I entreat you to visit my Bygone Books blog for information on TWO first editions of Jane Austen’s Emma coming soon to the auction block …
[Posted by Deb]
Category: Rare Books
Auction Results ~ Austen on the Block
The Jane Austen Pride & Prejudice for sale at the New York Bloomsbury Auction of June 23, 2009 with an estimate of $50,000. – $70, 000. remains unsold [for more details on this see my original post here]
A quick summary of a few other items of interest:
Bronte [Acton, Currer and Ellis Bell] : . Poems. Philadelphia: Lea and Blanchard, 1848. first american edition. est. $800 – $1000. Sold for $700
Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Poems on Various Subjects.London: for G.G. and J. Robinsons, and J. Cottle, Bristol, 1796. first edition of Coleridge’s first book of poems, issued together with the first published verses of Charles Lamb, signed C.L. Hayward est. $1000 – $1500. Sold for $2600 [a few other Coleridge items either did not sell or sold for less than the estimate]
John Keats – a first edition of his last collection of poems estimated at $12,000 – 15,000 was unsold
Percy Bysshe Shelley. Queen Mab; A Philosophical Poem: With Notes. London: privately printed by P.B. Shelley, 1813. very rare. est. $12000 – $18000; Sold for $11000 [ most other Shelley items did not sell]
William Wordsworth. Lyrical Ballads, with Pastoral and Other Poems, in Two Volumes. London: R. Taylor and Co., 1805. 2 volumes [the last edition in which Coleridge’s poems appear]. est. $1500 – $2000; Sold for $1700 [other Wordsworth items sold for lower than estimates or not at all]
Thomas Hardy. There were 22 Hardy items for sale, many of the books remain unsold, but most of the autograph letters sold mid-range or less than the estimates- here is one example: Three autograph letters signed to Florence Yolland on the Death of Emma, Hardy’s first wife.Max Gate, Dorchester: 24 December 1912 to 22 October 1913. 6 manuscript pages, 8vo (varying sizes). Mourning stationery, three autograph envelopes (all labeled “opened by censor” when sent to F. Adams in 1939) est. $2000 – $3000; Sold for $1000.
Full auction results can be found at the Bloomsbury Auction website.
[image from the NYPL.org]
Posted by Deb
Austen on the Block
314. [AUSTEN, Jane (1775-1817).] Pride and Prejudice: a Novel in Three Volumes. London: T. Egerton, 1813. 3 volumes, 12mo. Half-titles. Contemporary dark brown sprinkled calf, brown endpapers, gilt volume numbers to spine, green morocco gilt lettering pieces to style, with “Charleton” gilt-stamped to upper cover; half morocco folding case. Condition: intermittent foxing; rebacked preserving original spines, a little wear to extremities, exposure to several corners, renewed lettering labels. Provenance: Frida Best (bookplate); Susan Carnegie? with intriguing provenance of an early feminist author.
It is tempting to identify the ownership stamp with Charleton House, Montrose, the home, from her marriage in 1769 until her death in 1821 of the feminist writer and philanthropist Susan Carnegie: “…she learned to challenge the idea that women were intellectually less able than men, choosing instead to explain discrepancies in terms of women’s educational opportunities and their general treatment in a patriarchal society. Certainly in her correspondence Susan was fearless in drawing attention to a lack of respect or of rudeness on the part of male writers. Prior to her marriage to George Carnegie of Pitarrow (1726-1799), she acknowledged her future husband’s right to command her, but hoped ‘that he never will have [the] occasion or inclination to exercise it’. (Oxford DNB). On her death the estate passed to her grandson George Carnegie Fullerton, poet and sportsman. His extravagances resulted his sale of the three Ayrshire properties, and another other volume with this ownership stamp, a copy of Charles Emmanuel de Warnery’s Remarks on Cavalry, 1798, sold at Bonham’s in 2003.
First edition. Gilson 3; Grolier Hundred 69; Keynes 3; Sadleir 62b.
est. $50,000 – $70,000
[from the Bloomsbury Auctions Catalogue. “Fine Books & Manuscripts, Literature and Americana” – New York, Sale June 23, 2009. See the Bloomsbury website for more information on the sale.]
Austen on the Block ~ the Results, May 6, 2009
The results of the Bloomsbury Auction that took place on May 6, 2009 in New York have been posted online. [click here to see my previous post on this auction]
The Austen titles sold as follows [sale price in brackets]:
127. [AUSTEN, Jane] Thomas Hazlehurst… Portrait miniature of Elizabeth Bridges …
estimate: $2000 – $3000 – [unsold]
128. AUSTEN, Jane. Sense and Sensibility: A Novel. London …
estimate: $25000 – $35000 – [$38000]
129. AUSTEN, Jane. Pride and Prejudice…. estimate: $20000 – $30000 – [$26000]
130. AUSTEN, Jane. Mansfield Park … estimate: $7000 – $10000 –[$7500]
131. AUSTEN, Jane. Emma: London … estimate: $8000 – $12000 – [$9500]
132. AUSTEN, Jane. Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. …estimate: $5000 – $8000 – [$5500]
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Works by the Brontes, Burney [many autograph letters] and Edgeworth also sold for hefty prices, as well as works by Samuel Johnson, Hester Thrale Piozzi, Lord Byron, Charlotte Lennox, and others ~ see all the results at the Bloomsbury Auctions website.
Hot off the Press!
Yesterday, a FedEx box left on my stoop prior to lunch yielded up a BIG surprise: my contributor’s copies of JASNA’s annual journal PERSUASIONS, vol. 30 (2008). A brief email to Susan Allen Ford, the journal editor, to congratulate her on an ‘awesome’ volume, was answered by an email which said she hadn’t received her copies yet! Vermont’s good fortune (and mine) to be located next door to New Hampshire — from where the packages seem to have originated…
The first article I read was Edith Lank‘s telling of her annotated Brabourne edition of Austen letters. One curious thing: how could the books languish EIGHT years on her shelves, unopened?! A used book never passes my threshold without a thorough perusal! There is more on Miss Lank’s edition in Persuasions-Online.
Joan Klingel Ray offers up an interesting look at Victorian era perceptions of Austen, though I must comment that to Edward — a nephew who was in his late teens when his aunt died — Jane would surely have remained, over the 50 ensuing years, his “dear Aunt Jane”. Joan and I take differently, I think, to James-Edward Austen-Leigh’s Memoir of Jane Austen. Joan knows the descendents; but I’ve come to know Edward and Emma through their own words! So: a discussion to look forward to when Joan Klingel Ray visits Vermont in September (see our EVENTS page).
I would be telling a lie if I didn’t confess that the very first article I checked out was my own… Oh, the pictures look lovely! (They come via the collection of The British Museum.) I had been so worried after seeing the proofs. Susan Allen Ford has been very positive in her reaction (the anonymous reader, too) to this article, in which I examine an Emma Austen 1833 trip to Derbyshire in the steps of Elizabeth Bennet. The article was only improved by their wishes for a lengthier piece and some illustrations.
The Chicago AGM’s theme of Austen’s legacy brings up many fascinating ideas: Jocelyn Harris invokes Dr. Johnson; Deb will surely be interested in turning straightaway to Janine Barchas‘ article on Gaskell’s North & South (Deb highly recommends the new TV series, which she’s been watching) — but what will she think of the author’s assumption that it is a veiled recreation of P&P??? Sarah Parry‘s article on “The Pemberley Effect: Austen’s Legacy to the Historic House Industry” is surely next on my list.
A special ‘legacy’: the writing desk that once belonged to Austen, has been in the family, and now has been donated to The British Library. Freydis Welland‘s personal take on this piece of history opens the always pleasurable MISCELLANY section of Persuasions. Although I’ve not seen Lost in Austen, Laurie Kaplan‘s article which closes the journal has the oh-so-tempting title “‘Completely without Sense’: Lost in Austen“.
More comments than this — teasing tantalizers or tantalizing teasers, since the journal (according to the JASNA website) is schedule to mail out on May 1st — will have to wait. The one thing that keeps me from delving deep into my copy is an article I’m working on, and I must get back to work.
Austen on the Block ~ Bloomsbury Auctions
Bloomsbury Auctions-New York announces the exhibition and auction of
The Paula Peyraud Collection, Samuel Johnson
and
Women Writers in Georgian Society
Wednesday, 6 May, 2009 • 10:00 am
Bloomsbury Auctions, the world’s leading auction house for rare books and works on paper, announces The Paula Peyraud Collection, Samuel Johnson and Women Writers in Georgian Society with over 480 lots of books, manuscripts and paintings tells the fascinating story of English society in the middle and late Georgian periods. This extraordinary sale focuses on the artistic and literary women who came to the fore in the period 1750-1840.
A highlight in the sale are the following five titles from Jane Austen:
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Emma-1816- 3 volumes: $8,000-12,000
-
Mansfield Park-1814- 3 volumes: $7,000-10,000
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Northanger Abbey-1818- 4 volumes: $5,000-8,000
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Pride and Prejudice-1813- 3 volumes Carysfort copy: $20,000-30,000
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Sense and Sensibility-1811- 3 volumes: $25,000-35,000
There are a total of 483 lots for sale, to comprise books, autograph letters, engravings and watercolors of the era: Johnson and Boswell, and Walpole, etc., and many women writers are represented: Frances Burney, Maria Edgewoth, Hannah More, Hester Thrale Piozzi, Charlotte Lennox, Charlotte Smith, Charlotte Bronte, Ann Radcliffe, Marguerite Blessington, to name a few.
And see this watercolor of Elizabeth Bridges, Austen’s sister-in-law:
127. [AUSTEN, Jane (1775-1817)] – Thomas Hazlehurst (1740 – 1821). Portrait miniature of Elizabeth Bridges Knight wearing a white dress with a blue ribbon tied under corsage. Watercolor on ivory, oval.
2 1/2 x 2 inches (6.5 x 5 cm).
Initialed “T.H.” (lower right).
A fine portrait miniature of Jane Austen’s sister in law, Elizabeth Bridges (1773-1808) who married Edward Austen, the brother of Jane Austen. Edward took the name of his second cousin Mr. Knight on inheriting in 1812 his estates in Kent at Godmersham Park. They had 11 children.
This lot sold with an uncolored print of Godmersham Park by Watts.
Literature: Country Life. 27 July 1987, ill. p.111. Est. $2000 – 3000.
2 1/2 x 2 inches (6.5 x 5 cm).
Initialed “T.H.” (lower right).
A fine portrait miniature of Jane Austen’s sister in law, Elizabeth Bridges (1773-1808) who married Edward Austen, the brother of Jane Austen. Edward took the name of his second cousin Mr. Knight on inheriting in 1812 his estates in Kent at Godmersham Park. They had 11 children.
This lot sold with an uncolored print of Godmersham Park by Watts.
Literature: Country Life. 27 July 1987, ill. p.111. Est. $2000 – 3000.
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Location: Bloomsbury Auction Gallery, 6 West 48th Street New York 10019
Viewing hours:
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Friday May 1- By appointment
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Saturday May 2- 10-5 p.m.
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Monday May 4- 10-7 p.m.
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Tuesday May 5- 10-5 p.m.
Bloomsbury Auctions is the world’s leading auction house for rare books and works on paper and is headquartered in London with salerooms in New York and Rome.
For further information call Bloomsbury: 212-719-1000 or email at newyork@bloomsburyauctions.com
You can view the full catalogue at the Bloomsbury website.
Northanger Abbey Cover Art
Laurel Ann at Austenprose asked about the illustration by Paul Hardy in my post on Henry Tilney. This illustration was the frontispiece in an undated Blackie & Son [London] edition from the late 19th – early 20th century ~ there is an inscription dated February 1902 that reads – “Florrie Steggles, for excellent work.” [this is why I love inscriptions!]… what a gift for a young lady to receive! I bought this book for its cover alone [alas! the pages are quite browned and there is only this one illustration], but the Art Nouveau unsigned decorative binding is just lovely ~ the front board is displayed here; the spine is similarly decorated, a welcome sight on the bookshelf!
January 28, 1813 ~ Pride & Prejudice Published!
It was on this day, happy day indeed! ~ in 1813, that Pride & Prejudice “by the author of Sense & Sensibility” was published by T. Egerton, London.
Austen received her own copy on January 27, as she states in her letter of January 29, “I have got my own darling Child from London.” [LeFaye, Letter 79; Chapman Letter 76]. It was advertised in The Morning Chronicle on Thursday January 28 under “Books Published This Day” in a run of an unknown number of copies, assumed to be around 1500 [see Keynes Bibliography]. The first edition sold out rapidly, a second edition was also printed in 1813 and a third edition came out four years later. The first edition, published in three volumes, was bound in blue paper-covered boards with a white paper label on the spine. Austen sold the copyright to Egerton for £110; the book sold for 18s. Today this first edition is for sale starting at £65,000. [see Abebooks.com for a listing of a few available first editions]… but as we all know the true value of this book is not to be calculated in numbers…. thank you Jane Austen for enlarging so many lives with your brilliance!
For Sale in Hong Kong: Anne Sharp’s “Emma”
The 1816 first edition of Emma that Jane Austen signed and gave to her friend Anne Sharp [thought to be the inspiration for the character of Mrs. Weston] will be available for sale at this weekend’s International Antiquarian Book Fair in Hong Kong [January 17-19, 2009]. It will cost you a mere HK$3.95 million. See the full article about other titles for sale at The Standard.com.hk and the link above for the full downloadable catalogue of fair offerings.
By my calculations (this can vary depending on which currency converter you use):
- this book sold for £180,000 at a Bonhams auction in June = US $262,692.
- it is for sale at the book fair for HK $ 3,950,000.
- which equals £348,744. GBP or US $508,958.
- which is a profit of £168,744 GBP or US $246,265.
- …if it sells..
- and whatever would Jane (or Anne!) think!
Further reading:
- My previous post “Emma on the Block” about this Emma for sale at auction last June for £180,000
- Laurel Ann at Austenprose on Anne Sharp and this edition of Emma
- the Bonhams catalogue entry including a copy of the inscription
- more on this edition at Auction Publicity.com
Jane Austen in Vermont 