All Posts Tagged ‘old-edition-values’

From the Potter & Potter website:

For nearly four decades, the Farbers have been “mad as a hatter” when it came to collecting everything related to Alice in Wonderland. One of their main focuses was on the hundreds of various illustrators that, since 1865, have been producing their own renditions of the characters and scenes from this popular children’s book. They also had a deep fascination for the many translations that were done including collecting one of the most important which just so happened to be the “original Alice’s copy” of Vladimir Nabokov’s Russian translation of Alice.

Other highspots of this sale include a presentation copy of Alice from Carroll to the British illustrator Richard Doyle, another presentation copy of Alice but this time from John Tenniel with one of his famous pencil sketches, a massive 6-foot prototype celestial globe from one of London’s leading globe makers that features all of the Alice characters, and many other rarities including toys, posters, art and more.

Date: 30 November 2023
More information: https://www.potterauctions.com/auctions/upcoming (no auction page yet, you may have to scroll down the page)

[edit 9 November 2023]
The catalog page is now online: https://auctions.potterauctions.com/Catalog.aspx?auctionid=1168

The auction notably includes a first edition, second issue ‘Appleton Alice’ (comprising sheets of the suppressed 1865 printing with a new title-page) together with a first edition of ‘Through the Looking-Glass and what Alice found there’ (Macmillan and Co, 1872) – estimated to sell for $8,000-$12,000, and an individual first edition of ‘Through the Looking-Glass and what Alice found there’ ($600-$800 estimate).

[edit] The items went for the following prices:

•  Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. New York: D. Appleton, 1866, together with Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There. London: Macmillan and Co., 1872 [1871]: $10,200 (estimate: $8,000 – $12,000)
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. London: Macmillan and Co., 1866 [1865]; presentation copy, inscribed by Dodgson to Richard Doyle, together with Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There. London: Macmillan and Co., 1872 [1871]: $36,000 (estimate: $30,000 – $50,000)
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. London: Macmillan and Co., 1866 [1865]; presentation copy, inscribed by Tenniel with drawing: $13,200 (estimate: $15,000 – $25,000)
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. London: Macmillan and Co., 1866 [1865]; with red gilt cover depicting The White Rabbit, in folding box: $6,600 (estimate: $4,000 – $6,000)
• Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There. London: Macmillan and Co., 1872 [1871]: $1,560 (estimate: $600 – $800)
• Alice’s Adventures Under Ground. Being a Facsimile of the Original Ms. Book Afterwards Developed into “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”. London and New York: Macmillan and Co., 1886; inscribed by Dodgson: $2,400 (estimate: $4,000 – $6,000)
• Alice’s Adventures Under Ground. Being a Facsimile of the Original Ms. Book Afterwards Developed into “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”. London and New York: Macmillan and Co., 1886: $660 (estimate: $600 – $800)
•  Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1869; first authorized American edition: $660 (estimate: $600 – $800)
• Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. Boston: Lee and Shepard; New York: Lee, Shepard, and Dillingham, 1872: $570 (estimate: $300 – $500)
•  Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Mount Vernon, NY: [William Edwin Rudge for] The Limited Editions Club, 1932; with wood engravings by Bruno Rollitz after John Tenniel, limited edition number 163 of 1500, signed by Alice Hargreaves, together with Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There. Mount Vernon, NY: [William Edwin Rudge for] The Limited Editions Club, 1935; with engravings re-engraved by Frederic Warde after John Tenniel, limited edition number 1392 of 1500, signed by Alice Hargreaves: $4,560 (estimate: $2,000 – $3,000)

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The book is a first edition from 1872, from the second print run (‘fourteenth thousand’). It is not in a super good state.

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The first presentation copy is the book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, second edition, 1866 [1865] (which means the first edition that was not recalled). It is inscribed by Carroll to Margaret Evelyn Hardy.
Estimated price: £ 20,000 – 30,000 / € 23,000 – 35,000
More info: https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/26773/lot/176/?category=list

The second presentation copy is a first German edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, translated by Antonie Zimmermann, 1869. It is also inscribed by Carroll to Margaret Evelyn Hardy.
Estimated price: £ 3,000 – 4,000 / € 3,500 – 4,600
More info: https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/26773/lot/177/?category=list

The third presentation copy is Through the Looking-Glass and what Alice found there, first edition, 1872 [1871]. Again, inscribed by Carroll to Margaret Evelyn Hardy.
Estimated price: £ 3,000 – 4,000 / € 3,500 – 4,600
More info: https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/26773/lot/178/?category=list

The copy bears pencil sketches of Humpty Dumpty on the wall and Alice holding a fawn. The images are reversed, in imitation of what Tenniel would have drawn on the wood for the engraving process. There’s also an inscription with Tenniel’s monogram and the line “Ever yours”.

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This is not a first edition; it is a third edition (’60th thousand’) from 1893. Lewis Carroll was known to be very fussy about the printing quality of his books, so the very first edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was not the only one that was recalled. This batch was recalled as well and he even threatened to end his contract with the Macmillan publisher because of it.

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The copy is a 1866 first edition, which means it is not one of the super rare suppressed editions from 1865, but the ‘official’ first edition that was published after the recall, which had better printing.

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