Rare Book Monthly

Articles - May - 2008 Issue

The Volkmann Collection Concludes with a Sale May 8th


By Bruce McKinney

On May 8th, the third and final portion of the Daniel G. Volkmann, Jr. Collection of rare and collectible printed material will pass before the gaze of dealers and collectors and under the hammer of PBA Galleries. This sale brings to a close the long collecting career of Mr. Volkmann who joined the fray in 1969, entering right as his Mother exited left. It was upon her death, upon inheriting her collection that he assumed the burden, responsibity and pleasure of completing what she began: the acquisition of a complete collection of the Zamorano 80, building an extensive collection of Californiana and assembling an unusally complete collection of California press books. In this, the final sale, the dispersal of 448 lots of what is an extensive collection of California press books along with a few items unsold from previous sales and other items retained as personal favorites, the curtain falls and the chapter closes on the career of an inveterate collector.

Mr. Volkmann, an architect by trade, has perhaps built his most imposing edifice in the ephemeral, even ethereal construction of his collections. Together they are an imposing mass, most pieces from previous sales already flown to dealers, libraries and collectors. This, the final part, no doubt will travel the same path, the pieces to reemerge as the "Volkmann copy" one at a time in dealer catalogues, in libraries, at shows and in auctions far into the future. Those who collect books may hope for immortality only to be judged and dismissed. The Volkmann material will make the cut and be remembered for the solid, workman-like approach, employed over thirty-eight years.

In previous sales [2003 and 2005] some reserves were set toward the high side. Mr. Volkmann had more time and patience then for an unsatisfactory outcome. If material did not sell it was "So be it. There will be another day." Bruce McMakin, senior vice president of PBA explained, "In this sale there has been an effort to establish attractive estimates and Mr. Volkmann has agreed that fully ninety percent of the lots will change hands so long as the bid reaches at least half the low estimate." The material, long held, is clearly now intended to be dispersed. For collectors this presents opportunities.

The following items have been identified by PBA as significant, collectible and in some cases potentially inexpensive enough to be accessible to the fledgling collector:

Lot 118. Adams, Ansel Easton. Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras. Printed in San Francisco in 1927 by Jean Chambers Moore.

18 unsigned photographs, 8x6.25; or the reverse, with letterpress captions beneath on sheets measuring approximately 12x9.75, each loose in an individual folio with letterpress title; together with the printed title page, colophon, dedication to Albert M. Bender and plate list. Housed in a restored silk-lined portfolio of black cloth (original front cloth retained but not used in restoration of portfolio). One of a projected edition of 150 copies of which approximately 75 copies were completed. All letterpress printed by the Grabhorn Press. Individual prints unsigned but the portfolio signed by Adams in 1980 on dedication leaf. "[Adams] made all the Parmelian prints on Kodak Vitava Athena Grade T Parchment, a cream-colored, gelatin silver paper that is translucent when held up to the light ... Although Ansel later remembered that he completed about a hundred sets, some were destroyed in a warehouse fire, leaving approximately seventy-five that were sold and delivered" (Ansel Adams: A Biography, pp 60-2). Robert Cahn, writing for Sierra Magazine, offers: "Adams" photographic career took a quantum leap in 1926 when Albert Bender, an enterprising San Francisco friend of the wealthy and of artists, "Discovered" Adams' photographs and decided they should be published. Bender selected a group of the prints and contacted a prominent San Francisco publisher who agreed to produce the portfolios...In a few hours, Bender had sold 56 copies sight unseen, and Adams' first published work...was on its way." GB 95. Estimated $50,000 to $80,000.

Rare Book Monthly

  • RareBookBuyer.com
    We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide
    RareBookBuyer.com
    Specialized in Purchasing
    Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
    RareBookBuyer.com
    We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide
    RareBookBuyer.com
    Specialized in Purchasing
    Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
    RareBookBuyer.com
    We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide
    RareBookBuyer.com
    Specialized in Purchasing
    Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
    RareBookBuyer.com
    We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide
    RareBookBuyer.com
    Specialized in Purchasing
    Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
    RareBookBuyer.com
    We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide
  • Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
  • Leland Little, Jan. 22: The First Issue of Robert Frost's A Boy's Will, In Extremely Scarce Binding.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: Knight's An Account of the Remains of the Worship of Priapus.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: First Edition of Locke's Important Treatise Some Thoughts Concerning Education.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: The Richly Illustrated First French Edition of Voyages de Corneille Le Brun par la Moscovie, en Perse, et aux Indes Orientales.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: Scarce First Issue of An Account of the Province of Carolina in America, Finely Bound and With Celebrated John Speed Map.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: Humphrey's An Historical Account, Complete with Scarce Folding Maps.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: First Edition of Chamberlain's Scarce Civil War Memoir The Passing of the Armies.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: A Rare Photograph of David Bruce Brown and #48 Fiat.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: George Cruikshank (England, 1792-1878), Archive of Sketches, Notes, and Letters.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: Extremely Scarce Copy of Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode), Signed by Max Pechstein.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: Andy Warhol's The Thirteen Most Wanted Men Exhibition Catalogue.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: Edward Ruscha (American, b. 1937), Every Building on the Sunset Strip.

Article Search

Archived Articles

Ask Questions