And on we go with the next set of draft pages for the revised and updated bibliography: Весна в Фиальте [Vesna v Fial’te / Spring in Fialta], a collection of 14 stories Nabokov composed between 1931 and 1940. It was the third of the three Nabokov books the New York-based Chekhov Publishing House issued. The collection has gone through one American and one Russian edition since its first appearance in 1956. Translations of the stories into English are in the The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov. Vesna v Fial’te was A29 in the 1986 bibliography.
The oddest thing about the Nabokov lots in the Bonhams auction today in New York was that a copy of Grozd’ went for more than seven times its high estimate (estimate, $1200–1800; result $13,000 + 25% buyer’s premium). Two bidders got into a bidders’ war and someone paid an exorbitant price for a book not even in its original wrappers and with brown stains (water?) on some of the leaves. Grozd’, published in Berlin in 1923 by Grani, is certainly a rare and hard to find book from very early in Nabokov’s career. Bonhams’ estimate was a fair estimate. But such a book in such condition is not worth $16,250 in any real market. But then odd things happen at auctions.
Of the other lots, Gornyi put’, a very, very nice copy, sold for $3800 (before premium), $300 above the top estimate. Podvig, a bit banged up and inscribed in 1932, went for $6500 (est. $7000–9000); Podvig, plain and with repairs (est. $700–1000), got up to only $480 and didn’t sell; Stikhotvoreniia: 1929–1951, with extensive repairs of its cover (est. $500–700), climbed to $320 and then pooped out; an Olympia Press Lolita, a very worn first issue (est. $1200–1800), sold for $950; and, an Ada, inscribed and lepidopterized to close friend George Hessen (est. $15,000–25,000), made it to $14,000 and sold.
What conclusions can I draw from this? None. The market for these things is very small and runs on passions and perceptions. And all it needs is two bidders.
Tags: Ada, auction, Bonhams, Gornii put', Grozd', Lolita, Podvig, Stikhotvoreniia
Seven Nabokov items are among the 230 lots of “Russian Literature and Works on Paper” (Akhmatova, Belyi, Bulgakov, Mandelshtam, Mayakovsky, Olesha, Pasternak, and other writers, artists, and composers) that the British auction house Bonhams is offering on 5 December at its New York branch. Click here to see them.
They are, with a note about each item and its estimate:
- Grozd‘, rebound, $1200-1800
- Gornii put’, original wrappers, $2500-3500
- Podvig, rebacked, inscribed, $7000-9000
- Podvig, repaired, $700-1000
- Stikhotvoreniia: 1929-1952, badly stained, $500-700
- Lolita, issue a, worn, $1200-1800
- Ada, inscribed & lepidopterized, $15,000-25,000
The estimates are a bit high considering the relatively tarnished conditions some of the books are in. The buyer’s premium is 25%.
Tags: Ada, auction, Bonhams, Gornii put', Grozd', Lolita, Podvig, Stikhotvoreniia
My instant post-game analysis of today’s auction of 22 Nabokov lots at Bloomsbury Auctions in London: Ho-hum.
Twelve of the lots were sold, ten were passed on. The first lot, a battered Mashen’ka, went for the minimum expected, £1500 (plus the buyer’s premium of 24%). Three rebound Russian novels (Kamera obskura, Otchaianie, and Priglashenie na kazn’) were passed on. One rebound novel, Zashchita Luzhina, sold at £320, above the high estimate. I think that’s due to the difficulty of finding any copy of ZL and this copy’s relatively low price.
Some Russian novels in wrappers didn’t sell (Dar, Sogliadatai, and Podvig). Most of the English language lots sold: a 1936 John Long Camera Obscura without dust jacket at £1400; a 1959 Putnam Invitation to a Beheading with a tipped in letter from Véra Nabokov at £180; an Olympia Press Lolita, second issue, at £1700; a Bend Sinister, inscribed and lepidopterized, at £3800, the most expensive lot sold; an inscribed Pnin at £2200; a Putnam Lolita, ninth impression, inscribed and lepidopterized, at £3500.
The lot of 30 letters from 1958–1981, two with butterflies, to Nabokov’s cousins, the de Petersons, didn’t sell (estimated at £8–12,000). Nor did the most delightful piece, an inscribed and 8X-lepidopterized copy of Stikhotvoreniia: 1929–1951, estimated at £6–8000. You have your good days and you have your so-so days. One could say that that’s how the ball bounces.
Tags: auction, Bloomsbury, inscriptions
And so we continue with the next set of draft pages for the revised and updated bibliography: Lolita: A Screenplay, Nabokov’s later, shorter, and revised version of the screenplay Stanley Kubrick commissioned from him in 1960. It was first published in 1974 by McGraw-Hill and has been through only two further editions. Lolita: A Screenplay was A45 in the 1986 bibliography.
Tags: screenplay
Continuing with the next set of draft pages for the revised and updated bibliography: Strong Opinions, Nabokov’s collection of 22 interviews, 11 letters, nine articles, and five lepidoptera papers and book reviews first published in 1973 by McGraw-Hill. Since then, there have been five more editions in English. Strong Opinions was A44 in the 1986 bibliography.
Tags: essays, interviews, letters
Bloomsbury Auctions in London has 21 lots of Nabokov books (many inscribed) and a lot of 30 letters coming up for sale on 27 November. Go to bloomsburyauctions.com and click on the “Important Books & Manuscripts” auction. The Nabokov lots are #133–154. (Or click here to go directly to the catalog page where the Nabokov lots begin.)
The estimated prices are accurate. The conditions of some of the books are, from the fastidious collector’s point of view, not very good. Many copies are not in their original bindings. But there are many desirable pieces. I think that the most delightfully desirable is lot #148, Stikhotvoreniia [Poems] 1929–1951 (A27.1 in my bibliography), published in Paris by Rifma in 1952. The book itself contains 16 Russian poems in a compact 48 pages. The real attraction is the quickly sketched flutter of eight giddy butterflies over Nabokov’s inscription to Jacob Frumkin. Take a look.
Tags: auction, Bloomsbury, inscriptions, Russian
And so to the next set of draft pages for the revised and updated bibliography: Стихи (1979) [Stikhi / Poems], his second such-titled book (the first being A2 from 1916). This collection of 250 poems and poem fragments were selected by Nabokov shortly before he died, but published posthumously in 1979 by Ardis. In the foreword Véra Nabokov gives information about the selection of the poems and points to Nabokov’s main theme of ‘other-worldliness [потусторонности]’. This Stikhi was A50 in the 1986 bibliography.
And on we move to the next set of draft pages for the revised and updated bibliography: Переписка с сестрой [Perepiska s sestroĭ / Correspondence with his sister], a collection of letters between Nabokov and his sister Elena (or Helene) published by Ardis Publishers in 1985. It was A56 in the 1986 bibliography.
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