News & History

University Archives reached a monumental milestone in December 2024: sales of nearly $1.5 million! Our December 11, 2024 sale, Rare Autographs, Manuscripts & Books – Just In Time For The Holidays, yielded stupendous results, as did our co-branded sale with Eaton & Brennan Auctions on December 4, 2024, Hit Factory Recording Studios Memorabilia Auction. In addition to the December 11th sale’s being our most profitable to date, University Archives also maintained its industry-topping sell-through rate of 96%. We had 9,000+ approved bidders, many from the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Australia, and we also welcomed online bidders from South Africa, Singapore, and Hong Kong. It was truly a worldwide event, with over 27,000 lot views on Invaluable.com on December 11th alone.

U.S. Presidential

University Archives’ most dominant collecting category – U.S. Presidential – performed extremely well, outstripping its collective high estimates.

Lot 146 was a 2pp letter signed by President George Washington on October 3, 1789. The circular addressed to Governor of Connecticut Samuel Huntington itemized key pieces of legislation that had been enacted by the 1st session of the 1st U.S. Congress, recently convened from March 4 to September 29, 1789. During this extremely productive session, the U.S. Congress outlined the Judiciary Act, appropriated money for the federal budget, and authorized the federal use of state militias. The Washington signed letter sold for $162,500 including the buyer’s premium. That’s more than double the high estimate!

Lot 146, George Washington LS

Lot 52 was an outstanding ship’s passport signed by the shortest-serving U.S. President, William Henry Harrison, sometime during his month-long presidency. Signed by President Harrison in advance as a blank, it was used by customs officials on April 30, 1841, nearly a full month after Harrison’s death from pneumonia on April 4, 1841, for a New Bedford whaling ship called Agate that foundered off the Cape Verde Islands in a severe storm two years later. The scarce Harrison signed document exchanged hands for $118,750 including the tip.

Lot 147 was a 1p partly printed partly document co-signed by George Washington as President and Thomas Jefferson as U.S. Secretary of State pertaining to the newly created U.S. Customs Service. The document dated March 21, 1791 appointed Vincent Redman as Inspector of the Revenue for Kinsale on the Yeocomico River, the oldest port on the Virginia side of the Potomac River, and located near Washington’s birthplace. Redman was one of 59 original revenue collectors appointed. The Washington and Jefferson dual signed document sold for $53,125 including the buyer’s premium, selling for 70% over the high estimate.

Lot 84 was a draft call signed by President Abraham Lincoln on July 24, 1863 requesting the first part of a conscription quota, a levy of 2,406 troops from the 18th District of Pennsylvania. The draft call was one of the first signed by Lincoln and came just a week after the New York Draft Riots. The Union’s need for additional soldiers was pressing following the Battle of Gettysburg three weeks earlier. The Lincoln signed order sold for $34,375 including the buyer’s premium, surpassing its high estimate by 30%.

Lot 84, Abraham Lincoln DS

Lot 140 was a 1p typed letter signed by President Harry S. Truman on May 9, 1945, just one day after V-E Day and two days after Germany’s unconditional surrender. In this letter addressed to Major General Paul W. Baade, commander of the 35th Division, Truman congratulated him on the “wonderful part they [the troops] have taken in the glorious victory over the Germans.” Baade’s 35th Division had participated in the Allied march to Berlin during the last days of the war. The Truman signed letter sold for $4,687.50 including the tip, or a 60% boost over the high estimate.

Early America

Lot 264 was a 1p partly printed document boldly signed by John Hancock as the Governor of Massachusetts dated July 14, 1788 appointing one William Allen as Major of the 6th Regiment of the 1st Division of the Suffolk County Militia. The document, whimsically framed behind glass above a quill pen, sold for $10,625 including the buyer’s premium, or more than double the high estimate.

Lot 268 was a 1p autograph letter in English signed by Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, the French aristocrat turned Revolutionary War hero. In his letter dated October 28, 1831 addressed to an unknown American correspondent, Lafayette opined about France’s Revolution of 1830, and in closing, referred to himself as “an American.” The Lafayette signed letter sold for 90% more than its high estimate, or $13,750 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 456 was a 3pp autograph letter signed by John Marshall dated June 25, 1823, during his tenure as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, regarding his sister’s slaves in Kentucky. In the letter addressed to his nephew Martin P. Marshall, the Chief Justice mentions state-specific laws pertaining to slave-holding. The letter sold for $13,750 including the tip, or more than 20% higher than the high estimate.

Science

Lot 466 was a photograph of Albert Einstein wearing his beloved scruffy leather jacket, probably taken by Lotte Jacobi, and signed by him as “A. Einstein, 1947.” The portrait is shockingly modern in its sensibility, with Einstein staring boldly at the viewer. Einstein presented the signed photograph to Derek J. de Solla Price, the British physicist and historian of science. The arresting Einstein signed photograph sold for nearly twice its high estimate, or $17,500 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 466, Albert Einstein SP

World Leaders / Military

Lot 369 was a 2pp document signed by Josef Stalin in blue colored pencil at its conclusion, dated September 15, 1941, during Operation Barbarossa, the Nazi invasion of U.S.S.R. The document was signed only one week after Hitler began the Siege of Leningrad. In the document, Stalin ordered the Red Army to protect Moscow, which was Hitler’s third military objective after securing Leningrad and eastern Ukraine. The Stalin signed document sold for $13,750 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 319 was a measuring scale used by Gus Schultz, foreman of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s drafting room and machine shop at Los Alamos, dating from the Manhattan Project-era. The precision tool would have been used to correctly scale atomic bomb components and is believed to be one of the first ever offered at auction. It sold for over double its high estimate, or $2,000 including the buyer’s premium.

Entertainment

Lot 297 was Marilyn Monroe’s Connecticut driver’s license, boldly signed by her as “Marilyn Monroe Miller,” and PSA/DNA slabbed and certified authentic. The ca. July 28, 1958 license lists Monroe’s birthday, height, and address in Roxbury, Connecticut, where she lived with playwright husband Arthur Miller from 1956-1961. The Hollywood starlet relic sold for $43,750 including the buyer’s premium.

Art

Lot 176 was a rare 1p autograph letter in French signed by Pablo Picasso, PSA/DNA encapsulated, certified, and graded GEM MT 10. In this letter dated October 16, 1958 and addressed to Picasso’s close friend, the art collector and financier Max Pellequer, Picasso mentioned a mutual acquaintance – Maurice Loncle, a French art collector of 19th/20th graphic arts. The item sold for 40% more than its high estimate, or $16,250 including the tip.

Lot 160 was a color photograph depicting Salvador Dali working on a sculpture, with an original Dali doodle of Don Quixote below in purple pen incorporating his signature. Dali’s sketch of the literary knight on horseback was dedicated to his lawyer Arnold Grant in November 1975. The Dali signed original artwork sold for nearly 10 times its high estimate, or $23,750 including the buyer’s premium.

These are just some of the spectacular highlights from our December 11, 2024 sale.

Our next sale is tentatively scheduled for January 29, 2025.

We hope you can join us!

University Archives held its October 30, 2024 sale last week. Rare Autographs, Manuscripts & Books achieved especially strong returns in the U.S. Presidential, Early America, Science, World Leaders, Civil Rights, Religion, and Sports collecting categories. Not only did we maintain our exceptionally high long-time sell-through rate of over 90% (97%), but we also surpassed a company record: the most lot views ever received on Invaluable.com on a sale day, with 31,217 lot views. We are continuing to build a respected world-wide reputation.

U.S. Presidents

Lot 1 was a letters patent document co-signed by John Quincy Adams as President and Henry Clay as U.S. Secretary of State. The document dated August 30, 1826 was matted with a rare John Quincy Adams carte de visite after Mathew Brady. It sold for over double its high estimate, or $2,000 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 20 was a scarce 1p autograph letter signed by James A. Garfield as President, dated June 15, 1881, just two weeks before he was shot by Charles Guiteau. In the letter, Garfield gives directions to a hotel-owner in the “summer colony” of Long Branch, New Jersey, where First Lady Lucretia Garfield was recuperating from a bout of malaria. After the shooting, the fatally wounded Garfield ventured to Long Branch himself, to benefit from the sea air; he died there at Franklyn Cottage in September 1881. This remarkable letter sold for 40% more than its high estimate, or $12,160 including the tip.

Lot 20, James A. Garfield ALS

Lot 121 was an autograph document signed in full by George Washington as “Mr George Washington.” The document dated ca. 1773 pertained to a 1751 land survey of 445 acres that Washington had completed over 20 years earlier for one Richard Seymour on behalf of Washington’s older half-brother Lawrence Washington. Washington’s endorsement certified that he waived all claims to the original land ownership through either his half-brother or younger full brother Charles Washington. The document relating to Washington’s first humble career – as a backwoods land surveyor – exchanged hands for more than the high estimate: $18,750 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 122 was a provisional discharge certificate signed by George Washington in his role as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, dated June 7, 1783, and issued to Jonathan Titus, Jr., a Private in the 2nd New York Regiment. The document granted Titus Jr. a furlough and provisional discharge after 6 ½ years’ military service, part of which was spent at his father’s side. Jonathan Titus, Sr. and Jonathan Titus, Jr. fought together at engagements at Saratoga, Valley Forge, Monmouth, and Stony Point. The Washington signed document sold for 40% over its high estimate, or $20,000 including the tip.

Early America

Lot 253 was a printed U.S. Treasury circular, dated August 27, 1792, and boldly signed by U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. In it, Hamilton outlined a new way to transmit “Abstracts of Licenses” for exports. Just a few months earlier, Hamilton had deftly handled the Panic of 1792, successfully preventing a nation-wide recession. The Hamilton signed document sold to an ecstatic phone bidder for 40% more than the high estimate, or $10,625 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 256 was a partly printed and partly manuscript pay order boldly signed by John Jay and directed to Benjamin Franklin, dated June 15, 1779. Jay instructed Franklin to remit 31,000 Livres Tournois to French playwright Caron de Beaumarchais. Famous for his comedic farces The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro, Beaumarchais was also a secret agent who served as a liaison between the Americans and French prior to their official 1778 alliance. In this way, de Beaumarchais facilitated the transfer of French arms and supplies to the Continentals. This spectacular Revolutionary War-dated pay order exchanged between two of the era’s most influential Founding Fathers sold for 250% more than its high estimate, or $12,500 including the tip.

Science

Lot 447 was a 3pp autograph letter in German signed by Albert Einstein in which the scientist explores both his Unified Field Theory and General Relativity. This exceptionally long scientific letter addressed to Einstein’s friend and fellow physicist Cornelius Lanczos includes a total of twelve equations in Einstein’s hand. It also features unexpectedly comedic content, as when Einstein refers to Freud, another of the greats of twentieth-century science, as an “old man” whose “‘father complex’ … can so easily take hold … [in] an alarmingly unstable situation…” The letter sold online for over its low estimate, garnering $53,125 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 447, Albert Einstein ALS With Equations

World Leaders

Lot 392 was a 1p autograph letter in Gujarati twice signed by Mohandas Gandhi in what is the earliest example of an ALS we’ve ever seen. Gandhi wrote his older brother Laxmidas from South Africa on January 22, 1889 inquiring about mutual acquaintances. Gandhi signs the letter formally at the conclusion as “Mohandas Karamchand Pranam” and also signs it as “Gandhi” when writing out part of his brother’s name. This early letter sold for 20% more than its high estimate, or $10,625 including the buyer’s premium.

Civil Rights

Lot 219 was a British halfpenny made of Middlesex copper, ca. 1790s, depicting one of the most recognizable of all anti-slavery images and slogans: a shackled enslaved person asking “AM I NOT A MAN AND A BROTHER?” The coin catalogued GB D&H-1038b sold for over five times its high estimate, or $5,312.50 including the buyer’s premium.

Religion

Lot 223 was a 1p autograph letter signed by Charles Wesley, the famed Methodist hymnodist, dated January 24, 1753, in which he regretfully declined an invitation from Ebenezer Blackwell, a wealthy London banker. Blackwell had recently converted to Methodism and financed much of the ministries of the Wesley brothers (including John) and George Whitefield. The letter sold for 20% over its high estimate, or $4,687.50 including the tip.

Sports

Lot 489 was an entrance ticket boldly signed by Babe Ruth and PSA/DNA graded GEM MT 10. The ticket granted admission to the Rhode Island Independent Amateur Softball Championships held in East Providence, Rhode Island from September 2-7, 1941. Guest stars Babe Ruth and Ted Williams both participated in crowd-drawing baseball-hitting demonstrations. Ruth had played for the Red Sox minor league team the Providence Grays nearly 30 years before. The signed ticket sold for double its high estimate, or $12,500 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 489, Babe Ruth Signed Ticket

Lot 491 was an archive of sports correspondence courses featuring autograph endorsements signed by the “Father of Basketball Coaching” Forrest C. “Phog” Allen, ca. 1935. The archive includes a 12th ed. hardcover copy of Allen’s foundational text, My Basket-ball Bible (1934) as well as printed curriculum handouts and graded assignments. The lot sold for well over the high estimate, or $7,500 including the tip.

Our next sale is tentatively scheduled for December 11, 2024.

We hope you can join us!

Visit our website, www.universityarchives.com, for more information, or check out our sale catalog here.

University Archives is thrilled to announce its upcoming sale, Rare Autographs, Manuscripts & Books, an auction of over 485 lots, on October 30, 2024. One of the marquee items is Lot 89, a highly unique and once-in-a-lifetime set of presidential signatures from George Washington to Barack Obama, all signed as President, from 1789 to 2010. This museum-quality collection comes from a Dallas, Texas gentleman and joins a great volume of exception presidential autographed material from other consignors. A timely assortment up for auction just a few weeks ahead of the 2024 United States presidential election! Outstanding items of historical interest from the Science, World Leaders, Civil Rights, Religion, Art & Music, Aviation & Space, History & Military, and Sports categories will also pass the auction block.

Lot 89, Presidential Collection

U.S. Presidential

Lot 89 is a complete set of presidential signatures from Washington to Obama, consisting of autograph letters signed, typed letters signed, and signed letters, together with a variety of signed documents, all signed as President. There are very few complete sets of Presidential autographs signed as President, mainly due to the scarcity of William Henry Harrison pieces, as he served just one month in office. Many of these sets reside in institutions and will never be offered to the public. It is likely that fewer than a dozen such sets likely exist in private hands, this one being one of the very best. In this way, a set of Presidential autographs signed as President is thus scarcer than a set of autographs from the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. The original set was curated by a collector whose passion for history and preservation also inspired him to assemble an equally phenomenal Signers set. We suggest that you pre-qualify as a bidder if you intend to compete for this marvelous collection.

Lot 20 is a scarce 1p autograph letter signed by James A. Garfield as President, dated June 15, 1881, just two weeks before he was shot by Charles Guiteau. In the letter, Garfield gives directions to a hotel-owner in the “summer colony” of Long Branch, New Jersey, where First Lady Lucretia Garfield was recuperating from a bout of malaria. After the shooting, the fatally wounded Garfield spent several painful months in Washington before eventually venturing to Long Branch himself, to benefit from the sea air. He died there at Franklyn Cottage in September 1881.

Lot 121 is an autograph document signed in full by George Washington as “Mr George Washington.” The document dated ca. 1773 pertained to a 1751 land survey of 445 acres that Washington had completed over 20 years earlier for one Richard Seymour on behalf of Washington’s older half-brother Lawrence Washington. Washington’s endorsement certified that he waived all claims to the original land ownership through either his half-brother or younger full brother Charles Washington.

Lot 110 is an 8pp advance press copy of a printed speech draft signed by President Harry S. Truman, ca. October 30, 1945. In this important postwar speech, Truman laid out his administration’s position on “reconversion” – the transition from a wartime economy to a peacetime one. Japan’s surrender and war’s end meant that the U.S. economy now faced a painful process jockeyed by both Labor and Industry interests. Truman urged the American people to harness the spirit of collaboration formed during World War II to meet the day’s challenges.

Lot 58 is a military commission signed by President Abraham Lincoln promoting a Connecticut native named Orson H. Hart to the rank of Captain and Assistant Adjutant General of Volunteers in Daniel Sickles’s newly mustered “Excelsior Brigade” of primarily New York-based volunteers.

Science

The October sale features autographed letters, photographs, and sketches related to Albert Einstein, Sir Isaac Newton, Carl Jung, Guglielmo Marconi, Samuel F.B. Morse, Vinton Cerf, and Robert Goddard. Lot 447 is a 3pp autograph letter in German signed by Albert Einstein in which the scientist explores both his Unified Field Theory and General Relativity. This exceptionally long scientific letter addressed to Einstein’s friend and fellow physicist Cornelius Lanczos includes a total of twelve equations in Einstein’s hand. It also features unexpectedly comedic content, as when Einstein refers to Freud, another of the greats of twentieth-century science, as an “old man” whose “‘father complex’ … can so easily take hold … [in] an alarmingly unstable situation…”

Lot 447, Albert Einstein ALS

World Leaders

Winston Churchill, Louis XIII, Josef Stalin, Mohandas Gandhi, Fidel Castro, and Che Guevara are just a few of the World Leaders represented in our upcoming sale. Lot 392 is a 1p autograph letter in Gujarati twice signed by Mohandas Gandhi in what is the earliest example of an ALS we’ve ever seen. Gandhi wrote his older brother Laxmidas from South Africa on January 22, 1889 inquiring about mutual acquaintances. Gandhi signs the letter formally at the conclusion as “Mohandas Karamchand Pranam” and also signs it as “Gandhi” when writing out part of his brother’s name.

Lot 403 is a 1p manuscript document in Russian boldly signed by Josef Stalin, then a member of the Revolutionary Committee, dated September 9, [1920], and pertaining to military preparedness during the ongoing Polish-Soviet War. Stalin discusses artillery and troop movements in the days leading up to the decisive Battle of Neman River, which the Soviets lost to the Poles after a 10-day battle, marking the onset of the end of the war. Just one year later, Stalin reaffirmed his reputation as a skillful military advisor when he orchestrated the Soviet invasion of Georgia. This was one of the first steps towards consolidating Stalin’s power until he became the era’s top Soviet official. 

Art & Music

Lot 134 is an autograph letter in French signed by Pablo Picasso, PSA/DNA graded GEM MT 10, on the reverse of a postcard depicting “Paix” [“Peace”], a reproduction of the original color lithograph that Picasso produced for a peace conference held in Stockholm, Sweden in July 1958. Picasso mentions his second wife Jacqueline as well as his children in this June 20, 1960 letter to his patron and art collector Max Pellequer.

Lot 294 is a contract signed by both John Lennon and Yoko Ono Lennon, dated September 11, 1975, relating to their production company, Bag Productions, which the couple had established in the late 1960s and which later produced the 1971 solo album “Imagine.” The contract outlines terms of ownership of a large quantity of signed and unsigned lithographs, album covers, and colophon pages.

History & Military

Lot 205 is a massive archive of 18 autograph letters signed by Hawaiian missionaries, ca. 1846-1849, comprising 56pp. The correspondence written by members of the 8th Company of Missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions includes vivid descriptions of a surfboard and surfing, complete with pen sketches; volcanic eruptions and coastal topography; interactions between Whites and indigenous Hawaiians; and other topics of religious and human interest. The majority of the letters were penned by Dr. Seth Lathrop Andrews, a medical missionary from Putney, Vermont headquartered in Kailua, Hawaii.

Lot 205, Hawaiian Missionaries Archive

Lot 332 is a Civil War-dated 1p autograph letter signed by Brigadier General George Custer on April 6, 1864. Custer congratulated Captain R.R. Moffatt for his new “saber shield” design for cavalry weapons, stating: “I am firm in the belief that the possession of it by our cavalry would give confidence and increases courage to those wearing it.” Of course, nothing better represents Custer than his bravado on the battlefield; he firmly believed that a fringed saber sash or innovative military equipment could bolster a warrior’s confidence.

These are just a few of the wonderful items in our next auction. Please see our fully illustrated catalog for more information. We hope you can join us!

Lot 62, Abraham Lincoln PSA GEM MT 10 CDV Signed 3 Weeks Before His Death

Estimates: $100,000 – $150,000

Sold for $125,000 including the buyer’s premium

University Archives is thrilled to announce its next sale on May 31, 2023: Rare Manuscripts, Books & Sports Memorabilia. Major collecting categories of the 380+-lot sale include Music, Science, & U.S. Presidential, with outstanding autographed material from Ludwig van Beethoven to George Gershwin; from Albert Einstein and Max Planck to Thomas A. Edison; and from George Washington to Joe Biden. Exceptional items of Civil Rights, Military, Entertainment, Literature, and Sports memorabilia will also pass the auction block. Our lavishly illustrated catalog is up and ready for viewing/bidding!

MUSIC

Ludwig van Beethoven commands an extensive Music category which also includes George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Earl “Fatha” Hines, Motown/R & B, and Woodstock. Beethoven autographed material is extremely scarce, and this undated autograph letter in German signed by him as “Beethoven” also features excellent musical content relating to his only opera, “Fidelio,” a love story about a wife disguised as a man rescuing her husband from a political prison. Beethoven’s letter was addressed to Friedrich Sebastian Mayer, the baritone singer who played Don Pizarro the prison governor in the first two productions of “Fidelio.”

SCIENCE

Besides Planck, Edison, Morse, and even Henry Heimlich and L. Ron Hubbard, we have three interesting lots related to Albert Einstein in our May sale. One of these is a remarkable script from the mid-1940s NBC television series “Your World Tomorrow” signed by him as “A. Einstein” on the front cover. In the pilot episode, “The Atom,” Einstein’s discovery of his equation E=MC²  is dramatized through dialogue between “Einstein” and two fictional characters. The series was slated to air in May 1946, less than one year after U.S. forces dropped atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There are very few examples of Einstein’s inscribing his famous formula in something other than a book and or in something likewise manufactured, and an Einstein handwritten example of the formula recently fetched over $1.2 million at auction!

U.S. PRESIDENTIAL

Our May sale features U.S. Presidents from George Washington through Joe Biden, with Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, and Reagan items being especially well-represented.

George Washington boldly signed an October 21, 1799 letter addressed to a Revolutionary War veteran named Captain Abraham Shepherd in the former’s capacity as Commander-in-Chief of Federal Armies under the Adams administration. Washington assumed command of the military after his second presidential term ended, and he would serve until his death two months after this letter was written, in December 1799.

John Adams wrote an incredible autograph letter signed dated March 31, 1801 addressed to Isaiah Thomas, Jr., the Worcester printer of the old Boston Patriot weekly, “Massachusetts Spy.” In it, Adams inquires whether Massachusetts is being overrun by the “moral and political opinions of Virginia” in a veiled reference to recently ascendant Thomas Jefferson and other Virginia Democrats.

Abraham Lincoln penned a Civil War-dated autograph note regarding a brigade surgeon’s appointment in the Excelsior Brigade. This battle unit had been plagued by political in-fighting between disgraced former New York Congressman Daniel Sickles, and his nemesis, New York Governor Edwin Morgan. Lincoln’s note implicitly acknowledges the strained political climate, and was signed on January 13, 1862, the very day he forwarded his presidential nomination of Edwin Stanton as U.S. Secretary of War.

MARVELOUS MISCELLANY

Civil Rights

Martin Luther King, Jr., Booker T. Washington, and the Black Power Movement headline our Civil Rights category. Martin Luther King, Jr. signed a typed letter on “Southern Christian Leadership Conference” stationery on January 18, 1966 concerning the use of the “N” word. To the inquiring man from Haddonfield, New Jersey, King wrote: “The word ‘n–r’ carries with it a meaning deeply rooted in the debilitating racist caste ordering of our society’s slavery epoch and segregation era.” King explained that he favored the term “dark skinned American” to approach the question of nomenclature as objectively as possible, while emphasizing the shared values of American citizens regardless of race.

Military

Collectors of Military and Naval will be pleased with abundant autographed material from the Revolutionary War, Napoleonic Wars, Civil War, and World War II. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson wrote a 1p autograph letter signed to a neighbor on June 29, 1861, when he was commanding the 1^st Brigade of the Confederate Army of the Shenandoah. Earlier that Spring, Jackson had conducted multiple raids against the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, one of the Union Army’s principal supply arteries, destroying tracks and bridges, and confiscating locomotives.

An archive of World War II-dated correspondence from Charles Sweeney, pilot of “Bockscar,” paints a vivid portrait of Air Force life before and after the dropping of the atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Sweeney participated in the Hiroshima raid (in an auxiliary plane, “The Great Artiste”) and dropped “Fat Man” from “Bockscar” over Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.

Entertainment

The May sale features wonderful material relating to Harry Houdini, Marilyn Monroe, the Marx Brothers, and others from the 19^th/20^th centuries. A 3pp autograph letter signed by Beatrice Houdini on mourning stationery dated November 9, 1926 provides a moving account of her husband’s death less than two weeks earlier, on October 31st. The letter was uncovered in Germany and to the best of our knowledge has never been published. Houdini’s widow describes the exact circumstances of Houdini’s unexpected death from a ruptured appendix, lamenting, “The world has lost a Genius, but I have lost my Man.”

Literature

Literature forms a major subcategory of the May sale, with over 40 lots dedicated to authors like James Joyce, Bram Stoker, George Bernard Shaw, Graham Greene, Henry Miller, and Stephen Crane. Of these, a great percentage includes a single-owner collection of autographed material from Beatniks Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and Neal Cassady.

James Joyce signed a limited edition first edition copy of “Finnegans Wake” (1939). Considered one of the most difficult books in the English language, “Finnegans Wake” was much more ambitious in literary aims than even Joyce’s subversive “Ulysses” (1922). The partly uncut and unopened book appears to be unread, and is in near pristine condition.

Allen Ginsberg signed a June 8, 1960 typescript draft of annotated notes that would later become part of “Magic Psalm,” a poem featured in “Kaddish and Other Poems” published by City Lights Bookstore in February 1961. The manuscript was inspired by Ginsberg’s experimentation with hallucinogenic ayahuasca during recent travels in Peru.

Sports

Highly collectible May sports memorabilia from baseball and boxing includes signed photos, autographed baseballs, game-worn apparel, and vintage posters and other ephemera from the likes of Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Joe DiMaggio, and Muhammad Ali. An archive of six game-worn baseball helmets and jerseys from the Baltimore Orioles, ca. 1990-2016, comes with grading and authentication from JSA and Mears.

We hope you can join us on May 31, 2023. Please view our catalog for further details!