

 [Jane Austen]. Emma: A Novel. In Three Volumes. By the Author of “Pride and Prejudice,” &c. &c. Vol. I. [II. III.] London: Printed for John Murray, 1816.  Opening bid:  $7500.  [estimated value = $15,000+] 

*

*First Edition of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park in an Attractive Full Morocco Binding by Rivière & Son:

 [Jane Austen]. Mansfield Park: A Novel. In Three Volumes. By the Author of “Sense and Sensibility,” and “Pride and Prejudice.” Vol. I [II. III.]. London: Printed for T. Egerton, 1814 (Volume II with imprint: London: Printed for T. Egerton, Whitehall, 1814).  Opening bid:  $5,000.  [est. $10,000+]

*

*First Edition of Jane Austen’s Posthumously Published Northanger Abbey and Persuasion Attractively Bound in Full Morocco Gilt by Rivière & Son:

[Jane Austen]. Northanger Abbey: and Persuasion. By the Author of “Pride and Prejudice,” “Mansfield-Park,” &c. With a Biographical Notice of the Author. In Four Volumes. Vol. I. [II. III. IV.]. London: John Murray, 1818.   Opening bid: $3,750. [est.$7500+]

*

*A Lovely First Edition of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice:

[Jane Austen]. Pride and Prejudice: A Novel. In Three Volumes. By the Author of “Sense and Sensibility.” Vol. I. [II. III.] London: Printed for T. Egerton, Military Library, Whitehall, 1813.  Opening bid:  $15,000.  [est. $30,000+]

*

*Scarce First Edition of Jane Austen’s First Published Novel, in a Full Morocco Binding by Rivière & Son:

[Jane Austen]. Sense and Sensibility: A Novel. In Three Volumes. By a Lady. Vol. I. [II. III.]. London: Printed for the Author, By C. Roworth, Bell-yard, Temple-bar, and Published by T. Egerton, Whitehall, 1811.  Opening bid:  $20,000.  [est. value $40,000+]

*

See the Heritage Auction Galleries website for full descriptions of each title.

*******************

 Oh Jane, whatever would you say?! – Let the bidding begin! 

[Posted by Deb]

Books · Jane Austen · Literature · News · Publishing History · Rare Books

Sold to the Highest Bidder! ~ Austen on the Block…

BookLady Deb1 Comment

The set of Jane Austen’s novels published by Bentley in 1833 and up for auction at Bonham’s sale today [June 8, 2010] has come under the gavel and has sold for £3,360  [= @ $4827.] [the estimate was for  £2000 – £3000 ]

Here are the details:

AUSTEN, Jane. Works, Bentley’s Standard Novel edition, 6 vol. in 5, 5 engraved frontispieces and additional titles, some light spotting to first and final few leaves, small corner tear to printed title “Pride and Prejudice”, without half-titles, ownership inscription of Eularia E. Burnaby (1856) on printed titles, bookplate of Henry Vincent, bookseller’s label of H.M. Gilbert, Southampton, uniform contemporary half calf, red and dark green morocco labels, extremities lightly rubbed [Gilson D1-D5], 8vo, R. Bentley, 1833

 Sold for £3,360 inclusive of Buyer’s Premium 

Footnote:

“No English reissue of JA’s novels is known after 1818 until in 1832 Richard Bentley decided to include them in his series of Standard Novels” (Gilson, p.211). See illustration on preceding page.

  • See the Bonham’s site here for details and other auction items in this ‘Printed Books, Maps and Manuscripts’ auction [Sale No. 17809]
  • See Laurel Ann’s post analyzing this set [along with her super sleuthing as to the provenance!] at Austenprose

Someone has gone home very happy today!  [and hopefully this has gone to either a fine institution or a fine home with an Austen-loving owner…] 

[Posted by Deb]

Jane Austen · Literature · News · Rare Books

Austen on the Block ~ Mansfield Park at Auction

BookLady Deb1 Comment

Another auction with one Jane Austen title:  a first edition of Mansfield Park sold today at Sotheby’s for $21,250 ~

Sotheby’s  Fine Books and Manuscripts, Sale N08602, 
11 Dec 09, New York.  Session 2

 Lot 75 ~ AUSTEN, JANE

10,000—15,000 USD
Lot Sold.  Hammer Price with Buyer’s Premium:  21,250 USD

 Description: 

Mansfield Park. London: Printed for T. Egerton, 1814    1st edition. 

3 volumes, 12mo (6⅞ x 10 in.; 750 x 553 mm). Half-titles, paper watermarked 1812; (1): tear to lower right corner of C1, loss of lower right corner of G7; (2): top of title-page cropped, closed tears on H6–7 touching 2 lines of text, loss to lower right margin of O3, lacks terminal blank O4; (3) loss to right margin of B5, loss of right upper corners of I7–8 costing one letter on I8v, lacks advertisement leaf R4 at end. Contemporary half polished calf over marbled boards, ruled in gilt, smooth spines gilt, endpapers and edges plain; joints cracked or starting, head of spines of vols. 1–2 chipped, waist and foot of spine of vol. 3 chipped. Red morocco backed folding case.

 

There were also a number of Shakespeare titles sold, a Dickens, a George Eliot, as well as an early illustrated Frankenstein by Mary Shelley:

 

LOT 246  SHELLEY, MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT

5,000—7,000 USD
Lot Sold.  Hammer Price with Buyer’s Premium:  7,500 USD

Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus. Revised, Corrected, and Illustrated with a New Introduction by the Author. London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, 1831 

Bound with:  Charles Brockden Brown. Edgar Huntly; or The Sleep Walker, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bently, 1831

 2 works in one volume, 8vo (6¼ x 4 in.; 159 x 102 mm). Engraved frontispiece and title-page vignette in Frankenstein by T. Von Holst; lacks final blank in vol. I, paper adhesion on II:B3r costing one word on A8v. Nineteenth-century full polished calf, central frame tooled in blind, gilt foliate border, the spine gilt in 5 compartments (2 reserved for red and green morocco lettering pieces), marbled endpapers and edges; minor rubbing at spine ends. Quarter brown morocco folding case.

First illustrated edition and third edition overall of Frankenstein, from “Bentley’s Standard Novels Series” (Vol. IX, first series), with Brown’s novel being Vol. X. In her introduction, Mary Shelley states that the alterations she has made to the novel are “principally those of style. I have changed no portion of the story, nor introduced any new ideas or circumstances. I have mended the language where it was so bald as to interfere with the interest of the narrative; and these changes occur almost exclusively in the beginning of the first volume [the 1818 first edition was issued in three volumes]. Throughout they are entirely confined to such parts as mere adjuncts to the story, leaving the core and substance of it untouched” (p. xii).

[All images from the Sotheby’s catalogue] –  for the catalogue and complete sale results, see the Sotheby’s website.

[Posted by Deb]