[ilds] quaint & intimate Black Book
James Gifford
odos.fanourios at gmail.com
Sat Dec 27 10:22:38 PST 2008
Hey Bill,
I went up and took a look myself yesterday -- it's in pristine condition
and is priced cheaply at $675. I think it's a steal, but I don't have
the funds myself... They've also got a booklet for /Ulysses Come Back/,
which I didn't even know existed (it's not in Jay's bibliography
either), and that's priced at $250.
Interested? You can see them online through Abebooks.com or on their
own site:
http://www.edmontonbookstore.com/
1-780-433-1781
I hope you're enjoying the break!
Best,
Jamie
william godshalk wrote:
> 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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