An important wartime autograph letter from the great artist to Raymond Escholier, director of the Paris Musée du Petit Palais and Matisse's biographer. Dated Nice, August 31, 1940, the letter details the last part of Matisse's difficult journey from Paris - where he had been visiting when the Nazi invasion occurred on June 14 - back to his home in Nice. Matisse writes of his troubled state of mind and the unrest in his city: "It was easier to put my spirit into my work in St-Gaudens and in St-Jean-de-Luz than here, where I find myself again within walls in which I have known outside peace. I must also say that I am close, very close, to restless neighbors who could occupy Nice at the drop of a hat." After describing the difficulties he had traveling from St-Gaudens to Nice, via Carcassonne and Marseille, Matisse goes on thank Escholier for looking after a sculpture: "Thank you for the work you have done for my fragment of the young greek woman -- when it becomes troublesome, let me know, and I will send it to my other boarding house." He concludes the letter hoping to hear from Escholier soon: "At the moment it is good not to feel too alone..." Full text below. 2 pp. Folding creases; otherwise in very fine condition. 8.5 x 10 inches (21.2 x 25 cm). Together with a modern postcard photograph of the artist. Read More...
Signed postcard photograph of the important French writer and lexicographer of the Occitan language. He is shown seated, smoking and petting his dog. Another hand has addressed the postcard on the verso and noted that Mistral signed the card in Arles on May 7, 1908 at 10:30 am - a very precise record! Read More...
Buenos Aires: Sur. 1938. First Edition. Signed first edition of the important Chilean poet's third book of poems, inscribed by the author on the front free endpage to the Peruvian poet and writer José Galvez Barrenechea. She has penned: “A José Gálvez, maestro íntimo y popular de sus amigos, de los peruanos y de sus amigos [...] Gabriela Mistral." 286 pp. Hardcover, faux bois paper rudely applied over faded gray cloth, splitting to front joint, spine quite worn and faded, scattered foxing throughout. Read More...
Pair of original watercolor and ink works on paper by the Bulgarian-born American painter, active in France, the "Prince of Montparnasse," strongly identified with the Modernist movement, who struggled with depression and alcoholism and committed suicide at the age of 45. Ernest Hemingway's chapter titled "With Pascin At the Dôme", in A Moveable Feast, recounted a night in 1923 when he had stopped off at Le Dôme and met Pascin escorted by two models. Read More...
Three autograph documents, two poems and a dialogue, from the highly influential French writer and philosopher, known as a key figure in existentialism. The texts are written on small notebook leaves, and come from the collection of Michelle Vian, one of Sartre's long-term mistresses who remained close to him throughout the later years of his life. The first poem, a nonsense rhyme, begins: "En Afghanistan / Il y avait un Khan..." The second document is a dialogue or fragment of a dialogue between two characters, Negrine and Stephane, with a note on the verso in another hand. Finally, a nonsense song penned in an unknown hand, "Je suis un con... un con... un con... / Con d'avoir composé cett' chanson / Cette chanson... / faite par un con / pour....our charmer les cons..." ("I am an idiot... an idiot... an idiot..An idiot for having composed this song / This song / composed for an idiot / to...charm idiots.") dated July 27, 1957, most probably Sartre's text penned in the hand of his lover, Michelle Vian. Each on a notebook leaf, 9 x 15 cm. Slight toning; otherwise in fine condition.
Autograph letter from the important Austrian painter known for his intense, expressionist and often controversial works, to a Dr. Scheu (apparently the lawyer Dr. Jakob Scheu), regarding the repayment of a debt. May 7, 1914. Translated from the German, in part: "Dear Dr. Scheu, it is quite impossible at the moment for me to pay the whole debt of 247K for Mr. Holub; however, the week after next I will be able to pay a part, and I hope in the course of this month the rest. Best wishes, Egon Schiele." 1 p. of a bifolium on orange paper. Light creases; overall in fine condition. 6 x 8 inches (15.1 x 20.2 cm). Unpublished, not in Nebehay. Read More...
Original Straiton and Storms Cigars trade card featuring an illustration of Oscar Wilde, ca. 1880's. Wilde is pictured in a typically aesthetic outfit and pose with a flower, beside a text reading: "Straiton and Storms / New Cigars / Aesthetic / Sun-Flower / Too Too / Capadura Patience / Dealers supplied by R. C. Brown & Co, New York." Mounting remnants on the verso; light edge wear. 3.25 x 5.75 inches. Read More...
Original cabinet photograph by Napoleon Sarony, of the Irish playwright, novelist, and personality in his astrakhan coat. Among the best-known images of Wilde, it is one of the twenty-seven images of him which Sarony took at the beginning of the former's tour of America in 1882. Sarony was the pre-eminent New York photographer of his day and one of the city's favourite eccentrics. 4.25 x 6.5 inches. Read More...
Original cabinet photograph of the Irish playwright, novelist, and personality by Napoleon Sarony, the pre-eminent New York photographer of his day and one of the city's favourite eccentrics. Wilde is shown in a head-and-shoulders portrait with short hair and a large bow-tie, during his American tour of 1882. Read More...
Boston: W. A. Evans & Bro.. [approx. 1886]. First edition. Original sheet music of a set of waltzes for piano composed by a "Miss Amy Henry," and featuring a vignette of Oscar Wilde among flowers on the original blue wrappers. 7 pp. With a band of toning across the top edge of the cover; light wear to the edges of the cover and one crease; overall in very good condition. 10.75 x 14 inches (27.4 x 35.5 cm). Rare in wrappers. Read More...
256.
[History]
[Americana]. Collection of Early American Tintypes
A collection of 23 small tintype portrait photographs, dating from ca. 1860-1880 and housed in a blue cloth-covered box. The portraits depict adults and children, apparently of various social classes; most are individual portraits, with two photographs of pairs. Several are duplicates or close duplicates. 16 of the tintypes are mounted in identical small pink card frames. One larger tintype, a three-quarter-length portrait of a man, is unmounted. Also included is one small later photograph, clipped to size. Light wear and scratches, some foxing and creases to the mounts; overall in very good condition. Each tintype ca. 1 x 1.5 inches (2.5 x 3.5 cm); mounts 1.75 x 2.5 inches (4.2 x 6.6 cm); larger tintype 2.5 x 3.25 inches (6 x 8.5 cm). In a blue cloth-covered cosmetic box with snap closure, with the logo of cosmetic company Palmer and their product name Gardenglo stamped in gold inside the lid. Wear and partial tear to the flap closure; overall in good condition. 4.5 x 2.75 x 1.5 inches (11 x 7 x 4 cm). Read More...
Signed photograph postcard of the pioneering female aviator, the first woman to fly over the Andes between Chile and Argentina. Bolland is shown standing next to the propeller of her G3 in Mendoza on March 30, 1921, two days before her legendary flight from Mendoza to Santiago. She has signed with a flourish and noted the date and the route of her flight. In very fine condition. 3.5 x 5.5 inches (8.9 x 13.7 cm). Read More...
Signed photograph postcard of the Spanish pioneer of aviation, political figure and brother of later dictator Francisco Franco. Shown in his military uniform, Franco has signed at the right. In very fine condition. 3.5 x 5.5 inches (8.8 x 13.1 cm).
Charming original photograph of the great physicist, by the noted photojournalist Ruth Orkin. Einstein is shown laughing, at a luncheon at Princeton in 1953. Gelatin silver print. With the photographer's embossed signature in the lower right margin; Mary Engel Estate stamp to verso. Image 14.5 x 18 inches, matted and framed under glass. Read More...
Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc.. 1969. The "concise pictorial 'autobiography'" of the 34th President, with an autograph note from Mamie Eisenhower to entertainer Maurice Chevalier matted and mounted on the front free end page. Thanking Chevalier for a message of sympathy after her husband's death in 1969, Eisenhower writes: "Your tribute to Ike warmed my heart and your message to me meant a great deal." 237 pp. Black cloth binding in fine condition; photo dust jacket with some wear to the edges, otherwise in very good condition. Read More...
Typed letter signed from the Archbishop of Baltimore to Perriton Maxwell, editor of Leslie's Weekly, calling the magazine "one of the oldest, most honorable and most respected of our American periodicals" and congratulating it on its 65th anniversary. Dated November 9, 1920, on letterhead of the Baltimore Cathedral. Folding creases and light toning; overall fine. 8.5 x 7 inches (21.5 x 17.8 cm).
Unique hand sculpted terracotta sculpture of two monkeys, measuring 16 x 14 x 13 inches, titled along the front edge of the base "Isn't That Awful," incised on the rear base "Copyright by Mitchell & Miller Publishers of LIFE 1897," and signed on the side of the base "Max Bachmann Sclpt." The monkeys are sitting on books and the one on the left, atop Darwin's "Descent of Man," is reading Max Nordau's "Degeneration." In very good condition, with chips to one book corner and to the ear of the monkey on the right. Apparently accomplished and intended for reproduction in an 1897 issue of LIFE magazine, founded in 1883 and at the time, the foremost American humor magazine of the period. Read More...
Berlin: Verlag fur Kultur und Wirtschaftswerbung. [1937]. Two copies of the original catalogue for the famous exhibition of "degenerate art" staged by the German Reich in 1937-1941, together with an original entrance ticket from the 1939 Vienna exhibition. One copy is a first edition published 1937 and the other a revised edition, published ca. 1938. 8vo. 32 pp. with numerous b/w photographic reproductions. Original pictorial wrappers on both copies. First edition has slight tear to the lower left back cover and overall toning; very good condition overall. Later edition in fine condition. Both 15 x 21 cm. The original ticket bears the stamp of the Institut für Deutsche Kultur- und Wirtschaftspropaganda, the organizer of the exhibition, and has been ripped on entry. 7 x 3 cm. Read More...
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Paper sign for hanging in a retail establishment anticipating Allied-Victory over the Nazi's, ca. mid-1940's, "Will Be Closed All Day on Hitler's Funeral." Published by Wainick Envelope Co., New York City. Corner creases and some light rubbing; overall in very good condition. 3.5 x 8.25 inches (8.8 x 21.3 cm).