An auction in New York

Via Jane Austen in Vermont we have found this auction which takes place next May 6 in New York with very interesting Brontë material:

Bloomsbury Auctions-New York

The Paula Peyraud Collection, Samuel Johnson and Women Writers in Georgian Society

Wednesday, 6 May, 2009 • 10:00 am

Bloomsbury Auctions, the world’s leading auction house for rare books and works on paper, announces The Paula Peyraud Collection, Samuel Johnson and Women Writers in Georgian Society with over 480 lots of books, manuscripts and paintings tells the fascinating story of English society in the middle and late Georgian periods. This extraordinary sale focuses on the artistic and literary women who came to the fore in the period 1750-1840.

The Brontë lots are the following ones:

164. BRONTË, Charlotte (1816-1855). An envelope adressed to Mrs. Elizabeth Gaskell. [N.p., c.1851]. The original envelope adressed to Mrs. Elizabeth Gaskell of 9 Sussex Place, Regents Park, London.with a penny postage stamp, 5 bishop’s postal stamps dated 4 January 1851 and a red wax seal. (65 x 108mm). Postal stamps prove the letter had passed through Leeds, Haworth and Reighley, England. Condition: later pencil notations, some slight soiling. Provenance: From Kenneth W. Rendell, January 1975.
[With:] An unrelated fragment of an autograph letter. [N.p., c.1853]. Written in 14 lines on either side of lower half page (72 x 110mm). Condition: later pencil notations accrediting the letter to Brontë, slightly faded, some creases. An intriguing letter fragment reading, " I hope you admire our advanced civilization; we have a Mechanic's Institute soiree, we drink tea , we make speeches; we vary the evenings' entertainment with vocal and…" (2)
$700 – $1000

EDIT: Sold for $500

165. BRONTË, Charlotte, Emily and Anne. Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. London: Smith and Elder, 1846 [1848]. 12mo (165 x 105 mm). Errata slip and May, 1848 publisher's catalogue at rear. Original dark green vertical ribbed cloth, stamped in blind, spine and upper cover gilt-stamped with "4/-" below cover title, the backslash being slightly larger than on the earliest copies, denoting a variant binding. In custom green cloth case. Condition: front hinge separating, rear signature loosening; one lower corner just starting to expose, very minor smudging on upper cover. Provenance: contemporary, but alas undated, presentation to pastedown, "Mr. Ellis to Miss Sarah Dawes." Frederic Dannay (1905-1982), co-author, with his cousin Manfred B. Lee of the Ellery Queen mystery & dectective stories and collector of English and American Poetry (sale Christie's New York, 16 December, 1983, lot 44, $400, C.A. Stonehill).
first edition, second issue. A title with a famously complex history of issue. The present is of course one of the unsold 961 copies from an original printing of 1,000 for publisher Aylott and Jones that Smith, Elder and Company bought in September, 1848 after the success of Jane Eyre. Upon acquiring the sheets and cases, the new publisher issued copies in a number of differing bindings, the present binding being one of the scarcer (see Smith, pp. 11-12).
An inlaid 1950 letter from John Carter comments on the "amateurish" look of the spine lettering, and additionally, having examined the present copy personally, remarks that it is only the third copy of this variant he has seen.
Hayward 266 (second isssue); Smith 1, second issue, pp. 6-14.
$1500 – $2500
EDIT: Sold for $2400

166. BRONTË, Charlotte, Emily and Anne. Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1846 [1848]. 12mo(165 x 100 mm). Errata slip following contents page, July 1850 publisher's catalogue at rear. Modern blue half morocco, with original light green cloth spine and lower cover bound in. Condition: some faint dampstaining in lower margin or fore-edge a few signatures. Provenance: Paula Peyraud (bookplate).
first edition, second issue. A copy rebound from one of the later issue bindings. In spite of the popularity of Jane Eyre, this title sold very slowly, with 682 copies remaining in stock as of 1853. It would be another 7 years before the initial printing was finally exhausted. Hayward 266; Smith 1, second issue, pp. 6-14; together with Gaskell; Life of Charlotte Brontë, 1857, 2 vols., first edition. (3)
$400 – $600
EDIT: Sold for $1700

167. [BRONTË, Charlotte (1816-1855)]. Shirley. A Tale. London: Smith Elder, & Co., 1849. 3 volumes, 8vo (205 x 130 mm). Modern red half morocco over cloth boards, gilt. Condition: hinges rubbed.
first edition. Publisher's catalogue dated October 1849. Sadleir 348. (3)
$500 – $800
EDIT: Sold for $400

168. [BRONTË, Charlotte (1816-1855)]. Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. Edited by Currer Bell. London: Smith Elder, & Co., 1847. 3 volumes, 8vo (205 x 125 mm). Original grey-purple fine ribbed cloth, blocked in blind, by Westleys & Clark with binders stamp on rear paste-down, stamped in blind, gilt lettering to spines, housed in matching brown cloth slipcase by Rivière. Condition: occasional very light foxing; recased, some wear and repair to spines, slight scuffing. Provenance: contemporary ownership signatures to rectos of front endpapers; from Seven Gables Bookshop, May 1976.
first edition, with advertisements in volume 1 dated June 1947. Charlotte Brontë's first novel and the first novel published by any of the Brontë sisters. This edition is believed to have had a print run of around 500 copies. Grolier English 83; Sadleir 346; Tinker 379; Wolff 826. (3)
$30000 – $40000
EDIT: Sold for $38000

169. [BRONTË, Charlotte (1816-1855)]. Villette. London: Smith Elder, & Co., 1853. 3 volumes, 8vo (200 130 mm). Original dark green cloth, blocked in blind, with Westleys & Co binders stamp in vol. 1. Condition: slightly cocked, light wear to edges and spines, some discoloration, inner hinges cracked. Provenance: Captain Hargreaves (bookplate); Ex Libris Baldwin (booklabel); un-named owner, Sotheby's New York, 16 May 1984, lot 188, $500.
first edition, with advertisements dated January 1853. Sadleir 349; Wolff 828. (3)
$2000 – $3000
EDIT: Sold for $2200

170. [BRONTË, Charlotte (1816-1855)]. The Professor. London: Smith Elder, & Co., 1857. 2 volumes, 8vo (200 x 130 mm). Original grey-purple cloth, blocked in blind. Condition: spines faded and with wear to head and foot, slight wear to extremities of joints sunned with some exposure, slightly cocked and rubbed.
first edition, with 16 pp. of ads at the end of vol. II dated June, 1857. Sadleir 347; Wolff 827. (2)
$500 – $800
EDIT: unsold

171. BRONTË, Rev. Patrick (1777-1861). Cottage Poems. Halifax: P.K. Holden for the author, 1811. 12mo (164 x 100 mm). Half-title. Original blue paper over boards, rebacked with linen. Condition: margins browned, spottting, some finger-soiling to few leaves; recased. Provenance: Lynch-Jagger Library (manuscript bookplate); from B & L Rootenberg.
first edition. A book of instruction for those in his parish, Patrick Brontë was the first of the Brontës to publish.
$600 – $800
EDIT: Sold for $550

Categories: Alert, Books, Cottage Poems, Jane Eyre, Poetry, Shirley, The Professor, Villette