Bonhams is offering an auction about Remarkable Women. It’s concentrations of material owned and/or used by women during their lives. Book collections rarely say much about their collectors. These lots suggest style and humanity. While it is a small collection, it conveys a sense of being autobiographical. From my experience, while this approach is infrequently encountered, it’s to be encouraged.
Eve's amazing, tragic story was relegated to obscurity for many years. However, beginning with Barbara Kahn's 2010 off-Broadway play, "The Spring and Fall of Eve Adams," and its musical sequel, "Unreachable Eden," and culminating in scholar Jonathan Ned Katz's detailed 2021 biography The Daring Life and Dangerous Times of Eve Adams, for which he used this copy of Eve's book extensively, the remarkable story of Eva Kotchever, or Eve Adams, has finally, and deservedly, come to light. In 2021, the city of Paris named a street for her Rue Eva Kotchever, and 2022-3 saw another off-Broadway play of "The Great Lesbian Love of Eve Adams" by Paige Esterly. Eve Adams's Lesbian Love not only holds a prominent place of in the history of modern feminism and LGBQT literature but has helped to preserve and illuminate the remarkable life of its creator. An ebook and hardcover facsimile edition of the work are forthcoming from Cosmographia Books.
Here are some of its 55 lots.
The first woman is Ruth Bader Ginsburg. There are 4 lots. Lot 10 is a pair of her opera glasses.
Lot 10
A PAIR OF RUTH BADER GINSBURG OPERA GLASSES.
Metal and glass, stamped "Southern District of New York," 100 x 50 x 30 mm, with braided metal chain.
Provenance: estate of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, sold to benefit SOS Children's Villages.
The SDNY is one of the most influential Federal Court Districts, encompassing as it does Manhattan and the Bronx, as well as the counties of Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange, Dutchess and Sullivan. Born and raised in New York, Ruth Bader Ginsburg's law career began in the Southern District of New York when she clerked for Judge Edmund L. Palmieri from 1959-1961. When she was appointed to the Supreme Court, Ginsburg was assigned as Circuit Justice for the Second Circuit (which includes the Southern District of New York), and often attended the Second Circuit Judicial Conference, usually held in the summer, which may be where these glasses were presented to her.
Lot to be sold without reserve
US$300 - US$500
Lot 9
A RUTH BADER GINSBURG BEADED JUDICIAL COLLAR.
A beaded collar necklace featuring round gilt glass beads in a woven design. Length: 355 mm; width: 32 to 57 mm.
Provenance: estate of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, sold to benefit SOS Children's Villages, 2022.
THE ONLY COLLAR TO BE RELEASED BY THE GINSBURG ESTATE.
In 2009, Ruth Bader Ginsburg explained to the Washington Post the sartorial challenges of being one of the first two women on the United States Supreme Court: "The standard robe is made for a man because it has a place for the shirt to show, and the tie. [Justice O'Connor and I] thought it would be appropriate if we included as part of our robe something typical of a woman."
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman appointed to the United States Supreme Court, wore a jabot, an ornamental frill typically made of lace, to complement her robe. When Ginsburg joined the court in 1993, she too sported jabots. Soon, however, she branched out into collars of all construction, from the iconic white geometric collar she is most closely identified with to other versions incorporating different materials including stones and shells. Ginsburg wore a gaily beaded collar when she read her majority opinions, and a steely version for her dissents.
The present example bears much in common with Ginsburg's favorite collar, a white beaded example made in South Africa which she wore in multiple court photos and in her official Supreme Court portrait. This example features beaded strands woven in the familiar geometric design, though it sports small gold beads rather than white and adds the five petals to the neck.
This is one of the collars that Ginsburg kept in her Chambers at the Supreme Court. Many of Ginsburg's collars have been donated to institutions, including the Smithsonian and the Newberry Library; others have been gifted to family and friends. This example, however, is the only one to be released from the Ginsburg estate via SOS Children's Villages, one of Justice Ginsburg's favorite charitable causes.
Starting bid $40,000
Lot 8
LAW REVIEW OFFPRINT SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG.
"Women in the Federal Judiciary: Three Way Pavers and the Exhilarating Change President Carter Wrought." Offprint from Fordham Law Review, Vol 64 (1995): 2. Original printed wrappers.
Provenance: the Library of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG TO SENATOR NANCY LANDON KASSEBAUM: "Cheers to a great way paver in the Federal Legislature. Ruth." Kassebaum represented Kansas in the U.S. Senate from 1978-1997, the state's first female Senator. She was a moderate Republican and the co-sponsor of the Kennedy-Kassebaum Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), with Senator Ted Kennedy. An excellent association between two "Way Pavers."
Lot to be sold without reserve
US$3,000 - US$5,000
Lot 7
A RUTH BADER GINSBURG JEWELRY BOX.
An inlaid fruitwood musical jewelry box, 140 x 110 x 55 mm, with pictorial lid, and brass feet, stamped "Made in Italy" and "Music Box Center / 918 'F' Street N.W. / Washington, D.C. 20004" to underside, with Swiss musical movement by Reuge playing "Quand m'en vo" when wound and open.
Provenance: estate of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg; sold to benefit SOS Children's Villages.
Justice Ginsburg was well-known for her love of opera, and she was characteristically serious about dressing for every occasion, be it judicial or operatic. Her bedroom dresser featured jewelry boxes of many sizes and styles: fanciful Turkish papier-machè, scrolled leather, hand-chiseled stone and this special musical gem.
An image of Adolfo Hohenstein's poster from the 1896 premiere of La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini adorns this rectangular lacquered wooden box with piped inlay. The interior is lined with red velvet, one portion occupied by the Reuge Swiss musical movement. The bottom of the box has the Reuge tag, a "Made in Italy" tag, and a tag from the "Music Box Center" store in Washington, DC It was purchased for Justice Ginsburg sometime between 1961, when the store was first opened by Marion Lewis, and likely no later than the mid-1970s.
Musetta's famous Act II waltz "Quando m'en vo'" is charmingly adapted for the music box movement.
Lot to be sold without reserve
US$600 - US$900
It’s a another woman’s personal archive .
Lot 4
THE LITERARY AND PERSONAL ARCHIVE OF ARMINE VON TEMPSKI.
Armine von Tempski (1892-1943) was born in Maui the daughter of a Polish ranch manager; she and her siblings enjoyed a remarkable childhood that fueled her writing throughout her life. After her father's death she and her sister opened a "dude ranch" on the island, though she also supported herself by teaching writing articles for the Honolulu Advertiser and the New York Times. Her first two novels were rejected by publishers, but she shot to fame in 1927 upon the publication of her novel Hula, the story of an impetuous teenager on a Maui ranch who falls in love with a married man. The book was quickly adapted to the screen for "It" girl Clara Bow. Hula was quickly followed by Dust, a romance centered around the environmental disaster of Kaho'olawe that had long fascinated von Tempski; Fire: A Novel of Hawaii (1929) and Lava (1930).
Sometime in the late 1920s or early 1930s, von Tempski appears to have moved to California to pursue writing for film while also continuing to write novels and articles for publication in periodicals. In December of 1931, she met Al Ball, a man 15 years her junior, and they were married 6 months later.
Von Tempski continued to publish throughout the 1930s and early 1940s, writing several novels, a memoir (Born in Paradise), and some young adult fiction. She died suddenly in 1943 while in Fresno; the cause of death given at the time was peritonitis resulting from a perforated stomach ulcer (other reports said heart attack). After her death, her widower submitted her final full-length manuscripts for publication: the second volume of her memoir, Aloha, and a Hawaiian-themed juvenile work, Bright Spurs, about two young women who open a dude ranch on the island.
In the years since her passing, von Tempski has remained an important novelist of Hawaii. All of her works are set in the islands, and most of the plots pivot around issues native to the area. No biography has ever been written, however, because no scholar has had access to the present archive. Interestingly, we found a 1968 letter from Hawaiian scholar and bibliographer David Forbes, written to Al Ball's widow, requesting access to von Tempski's papers, which was turned down.
Ball inherited all of von Tempski's effects after her death, including whatever manuscripts, journals and letters were in her possession. He married twice after her death; the first a short marriage, the final marriage to Ouida Ball lasting until his death in 1966. Von Tempski's effects remained with Al's widow until her passing, at which time they descended to her family, who brought them to the market.
The present lot comprises the literary and personal archive of Armine von Tempski, and includes the following:
1. FULL LENGTH WORKS AND NOVELLAS.
Thunder in Heaven. Typed Manuscript, 22 pp. Short story version. WITH: Chapters 6, 7, 14-19 of longer version.
Aloha. Typed Manuscript with annotations, 311 pp, publisher's copy with return label from Dell, Sloan and Pearce. Von Tempski's second memoir.
Aloha. Typed Manuscript, 311 pp. Clean copy.
Aloha. Chapters 12-19, paginated 304-409.
Bright Spurs. Typed Manuscript, 334 pp. WITH: carbons on cheaper paper of chapters 3,4,5,12,13,17, 19-21. A young adult novel about two girls who turn their Hawaiian homestead into a dude ranch after the death of their father.
Sport Models. Typed manuscript, 94 pp, in agent's wrappers. WITH: 24 pp treatment of same (2 copies), also in agent's wrappers, and 16 pp earlier version of beginning. Novel about young love in Hollywood.
2. SHORT FICTION AND NON-FICTION:
Typed manuscripts, with title and authorship given in type at upper left. As follows:
"Far Horizons," 20 pp.
"Eve Lets Down Her Hair" (synopsis), 17 pp.
"Victory" (written after Lava), 31 pp.
"List of Articles" (summary of projects in the works), 2 pp.
Untitled fragment, approx. 30 pp, includes "Chapter One: Birthday in Paradise," partially written as a treatment, annotated, includes character named Kane.
"Right of Way" (corrected to) "Stop Signal"; 23 pp, annotated.
Untitled fragment, about King Amsler, approx. 20 pp.
"Chinese Magic," 9 pp, marked "sold to Cosmopolitan / April 29, '36."
"Ballet Polynesia," 7 pp, synopsis of longer work.
"Birthday in Paradise," 12 pp, dated in pencil, 6/6/40.
"Angus MacPhee, A Man Who Saved an Island from Blowing Away." 16 pp, n.d.
Untitled fragment, lacking p 1, about "Captain Bill," approx. 20 pp, possibly a chapter of a larger work.
"Eve Lets Down Her Hair." Short story. 25 pp. In agent's blue wrappers with printed and typed label. Seems to be complete. Synopsis for larger work? WITH: Chapter 2. (characters Eve and Monte from above story). 18 pp paginated 13-30; AND: Chapter 3. (continuation) 37 pp paginated 31-67.
"No More Professors." 25 pp. Short story, dated after Born in Paradise.
"Christmas in Paradise." 12 pp. Short story featuring Emily.
"Christmas in Hawaii." 8 pp rough draft of non-fiction essay on the holidays in HI.
"International Kitchen." 8 pp. Dated after Lava.
"White Horses." Typescript poem, 2 pp r/v, on SF hotel stationery.
"This is Hawaii." 4 pp typescript, non-fiction.
"Eve Lets Down Her Hair." Another copy. 12 pp. annotated.
"A Lady Leaves." By von Tempski and Frederick O'Brien. 76 pp. In agent's wrappers. Features Captain Bill.
"Drive In: A Story of Hollywood." 32 pp. Mentions Ripe Breadfruit on tp.
"Rich Woman of Kona." 15 pp. Mentions Born in Paradise on tp. WITH: Another copy, 11 pp, in agent Willis Kingsley Wing wrappers. Note on tp mentions that story appeared in Harper's.
"Horse Racing in Paradise." 11 pp. "Sold to L.A. Times, Jan '36."
"The Great Adventure." 19 pp. TP mentions Ripe Breadfruit.
"Tryst." 27 pp, annotated. "Sold to Brit & Eve."
"Christmas in Paradise." 12 pp. "Sold to Cosmo / August '36." Another copy?
"Home Mail." Approx. 35 pp. in folder with annotated, marked "Unfinished" by von Tempski.
"Thanksgiving Football in Tahiti." 11 pp. In Abraham Lehr, Inc. wrappers.
"Chinese Magic." 9 pp. In Willis Kingsley Wing wrappers.
"Tentative List of Subjects to Cover in Series of Articles." 6 pp.
"Informal Article." On writing. 5 pp, plus 3 pp autobiographical sketch, and 10 mss pp of notes.
Misc. pp of Pam's Ranch (3 pp)
Satan's Progress. 25 pp (partial). Mentions Ripe Breadfruit on tp.
"International Kitchen." 8 pp. Title page mentions Lava.
"Melting Pot." 8 pp. Annotated "sold to L.A. Times" on p 1, with copy of LA Times article dated November 21, 1937 titled "Hawaiian Melting Pot."
"Thanksgiving Turkey—In Paradise." 10 pp. Annotated: "This is the original version. I'm finishing Born in Paradise and can't take time to retype it. Please don't lose it as I need it for my files." C.1939?
"Pews." 24 pp. Mentions Lava and has address of McIntosh and Otis on title.
"Tahitian Magic." 9 pp. Annotated "Sold to L.A. Times" to TP.
"The Conversion of Princess Kapua." 24 pp. Mentions Dust on TP. Minor edits in pencil throughout.
"The Silence of Sally." 23 pp. In wrappers of Curtis Brown, Ltd. Literary agency.
"Escape." 30 pp. In David B. Han literary agency wrappers.
"Through Peter's Eyes." 18 pp. Minor annotations.
"The Cone." 24 pp. Minor annotations.
"False Colors." 33 pp. Annotated "Sold as a Magazine Story in England under the title 'Red Revolt.'"
"For Ever and Ever." 11 pp. Rough draft of story, heavily annotated.
"Bobby in the Yellowstone." 37 pp. Rough draft
"California the Golden State." Approx. 30 pp. Text of a CA guidebook?
"Stallion Fight." 6 pp r/v.
"Is the Yellowstone Dying?" 5 pp.
"Hollywood Eats." 5 pp.
3. CORRESPONDENCE AND JOURNALS.
VON TEMPSKI, ARMINE. Approx. 63 Autograph Letters Signed, 1932-1943, most posted, some notes left around the house, to Al Ball, written while traveling for work, detailing their relationship. WITH: Approx. 30 ALSs of von Tempski to her mother-in-law Lili Ball, 1930s. AND WITH: Approx. 20 ALSs to close friend Anne Alexander, 1933-1943.
CORRESPONDENCE TO ARMINE VON TEMPSKI: includes letters from family, friends and other celebrities such as DAL HOLCOMB, DON BLANDING, ZANE GREY, CHARMIAN LONDON, FREDDIE O'BRIEN, BLACKY FREITAS, ISABEL FIELD, etc. 1920s-1943.
CORRESPONDENCE FROM AGENTS AND PUBLISHERS: 1927-43, including letters from FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY, DODD, MEAD & CO., DUELL, SLOAN & PEARCE; GEORGE PALMER PUTNAM, and MACINTOSH & OTIS, 1927-1950s, discussing publication issues, placement of stories in various outlets, works in progress, etc. Includes correspondence with the von Tempski estate.
DIARY FROM CHARMIAN LONDON: A pocket daily calendar for 1936 with presentation inscription from Charmian London, used by von Tempski as a daily journal, approx. three-quarters of the pages full.
JOURNALS: Typed and Autograph Manuscripts, approx. 150 pp, 8vo, 1920s-1940s, covers life before and during marriage, travels.
4. PHOTO ALBUMS AND SCRAPBOOKS.
Assembled by Armine von Tempski:
1. Album, c.1907-1919, assembled by Armine von Tempski while on Hawaii, includes images of von Tempski and others bathing, riding, cattle roping; approximately 150 photos, most 39.
8. "1943." Manhattan Beach; Golden Nugget Saloon; misc family pics.
WITH: a collection of 8 x 10 gelatin silver print photos of Hawaii used in preparation for publication; a scrapbook of press clippings; a guest book; plus photographs of Armine von Tempski, Alfred Lathrop Ball, and Princess Abigail Wahi’ika’ahu’ula Campbell by various photographers and studios.
5. ARTWORK:
Original art by Alfred Lathrop Ball, including two matted and unframed pen and ink and crayon on paper sketches depicting Mesa Verde, each approximately 7 x 11 in.; five pen and ink and pencil drawings including one of D'Artagnan (Three Musketeers) and two ranch brand designs.
Original art made for Armine von Tempski and Alfred Lathrop Ball, including six pen and ink and pencil drawings on paper by Paul Desmond Brown (1893-1958) for Armine Von Tempski's novel, Pam's Paradise Ranch: A Story of Hawaii (1940), one watercolor on paper of a horse in profile signed "Delma" (lower left); three watercolor and gouache on illustration board paintings and two silkscreens attributed to Dal Holcomb (1901-1978), signed "Dal" (lower right or upper right); one ink on paper drawing of Alfred Lathrop Ball by Willis Birchman (20th Century), signed "Bill Birchman" (lower left); one unknown charcoal and pastel drawing on green paper of Alfred Lathrop Ball.
Eleven works of art by Donald Benson Blanding (1894-1957), including seven original ink on illustration board book cover and chapter page designs for Ripe Breadfruit (1935), sizes to 19 ½ x 14 3/8 in.; and four color lithographs of sirens and angel fish circa 1930s dedicated and signed "Aloha Don Blanding" (lower right).
6. OTHER ITEMS.
MANUSCRIPTS OF AL BALL, including misc. western fiction and short fiction, approx. 30 works, most unpublished, 1930s-1960s.
BOOKS INSCRIBED BY ARMINE VON TEMPSKI TO AL BALL, includes nearly a full run of Von Tempski titles, all intimately inscribed to new husband Al Ball, c.1932 and later. WITH: foreign editions of von Tempski's works and books from her personal library, including reference works on Hawaii.
A GOUACHE POSTER ON BOARD promoting the release of von Tempski's memoir Born in Paradise.
PERSONAL ITEMS: Von Tempski's desk, a silk shawl, letter opener, ashtray, shark's teeth, tambourine, man's belt, woman's studded belt with matching bracelet, bookends (carved by Al Ball?), porcelain ducks, framed photos, candlestick, tarot cards, among other items.
Contact the department for more information.
Starting bid: $30,000. US$60,000 - US$90,000
Lot 3
ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS.
ADDAMS, EVELYN. [ADAMS, EVE; KOTCHEVER, EVA, PSEUD.] Lesbian Love. [New York: Privately Printed, 1925.]
8vo. 4 original printed erotic illustrations, with 4 additional erotic photographs mounted to blank pages. Early cloth, printed title label pasted to upper cover, possibly the original front wrapper, hinges cracked, binding a bit loose.
Publications: Katz, Jonathan Ned, The Daring Life and Dangerous Times of Eve Adams, New York, 2021, for information on this copy.
THE ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE EARLIEST DEPICTION OF LESBIAN COMMUNITY IN AMERICA. Eve Adams self-published her collection of stories, Lesbian Love, in February 1925 in an edition of just 150 copies. In 1926, her Greenwich Village "tea house" Eve's Hangout, one of the earliest lesbian & gay cafes in the village, was raided by police, and she was arrested for publishing an "indecent book." According to police transcripts, at the time of her arrest, she had only 10 copies left, all of which were confiscated and presumably destroyed. A year later, at her deportation hearings, her response was, "I admit having written a book entitled Lesbian Love, based on true acts and living characters of today ... I believe the book is not in any way immoral, indecent, or vulgar ...
There is not one word in the whole book that is vulgar."
This remarkable work from a remarkable woman features nine short stories of "lesbian love" largely drawn from Adams's personal history, and many of the characters are identifiable from her past. These intimate portraits predate Radclyffe Hall's Well of Loneliness, widely considered to be the first explicitly lesbian novel, by three years.
Adams's arrest for an "indecent book" and a trumped-up charge of "disorderly conduct" led to a prison sentence of one year, the maximum allowable under the law for her "crime." Moreover, after serving her sentence she was deported, and not allowed to return to the U.S. The sentence and its resulting deportation were harsh by any standard of the time. Eve Adams, or Eva Kotchever, as the street in Paris named after her has it, was born in Poland as Chawa Zloczower.
When she came to the United States in 1912 through Ellis Island, she soon met Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman and Ben Reitman. Until 1919 when Goldman and Berkman faced their own deportation, Eve worked with them to help distribute subversive periodicals such as Mother Earth. By 1919, she had been labeled an agitator, and the FBI had begun investigating her. Most people believe that the FBI investigations of her radical activities played no small role in her arrest and its aftermath.
Returning first to Poland, she eventually landed in Paris, where she was known for distributing forbidden books on the streets, including the work of Henry Miller, who also bought books from her, as Alfred Perles relates in My Friend, Henry Miller. Beginning in 1934, Miller would slip her copies of Tropic of Cancer, which had already been banned in many countries, in order for her to distribute them along the Left Bank. In December 1943, Adams and her girlfriend Hella Soldner were arrested at their home in Nazi-occupied Nice. Within 5 days, they were taken on transport 63 to Auschwitz-Berkenow, and neither woman was ever heard from again.
Eve's amazing, tragic story was relegated to obscurity for many years. However, beginning with Barbara Kahn's 2010 off-Broadway play, "The Spring and Fall of Eve Adams," and its musical sequel, "Unreachable Eden," and culminating in scholar Jonathan Ned Katz's detailed 2021 biography The Daring Life and Dangerous Times of Eve Adams, for which he used this copy of Eve's book extensively, the remarkable story of Eva Kotchever, or Eve Adams, has finally, and deservedly, come to light. In 2021, the city of Paris named a street for her Rue Eva Kotchever, and 2022-3 saw another off-Broadway play of "The Great Lesbian Love of Eve Adams" by Paige Esterly. Eve Adams's Lesbian Love not only holds a prominent place of in the history of modern feminism and LGBQT literature but has helped to preserve and illuminate the remarkable life of its creator. An ebook and hardcover facsimile edition of the work are forthcoming from Cosmographia Books.
Bid: US$8,000 – US$12,000
There are 31 lots that relate to Annie Flanders. The quickest way to identify them is to search for Flanders using the Filter By link.
Ms. Flanders contributed to The SoHo News as a style editor. In 1982, she used her savings to launch Details a publication initially focused on Downtown’s and lifestyle. The magazine, starting with a circulation of 10,000 copies, was known for its unique editorial approach, blending fashion, culture, and nightlife reporting. Flanders' tenure at Details ended two years after its acquisition by Advance Publications in 1988.
Following her career in publishing, Flanders transitioned to real estate in Hollywood, Los Angeles, working with her daughter Rosie. She died in 2022 in Los Angeles.
Find the sale on Bonham's website to view or bid.
It’s a very interesting sale. Faites attention!
