auction

You are currently browsing articles tagged auction.

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.

Tags:

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.

Tags: , ,

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.

Tags: , ,

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.

Tags: , ,

New England Book Auctions has finally posted its catalog for sale 465 on Sept. 26. It includes as lot 169 a 1973 British first edition of Strong Opinions allegedly inscribed, signed, and crudely lepidopterized by Nabokov to Martin and Diana Shuttleworth in 1974. (http://nebookauctions.com/shop/uncategorized/169-nabokov-vladimir/)

We’ve been through this before. See my previous postings about the Shuttleworths: Signed/inscribed/lepidopterized books (not just by Nabokov) to any member of the Shuttleworth family are almost certainly fraudulent. But some dealers and auction houses continue to peddle them as the real thing.

Not all, though. James O’Sullivan writes that

A few months ago I corresponded with a very well-known London antiquarian dealer who had offered up a Mishima with the Shuttleworth provenance. They withdrew it from sale immediately, but really should have known better.

Tags: , , , , , ,

A Beckett collector has written to me to point out that many bogus book signatures and inscriptions, including those of Nabokov, appear to emanate from Australia. And that some sellers use Julian Jebb (a British arts journalist who died in 1984) as the provenance source of the books.

The collector wrote:

[The sellers] are based in NSW, Australia and their eBay ID history looks like this:

therepository Jan-03-17 – Present
jebboroam May-15-15 – Jan-03-17
worthingness Mar-12-15 – May-15-15
keramikoz Jan-21-11 – Mar-12-15

Several things should be pointed out: therepository mentioned above is still active; it has a 100% positive feedback since 2011, probably because buyers still aren’t aware that they may have been taken in; 17 of the varied 17 books therepository has listed on eBay today claim to be signed; but, the seller never explicitly says they were “signed by” the authors.

My correspondent collector also wrote:

I have been advised that if anyone is taken in by this fraud, and the seller is based in Australia, that they report it to the local fraud office – depending where the item was sent from.

Queensland: http://www.fairtrading.qld.gov.au/lodge-your-complaint
New South Wales: http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/biz_res/ftweb/General_complaint/?type=general

Fraud reporting forms for other territories can be found online. Apparently eBay will only take action against these sellers if this is escalated through legal channels.

An additional eBay seller is socrates349.

On the other hand socrates349 seems to have a fairly clean looking eBay account, lots of feedback with none of it bad and their ID has not been changed since 2003 (and that would appear to be because they used their email as their seller ID). I would suspect they are downstream of the scam and are likely unaware of it’s workings – as you pointed out many other dealers have been taken in by these books and the Shuttleworth provenance can be now seen beyond eBay.

I think given the long history of these forged books coming from Australia, I’ve come across quite a few mentions online, it’s likely the person behind it is known to the Police or at least local book dealers as they potentially have tried various avenues to offload their creations.

Last of all, New England Book Auctions (again) is offering an inscribed and signed 1973 British first edition of Strong Opinions (on Sept. 26, sale number 465, lot 169) with a “UACC Member certification provided”. I haven’t seen the book or its inscription yet and can’t judge its authenticity. In any case, UACC (Universal Autograph Collectors Club) membership certification means nothing. Anyone can become a member for $29. And that anyone can say that a particular signature is the real thing. We’ll see.

Tags: , , , , ,

New England Book Auctions is reoffering a Putnam Lolita inscribed to Nabokov’s cousin, Sophie Nabokov (estimated at $1000/1500) in its auction on January 31st.

 

 

The details are here: http://nebookauctions.com/shop/uncategorized/176-nabokov-vladimir/.

I wrote about its previous appearance at NEBA on 26-Oct-2016:

Lolita, Putnam’s, 1958 (A28.2), eighth printing, in very poor dj, with VN inscription and butterfly to a cousin, Sophie Nabokov, dated 1-Mar-1959. Est. $800–1200, sold for $1100. This copy is now being offered by Wootton’s Books in Worthington, MA, for $6500.

This appears to be the real thing and not fraudulent (unlike some Nabokov inscribed books recently offered by NEBA).

Tags: , ,

The small auction house New England Book Auctions in western Massachusetts is offering 20 lots of Nabokoviana at its Sept. 24th auction (sale #419, lots #64 and #118–136). Included are first editions of American books, a Lolita Olympia Press first, and other Lolitas in English and Russian, inscribed and lepidopterized copies, some journals in which VN’s works appeared, a photograph of VN by Philippe Halsman, and other material. The majority, if not all, of the lots appears to have been consigned by the Ledkovsky family, cousins of Nabokov.

The catalog descriptions aren’t very detailed. I plan to drive up to the gallery next week to examine the goods.

Tags:

The eight lots of Nabokov books that the Bloomsbury auction house in London offered today (see my posting of 13 February) didn’t do very well. Only two sold: a jacketed 1938 Bobbs-Merrill copy of Laughter in the Dark (A14.2) went for £450 ($683) and Stikhotvoreniia 1929–1952 / Poems 1929–1952 (A27.1), inscribed and with a flutter of little butterflies, went for £3800 ($5764). The prices are exclusive of the 24% buyer’s premium.

Also, on 17 February, the Bonhams auction house in San Francisco sold one of two Nabokov lots (see my posting of 18 January), a copy of Gornii put’ / The empyrean path (A6.1) for $1000, including the premium.

Tags: , ,

Eight of the ten Nabokov lots that didn’t sell at the Bloomsbury auction in November are being offered again by the London auction house on 28 February, all at reduced estimates. That means that the opening bids and the reserve prices will be lower. Click here to link to the items, lots 341–48. (Thanks to James O’Sullivan for pointing the auction out to me.)

Podvig/Glory (A13.1) was originally given an estimate for the November auction of £600–800; this time it’s £400–600. Kamera obskura (A14.1) was £500–700, now £250–350. Laughter in the Dark (A14.2) was £750–1000, now £500–700. Otchaianie/Despair (A15.1) was £400–600, now £250–350. Priglashenie na kazn’/Invitation to a beheading (A16.1) was £200–300, now £150–200. Sogliadatai/The eye (A12.1) was £800–1200, now £500–700. (A17.1) Dar/The gift was £200–300, now £150–200. Stikhotvoreniia 1929–1952/Poems 1929–1952 (A27.1), inscribed and with a flutter of little butterflies, was £6000–8000, now £3000–4000. Vozvroshchenie Chorba/The return of Chorb and the lot of 30 letters and cards to the de Petersons were not relisted for this auction. A buyer’s premium of 24% applies.

A big word of warning to any non-UK resident contemplating bidding on these lots: Bloomsbury’s shipping process is disorganized, sometimes unresponsive, and unthinkably expensive. I personally know of three winning bidders, two in the US and one in the Netherlands, who were at first hit with exorbitant shipping estimates and had to complain loud and long to get the charges reduced. And even then it sometimes took a long time for Bloomsbury to ship the items out. Therefore, I strongly recommend that you negotiate with Bloomsbury before the auction. Ask them about the expected shipping costs and fees, and the different possible carriers (DHL, postal service, etc.). BTW, if you have household or collectables insurance, you may not have to absorb the carrier’s insurance, since your purchase may be covered the moment you pay for it. Check with your insurance agent.

Tags: ,

« Older entries