Sometimes A Great Notion - An Intriguing Auction
- By Bruce McKinney
George Custer three months before Little Big Horn
Swann, the New York auctioneers, are holding the first of three scheduled sales of material from the collection of Eric Caren, the life-long bibliophile. The title of the sale is “How History Unfolds on Paper, Part I.“ Mr. Caren is a collector of epic proportions who invented ways to collect that permitted and justified his purchase of material across the entire spectrum of printed historical material. His criteria: if it’s printed, relates to history and is important I’m interested. This has meant that any subject and period was fair game and Eric has spent most of life in pursuit.
Collections at their best can be a mirror on the mind, evidence of the way a collector focuses, defines and selects. More often than not the picture isn’t pretty because it is difficult to collect effectively, efficiently and regularly. Distractions are a constant and most collectors do not restrain themselves.
And then there is Eric. He has collected both broadly and with precision and has done so by pursuing evidence of how history unfolds. He has created a collecting perspective that lets him range far and wide while maintaining very high standards for inclusion.
Evidence of this approach is on display in his upcoming single owner sale at Swann on September 15th and it’s impressive. The online electronic presentation is superb but the printed catalogue, for anyone considering the Caren approach, will prove important. My advice: search online but order a copy of the catalogue. It is a fresh take on collecting.
The material will be of interest to collectors of almost every persuasion because it’s a collection of history as opposed to a collection of books, so photographs, newspapers and broadsides are plentiful. It is fact an extraordinary display of imagination.
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Sometimes A Great Notion - An Intriguing Auction
- By Bruce McKinney
This comprehensive index is key to the sale
A look at the index to the sale is telling. In chronological order every century from the 15th to the 20th is represented. The three hundred and fifty-five lots divide this way: 1500s 4, 1600s 19, 1700s 82, 1800s 149, 1900s 101. By subject, 161 areas are encompassed, many items falling into multiple categories such as New York and newspapers, Picasso and photography. Yes, in this sale you’ll find Picasso, George Washington, Paul McCartney, James Dean and Abraham Lincoln. And when you look carefully you’ll see how well it fits together.
This said, the material is often not only representative, it is frequently special and the message comes through that inclusion confers stature. Eric has also chosen carefully. History in print can be both important and visually unappealing. The Caren Archive is eye-catching.
Mr. Caren, who continues to collect , was the principal source for the Newseum in Washington, D.C. when they established a museum based on history as reported in newspapers.
Here is a brief look at a few items in the sale.
Lot 134 is a cabinet photograph of George Armstrong Custer taken three months before he died at Little Big Horn.
Lot 124 is a group of cabinet photographs of members of the Dalton Gang, each in their coffin.
Lot 1 is Remarks on the Slave Trade, a 1789 broadside illustrated with a plan of an African Ship’s Lower Deck.
Lot 350 is a color poster, “On the Job for Victory” issued by the Emergency Fleet Corporation circa 1918.
Lot 336 is a Doctor’s Bill for two years of service to “his Excell’y George Washington Esq” issued by his physician Jas Craik for the period 1786-89. The account includes medical care for his slaves.
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Sometimes A Great Notion - An Intriguing Auction
- By Bruce McKinney
Press photographs of Milton Berle
Lot 310 is a possibly unique broadside for the Titanic issued by a Fred A. Lorenz suggesting that its sinking was “prophecy-fulfilling.”
Lot 312 is a file of 23 press photographs of America’s first television star, Milton Berle. In the illustration in the catalogue Lucille Ball is shown with Uncle Milty.
The entire catalogue text is available in a 3-D catalogue format on the Swann website:
The Swann website.
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