[ilds] quaint & intimate Black Book
william godshalk
godshawl at email.uc.edu
Mon Dec 22 12:55:17 PST 2008
Okay, what is the price? I give in.
At 12:19 AM 12/22/2008, you wrote:
>Since I know an impoverished owner of a copy of /Quaint Fragments/, I
>think this is excellent news!
>
>Should anyone be interested, I've recently discovered that the Edmonton
>Bookstore has a pristine copy of /The Black Book/, and it's at a bargain
>price for the condition.
>
>Best from the frigid North... We're practically wearing icicles up here
>at the moment!
>
>--James
>
>Charles Sligh wrote:
> > On 11 December 2008, Bloomsbury Auctions put up for sale the Durrell
> > items listed below this note. These lots were collected under the title
> > "Printed Books, Manuscripts and Artwork, including the Collections of
> > Cecil & Desmond Harmsworth and Important Manuscripts and Books from the
> > Library of the late Francisco Gil de Borja e Menezes."
> >
> > The Durrell-related lots will interest subscribers to this listserv not
> > only for their individual merits--the second lot is indeed
> > /singular/--but also for their over-topping of estimates. The
> > Bloomsbury Auctions webiste notes:
> >
> >> In spite of deeply depressing economic news, Bloomsbury’s last
> >> sale of 2008, Printed Books, Manuscripts and Artwork including
> >> the Collections of Cecil & Desmond Harmsworth (11-12th
> >> December), was a success. It would seem that private
> >> collections and items fresh to the market in good condition,
> >> still find eager buyers.
> >>
> >> A substantial part of the Harmsworth Collection (sold by
> >> descendants of the newspaper magnates) was snapped up by an
> >> institution. An autograph letter from WB Yeats to Cecil
> >> Harmsworth on Irish Unification (lot 47) made £3120, three
> >> times the lower estimate; a letter from Joyce recounting his
> >> eye problems fetched £7800, almost double the lower estimate
> >> (lot 85). Lot 87 was an interesting account of Harmsworth’s
> >> difficulties in drawing Joyce, it sold for £1800 (estimate
> >> £300-400). Swift’s presentation copy of Caludius Claudianus
> >> (1650) made a healthy £9000 (estimate £6000-8000).
> >>
> >> Once again Bloomsbury reaffirmed its place as the auction
> >> house for Modern First Editions. As Roddy Newlands said, ‘The
> >> market is still strong for genuinely scarce items, especially
> >> those in good condition or those with important associations.’
> >> *The very rare first edition of Lawrence Durrell’s Quaint
> >> Fragment (lot 229), one of very few printed (only two have
> >> appeared at auction in the last 30 years), and which contained
> >> poems written by the author between the age of 16-18, sold for
> >> £19200 against an estimate of £6000-8000.*
> > http://www.bloomsburyauctions.com/index
> >
> > Whatever the vagaries of investments in other markets, "Lawrence
> > Durrell" is apparently booming.
> >
> > C&c.
> >
> > ****
> >> 229. Durrell (Lawrence) Quaint Fragment, first edition , printed
> >> in red and black, mounted portrait (actual photograph) tipped in
> >> as frontispiece following title, with guard, mount with small
> >> crease at corner, pencil note on front free endpaper “Cecil
> >> Jeffrey’s first printed book December 1931”, endpapers a little
> >> foxed, original bronze paper-backed crimson cloth, uncut, spine a
> >> little rubbed with slight wear to head and foot, overall a very
> >> good copy, 8vo, Cecil Press, 1931.
> >> *
> >> est. £6000 £8000*
> >>
> >> The author’s very scarce first book, one of only a few copies
> >> printed. It contains his poems written during the ages of sixteen
> >> and nineteen.
> >>
> >> “‘Never published. Cecil Jeffries bought a hand press and asked me
> >> to give him something to practise with; poems were easier than
> >> prose so I gave him an old notebook with roughs. Title was his. We
> >> took two pulls I think before the type was dispersed. One copy
> >> bound.’ This book is extremely rare, but Durrell’s statement that
> >> only one copy was bound is an exaggeration. Three or four have
> >> passed through the antiquarian book market in the last ten years,
> >> and one copy, left behind in Corfu, was destroyed.” Alan Thomas in
> >> his bibliography for G.S.Fraser’s Lawrence Durell: A Study , 1968.
> >> Only 2 copies have appeared at auction in the last 30 years, the
> >> most recent being the Bradley Martin copy in 1990.
> >> *Sold for £16000*
> >>
> >> Sale 672, 11th December 2008
> >>
> > **
> >
> >> 1019. Durrell (Lawrence) .- An intimate collection of material
> >> illustrating the relationship between Lawrence Durrell and
> >> Margaret McCall his “darling original McCall girl”, as well as
> >> material relating to McCall’s time at the BBC and her contact with
> >> other authors, including Philip Larkin, Henry Miller and John
> >> Betjeman, comprising a selection of autographed and typed
> >> letters, postcards and telegrams between Margaret McCall and
> >> Lawrence Durrell dating from 1967 , including : c.5 A.L.s. from
> >> Lawrence Durrell to Margaret McCall; c.15 T.L.s. from Lawrence
> >> Durrell to Margaret McCall. Referring to the 1967 ‘Generals Coup’
> >> in Greece Durrell writes: “At the moment nearly all my powerful
> >> friends are locked up or limogees; but they find the exile islands
> >> very restful it seems and the food good
The situation is both
> >> dismal and quite farcical; both right and left are moaning. But
> >> the real nigger in the woodpile is the Queen Mother who has sunk
> >> her teeth into Constantine and won't let go. If she could be
> >> persuaded to take a holiday in Austria Karamanlis would agree to
> >> go back (Heleni was having talks with him when I saw her) and of
> >> course win the elections and restore order and democracy
"; 3
> >> telegrams; An A.Pc.s. from Durrell to McCall in which Durrell
> >> muses “arriving 10.35 London Time p.m. Suppose you were in London:
> >> suppose it was your evening off: suppose you got the keys from
> >> Alan and came to hear all my adventures... wouldn’t that be
> >> wonderful for me?”; 6 photographs of Durrell (2 with McCall);
> >> Original typescripts for “Midday Dialogue” and “Malcolm Muggeride
> >> talking to Lawrence Durrell” along with some typescript notes; 2
> >> ink and watercolour paintings by Durrell for McCall signed “Epfs”
> >> (Durrell used the pseudonym ‘Oscar Epfs’ which he reportedly loved
> >> as he thought it was impossible to say without sounding silly); a
> >> number Durrell’s publications inscribed to McCall including:
> >> Collected Poems, 1968; Nunquam, 1970; The Greek Islands, 1978, all
> >> signed presentation copies from the author all to Margaret McCall,
> >> original cloth, some faded, dust-jackets, jackets rubbed,
> >> extremities torn with loss ; and 11 others, by Durrell, many inscribed
> >> Also included in the collection: a selection of autographed and
> >> typed letters, postcards and telegrams between Margaret McCall and
> >> Philip Larkin; Henry Miller; John Betjeman and others, including :
> >> 2 telegrams and 2 T.L.s. from McCall to Henry Miller, 1 A.L.s.
> >> from Miller to McCall in which he states: “I must warn you in
> >> advance that I am not much good on T.V. or film”. He decides that
> >> he would be more comfortable if “Larry (Lawrence) took over. He
> >> knows how to handle me. With the Britishers in general I am
> >> usually ill at ease.”; A T.L.s. from Philip Larkin to McCall and a
> >> copy of a T.L. from McCall to Larkin; 2 A.L.s. and 3 Pc.s. from
> >> John Betjeman to “Darling Margaret” and a T.L.s. from McCall to
> >> Betjeman in which she states: “You’ve never used auto-cue, so why
> >> should you look through some lavatorial glass darkly into the
> >> camera lenses now?” ; a number of typed and autographed letters
> >> between McCall and Nicholas Ghike, Dimitri Papadimos and George
> >> Katsimbalis; 2 A.L.s. to Phyllis McCall from Robert Graves; a
> >> number of books by the above authors inscribed to McCall
> >> including: Betjeman (John) Collected Poems, signed from “Banjo
> >> Betjeman” , spine faded, 1970 § Stephanides (T.) The Golden Face,
> >> signed and inscribed by the author on front free endpaper , 1965,
> >> original cloth, dust-jacket, extremities chipped ; and 10 others,
> >> many signed, v.s.
> >> (qty)
> >>
> >> *est. £1000 £1500*
> >>
> >> Margaret McCall was a senior Producer and Director at the BBC in
> >> the 1960s and later. She was responsible for many of the stations
> >> best arts programmes and was tasked with getting many of the
> >> leading artistic figures of the time to make their first
> >> television appearances. These included Dali, Betjeman, Henry
> >> Miller, Philip Larkin and, of course, Lawrence Durrell, with whom
> >> she ultimately conducted a long-standing intimate friendship.
> >> *Sold for £2600*
> >> Sale 672, 11th December 2008
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > ********************************************
> > Charles L. Sligh
> > Assistant Professor
> > Department of English
> > University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
> > charles-sligh at utc.edu
> > ********************************************
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
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W. L. Godshalk *
Department of English *
University of Cincinnati Stellar disorder *
Cincinnati OH 45221-0069 *
513-281-5927
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