Is Mentioning a Book's Provenance a Legally Actionable Invasion of Privacy?
- by Michael Stillman
Page one of Helen Abdouch's complaint.
For booksellers besides Mr. Lopez, this case raises all sorts of issues if Ms. Abdouch were somehow to prevail. First, as to her privacy, Ms. Abdouch has not asserted that the book was illicitly taken from her. Indeed, if it were stolen, she would be entitled to have it back. Therefore, we must conclude that she sold/gave away/threw away the book without seeing any need to blot out or remove the inscription to her. Generally, privacy cases turn on whether the person had any expectation of privacy. If she turned her book out to the world, inscription intact, and with no limitations on how it could be used, how could she expect no one to see the inscription? That's like an author complaining that someone violated his/her privacy by reading the words in the book he wrote. It's absurd. If the issue is that Lopez mentioned her connection to the Kennedy campaign, that was published years ago in Time Magazine, that's already public knowledge. How could she expect privacy over something published in Time Magazine? She never, as best we can ascertain, sued Time, and probably more people read Time Magazine, or at least they did in 1960, than visit Mr. Lopez's website.
If the problem is that Ms. Abdouch thinks Mr. Lopez is unfairly profiting from the use of her name, that would mean that booksellers could never mention anything about a book's history. You better leave the “provenance” field blank on your listings. In this case, we suspect that Mr. Lopez profited more from the book's connection to John and Robert Kennedy, and author Richard Yates, than from its connection to Helen Abdouch. Do all of their estates have a right to sue Mr. Lopez for a violation of their privacy? If Ms. Abdouch is correct, could a dealer say anything about an inscription in any book, at least if the parties are still alive, without being subject to damages for violating that person's privacy? She does point out that she “has remained a private, non-commercial individual by choice,” and that entitles her to more consideration than a public figure, but she did choose to let the book go without removing her name, and she did participate in a public election in a sufficiently visible manner so as to get her name printed in Time Magazine.
I could feel more sympathy for Ms. Abdouch if this were a truly personal inscription, though I doubt it would make much difference legally. An inscription revealing a love affair, something really no one else's business, could elicit my sympathy, but “with admiration and best wishes” is hardly revealing of some private, personal matter. The only reason anyone, besides Ms. Abdouch and her friend, is even aware of this inscription is because she filed a lawsuit. Now, lots of people know about her. If anyone has violated Ms. Abdouch's privacy, it is she herself, not Mr. Lopez. If her real aim is to profit from the inscription, then she should have sold the book herself, not let it go however many years ago. All sales are final. Someone should realize there is no personal harm done, no unjust enrichment to a bookseller selling an ordinary inscribed book. If the 84-year-old Ms. Abdouch could not see this, then certainly her lawyer should have.
DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
Freeman’s | Hindman Western Manuscripts and Miniatures July 8, 2025
Freeman’s | Hindman Western Manuscripts and Miniatures July 8, 2025
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.