April 2009

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VN at the NY Book Fair (3): The 1937 John Long Despair

April 8, 2009 in bibliography, book fairs | No comments

Despair, John Long, 1937 (Courtesy of Peter Harrington)
Despair, John Long, 1937 (Courtesy of Peter Harrington Books)
Despair, John Long, 1937
Despair, John Long, 1937 (Christie’s 19-Jun-2007)

The juiciest VN piece at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair was from Peter Harrington Books (London), a copy of VN’s translation of Despair published by John Long in 1937 (Juliar A15.2). Not so unusual without a dust jacket. But this copy was quite unusual—it has a dust jacket and was offered at £17,500/$26,250. A fair enough price, actually, considering its rarity.

Here are photos of two different copies with the same dust jackets: the Peter Harrington copy and one that Christie’s sold at auction on June 19, 2007. On the first one, you can see the black cloth peeking out of its dust jacket. That binding has gilt stamping, a blind rule bordering the front cover, and gilt rules at the top and bottom of the spine.On the second, the orange cloth binding is peeking out. It has black stamping with no rules on the front cover or on the spine.

I have no direct evidence yet, but I suspect that the dust jackets may come in two variants with two prices on the spine: 7/6 and 3/6.  I do know for certain that John Long’s earlier publication of Camera Obscura (Juliar D14.4) was labeled and sold at each of those two prices.

How many copies of the book are there? VN said in the foreword to his 1966 translation of the novel, “…the book sold badly…a German bomb destroyed the entire stock. The only copy extant is, as far as I know, the one I own…” We know today that multiple copies (countable in the dozens, I estimate) survive. But only a small number still retain their dust jackets. (I will try to get a color photo of the copy held at the Washington University Library in St. Louis.) It’s not many more than the four I’ve examined or seen photos of. They’re quite distinguishable in the same way individual right whales are by their callosities. Each surviving dust jacket has its own tears, rips, chips, and discolorations.

I would appreciate hearing about and seeing photos of other copies of the 1937 Despair in dust jacket. Also of Camera Obscura.

More

I have two more items from the fair, both non-VN, to write about and one story, in “VN at the NY Book Fair (4)”.

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VN at the NY Book Fair (2): Inscribed Copies

April 7, 2009 in bibliography, book fairs | 1 comment

Three Russian editions and one American, inscribed by VN, none with butterflies, were offered at inconsistent prices at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair this year.

Invitation to a Beheading

Priglashenie na kazn', 1938, cover

Priglashenie na kazn', 1938, cover

Priglashenie na kazn', 1938, inscription

Priglashenie na kazn', 1938, inscription

Bernard Quaritch of London had a Приглашение на казнь [Priglashenie na kazn’/Invitation to a Beheading], Paris, 1938, (Juliar A16.1), inscribed by VN in Russian, “To Anna Maksimovna and Semen Il’ich Shtein with a heartfelt hello from V. Nabokov. XI.38” (as translated by the dealer). The only reference I find to a Shtein in Boyd’s biography is in The Russian Years, p. 192, as a family friend, in reference to the day that VN’s father was killed. The book is in fine condition. It has one oddity: a mylar-like page bound into the book (not tipped in) between the front cover and the inscription on the first page. I may be able to learn more about it later from the dealer. Price, £8,000/$12,000.

Glory

Podvig, 1932, cover

Podvig, 1932, cover

Podvig, 1932, cover
Podvig, 1932, inscription

Podvig, 1932, inscription

Lame Duck of Cambridge, MA, had a Подвиг [Podvig/Glory], Paris, 1932, (Juliar A13.1), inscribed by VN in Russian, “To my dear Jakov Mysevich Tzwibak with the fond memories of the author, XII.32” (as translated by the dealer). The description continues: “Andrei Sedykh (real name Lev Tzwibak), secretary of Ivan Bunin and editor-in-chief of Novoe Russkoe Slovo (The New Russian Daily) newspaper”. As you can see in the photo, the paper has begun acidifying and the tape residue across the spine and onto the cover are very unappealing. I would describe its overall condition as fair. Price, $27,500. I cannot explain why it is more than twice the price of the one from Quaritch. When in the market, always shop around.

The Real Life of Sebastian Knight

The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, 1941, cover

The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, 1941, cover

The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, 1941, inscription

The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, 1941, inscription

Lame Duck also had The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, New York, 1941 (the day before Pearl Harbor), (Juliar A21.1a), inscribed in Russian and English to Mark Aleksandrovich Aldanov. My ability to decrypt Russian script is minimal. I can make out only to whom the inscription is addressed and the English: “I am too old to change conradically | I.42”. The “Publication Date” stamping, normally indicating an advanced or review copy, is not uncommon for this book. The December 12th date may have been what the publisher anticipated but the U.S. copyright office has a December 6th date. The dust jacket is in woeful shape, missing half the spine and decaying from acidification. The binding is the red burlap-like cloth variant. Price, $27,500.

King, Queen, Knave

King, Queen, Knave, 1928, cover

Korol' dama valet, 1928, cover

King, Queen, Knave, 1928, inscribed

Korol' dama valet, 1928, inscription

Though he has been trying to sell it for more than five years, I want to include here an item from Thomas Goldwasser (San Francisco, CA), Король, дама, валет [Korol’, dama, valet/King, Queen, Knave], Berlin, 1928, (Juliar A9.1), inscribed by VN in Russian, “To most respected Savelii Grigorevich Poliak, in kind memory from the author. X.28 Berlin” (translated by the dealer). It is rebound in cloth, with the front wrapper trimmed and glued to the cover and includes library stamps of the Russian Refugees’ Relief Association, London. Price, $8500.

More

I saw one juicy rarity that I need another posting to describe, in “VN at the NY Book Fair (3): The 1937 John Long Despair”.

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VN at the NY Book Fair (1)

April 6, 2009 in book fairs | No comments

On what would have been VN’s 80th birthday (using the traditional date), April 23rd, 1979, I bought my very first “first edition” at that year’s New York Antiquarian Book Fair. No, not a VN book, but John McPhee’s A Sense of Where You Are, his profile of Bill Bradley as a basketball player at Princeton, for $75. I have no idea if VN ever read anything by McPhee or if McPhee has ever said anything about VN. But I sense an affinity between the two writers: their passion for the precise use of language.

Almost thirty years later, on Friday afternoon, I wandered the aisles of the New York Antiquarian Book Fair at the Park Ave. Armory at 67th St. My McPhee shelf is essentially complete. But I am always looking for more VN.

Among the more than 220 dealers from across the country and Europe were several dozen dealers in modern literature or “first editions” offering, among their McPhee’s (not too many) and their VN’s (not too many either), very expensive cornerstone mysteries, very expensive popular novels that became landmark movies, very expensive high points in 20th century writing (it’s too soon yet to find any from this century), and very expensive dust jackets dressing up mere thousand dollar books into high society swells. And, yes, many were offering for the rest of us $25 and $50 books.

But it is the big boys who catch our eye. I’ve been peeking into the booths of this show for several decades and still know little about its behind-the-stalls goings-on. I still wonder where these dealers find some of their gems and how they have the gall to charge what they do. And then I think of how many times I would have laid down the cash I didn’t have just to posses one of their volumes. It’s a slightly awry world.

As far as prices go, VN was holding his own very well there. Some of the quality green Olympia Press Lolita’s were bumping up against the five-figure mark. (The following descriptions of condition are idiosyncratically my own and are not the terms dealers usually use.)

  • A 1955 Olympia Press Lolita (Juliar A28.1.1) at Buddenbrooks (Boston), worn and a bit banged up, for $4850.
  • Another Olympia Lolita at Ken Lopez (Hadley, MA), in very nice condition at $9500. An absolutely beautiful and bright 1958 Putnam Lolita (Juliar A28.2) for $5000. And an unpublished August 28, 1960 letter to Pyke Johnson Jr., an editor at Doubleday, returning a $2500 advance given to him for Pale Fire and asking that he be freed from his contract, at $4500.
  • Another very nice Olympia Lolita for $9000 at Between the Covers (Goucester City, NJ). Also a 1938 Bobbs-Merrill Laughter in the Dark in green cloth and a fine dust jacket (Juliar A14.2) for $7500.
  • A fine 1959 Weidenfeld and Nicolson Lolita (Juliar A28.3) at Crawford Doyle (New York, NY) for $500, bought by a fellow Nabokov collector who takes only the best.
  • A 1969 Weidenfeld and Nicolson Ada at Thomas Goldwasser (San Francisco, CA) with corrections in pencil by VN scattered about the book, $5000.

More

I made notes and took photos of a bunch of inscribed Russian editions. I’ll post that next in “VN at the NY Book Fair (2): Inscribed Copies”.

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