Otto Penzler in the Mystery Scene

Mystery Scene—For Readers of Crime, Mystery & Suspense has gotten word of the Otto Penzler Collection of British Espionage and Thriller Fiction auction at Swann. Oline H. Cogdill writes that "I can't imagine anyone having a more fabulous collection. The auction alone would be worth a trip to New York City." Check it out for yourself when previews begin on April 3rd. 


Eric Ambler, Cause for Alarm, first edition in the scarce dust jacket, 1938, signed and inscribed to Penzler. Estimate: $5,000 to 7,000.

Today's Top Lots

The top lot for the day in the The Stephen L. White Collection and Fine Photographs sale was Eadweard Muybridge's Animal Locomotion (An Electro-Photographic Investigation of Consecutive Phases of Animal Movements), with 21 plates, 1872-1887; printed in 1887, which brought $57,600.

James Wallace Black's portrait of Kit Carson, the last picture of him taken before his death two months later, in 1868, brought $48,000.

Golden Spike Ceremony with Flag and Camera, Promontory Point, Utah, Andrew J. Russell's photograph of representatives from the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads&mdashwhich together formed the transcontinental railroad—taken in 1869, brought $43,200.

Helmut Newton's Woman Observing Man, Saint Tropez, 1975, printed 1980s, fetched $40,800.

Stephen White in Person

Stephen White, the man behind the eponymous collection, spoke at Swann today about his collection. Along with Daile Kaplan and Rick Stattler, the Photography and Americana specialists discussed the historical relevance behind these photographs, and the evolution of photography as a fine art form.

The BBC and the American Dream

Lewis W. Hine, Coal Breaker Boys, Pittston, Pennsylvania, silver print, 1910; 
printed 1930s. Estimate: $20,000 to 30,000.

Even the BBC is in on the American Dream. Phil Coomes writes about Stephen L. White's collection of American Dream-themed photographs, a concept both "elusive" and "personal," at auction on Tuesday, March 23rd in his article, Representing the American Dream.

Yesterday's Top Lots

Yesterday's Printed and Manuscript Americana was "another great success," according to Rick Stattler, Americana specialist at Swann. "The sale built on Swann's strong season by setting many record prices, including the 1809 Liber Psalmorum Hebraice (the first printing of any part of the Bible in Hebrew in America), and several Western books from the Al Lowman collection."


The day's top lots were: 

Eleazar Wheelock's Comprehensive set of 9 Indian Charity-School narratives, a complete run of Wheelock's ongoing reports on the school for American Indians he founded at Lebanon, CT, 1763-75, which brought $10,800.

Esther Levy's Jewish Cookery Book, the scarce first edition of the first Jewish cookbook published in the United States, Philadelphia, 1871, brought $10,800.

Richard Wilbourne's A Discourse Containing a Loving Invitation both Honourable and Profitable...in the New-Found-Land, London, 1622, brought $9,600.

Photography Gallery Walk

Friday at 4pm, Daile Kaplan, V.P. and Director of Photographs at Swann Galleries, and Stephen White, will lead a gallery walk of the current exhibition. 


The Stephen L. White Collection and Fine Photographs exhibition opens today, and the exhibition runs through Tuesday at noon. The sale is Tuesday, the 23rd, at 1:30pm. 






James Wallace Black, Kit Carson, albumen print, on the original mount, with Carson's signature and inscription "With the Compliments of the original," 1868. Estimate: $30,000 to 45,000.

Announcing "Out of the Blue: Modern Art and Jazz"

Romare Bearden, Trumpet Player, oil monotype on paper, circa 1980. 

Estimate: $15,000 to 25,000.

June is for jazz...

Swann's African-American Fine Art department is doing something new, and adding an auction on June 24th—Out of the Blue: Modern Art and Jazz.


The auction will include both figurative and abstract art influenced by blues, jazz and improvisation, and will feature African-American masters such as Charles Alston, Romare Bearden and Norman Lewis. The exhibition also coincides with the NYC Jazz Festival during a week of historical jazz performances here in New York City. 

Stieglitz, Going Home by Ferry

Alfred Stieglitz, Going Home by Ferry, New York City, silver print, 1902; 
printed 1920s. Estimate: $50,000 to 75,000.

In this enchanting Alfred Stieglitz photograph, part of the Stephen L. White Photograph Collection at auction March 23rd, we share the gaze of the urban commuter—craning, rushing, and impatient—bound for home. Stieglitz, one of New York's most poetic photographers, captures both the intimacy and the modern isolation of the early 20th century urban environment. New York City is the luminous background, vividly juxtaposing the solitary individual and the teeming mass that is the city. The tiny figures in the foreground (including a horse in the lower left) are dwarfed by the city beyond and particularly so by the enormous, sublime plume of smoke rising in the distance. In this image, Stieglitz both confronts the city and keeps it at a distance, concealing its newness, tempering its cacophony, but moving, ever moving, towards it.   

Introducing...The Otto Penzler Collection of British Espionage and Thriller Fiction

Ian Fleming, The Man with the Golden Gun, Advance Uncorrected Proof and First Edition, London 1965. Estimate: $600 to 900. AND Ian Fleming, Diamonds are Forever, First Edition, London, 1956. Estimate: $2,500 to 3,500.


Any collector knows that the reasons behind a particular collection are often just as fascinating as the collection itself. Otto Penzler, proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York, and whose collection of British Espionage and Thriller Fiction comes to auction on April 8th at Swann Galleries, describes the painstaking process that led to his assemblage of mystery fiction.

"For more than 40 years, I have collected first editions of mystery fiction, defining 'mystery' very broadly to include crime, suspense, detective and espionage fiction. Although the quintessential impecunious collector (I earned $42 a week—$37 take-home after taxes) when I started, I had optimistically decided to collect English and American literature (all of it) when a wise old bookseller advised me to narrow my scope. I chose mysteries because I liked reading the books and because there was very little competition among collectors in those early days. Most of the bookshops that specialized in rare books (and even those which dealt in used books) were disdainful of genre fiction, so I had a reasonably clear field. More...

Jewish Cooking, 19th-Century Style

Esther Levy, Jewish Cookery Book, Philadelphia, 1871. Estimate: $10,000 to 15,000.

A rare first edition of Levy's The Jewish Cookery Book comes to auction on March 18th in the Printed and Manuscript Americana sale. In Jewish Cooking, 19th-Century Style, New York's The Jewish Week explains these outdated rituals, by describing that there is more to Passover than matzoh ball soup and saving a seat for Elijah. While Jews today may switch to a Kosher for Passover set of dishes and scour their oven for bread crumbs, few are likely to take their kitchen tables outdoors and "lay them in fuller's earth." The article, which calls Levy a "spiritual ancestor" to Martha Stewart, also mentions different recipes and tips on managing a 19th century household.

Swann on Reality TV

Swann Prints & Drawings specialist Shawna Brickley was filmed today for a television show to air on the Spike TV cable network. Shawna did an on-air appraisal of a Picasso print discovered in an abandoned building.

The show, titled Scrappers, is a documentary series about scrap-metal recyclers in South Brooklyn. Check it out when it airs to see what Shawna said about the Picasso print.

Time for a Tea Party

The Able Doctor, or America Swallowing the Bitter Draught, engraving, London, 
May 1774. Estimate: $600 to 900.

A satirical print of the original Tea Party comes to auction in Swann's Printed & Manuscript Americana sale on Thursday, March 18th. The British reaction to the Boston Tea Party, The Able Doctor, or America Swallowing the Bitter Draught, was published in the London Magazine in May 1774. In the etching, four British ministers attack an American Indian by pouring tea down her throat. 

Another image of the Boston Tea Party is included in a set of 11 early German images of the American Revolution, produced for insertion in the "Historisch-genealogischer Calender ... fuer 1784." 

Market for African-American Art Continues to Grow

James Amos Porter, Self-Portrait, oil on canvas, circa 1935. 

The Art Newspaper features both Swann's February 23rd African-American Fine Art auction, as well as the art items in the Printed and Manuscript African Americana auction that was held two days later. Viv Lawes writes that the James Porter art history archive in the February 25th sale was the second-highest grossing item ever for that department—$50,400—which held its 15th sale this year. Read the full article here.

Classic Mysteries

Classicmysteries.net features the upcoming Otto Penzler Collection of British Espionage and Thriller Fiction. Read the entry here.














Ian Fleming, Casino Royale, 1953. Estimate: $20,000 to 30,000.

Bill Clinton's American Dream

Robert Rauschenberg, Untitled (American flag, enough is enough), silver print, 1980. Estimate: $10,000 to 15,000.

"I believe in the American Dream. I have lived it. Where else could an ordinary boy from Hope, AK group up to become President?" So writes former President Bill Clinton in his foreward to The Stephen L. White Photograph Collection. The American Dream is the thematic element linking these photographs, which are organized into three categories—life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Paul Outerbridge, Jr., Advertisement for Marmon Motor Co., New York, montage, platinum print, circa 1920. Estimate: $20,000 to 25,000.

Clinton continues: "During the eight years I was privileged to serve as President of the United States, I thought about the American Dream every day. As President, I wanted to make sure that everyone had the opportunity to realize his or her potential, to make the most of his or her life, to live out the American dream. Even in America, land of opportunity, that has not been easy for many. This is why I am such a strong believer in education. ...

Circus Night

Martin Lewis, Circus Night, drypoint and sand ground, 1933. 
Estimate: $10,000 to 15,000.

A very rare Martin Lewis etching, Circus Night, appears at auction on Tuesday in the 19th & 20th Century Prints & Drawings sale. The American printmaker depicts Hunt's three ring circus in this rich impression. 

Modigliani's Hasting

A Modigliani pencil drawing of Beatrice Hastings—political activist, feminist, poet and literary critic—is a featured item in Swann's 19th & 20th Century Prints & Drawings sale on Tuesday. The two shared a tempestuous relationship that produced Modigliani's famous 1915 portrait series, Madame Pompadour—Portraits of Beatrice Hastings. This pencil drawing dates to the time of that series. 








Amedeo Modigliani, Beatrice Hastings, pencil on cream wove paper, circa 1915. Estimate: $30,000 to 50,000. 

Yesterday's Top Lots

A.M. Cassandre, New Statendam / Holland-America Line, 1928, sold for $24,000. 

Yesterday's two-part auction of The Christopher Bou Collection of Ocean Liner and Aviation Memorabilia, and the Chase Collection of Ocean Liner Posters was a great success, selling 90% of its offerings. The day's top lot was A.M. Cassandre's rare poster, New Statendam / Holland-America Line, which realized $24,000.

Montague Black, [White Star Line / Olympic & Titanic], sold for $13,200.

The auction's second highest selling lot was Montague Birrel Black's [White Star Line / Olympic & Titanic], which sold well above its high estimate of $3,000 for $13,200, tying its auction record.

At least 10 other posters achieved record prices. 

Normandie Posters: The Rare and Iconic

A.M. Cassandre, Normandie / Voyage Inaugural, 1935. 

Estimate: $4,000 to 6,000.

Three rare poster images of the Normandie appear tomorrow in the Chase Collection of Ocean Liner Posters auction. While Swann has offered A.M. Cassandre's Normandie / Voyage Inaugural, 1935, in several of its travel poster auctions—it is the artist's most famous image—the other two images of the Normandie are exceedingly rare.  

Montague Birrel Black, French Line C.G.T. / France-England-U.S.A., circa 1936. 

Estimate: $5,000 to 7,500.

We have found only four previous appearances of Montague Black's French Line poster depicting the famous ship (above) at auction.

French Line C.G.T. / Southampton to New York, circa 1936. 

Estimate: $6,000 to 9,000.

Swann President and Poster Specialist Nicholas Lowry could find only one auction record in the last two decades for the Normandie poster by an unknown artist above. 


Savvy collectors and Normandie aficionados, please send us your additions and comments on the rarity of these images.

Waterline Model Ships

"Rex," Travel agency waterline model of the ship, 1930s. 
Estimate: $3,000 to 4,000.

Three 50-inch waterline models of ships appear tomorrow in The Christopher Bou Collection of Ocean Liner & Aviation Memorabilia auction. The 1930s model of the Italian Line's "Rex," was completely refurbished in the 1980s. There are also models of the Holland-America Line's "Nieuw Amsterdam" and the "Rotterdam," which is wired for illumination.

World Trade Center Blueprints

Group of blueprints of the World Trade Center, 152 rolled prints, mostly 1993-97. 
Estimate: $600 to 900.

The Printed & Manuscript Americana auction on March 18th includes many historically significant items. Among the more current items offered in the sale is a group of 8 blueprints issued to electrical contractors in the years prior to the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001. While some of the plans are more technical, the collection includes plans to many of the floors of the Twin Towers.

Photography and the American Dream

Alfred Stieglitz, Going Home by Ferry, New York City, silver print, 1902; printed 1920s. Estimate: $50,000 to 75,000.

The evocative photographs in the Stephen L. White Photograph Collection, at auction March 23rd, were featured in an exhibit at Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum in 2001, shortly after September 11, 2001.

Andreas Bluehm, the museum's curator, wrote of these photographs: "Their compelling 'otherness,' the sense of both relationship and difference, the confirmation and almost simultaneous repudiation of my European prejudices—all this fascinated the art historian in me." Read More...

Malvin Gray Johnson--'Most Significant Artist Out of Greensboro'

The top lot from the February 23rd African-American Fine Art auction at Swann, Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, by Malvin Gray Johnson, has brought new attention to this Harlem Renaissance artist. News & Record, a Greenboro, North Carolina paper, writes about their hometown artist, who left for New York in 1912 as an aspiring artist. The article, which can be read in full here, includes Nigel Freeman, the director of Swann's African-American Fine Art department, describing, "For a collection to have a Malvin Gray Johnson is an exceptional thing." The painting sold for $228,000.