On ebay, a dealer in Michigan, j_j_books, is offering signed copies of the 1938 Bobbs-Merrill Laughter in the Dark and the 1941 New Directions The Real Life of Sebastian Knight. The books have the bookplates of Richard Adams, the British author of Watership Down. Without having examined them first-hand, but going by the photos and descriptions, I am dubious of the authenticity of at least one of them.

The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, with a mangled dust jacket, has an inscription on the title page, “With much love | Vladimir Nabokov | 1945”. That is not Nabokov writing, especially to someone outside his intimate circle. Assuming that the inscription was meant for Adams and not someone else, Nabokov would not have written so warmly to someone of whom there is no evidence that they ever met or corresponded. In fact, in 1945, Adams was in the British army and Nabokov was living in the U.S.

The Laughter in the Dark could be legitimate. I don’t know. But that Richard Adams bookplate makes me wary of it.

The dealer, j_j_books, has offered and sold several inscribed or signed Nabokov books on ebay recently (Ada and Poems). That by itself, of course, doesn’t mean anything. But all of these books have supposedly been from collections of people who had no known connections to Nabokov.

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A long-established Santa Barbara, California, dealer, Ralph Sipper, is offering four of Nabokov’s lepidopterological offprints, each inscribed to a fellow lepidopterist, Don A. Stallings.

The offprints were part of a Nabokov lepidopterological archive sold at Pacific Book Auctions for $15,600 on 7 Feb which I described here on 16 Feb.

Sipper has asked me to post information about the offprints for him. He can be contacted through his web site at http://ralphsipperbooks.com/.

Nabokov, Vladimir. THE NEARCTIC FORMS OF LYCAEIDES HUB. Offprint from Psyche, September 1943. 13 pages. This copy is inscribed by Nabokov to a fellow lepidopteral scientist, Don A. Stallings. At this time Nabokov was working in Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology in the classification of butterflies. Offprints such as this are issued specifically for the author’s use in a small number (usually 25 copies). The text documents Nabokov’s masterly interpretations of his scientific findings. Juliar AA7. Fine. (25109) $2,500.00

Nabokov, Vladimir. NOTES ON THE MORPHOLOGY OF THE GENUS LYCAEIDES. Offprint from Psyche, September 1944. 35 pages. This copy is inscribed by Nabokov to a fellow lepidopterist Don A. Stallings. With two holograph annotations to the text by Nabokov. Offprints such as this are issued specifically for the author’s use in a small number (usually 25 copies). Juliar AA8. Fine. (25110) $3,500.00

Nabokov, Vladimir. NOTES ON NEOTROPICAL PLEBEJINAE. Offprint from Psyche, March 1945. 61 pages. With Nabokov’s printed illustrations of butterfly anatomical features. This copy is inscribed by Nabokov to fellow lepidopterist Don A. Stallings. With two substantive holograph annotations to the text by Nabokov (“Martha has proved to be a third species of Echinargus, beautifully intermediate in genitalia between Isola and Trinidad SP. VN. 1946).”. Juliar AA9. Fine. (25111) $5,000.00

Nabokov, Vladimir. THE NEARCTIC MEMBERS OF THE GENUS LYCAEIDES HUBNER. Offprint from Psyche, February 1949. 62 pages and nine illustrated plates of specimens. This copy is inscribed by Nabokov to a fellow lepidopterist, Don A. Stallings: “With the author’s very best regards at last.” A formidable scientific work issued by Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology. Juliar AA14. Fine. (25112) $3,000.00

Nabokov’s first book, Стихи [Stikhi / Poems] from 1916, a self-published volume of 68 Russian poems in cream-colored wrappers will be auctioned on 12 March by Bonhams in New York. It is number 252 of 500 copies.

Title page of Стихи [Stikhi / Poems] from 1916.

Bonhams’ estimate is $25,000 – $35,000. The auction house catalog description doesn’t give the item’s provenance. It is lot 2036.

Full information is on the Bonhams website.

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An archive of Nabokov letters, drawings, and off-prints from the 1940s relating to his entomological work and correspondence with Kansas lepidopterist Donald B. Stallings was sold at auction by PBA Galleries to a West coast dealer on 7 February.

The lot was estimated to go for $10,000–$15,000. It sold for $15,600 plus a 20% buyer’s premium. Included were:

  • A 7-page autograph letter signed by Nabokov (in ink) to Kansas lepidopterist Donald B. Stallings, on the letterhead of Harvard College’s Museum of Comparative Zoology, dated March 10, 1944. The letter gives extensive details of Nabokov’s Lycaeides research.
  • A 6-page typed list of Lycaeides specimens sent to Nabokov by Stallings and J.B. Turner. On the last page of this list, Nabokov  has written, in pencil, a 12-line note regarding the list, and signed the note.
  • 4 pages, in pen, of drawings by Nabokov, of Lycaeides morphology, notably genitalia.
  • A 1-page autograph letter signed by Nabokov, undated, on the letterhead of Harvard College’s Museum of Comparative Zoology, to Donald B. Stallings. The letter notes that Stallings has cleared up a research question for Nabokov, and lists issues of the journal PSYCHE in which Nabokov has published his research.
  • Reprints of Nabokov’s Lycaeides research articles in PSYCHE, vol. L, #’s 3-4; vol. LI, #’s 3-4; vol. LII, nos. 1-2; and in the Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College, vol. 101, no. 4. Each of these four reprints is inscribed by Nabokov to Stallings in ink, one with a small drawing of a butterfly. There are Nabokov’s pen corrections in two of the reprints, of which two corrections are extensive. 
  • A manila mailing envelope addressed by Nabokov  to Stallings and with Nabokov’s return address of Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology. The envelope is stamped and the cancellation is dated March 13, 1944.
  • A 1-page reprint from vol. 14, nos. 1 & 2 of the Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society, concerning Donald B. Stallings’ research on Kansas Lepidoptera

Details and photos are at www.pbagalleries.com.

All eleven Nabokov’s lots were hammered down for very good prices at Christie’s in London on 28 November.

The prices here include the 25% buyer’s premium. The grand total was GBP60,800.

Stikhi [Poems], 1916, GBP25,000
Grozd’ [The cluster], 1923, GBP4750
Ania v strane chudes [Alice in wonderland], 1923, GBP11,875
Gornii put’ [The empyrean path], 1923, GBP4000
Mashen’ka [Mary], 1926, GBP5250
Vozvrashchenie Chorba [The return of Chorb], 1930, GBP3000
Podvig [Glory], 1932, GBP2000
Otchaianie [Despair], 1936, GBP6875
Priglashenie na kazn’ [Invitation to a beheading], 1938, GBP2375
Sogliadatai [The eye], 1938, GBP4000
Lolita, 1955, GBP6875

Considering condition and rarity, buyers significantly overspent on three of the lots: Mashen’ka, Otchaianie (it does have the VN ownership label that Glenn Horowitz put on many books from Nabokov’s library when he sold them for Dmitri Nabokov years after VN’s death), and Lolita.

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Ten Russian first editions of Nabokov’s novels, poetry, stories, and a translation are being offered in auction at Christie’s in London on 28 November.

Notable are Nabokov’s first, and self-published, book of poems, Stikhi (1916) and his translation of Alice in Wonderland, Ania v strane chudes (1923) in pictorial boards. Other lots include two poetry collections (Grozd’ (1922) and Gorniĭ put’ (1923)), five novels (Mashen’ka (1925), Otchaianie (1936), Podvig (1932), Priglashenie na kazn’ (1938), and an Engllsh Olympia Press Lolita (1955)), and the story collection, Vozvrashchenie Chorba (1929).

Stikho [Poems], 1916, St. Petersburg, Nabokov’s first book.

Christie’s estimate for Stikhi is £15,000-20,000 (roughly $20,000–26,000). The other Nabokov offerings are, though expensive, less dear.

I notice that the copy of Gorniĭ put’ is the same one that sold at Bonhams in New York on 5 December 2012 for $3800 (not including the 25% buyer’s premium).

A link to the sale, number 17162, is at Christies.com here. The Nabokov lots are 193–202.

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A hardbound copy of Nabokov’s 1923 translation of Alice in Wonderland into Russian, Аня в странe чудес [Ania v strane chudes] (A7.1a), is being auctioned by Аукционный дом 12й стул
[12th Chair Auction House] in Moscow on 19 September. Here’s the link.

The 116-page book, with illustrations by Zalshupin, was published in Berlin by Gamaiun. The offered copy has its blemishes and worn spots, a proprietary stamp on the fly leaf and an owner’s inscription on the title page. The book is extremely rare. The description doesn’t give an estimate, but it should go for at least five figures.

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Arion Press of San Francisco has issued a new edition of Nabokov’s Eugene Onegin translation. It includes Pushkin’s Russian original, a transliteration, and Nabokov’s 1975 revised translation into English. It does not include Nabokov’s extensive editorial apparatus, his commentary, the appendices, or the index. The introduction is by Brian Boyd and the transliteration is by Stanislav Shvabrin. The frontispiece artwork is by Stan Washburn.

Nabokov’s English is presented along side the original in Cyrillic, accompanied by a transliteration. The paper is Italian mould-made Magnani, the types are Bembo for the English translation, 16 point; Modern 8A for the Cyrillic and transliteration, 12 point; and Ariston script for display in various sizes. The format is folio, 15-5/8 by 11 inches, 256 pages.

The book is sewn by hand with linen thread over linen tapes, with handsewn bands at the head and foot in three colors of silk thread. The cover has a brown goatskin spine with gold foil-stamped titling and tan cloth over boards. The book comes in a slipcase.

Each copy of the Arion edition is accompanied by the two-volume Princeton University Press edition of Eugene Onegin that provides additional material and commentaries by Nabokov.

The edition is limited to 300 numbered copies for sale and 26 lettered copies hors de commerce. The price is $1,650. There is an additional shipping charge.

Further information is on the Arion Press website. In 1994 Arion Press issued a multi-volume, limited edition of Pale Fire.

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Thomas A. Goldwasser Rare Books in San Francisco is offering 268 Nabokov lots from the collection of Lester W. Traub. As the catalog says

The Traub collection, put together over a forty-year span, includes both Russian and English first editions, contributions to books and periodicals from Nabokov’s years in Europe and America, many other significant editions, including translations into a variety of languages. There are working manuscripts for two interviews, and substantial correspondence, the majority dealing with writing and publishing.

Interesting provenances and presentation copies include books from Nabokov’s own library, gifts to Véra, books inscribed to scholars, publishers and other friends, review copies from the libraries of Graham Greene, V.S. Pritchett, John Updike and others.

The catalogue is arranged as follows, allowing for a few inconsistencies:

Manuscripts, letters, documents, Nos. 1-9

Books by Nabokov, including translations of his works and some adaptations and movie memorabilia, Nos. 10-232.

Books with contributions, 233-242

Periodicals with contributions, 243-253

Miscellaneous, 254 – end

There remains unlisted more paperback editions, and volumes of criticism or scholarship, please inquire if interested. 

A pdf of the catalog is here.

Goldwasser can be reached at mail@goldwasserbooks.com

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A 1955 Olympia Press first printing of Lolita signed by Nabokov is being offered by Heritage Auctions on March 7 in New York. The house’s website gives no estimate. But the opening bid of $2000 is at least half of what the book can be expected to be hammered down for.

The signature appears to have been dashed off with a broad-tipped pen. The date is simply “III . 57”. The copy is one of many books in the auction from the James C. Seacrest Collection. No other provenance is given.

Here’s a link to the lot. Additionally, Heritage is offering an unsigned but very nice copy of the first edition.

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