4.

Walter Ralegh

Autograph Letter to Bess of Hardwick

Sold for £36,000

 

5.

James Joyce

Autograph Letter Signed to Carlo Linati

Sold for £33,600

 

6.

Portrait of Samuel Coleridge by Charles Robert Leslie

Pencil, charcoal and chalk on paper

Sold for £31,200

 

7.

Portrait of Ted Hughes by Silvia Plath

Pen and ink

Sold for £27,600

 

8.

Portrait of John Keats by Joseph Severn

Oil on canvas

Sold for £21,600

 

9.

John Keats

Autograph Manuscript of his poem 'I Stood Tiptoe upon a Little Hill'

Estimate £40,000-45,000

 

10.

Charlotte Brontë

Autograph Manuscript of a poem

Estimate £40,000-45,000

 

11.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Autograph Drafts of his poem 'Binsey Poplars'

Estimate £40,000-45,000

 

12.

A.E. Housman

Autograph Drafts of two poems

Estimate £20,000-25,000

 

13.

Samuel Coleridge

Autograph Manuscript of his poem 'The Dark Ladie'

Estimate £15,000-20,000

 

14.

Robert Burns

Autograph Revised Manuscript of his poem 'Afton Braes'

Estimate £15,000-20,000

 

15.

Thomas Hardy

Autograph Revised Manuscript of his poem 'A Singer Asleep'

Estimate £12,000-16,000

 

Net-net the sale should do well but this a different world than even twenty years ago and it is unclear how many true believers in the power of words will raise their paddles in these uncertain times.  They should.  Shakespeare when he wrote, “love is not with the eyes but with the mind” might have been thinking into the future about this sale.

These days we make money faster than we think and collect the obvious, too often collecting for reaction more than personal satisfaction.  This material is for the self, possibly your self.  We know that baseball cards bring big money.  Now we’ll see if the same continues to be true for important poetry.  It should.

Link to Bonhams

Link to AE Auction Search on the top of every page