Peter Howard - first auction of his stock
- By Bruce McKinney
First Auction of the Stock of Serendipity Books
The second passing of Peter Howard, the selling of his remaining collections and stock begins this month with Bonhams sale on the 12th of 271 items culled from inventory. The sale is scheduled to coincide with the ABAA Fair in Pasadena and touches upon many, even most aspects, of his career as a dealer focused on fiction. Peter could be difficult but he had a great eye and many admirers. Bonhams, in taking on the dispersal, confronts the unwinding of a dealer-collector-serial acquirer’s stock that had few equals over the past forty years.
Bonhams, having now reviewed some of the inventory of more than 200,000 items has issued a first catalogue, “Property from Serendipity Books”, that spans both the centuries and important sectors of collecting interest. This first effort will be held at Bonhams LA and simulcast in San Francisco as well as being accessible online.
Offers for large parcels of the uncatalogued remaining stock will be considered. Interested parties should make an appointment with Bonhams to view the inventory of both the main store at 1201 University in Berkeley and the warehouse in Oakland.
AE readers are very much invited to the reception! actually a champagne brunch the day before the sale –
Saturday February 11, 9am to 12pm
Bonhams Los Angeles
7601 West Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90046
RSVP to events.us@bonhams.com
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Peter Howard - first auction of his stock
- By Bruce McKinney
Vanity Fair in Parts
At this time five other auctions are contemplated:
Books, Furniture Period Art & Design May 2012
Modern Art Made in California May 2012
Photography Fine Photography May 2012
Fine Books Fine Books & Manuscripts June 2012
Screenplays Entertainment Memorabilia June 2012
For the sale on the 12th the material betrays a fiction dealer’s preference for the imagined and imaginary while including sufficient evidence of the real world to keep all parties, whatever their preferences, focused. Here are the primary categories in this, the first, sale.
General Antiquarian Books Lots 1001-1023
Fine Press, Art & Photography Lots 1024-1049
Modern Literature & Poetry Lots 1050-1159
John Steinbeck Lots 1160-1238
Americana Lots 1239-1256
Baseball Lots 1257-1271
Antiquarian books both the early and the infrequently seen. Several examples are Vanity Fair in its original parts and Strabo’s Rerum geographicarum [1571 and 1557]. Lots 1001-1023
Fine Press, Art & Photography. Twenty-six lots of illustrations and photography that will do well. Lots 1024-1049
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Peter Howard - first auction of his stock
- By Bruce McKinney
A rare 19th century "action shot" of daredevil jumping out of a balloon with a parachute at Baker's
Modern Literature & Poetry offered in conjunction with material relating to John Steinbeck. Lots 1050 to 1238. If you prefer to read Steinbeck in manuscript this is your opportunity. Overall this section is a complex mix of material in Peter’s Howard’s wheelhouse.
Having tried to buy Americana from Peter I would have said it was his short suit but this section manages to be appealing. Lot 1251 is tickets for a water-train-water passage in 1866 from San Francisco to New York via Nicaragua. Three years later the transcontinental railroad would open North America to fast overland travel. Evidence of this short-lived route is exceedingly rare.
The final section is Baseball and someone is going to buy a fabulous poster announcing Williams and Amherst - Baseball and Chess - Muscles and Mind. This gem, dated 1857, is the earliest known baseball broadside for the first intercollegiate baseball game. It is a two-page folio or double folio, an impossibly rare and important item. [lot 1257]
To connect with Bonhams click here.
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