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12 Highlights from The Maurice F. Neville Collection of Modern Literature (Part III)

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Thirteen years after a two-part sale of the Maurice F. Neville Collection of Modern Literature set numerous author and genre records comes Part III, smaller than its predecessors, but equally as interesting. This part includes many significant 20th century authors, of course: Dylan Thomas, Hemingway and Fitzgerald, and even Charles Bukowski. But the sale also features a fine group of attractively bound and frequently extra-illustrated sets of standard authors, as well as a section of "Miscellany" – including sports, history, travel and popular music – that will give an idea of the range of Neville’s many interests beyond modern literature. Click ahead for a closer look at twelve can't-miss highlights.

The Maurice F. Neville Collection of Modern Literature (Part III)
24 April | New York

12 Highlights from The Maurice F. Neville Collection of Modern Literature (Part III)

  • Dickens, Charles. The Works. London: Chapman & Hall, 1906–1908. Estimate $40,000–60,000.
    The National Edition, one of 750 sets, signed on the limitation statement in the first volume by three of Dickens's children ("A. Tennyson Dickens"; "Henry F. Dickens"; "Kate Perugini"). Extra-illustrated with autograph letters and other manuscripts signed by Dickens and many of his contemporaries, including his illustrators George Cruikshank, Hablot K. Browne (Phiz), Daniel Maclise and Marcus Stone.

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  • Poe, Edgar Allan. The Complete Works. New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1902. Estimate $6,000–8,000.
    The Water Colour & Hand Illuminated Edition, limited to 26 lettered sets, of which this is set P. A lavishly illustrated set of Poe’s works, the fine bindings appropriately decorated with a sinister spiderweb motif.

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  • Bukowski, Charles. Extensively Revised Typescript of His Novel Factotum. Estimate $50,000–70,000.
    Charles Bukowski's great second novel, Factotum, a journey through the dead-end jobs and seedy bars of World War II Los Angeles. This heavily reworked typescript is inscribed and signed twice by Bukowski to Maurice Neville on the title leaf. Bukowski has drawn a picture of himself standing with his usual totems: a woman, a dog, a bottle and a tree and with a bird flying toward the sun; beneath this, he has written, "To Maurie Neville – and this novel I finished. Ah, Victory!"

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  • Clemens, Samuel L. Autograph Manuscript Signed ("Mark Twain"), Titled "The New War-Scare." Estimate $25,000–35,000.
    "The New War-Scare" was written in 1898, but not published for more than eighty years. An undated note by Clemens at the head of the text reads, "This was written in the threatening days of 1898, but was not published because the scare passed by; it is published now because the scare is back."

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  • Coward, Noël. Original Painting for the Dust Jacket of the Firest Edition of Pomp and Circumstance. (London: William Heinemann, 1960). Jamaica, 1959–1960. Estimate $12,000–18,000.
    The English playwright, composer, actor, painter and singer wrote his first and only novel Pomp and Circumstance while at his home Firefly Hill in Jamaica. It was also here that he created this original watercolour, which became the dust jacket for the first edition, published by William Heinemann in 1960.

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  • Fitzgerald, Zelda. A Group of Paper Dolls with Costumes, Circa 1927. Estimate $25,000–35,000.
    A collection of evocative paper dolls created by “the first American flapper.” Zelda first began creating paper dolls in 1927, most likely as a way to engage with her then six year old daughter “Scottie.” She continued to produce them throughout her lifetime, creating depictions of her family, religious figures, animals, fairy tales and figures from the court of Louis XIV. Zelda’s dolls are very scarce in the marketplace.

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  • Hemingway, Ernest. Autograph Letter Signed ("E. Miller," Hemingway's Middle Name) to William B. Smith, Jr. ("Smyth"). Estimate $12,000–18,000.
    In this letter written from a spring holiday in Austria, Hemingway responds to a letter from Smith, who would soon be arriving in Paris. Smith was planning to accompany Hemingway to Pamplona to see his first bullfights, which Hemingway discusses here in great detail, commenting on the brutality and spectacle of the experience: “They're cruel. By their own standards no. By ours yes. But it's the standard makes the difference.”

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  • Hemingway, Ernest. A Pair of Bull's Horns Mounted in Brass Given to Hemingway by Antonio Ordóñez. Estimate $10,000–15,000.
    Antonio Ordoñez was the son of Cayetano Ordoñez, the inspiration behind the character Pedro Romero in The Sun Also Rises. The younger Ordoñez became a famous bullfighter in his own right, and was a lifelong friend of the author, who he called “father Ernesto” as a child.

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  • Lawrence, T. E.. Autograph Letter Signed ("TE Shaw") Completing the Order for George VII – The Brough Superior Motorcycle on Which He Was Killed. Estimate $5,000–7,000.
    In this letter Lawrence, an incredibly dedicated motorcyclist, completes the order for his so-called “George VII” – the Brough Superior motorcycle on which he was killed.  At the time Lawrence was killed on George VII in 1935, sustaining head injuries from being thrown over his bike's handlebars after swerving to avoid two boys in the road, he was awaiting the delivery of yet another Brough motorcycle, George VIII.

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  • Thomas, Dylan. Autograph Letter Signed ("Dylan") to His Wife Caitlin, Sharing His Impressions of North America. Estimate $15,000–20,000.
    From 1950-1953, Dylan Thomas made four visits to the United States, where he was in great demand for poetry readings and drunken antics at the parties following them. In this letter from his first trip, a passionate love letter to his wife Caitlin and a lively West Coast travelogue, Dylan remarks, "[T]hank God to be out of British Canada & back in the terrible United States of America.”

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  • Jones, Robert Tyre ("Bobby"), and O. B. Keeler. Down the Fairway: The Golf Life and Play of Robert T. Jones, Jr. New York: Minton, Balch, 1927. Estimate $7,000–10,000.
    Published when Jones was 25 and had already won seven major championships, with a forward by noted sportswriter Grantland Rice.

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  • Ruth, George Herman ("Babe"). Babe Ruth's Own Book of Baseball. New York and London: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1928. Estimate $8,000–12,000.
    The only signed, limited edition ever issued by the Sultan of Swat and a great source for a fully authenticated Babe Ruth signature.

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