Rare Book Monthly

Articles - April - 2011 Issue

Let the Bunting unfurl  in April:  an auction for charity

Norma Jean at 16

Norma Jean at 16

On April 20th, in Los Angeles and New York, the collections Charles Williamson and Tucker Fleming go up for bid.  Mr. Williamson was a long time PADA member and sometime actor.  Anyone who has ever sold works on paper knows how important acting is and can appreciate the confluence of careers.  Hopefully he did better selling signatures and signed documents than he did as an actor.  He is in fact the Button Gwinnett of actor credits, known to exist but barely.  His career as a collector/dealer of autograph material is more substantial although as is common among collector-dealers, he seems to have measured his career more by acquisitions rather sales.  We can all be grateful because the collection he built with life partner, Tucker Fleming, is to be sold by Bonham’s to benefit various charities.

For these men, before Hollywood, there was Rome.   Fifty years ago they were living in Europe and collecting literary, art and musical manuscripts – material they retained throughout their lives.  It’s also the material that set the stage for their lifetime of collecting.  Then moving to Hollywood they succumbed to the siren call of fame and became fast friends with many whose names today are listed in small point on the Hollywood sarcophagus circuit.  No mistaking this however, they knew famous people, were liked and trusted and for some became their literary executors.  Many of these people were once 24 point characters but time and changing tastes reduced the half-life of Hollywood fame for many to ‘do you remember’ status in just a few years, they living long enough to see the point size for all but the uber-famous fall like leaves on a windy day.

This then is the final act, the clearing of archives leading to the disposition of proceeds for charity.  Life is fleeting, memory fickle.

That the entire proceeds of the sale will be distributed to charity may answer the question of what if anything they promised those, whose papers they have, whose names still resonate among those of a certain age whose clearest memories are of fifty years ago.   They may not have offered a bon voyage but it seems, in sending this material into the rooms with the proceeds going to charity, they are assuring it.  One hopes for a successful outcome.  It's a very nice thing to do.

Rare Book Monthly

  • High Bids Win
    Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines
    and Machine Manuals
    December 24 to January 9
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Ellis Smith Prints unsigned. 20” by 16”.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: United typothetae of America presidents. Pictures of 37 UTA presidents 46th annual convention United typothetae of America Cincinnati 1932.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec signed Paper Impressionism Art Prints. MayMilton 9 1/2” by 13” Reine de Joie 9 1/2” by 13”.
    High Bids Win
    Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines
    and Machine Manuals
    December 24 to January 9
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Aberle’ Ballet editions. 108th triumph, American season spring and summer 1944.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Puss ‘n Boots. 1994 Charles Perrult All four are signed by Andreas Deja
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Specimen book of type faces. Job composition department, Philadelphia gazette publishing company .
    High Bids Win
    Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines
    and Machine Manuals
    December 24 to January 9
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: An exhibit of printed books, Bridwell library.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur Court By Mark Twain 1889.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: 1963 Philadelphia Eagles official program.
    High Bids Win
    Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines
    and Machine Manuals
    December 24 to January 9
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: 8 - Esquire the magazine for men 1954.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: The American printer, July 1910.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Leaves of grass 1855 by Walt Whitman.
  • Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: William Shakespeare.
    The Poems and Sonnets of William Shakespeare, 1960. 7,210 USD
    Sotheby’s: Charles Dickens.
    A Christmas Carol, First Edition, 1843. 17,500 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Golding.
    Lord of the Flies, First Edition, 1954. 5,400 USD
    Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: Lewis Carroll.
    Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, Inscribed First Edition, 1872. 25,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien.
    The Hobbit, First Edition, 1937. 12,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: John Milton.
    Paradise Lost, 1759. 5,400 USD

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