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Literature
Scarce verse on nature and beauty by Baudelaire
463. Charles Baudelaire Handwritten Letter with Poem. Influential French writer (1821–1867) best known for his highly imaginative and experimental verse, including the seminal 1857 collection Les Fleurs du Mal. Unsigned handwritten letter in French by Charles Baudelaire, one page, 4 x 5, no date. Addressing a woman, Baudelaire writes (translated): “You sent me verses without a personal note, allow me to offer you flowers without verses, and to prove that my taste has understood yours, put them in your buttonhole this evening.” Blow, he pens a four-line verse, entitled “Pas toujours la Nature embellit la Beauté’ [Not always Nature embellishes Beauty],” in part: “C’est donc lui la beauté, car c´est moi la nature. / Si toujours la nature embellit la beauté.” In very good to fine condition, with light creasing and trivial edge chipping. Starting Bid $500
464. Philip K. Dick Typed Letter Signed.
Lengthy TLS, “Love, Phil,” who adds a heart with arrow, two pages, 8.5 x 11, January 14, 1981. Letter to science fiction author Patricia Warrick, in part: “The enantiodromia in my thinking that I predicted in my last letter has now taken place. I now believe that in March 1974 I was in God’s mind, and when I saw the macrometasomakosmos I was seeing the universe as he sees it, which is to say, conceptually. In contrast, on 11-17-80 I was aware of him externally; I was not in his mind but in contact with his mind.” Dick makes a few handwritten corrections to the text. In fine condition. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope. Starting Bid $200
465. Charles L. Dodgson Autograph Letter Signed. Eng-
lish author and mathematician (1832–1898), who, under his pen name Lewis Carroll, wrote the popular novels Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass (1871). ALS signed “C. L. Dodgson,” one page, 3.25 x 5.25, June 7, 1879. Handwritten letter to “Miss Willets,” in full: “I have hunted in vain: there are no daughters of Eve left: but I will get some more printed. Meanwhile please accept these.” Miss Willets was the stepdaughter of James Legge, a sinologist and missionary in Hong Kong; Dodgson had met Miss Willets at a dinner party in February 1879, and had arranged for her to be photographed in Japanese costume. In fine condition, with scattered light foxing. Starting Bid $200
466. Maxim Gorky Signed Postcard. Impor-
tant Russian writer (1868–1936), who was a founder of the socialist realism literary method. Scarce color 3.5 x 5.5 postcard of an artist’s rendition of fishermen in the Gulf of Napoli, neatly signed and inscribed in ink in Cyrillic by Maxim Gorky. In very good to fine condition, with light soiling and a small corner crease. Starting Bid $200
467. Maxim Gorky Handwritten Letter.
Important Russian writer (1868–1936), who was a founder of the socialist realism literary method. Unsigned handwritten letter in Cyrillic by Maxim Gorky, one page, 8.25 x 5.25, June 24, 1924. Untranslated handwritten letter by the celebrated Russian author. In fine condition, with two punch holes at the bottom edge. Starting Bid $200
Zane Grey’s handwritten manuscript for a tale of the trail: “It will be one for those who love horses and dogs, the long winding dim trails, the wild flowers and the dark still woods, the fragrance of spruce and the smell of camp-fire smoke”
468. Zane Grey Autograph Manuscript Signed. AMS in pencil, titled and signed at the head, “Colorado Trails by Zane Grey,” written on both sides of 49 sheets for a total of 98 pages, including fourteen 7.75 x 12.25 sheets and thirty-five 4.5 x 7.25 sheets, no date but circa 1918. Grey’s original handwritten draft for a piece first published in the June 1918 issue of Outdoor Life magazine, and also collected in Grey’s 1922 book Tales of Lonely Trails. The work begins: “Riding and tramping trails would lose half their charm if the motive were only to hunt and to fish. It seems fair to warn the reader who longs to embark upon a bloody game hunt or a chronicle of fishing records that this is not that kind of story. But it will be one for those who love horses and dogs, the long winding dim trails, the wild flowers and the dark still woods, the fragrance of spruce and the smell of camp-fire smoke. And as well for those who love to angle in brown lakes or rushing brooks or chase after the baying hounds or stalk the stag on his lonely heights.” Grey makes extensive deletions and revisions throughout, lending great insight into his creative process. In overall fine condition. Starting Bid $300
469. Victor Hugo Original Sketch. Original ink
sketch accomplished by Victor Hugo off-white 2.75 x 4.25 slip, showing a man decked out in formal attire, standing in a profile pose and wearing a top hat. In fine condition. Known as an adept draughtsman, Hugo’s works of art—drawn with everything from pen and ink to soot and coffee grounds—have been the subject of several magnificent exhibitions. Just the second sketch by Hugo we have offered—this is an exemplary piece. Starting Bid $500
Image larger than actual size.
472. Emile Zola Autograph Letter Signed. ALS
in French, two pages on two adjoining sheets, 5.25 x 8, May 4, 1895. Untranslated handwritten letter by Zola. In fine condition, with light stains to the second page. Starting Bid $200
Joyce writes from Paris while recuperating: “I have suffered a seventh surgery. It was rather bad this time”
470. James Joyce Autograph Letter Signed. ALS in French, one page both sides, 5.75 x 3.5, 2 Square Robiac letterhead, no date. Handwritten letter to “Suter,” in part (translated): “If Madame Suter is in Paris, maybe she could come here for tea time on Wednesday at 4 or 4:30. My wife wishes to talk to her—not about the servants. If not, would you give me a telephone call? How are you? Hope you are well. I have suffered a seventh surgery. It was rather bad this time.” In very good to fine condition, with heavy edge creasing. Joyce took an apartment at 2 Square de Robiac in the 7th arrondissement of Paris during the summer of 1925, during which time he was working on his experimental epic Finnegans Wake. Plagued by health problems over the years, he underwent about a dozen eye surgeries—all performed without general anesthetic—and by 1930 was practically blind in the left eye. His seventh eye operation was performed on December 5, 1925. Starting Bid $500
Rare English letter by Ivan Turgenev to Norwegian-American author Hjalmar H. Boyesen
471. Ivan Turgenev Autograph Letter Signed. Rare ALS in English, signed “Iv. Tourgueneff,” one page both sides, 3.5 x 4.5, April 15, 1882. Handwritten letter to Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen, an author and college professor remembered for his novel Gunnar: A Tale of Norse Life. In full: “This letter will be forwarded to you by a great friend of mine, Professor M. Kowalefski of Moscow. He has the intention to remain in America for three or four months, and I recommend you as warmly as possible this very amiable and intelligent man, so as to render him his sojourn in your fatherland agreeable and useful.” In fine condition. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope addressed in Turgenev’s hand, and a letter from Harvard University librarian William A. Jackson, noting: “It is the first Turgenev letter I have seen written in English. Normally he wrote as you know in French or Russian.” Starting Bid $300
