AT : How much of your collection is represented in this exhibit?
WHH: There are 183 or so items on display in this exhibit; my personal collection on the subject of quackery consists of thousands of pieces.
AT: I see from the press kit that your career was in the pharmaceutical industry. Can you elaborate more on your background?
WHH: Yes, you’ve done your homework. I was in the pharmaceutical industry at Merck for many years.
AT: Did your work in any way inspire or influence your collecting choices? Or in other words, how did your collection get started?
WHH: Yes, I guess it did. My collection began in the 1950s. What inspired it is that I went to the Barnes Collection and got the idea to start to buy prints. One day I found a print from a British book dealer with a pharmaceutical subject for five pounds. I bought it and decided to continue buying on that theme. I just wanted to find a focus, otherwise your collection is all over the place. Then in addition to prints I began to buy advertising material and ephemera and books and pamphlets.
AT: Five pounds: that’s quite a deal. Did the fact that the price was so inexpensive influence the direction of your collection?
WHH: Well, when I first started collecting, prices overall were relatively affordable, especially if you weren’t going after the top 100 American books or something like that. Everything was cheaper to collect in the 1950s. I got into my area or niche because I was interested in it and it was inexpensive. It’s more fun to collect that way as well. You need to find an angle where you can afford it, and a subject that you can see importance and value in.
AT: What’s the state of your collection today? Are you still adding to it?
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Sotheby's
Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
Available for Immediate PurchaseSotheby’s: William Shakespeare.
The Poems and Sonnets of William Shakespeare, 1960. 7,210 USDSotheby’s: Charles Dickens.
A Christmas Carol, First Edition, 1843. 17,500 USDSotheby’s: William Golding.
Lord of the Flies, First Edition, 1954. 5,400 USDSotheby's
Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
Available for Immediate PurchaseSotheby’s: Lewis Carroll.
Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, Inscribed First Edition, 1872. 25,000 USDSotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien.
The Hobbit, First Edition, 1937. 12,000 USDSotheby’s: John Milton.
Paradise Lost, 1759. 5,400 USD