Goldberg Coins and Collectibles

Sale 18

Authors

Lot	Photo	Description	Realized
Lot 1304		Edward Albee (1928 -) American playwright, recipient of three Pulitzer Prizes and two Tony Awards; best known for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Autograph Letter Signed, 1 page quarto, New York, N.Y., January 16, 1982. On engraved, personal stationery, to an admirer, sending a signed photo (not present), and stating, "…one day, when I was 6 or 7, I suddenly decided to start writing & I have been at it ever since." Extremely fine. Estimated Value $80 - 100. View details and enlarged photo	Unsold
Lot 1305		Authors, Playwrights, and Illustrators. A group of approximately 50 cards signed by a variety of American, British, and other writers from the 19th and 20th centuries. They include: John G. Whittier, Henry James, Agatha Christie (on a piece of paper), Gabriele d'Annunzio, Gabriel García Márquez, Samuel Beckett, John Osborne, Booth Tarkington, Katharine Lee Bates, William Cullen Bryant, Will and Ariel Durant, Edgar Lee Masters, Irving Wallace, James L. Buckley, Charles Dudley Warren, Kathleen Norris, Rose Macaulay, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Mary Mapes Dodge, Andrew Greeley, John Jakes, Bob Woodward, and Thomas Nast. Cards range from fair to fine. Also included is a signed 8" x 10" photograph of Upton Sinclair; minor damage above signature, else fair. Estimated Value $400 - 600. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $483
Lot 1306		Coward, Noel. English actor, playwright, and composer. First Edition Presentation Copy of The Vortex, a three-act play (London: Ernest Benn, Ltd., 1925), charmingly signed and inscribed upon publication to George Bernard Shaw's secretary, Blanche Patch: "For Miss Patch/his gratitude for her frequent protection./A happy Christmas/Noel Coward/Do read this I've heard it's so good!/1924" Octavo, original blue cloth with printed labels on the spine and upper cover. A lovely, near-fine copy with light and even browning to the pages and just a little darkening to the spine and the spine-label, all the more appealing because it appears to have been issued without a protective dustwrapper. Signed on the first flyleaf. Estimated Value $600 - 1,250. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $552
Lot 1307		Dana, Richard Henry, Jr (1815-82) Author and lawyer. He described his two years on a brig from Boston to California (1834-36) in the classic, Two Years Before the Mast (1840), and was one of Jefferson Davis' prosecutors in 1867-68. Autograph Letter Signed (Rich H. Dana jr,") 2 pp, small octavo, Boston, November 10, 1868. To William M. Evarts, calling honors being paid Evarts by the New York Bar "the highest professional tribute ever paid in this country," and announcing his intention to attend the dinner. Evarts was appointed U.S. Attorney General in 1868; he would also serve as Secretary of State and U.S. senator. Faint spotting on first page, else very good. With transmittal envelope. Estimated Value $150 - 200. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $86
Lot 1308		Dickens, Charles. Autograph Letter Signed, 1½ pp, Tavistock House, April 29, 1854. To Edward William Cole: "I regret that I cannot preside at the annual meeting of the Institution, but my occupations…have obliged me, this year, to abstain from accepting any such public engagement. I have refused many, conditionally, replying…'If I go anywhere, I will come to you'. My appearance in this case would involve me in innumerable others; and I am obliged - positively obliged - to decline. My attendances at public meetings at any time, are very few and far between." Overall toning and soiling; a couple of spots in left margin of first page, and an edge chip at lower edge of second page. Dickens signature is large and followed by a paraph. Boldly penned and signed in blue ink. (1812-1870) British novelist. Estimated Value $800 - 1,200. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $748
Lot 1309		Du Maurier, Daphne (1907-89) British novelist who wrote suspense novels such as Rebecca and Frenchman's Creek. A collection of nine letters and two Christmas cards from du Maurier to screenwriter and novelist Jesse Lasky, Jr., written from 1927 to 1985. In 1927, the twenty-year-old du Maurier wrote two Autograph Letters Signed from Paris to the seventeen-year-old Lasky, thanking him for sending her his book of poems and for a poem specifically written to her. She writes, "…I'm afraid I can't claim to have ever published anything…." The correspondence picks up again 50 years later in 1977 and includes five Typed Letters and one Autograph Letter, as well as Christmas cards from 1977 and 1979, the latter with an Autograph Note Signed. Four of the letters mention Laurence Olivier (who starred in the film Rebecca) and/or Vivien Leigh, whom she met when there was some talk of her possibly doing My Cousin Rachel. By way of apology for not liking a book Lasky has written about the famous couple, she writes, "…Larry of course I saw in the film Henry V and Richard III and thought him superb. But what their lives were at home…interested me no more than any other stage or film personality…so much of stage and film life is trivial…." More interesting content. Total of three quarto pages, eleven octavo pages, two cards, and six envelopes. All Very Fine or better. Estimated Value $600 - 800. View details and enlarged photo	Unsold
Lot 1310		Harte, Bret (1836-1902) Diplomat, Author of Frontier Life. Autograph Letter Signed, three pages (one recto and verso), octavo, n.p. (London), November 7, 1892. On letterhead embossed "15, Upper Hamilton Terrace N.W." to Miss Mabel Perry Haskell, charmingly refusing her request for an interview. In part, "…You say you have 'never interviewed anybody'; I have never been (knowingly) 'interviewed'; let us both keep our freshness unsullied!" One page is split through at horizontal fold, and the second page almost split through, both easily repaired. Overall toning and scattered spotting, but boldly written and signed. About good. Estimated Value $150 - 200. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $104
Lot 1311		Hemingway, Ernest (1899-1961) American Writer. Hemingway served as an ambulance driver in World War I; he was the European correspondent for the Toronto Star and the Paris correspondent for Hearst's Syndicated News Service. These experiences would produce much of the subject matter for his writing, and his newspaper background would influence the style he used in his fiction: short sentences, short paragraphs, active verbs, clarity, and immediacy. Among Hemingway's novels were: The Sun Also Rises (1926), A Farewell to Arms (1929), For Whom The Bell Tolls (1940), and The Old Man and the Sea (1952). He also wrote a non fiction book on bullfighting, Death in the Afternoon (1932), and stories such as The Fifth Column (1938) and A Moveable Feast (1964). Hemingway won the Nobel prize for literature in 1954. Autograph Letter Signed, one page, 13 x 8½", L-T Ranch, Cooke, Montana, August 10, 1932. Written to O.J. Kadlec of Forest Park, Illinois, the same year that Hemingway's encyclopedic book on bullfighting, Death in the Afternoon, appeared. In full: Dear Mr. Kadlec: - Im very sorry that I did not get your other letter and would be delighted to sign the books for you if you send them to me at the above address. We will be here until the first week of October so there is plenty of time to send them. Last summer I was in Spain and during the winter was travelling and later on a trip of two months along Cuban coast so your letter might have miscarried - but I am awfully sorry that you never received an answer and if you send the books will try to get them back to you promptly. With my best wishes / Yours always - Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway signed a second time in the return address on the envelope, "E.H. Hemingway." The envelope is toned, with some soiling. The letter has several folds and a couple of minor spots in the blank lower corner; otherwise, the handwriting is slanted but clearly written, in fine condition. A rare autograph letter from "Papa" Hemingway. Estimated Value $2,500 - 3,500. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $2,415
Lot 1312		Keller, Helen (1880-1968) Blind, deaf, mute author. Typed Letter Signed, one page, quarto, New York, June 4, 1948. To Mrs. Alfred Tozzer, on "American Foundation For The Blind, Inc." letterhead: "Your helpful response to my appeal for the deaf-blind of America moved me as it confirms my faith in the unfailing goodness of the human heart…." Overall wrinkling to page, rendering the condition only fair, but the signature is very strong. Estimated Value $300 - 500. View details and enlarged photo	Unsold
Lot 1313		Kingsley, Charles (1819-75) British novelist and clergyman; chaplain to Queen Victoria. Autograph Letter Signed, three pages, octavo, Eversley, April 16, 1858. To an unidentified correspondent, saying that he is sending "one of the new Canadian spoon-baits" and going on at length about his own success in using the same: "…I kill twice as many pike & perch with it than I ever killed on any other bait…." Boldly written and signed. Fine condition. Estimated Value $75 - 100. View details and enlarged photo	Unsold
Lot 1314		Sassoon, Siegfried (1886-1967) English writer best known for his anti-war verse, as well as autobiographical prose works evoking English country life. Scarce Autograph Letter Signed with initials, "SS," one page, quarto, 14 Merton St., March 20 (no year). A newsy letter to "My dear Strong," probably written soon after the end of World War I, in which Sassoon was twice decorated. In part: "Oxford is pleasant enough. There are many minor poets, & a lot of bells are rung…I am leaving here for good…having taken on the literary columns of the forthcoming 'Daily Herald'…I am not sorry to leave here, as this place seems stagnant, somehow, though youth is charming & gay…I have seen a good deal of [John Edward] Masefield, who is splendid & most stimulating. No, I never went to France; they closed down Propaganda soon after I left hospital; and my trip with Winston fell through…." A bristling letter setting forth a panorama of post-war activities and many of Sasson's likes and dislikes. Slight wrinkling and overall toning, else fine. Boldly written and signed. Matted with a 4¾ x 5¾ inch image of Sassoon and framed to an overall size of 20 x 16¼ inches. Ready for display. Estimated Value $1,000 - 1,500. View details and enlarged photo	Unsold
Lot 1315		Tolstoy, Leo (1828-1910). Russian author, his War and Peace is an epic tale, considered by many to be the greatest novel ever written. Signed Photographic Postcard ("Leo Tolstoy"). Black and white, 3¼ X 5½", n.p., "18 Avr. 1907". Verso addressed to Monsieur Friedenstein of Vienna, incomplete Russian postmark. The top right corner shows an odd defect on the light field -- the surface is uneven with a small amount of off-color tone, but it does not appear that the piece has been altered or restored. Possibly the flaw is a result of faulty paper during production. The overall appearance of the piece is very good. An 1896 image of Tolstoy, signed just three years before his death. By this point in his life, Tolstoy was trying to live as the peasant he is pictured as here -- the spiritual and moral crisis he faced in the 1870s culminated in a series of religious and philosophical writings and his decision to divest himself of possessions and earthly pleasures. Tolstoy was eventually excommunicated by the Russian Orthodox Church (1901), but was visited by pilgrims from all over the world who were inspired by his new asceticism. Estimated Value $1,000 - 1,500. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $1,208
Lot 1316		Webster, Noah (1758-1843) American lexicographer and author; father of the American dictionary. Autograph Letter Signed, one page, New Haven, February 7, 1838. Written to Samuel Fletcher, a lawyer in Concord, New Hampshire, asking his help in determining whether Webster is being cheated by the publisher of his spelling book. In part: "Mr. Atwood, the publisher of my El. Spelling Book, wrote to me last summer, before he went westward, that Mr. Simon Brown was his partner & would continue to publish the books. I learn that Brown or some person under him has published great numbers, say sixty or seventy thousand; & if so, this has been done without a license & to my injury. It is said Brown has absconded, or gone south & that the plates he used are in the hands of the assignee of Atwood. I wish you…to ascertain whether there is any property which can be found to secure me, for this trespass; whether Brown is expected to return & in whose hands the stereotype plates of Atwood are - and whether any person is using them. I wish to put an end to such illegal proceedings…." Ironically, but for obvious reasons, Webster was reluctant to part with the words in his spelling book wholesale and without compensation, but had no objection to sharing them with the public one word at a time. One is reminded of Twain's celebrated statement that all the words at his command were in the dictionary and that Twain had merely rearranged them. Webster's fame, on the other hand, rests on his having the words at his disposal in alphabetical order. One contemporary ink smear in body, three tiny tape remnants at top edge, and light toning, else fine. Integral address leaf has blue circular postmark and manuscript postage. Webster wrote Grammatical Institute of the English Language, Part I in 1783. It was a spelling book later known as Webster's Spelling Book or Blue-Backed Speller and it sold over a hundred million copies over the next century. In 1806, he published the first true American dictionary, A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language In 1828 he published An American Dictionary of the English Language, a magnum opus for which he learned 26 languages, in order to learn the origins of words. Webster thought that spelling, grammar, and usage should be based on the living, spoken language. He was largely responsible for recording and establishing the vitality of American English. Estimated Value $1,000 - 1,250. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $1,093