Yesterday's Top Lots: Art, Press, & Illustrated Books and 19th & 20th Century Literature

Jasper Johns and Samuel Beckett, Foirades / Fizzles, 1976. Sold for $16,800.

The top lots in yesterday's Art, Press & Illustrated Books and 19th & 20th Century Literature represented each of the categories, indicating a strong selection of material across genres. The day's top lot was a livre d'artiste by Jasper Johns and Samuel Beckett, Foirades / Fizzles, which sold for $16,800.

Henry David Thoreau, The Writings...Manuscript Edition, 20 volumes, 1906. Sold for $9,000.

A manuscript edition in original bindings of Thoreau's The Writings, signed by the publisher and with an original manuscript sheet from Thoreau's journal brought $9,000. The leaf begins: "However, [in pencil: 'the greater part of'] our most brilliant trees are peculiarly American; and whether they do not attain to equal or considerable brightness when transplanted into England, I do not know..."

The first appearance of Carroll John Daly's The Snarl of the Beast with a true first state dust jacket, 1927, sold for $8,400. The only other known dust jacket lists titles that were printed in 1931. Daly is considered the inventor of the hard-boiled detective genre, and The Snarl and the Beast was his second novel.

Carroll John Daly, The Snarl of the Beast, 1927. Sold for $8,400.

Labels: 19th and 20th century literature, art books, artist books, Carroll John Daly, Christine von der Linn, Henry David Thoreau, Jasper Johns, livres d'artiste, Samuel Beckett, top lots