Auction Punk!

Beats the odds and get the deal!

Tour the Glass House: An Icon of Mid-Century Modern Design

Glass House | Philip Johnson

The Glass House designed by Philip Johnson, New Canaan, Connecticut

“I have very expensive wallpaper,” Philip Johnson said of The Glass House, an iconic mid-century modern building he designed in New Canaan, Connecticut. Indeed, the “wallpaper” is the vast, unfolding landscape outside the clear glass walls of the house, featuring a pond, tall pines, and meandering stone walls.

The Glass House is just one of several structures Johnson designed on the site, but it’s certainly one of the most striking. Standing inside of a building with nowhere to go where you can’t be seen (except the bathroom) is both an unsettling and inspiring experience.

We visited on a lovely sunny spring day, but wondered what it might be like to shelter inside the glass house during a thunderstorm or a blizzard. Nothing but a sheet of clear glass would separate you from the drama of nature outside.

That very same glass created a puzzle when it came to lighting choices. At night, the clear glass became a mirror reflecting any indoor lights. On Philip Johnson’s first night in the house, he said, “I turned on the lights and all I see is me, me, me, me, me!” After that, outdoor lighting was installed to light the trees and surrounding area, and only a few small lights remain on the inside. High school students in New Canaan created a fascinating video of how the Glass House changes from evening into night time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOzimeZDFKo

Glass House | Sculpture Gallery | Frank Stella - Raft of the Medusa

Raft of the Medusa by Frank Stella at the Glass House Sculpture Gallery

Another favorite stop on our tour was the Sculpture Gallery, where works by Frank Stella, Robert Morris, Andrew Lord, and George Segal play with light and shadows streaming in from the greenhouse-like ceiling. The Painting Gallery just down the path displays works by Andy Warhol and Julian Schnabel on huge, rotating walls that allow you to rearrange the art however you’d like.

Read more in a New York Times article that came out soon after the house opened to the public.

The only way to truly experience the Glass House is to visit it in person, and I highly recommend that you go! The site is open during the summer from May through November, any day of the week except Tuesdays. Plan your visit on the Glass House website.

We were thrilled to have a chance to experience Johnson’s vision.

This post was co-authored by Jane Prentiss, Director of 20th Century Design, and Kathryn Gargolinski, Web Marketing Specialist at Skinner, Inc. after a visit to the Glass House and Noyes residence on a tour organized by the Boston Architectural College.

Minton’s Victorian Majolica

Majolica Vase

Brownfield Majolica Vase, England, c. 1871-76, Estimate $2,500-3,500, to be sold on July 14, 2012 at our European Furniture & Decorative Arts auction

Victorian majolica was produced in Britain by at least twenty-five to thirty manufacturers, including major potteries such as Wedgwood and George Jones, from the 1850s right through until the turn of the twentieth century. The French, Germans and Americans also manufactured their own majolica, with little similarities in style and enameling to their British counterparts.

None has captured our interest as much as those examples of majolica produced at Minton.  With their vibrant combination of lively enamels and crisp modeling, they produced fanciful forms such as garden seats, heavily molded jugs, oyster plates, game pie dishes, covered cheese dishes, allegorical figures, umbrella/stick stands, pedestals, tiles, flower pots of all shapes and sizes, animals, tea sets, strawberry servers, ornamental vases and much, much more. Majolica decorates a variety of forms so beautifully that it is most impressive and a bit eye-popping to see a collection in a home or on display.

You’ll have a chance to see such a collection in the July 14, 2012 sale of European Furniture & Decorative Arts featuring Fine Ceramics at Skinner in Boston. We have a major collection of over one hundred fine examples of majolica. Works of Minton will be featured, and the collection will include examples from some of Minton’s contemporary British and French competitors.  A fine selection of Portuguese Palissy-type wares will also be offered.

The Romance between Wedgwood and Antiquities

Decorated Greek vases and Roman oil lamps bring us back in touch with the romance of ancient history and archaeology. Wedgwood, with its many classical Roman and Greek reliefs in black basalt and jasper ware as well as encaustic decorated wares, also portrays a certain romance with ancient times. Wedgwood collectors and antiquities collectors both love this material culture, and how it is represented in the form of pots, vases, and ornamental wares. It is intriguing to see how the world of antiquities informs and inspires Wedgwood.

Antiquities | Ancient Greek Pelike

Greek Provincial Red Figure Pelike, likely southern Italy, 4th century B.C.E., Auctioned for $38,512.50 in 2012

Wedgwood | Black Basalt Vase

Wedgwood Encaustic Decorated Black Basalt Vase, England, 19th century, Auctioned for $5,332.50 in 2010

Wedgwood artists were influenced by antiquities in the forms they chose to work with, including oil lamps, canopic jars and ruined column vases, as well as the subjects they depicted.  Popular subjects include classical figures, shapes, architecture, and even the use of hieroglyphs in the Egyptian revival style.

Note the red-figured Greek provincial pelike of the 4th century and the Wedgwood encaustic decorated black basalt vase of the 19th century. Certainly the Wedgwood artist had a pelike similar to this in mind when he painted his vase.

I recently visited the San Antonio Museum of Art and noticed that they display antiquities alongside their Wedgwood counterparts; it’s amazing just how well they work together. It is my hope that some collectors of antiquities or Wedgwood will follow the museum’s lead and extend or expand their collecting to own complimenting examples of the other’s wares.

Hopefully this romance between Wedgwood and antiquities will continue and we will see more crossover between the two subjects so very different, yet with so much in common.

512px-November13-10_CanopicJarWithHumanHead_KunsthistorischesMuseum

Example of a Canopic Jar

Wedgwood | Canopic Jar

Wedgwood Light Blue Jasper Dip Canopic Jar and Cover, England, early 19th century, Auctioned for $7,702.50 in 2010

Wedgwood | Sphinxes

Pair of Wedgwood Rosso Antico and Black Basalt Egyptian Sphinxes, England, late 18th century

Wedgwood | Ruined Column Vase

Wedgwood Blue and White Jasper Double Ruined Column Vase, England, early 19th century

Canopic Jar Image By Captmondo [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

American Indian Beadwork: Early 20th Century Plateau Pictorial Works

American Indian Beadwork

Plateau Pictorial Beaded Hide Bag, c. early 20th century, to be auctioned May 12, 2012 (Lot 102A, Est. $500-700)

Many Plateau tribes made flat beaded handbags, vests, and other items in the last quarter of the 19th century. The earliest known examples show horse imagery and floral designs as well as other subjects from the natural world. These designs were generally arranged in a simple fashion on light backgrounds.

By the turn of the 20th century, pictorial beadwork had become very popular, both for the Indians’ own use, and also to meet the demand of the ever increasing tourism market. Today, these items are collected both as Indian art and folk art.

The hide handbag shown here comes from the early 20th century and depicts a mounted warrior, probably a Nez Perce, who is wearing traditional period clothing including an eagle feather headdress, loop necklace, panel belt, and cloth leggings.

The Lakota were also famous for their pictorial beadwork from the early reservation period into the first quarter of the 20th century.

This example will be offered on May 12th during our American Indian & Ethnographic Art auction alongside a fine selection of Plains Indian beadwork, a pictographic muslin, and several fine weapons.

View the catalogue here.

Guide to Buying Antique and Modern Furniture: Why is Joinery Important?

Guide to Buying Furniture | George Nakashima

Beautiful butterfly joints in a large English oak burl and walnut table by George Nakashima (1905-1990). Auctioned for $204,000

How a piece of furniture is put together indicates how long that piece of furniture will stay together. For example, when I am shopping for a piece of furniture, I always check out the drawers and how they are constructed. Why chance having all your belongings fall out of your nightstand because the drawer bottom was stapled in and simply couldn’t hold together for very long?

Understanding how a piece of furniture was made before you buy can prevent you from having to replace or repair the piece. In the long run, this knowledge can save you money and time.

For centuries, craftsmen constructed furniture using hand tools and different methods of joining together the various parts to create a whole. Hide glue, nails, and wood joints were popular and practical methods used to hold a piece of furniture together.

Dovetail Joints

Guide to Buying Furniture | Dovetail Joint

This is one example of dovetail joinery commonly used in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The dovetail joint functions to keep the parts together as the wood expands and contracts with changes in moisture and temperature.

Note the scribe line marking the joint line–this shows that the maker used hand tools. If you feel tool marks on the underside of the drawer, this means it was hand -planed. Machine -planed wood has a smooth surface and does not leave the ridges that hand tools leave.

With the advent of the industrial revolution in the 19th century, machines became a popular way to make furniture parts and join those parts together. Nobody expected to see the joinery, and it was typically seen as an engineering solution, not an element of design.

Through Tenon Joints

Guide to Buying Furniture | Through Tenon JointBy the early 20th century (c. 1900) the Arts and Crafts Movement pushed back on the frenzy of the industrial revolution. Joinery came to the forefront and became a design principle offering strength, comfort and beauty.

As can be seen in this Arts and Crafts Morris chair, the through tenon joins the leg to the wide arm. The corbel below, which is joined to the post and supports the wide arm, provides additional support.  In this chair, joinery is an essential element of the design. It’s exposed and not hidden.

Finger Joints

Guide to Buying Furniture | Finger JointThe 20th century continued to embrace exposed joinery not only for its strength but as a design element, as can be seen in this mid-century modern chair from Denmark.

The curvilinear chair back continues through to the arm.  The use of a finger joint keeps the parts together, providing an elegant solution as well as strength and stability.

Butterfly Joints

Guide to Buying Furniture | Butterfly JointThe Studio Furniture movement started in the last quarter of the 20th century and is still thriving today. George Nakashima (1905-1990) designed his furniture based on the natural form of a piece of wood using minimal joinery. His sensitivity to the craft resulted in pieces where the wood seems to come alive. His daughter Mira Nakashima continues crafting furniture with the same intuitive gift.

This is a fine example of furniture crafted by George Nakashima.  A slab of old growth burled hardwood became the table top, and the natural fissure in the wood is held together with a butterfly joint. This functional joint provides minimal ornament. The through joint at the base provides strength and support for the large free edge top.

If you are shopping for a piece of furniture, paying attention to the joinery can tell you a lot about how  a piece was made, when it was made, and how long it might stay together. Good joinery and design stand the test of time.

The Stoneware Face Jug: A Treasure Hidden Away for a Hundred Years

American Pottery | Grotesque Face Jug

Stoneware Face Jug, attributed to Bath, (Aiken County), South Carolina, area, second half 19th century, Auctioned for $56,287.50 on March 5, 2012

When I first set eyes on this face jug, it was tucked inside a glassed-in bookcase alongside dishes, books, and other everyday things. I took it out, and said, “This is terrific! It’s beautiful!”

Beautiful might not be the first word that comes to everyone’s mind when looking at a grotesque face like this one, but I knew the jug was something special. I loved the diminutive size—it fit in the palm of my hand—plus the fact that it survived from the 19th century with no damage. It wasn’t even dusty.

It wasn’t until we’d taken the jug back to Skinner Auction House when specialist Karen Langberg found a note tucked inside the jug that read, “Monkey Jug= made at Bath S.C. 1862 by negro slaves/Aiken S.C.”

I asked the consignor about her great-grandfather who had collected the jug and written the note. We learned that he had most likely acquired it in the late 19th or early 20th century, just a few decades after the piece was made. The fact that he saw fit to acquire this unique example of an African-American face jug shows a developed aesthetic sensibility. The fact that the jug survived all this while undamaged is miraculous.

Further research into the history of the jug led us to two articles from the 2006 issue of Ceramics in America, published by the Chipstone Foundation. In the article titled “Fluid Vessel:  Journey of the Jug,” pp. 93-121, John A. Burrison discusses the history of early Southern face vessels made by enslaved African-American potters. He proposes that face jugs like the one we discovered were likely influenced by anthropomorphic clay vessels made in West Africa, the chief source of the Atlantic slave trade.

A related article in the same issue titled “Making Faces:  Archaeological Evidence of African-American Face Jug Production,” by Mark M. Newell with Peter Lenzo, pp. 122-138, discusses the origins and use of pottery face vessels. The article states that the larger face jugs were used “as water vessels called ‘monkey’ jugs-after monkeyed, a southern term for the dehydrating effect of the summer heat.”

Small jugs such as the one sold at Skinner have aroused curiosity as to their use, as they were so small that they would not hold much liquid to quench a thirsty person.  The Newell and Lenzo article also mentions the 1909 interview by early American historian Edwin AtLee Barber with a South Carolina plantation pottery owner, Colonel Davies, who commented that the small jugs were used by the slaves “for their own purposes,” inferring a connection between the jugs and possible religious or ritual practices.

Although the original purpose of the jug may remain a mystery, the fact remains that it’s a wonderful piece of sculpture with an amazing story. It was one of my personal favorites in the March 4, 2012 American Furniture & Decorative Arts auction at Skinner, and I’m thrilled with the $56,287.50 price realized.

Bringing Forgotten History to Light: Cataloguing a Walter Launt Palmer Painting

Walter Launt Palmer Painting | Fine Art Appraiser

Lot 468: Walter Launt Palmer (American, 1854-1932) The Pine Grove, c. 1917, Estimate $8,000-12,000 in the February 3, 2012 Auction of American & European Works of Art

One of the distinct joys of being a fine art appraiser and cataloguer is getting to physically handle a work and bring its forgotten history to light. When we are lucky, the owner provides documentation for provenance or context. More often than not, what we work with are anecdotes that we must verify or rule out independently. At the heart of cataloguing is looking at a work objectively and asking the fundamental question “What does that mean?” of any inscriptions or marks.

Recently, I had the pleasure of puzzling over a winter scene by Walter Launt Palmer.  Palmer was acclaimed in his lifetime for his winter scenes and it’s easy to see why—he essentially did for snow what Monet did for haystacks, which is to say that he represented snow with a depth of color and texture that no other American artist had previously. As far as art historical categories go, Palmer is considered a Tonalist more than an Impressionist, owing in large part to his muted palette and stylistic restraint.

In cataloguing, examination of the reverse of a work is de rigueur. What we hope to find are titles, dedications, labels and other bits of information to tell us about its former life. In the case of our Palmer, we found a promising lead—an effaced title and stamp (see Figure 1).  After a process of trial and error, we explored the possibility that the 1917 volume of the American Art Annual—a venerable publication in print from 1898 to 1948—might have further information for us.  To my surprise, under the heading “Paintings Sold at Auction: Season of 1916-1917” was an entry for a Walter Launt Palmer work entitled “The Pine Grove,” 30 x 22 inches, sold as lot 154 in a sale entitled “War Relief” to Otto Bernet. The consignor believed that her father had purchased the work at auction in New York, and ours measured exactly 30 x 22 inches. Could this be our work? More information was needed. What was this “War Relief” sale, and more importantly, was a catalogue produced?

Walter Palmer Painting | Figure 1

Figure 1

Further research turned up the following:

• The “War Relief” sale was held May 3 to 4, 1917, and comprised of works donated by the American Artists’ Committee of One Hundred, of which Palmer was a member (1)

• Most members of this artist Committee had trained or exhibited in France, and this American relief alliance formed in 1916 out of gratitude and concern for their French mentors and counterparts (2)

• The sale was handled by the American Art Association (our AAA acronym!), an auctioneer established in 1883 (3)

Walter Palmer Painting | Figure 2

Figure 2

Sometimes tracking down primary source material is as tricky as finding out that it exists in the first place. There were less than three copies of the sale catalogue in public collections nationally, and the only book form was located in the Brooklyn Museum library. With the help of a library assistant, we found that the catalogue description matched our work (see fig. 2).

There is still more to know about this work, such as whether or not the previous owner, Collier Whittemore Baird (1888-1977), an executive in the rubber industry, acquired it directly from Otto Bernet or through an intermediary. The American Art Association Records, microfilmed through the Smithsonian Archives of American Art (SAAM), may yield further clues.

Larger contextual questions also remain, such as what was Palmer’s involvement with the war relief committee and how many other sales did he participate in? The American Artists’ Committee of One Hundred Records, also through the SAAM, may be revealing.  

As cataloguers, we are the temporary custodians of these works, and consider ourselves lucky when we’ve found enough to pique the interest of the next owner—ideally, a devoted researcher.

This work will find a new home at the February 3, 2012 American & European Works of Art auction in Boston.

(1) “Americans Aid French Artists Art at Home and Abroad.” New York Times, August 15, 1915, pg. SM21.
(2) Ibid.
(3) http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/american-art-association-records-6973

An Art Museum Fantasy Road Trip, Part II: a Portal through Space and Time

I’m surrounded by art in my job as an auctioneer and appraiser, but sometimes that’s still not enough. There’s more art out there than I’ll ever be able to see—some of it located in far flung reaches of space and time. If I had a futuristic portal I could step through right now, here are five places I would go:

5. The Museum of Bad Art: Dedham, Somerville, and Brookline, Massachusetts

I’m privileged to see some wonderful works of art in my job as a fine art appraiser, but to be honest, even the best collections have a few clunkers. These can be seen as glaring and horrific errors or they can be seen from a more positive light. I like to think of beginning my art museum fantasy road trip with MoBA as an amuse-bouche or a palette cleanser. Beginning here will only make everything else seem all the more wonderful and delectable.

4. Storm King Art Center: New Windsor, New York

Storm King Art Center | Art Museum Road TripWho wouldn’t love to wander about the rolling hills of the Hudson River Valley, surprised at every bend in the path by an amazing vista dappled with art? The most amazing way to explore this destination might be on cross-country skis on a clear morning after a thick powdery snow the night before, but since the Center isn’t open in the winter, I’ll rent one of the bicycles they have available instead. Pedaling over the 500 acres sounds like heaven!

3. The Guggenheim: Bilbao, Spain

Guggenheim Bilbao | Art Museum Road TripThe “Gugger” (as we affectionately call it in the Starr household) in New York City is famous for its unique space as much as for its collections. Likewise, the Guggenheim in Bilboa is worth a trip to see the architecture. Frank Gehry was at the height of his powers when he designed the huge indoor and outdoor spaces of the museum. While I’m here, I plan to stop for a little something to eat in a local café. Food, like art, stimulates the senses and emotions, and I find the two together can’t be beat.

I confess that I had another reason for adding Bilbao to this list. As a graduate student, I was lucky enough to travel the pilgrimage road, albeit backwards, from Cuxa, up through Moissac and Toulouse, to Le Puy and Burgundy, and finally to Paris. I’ve always regretted never having traveled any of the Spanish leg of the road, and from Bilbao would certainly continue along the pilgrimage road to Santiago de Compostela.

2. The Egyptian Museum: Cairo, Egypt in 1900

I’d love to experience Cairo at the height of the excavations, and hopefully bump into a few archeologists—perhaps the somewhat bumbling Wallis Budge, George Reisner, and a young Howard Carter with his mentor Flinders Petrie? I’d dine at Shepheard’s (though I’d have to buy a new gown), and the visit would also include a trip up the Nile and back to see the sites—pre-Aswan dam flooding—in my fully staffed dahabiya.

1. Pompeii, Italy

Pompeii | Art Museum Road TripLast but not least, my final stop has to by the ruins of Pompeii. Unlike Cairo I have no desire to step back in time, and certainly not to August 24, 79 AD, when a volcanic eruption buried the town! I’ve been to Italy several times, but have never made it farther south than Rome. Pompeii contains temples, theaters, and houses, mosaics and frescoes. It was a resort town at its height. As gruesome as the destruction was, and as the casts of Pompeii’s last residents remind us, the place must be nothing short of extraordinary. After visiting Pompeii, I’d have to stop by the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples, where most of the artifacts from both Pompeii and neighboring Herculaneum are housed.

Read Kathy Wong’s Art Museum Fantasy Road Trip, then add your own. What would be your ultimate art destination? Share your road trip with us on Facebook.

Images via Wikimedia Commons: Storm King Calder, by Fred Jala from Seattle, Washington, USA (IMG_1114) [CC-BY-2.0]; Guggenheim Bilbao, by Samuel Negredo [CC-BY-2.0]; Pompeii Fresco, by Wknight94 (Own work) [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0]

An Art Museum Fantasy Road Trip, Part I: A Journey through Spain

Costa Brava Calas | Art Museums in SpainNow that winter has arrived in New England, can you blame me for dreaming of the warm, turquoise waters of the Spanish Costa Brava? I completely fell in love with Barcelona this summer, for its blending high and low art, architecture, and culture. Antoni Gaudi left his visionary mark on the city in the late 19th century, and Barcelona has continued to think big with its monumental sculpture, murals, and street art.

As much as I would love to revisit Barcelona, I dream of exploring other parts of the country. If I could go anywhere in Spain right now, these would be my top five art destinations.

5. The Museo Chillida-Leku in San Sebastian: to see Eduardo Chillida’s “Peine del Viento XV” [Wind Comb XV], 1976

San Sebastian is home to the most Michelin-starred restaurants per capita in the world, and that’s a good enough reason to go. But while there, I’d love to see Chillida’s monumental steel sculpture, Wind Comb XV. Situated on a coastline, this work is best understood as land art than sculpture, in the same vein as Nancy Holt’s “Sun Tunnels,” (1976) and Walter de Maria’s “Lightning Field” (1977). It was Chillida’s favorite site-specific work, and is a rumination on man’s relationship with nature, full and empty spaces, and the passage of time.

4. The Salvador Dali Portlligat Museum-House in Port Lligat: to see how Dali lived with the ordinary and extraordinary

Throngs of tourists visit the wildly surreal Teatro-Museo Dali in Figueres but fewer make the trek one hour north to the remote fishing village where Dali lived from the 1930s to 1982. As an appraiser who meets with clients in their homes to view their collections, naturally, I am interested in seeing how this eccentric yet visionary artist lived with his art and what inspired him.

3. Guggenheim Museum Bilbao: to see Jeff Koons’ “Puppy” (1992)

Jeff Koons "Puppy" | Art Museums in SpainKoons’ “Puppy” has been a part of the Guggenheim Bilbao’s permanent collection since its opening in 1997, and to my mind, defines it as much as the Frank Gehry-designed building. The sheer physical feat of engineering and constructing such a work is what I’m drawn to – this approximately 40 1/2 x 40 1/2 x 21 foot living sculpture consists of anywhere from 35,000 to 70,000 potted flowering plants watered by an internal irrigation system, which is replaced twice a year. Flowers are a part of life’s greatest joys and sorrows, and I can’t think of a more whimsical expression of joy than a giant, fluffy, floral terrier!

2. The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía: to see Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica” (1937)

I first learned of the protest art shown at the Spanish Pavilion of the Paris Exposition of 1937 in a class taught by art historian T.J. Clark. Alongside Alexander Calder’s “Mercury Fountain” and Joan Miro’s “The Reaper [Catalan peasant in revolt],” I can only imagine how Picasso’s mural stood out both in terms of its sheer size (approximately 11 x 26 feet) and stark palette. I suspect it is one of those works where visual analysis from a photograph only goes so far. It must be experienced in person to fully grasp its plea for humanity and compassion in the face of the horrors of war.

1. The Alhambra in Granada: to see the Royal Complex

Alhambra, Granada | Art Museums in SpainAlthough I haven’t extensively studied Islamic art, I must admit that I am fascinated by the Alhambra. I would love to see how its intricately-designed stucco and tile works on such a large scale, and why it captured the imagination of so many artists, particularly Henri Matisse. His tour of Southern Spain was the subject of an exhibit at the Alhambra earlier this year. Considering that it was only within the last decade that Henri Matisse’s signature was discovered in the Alhambra’s visitor’s book (solidly dating his first visit to December 11, 1910), it retains an air of mystery and the promise of further discoveries.

I’m certain that there are other worthy (even quirky) contenders, but these are my current obsessions. Have you been to any of these places? What were your favorite works? Where do you dream of visiting? Let us know!

Follow the American & European Works of Art Department on Facebook.

Photos via Wikimedia Commons: Costa Brava Calas, by Gabriele Delhey (photo taken by Gabriele Delhey) [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0]; Puppy de Jeff Koons [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0]; Alhambra – Granada, by Jim Gordon (originally posted to Flickr as Alhambra, Granada) [CC-BY-2.0]

Wonderful Witchcraft: Rare Books at Auction

Happy Halloween from the Fine Books & Manuscripts Department! Halloween is department director Stuart Whitehurst’s favorite holiday, so we thought we’d share a few spooky selections from our November 13th auction.

Witchcraft from the 17th Century

Rare Books | Witchcraft

Lot 772: Cabala, Speculum Artis Et Naturae, in Alchymia; Exinde, Augsburg: Andrea Erffurt, 1654, Est. $150-200

The rare book auction includes a collection of twenty unusual titles concerning witchcraft, most published in London in the 17th century. A few have really fascinating frontis engravings, including lot 772, a work entitled Cabala, Speculum Artis Et Naturae, in Alchymia; Exinde. This wild image is shown here. Another, lot 781, a 1681-82 volume entitled Saducismus Triumphatus: or, Full and Plain Evidence Concerning Witches and Apparitions, depicts a curious and creepy interior scene. It’s amazing, and a bit hair-raising, to consider these volumes in a local context: namely, the fact that the witch trials in Salem occurred in 1692-93.

These Halloween-themed offerings are just the tip of the iceberg in the November 14th Fine Books & Manuscripts auction. Over 950 lots of historic manuscripts and autographs of all types, presidential material from Washington to Reagan, antique and first edition books, maps, atlases, and Audubon prints will be on offer. In truth, there’s one way to sum up the variety and selection in the sale—it’s scary-good!

Browse the catalogue online.

Rare Books | Witchcraft

A selection of rare books concerning witchcraft to be auctioned on November 13, 2011