Dear American Shakespeare Scholars:
The major book auction that Francis Wahlgren mentioned during our visit to Christie's is scheduled for 5 December 2006.
This auction is a sale of Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts, including Americana. (The selection is breath-taking!)
No First (or Third) Folios this time around, but there is a lovely 19th century Shakespeare set on offer.
(And an early edition Alice under a $1000., which would make a remarkable Christmas present for a certain professor you all know!) ;)
Auction details:
5 December 2006, 10:00 am
20 Rockefeller Plaza, New York
Viewing:
1 December 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
2 December 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
3 December 01:00 pm - 5:00 pm
4 December 10:00 am - 2:00 pm
The catalogue is available online at: http://www.christies.com/promos/dec06/1770/overview.asp
Perhaps -- we might consider a quick viewing trip after class on Friday, 1 December...
Hope you all had a restful Thanksgiving!
Cheers,
ASH
Friday, November 24, 2006
Friday, November 17, 2006
"Christies Comments" from Oriana
Oriana Calman
American Shakespeare
November 8, 2006
Christie’s
Each time I walk east along the broad streets near Rockefeller Center, I sense a kind of holiday, film-like cheer that resides permanently within the raucous traffic, sidewalk steam, and Fifth Avenue suits walking briskly to and from lunch. Since I can remember, this journey east has been unfailingly the same, boisterous and elegant, annoying and glimmering, and I love and loathe it every time. However, this particular trip down the same nostalgic, big city road was a little different in that I entered an interior space that mirrored much of what I experienced outside. This space was Christie’s New York.
When I first walked into the auction house (an effortless transition from outside to inside with the help of a doorman pushing the revolving door for me) I thought that perhaps I had mistakenly waltzed into a hotel. There was a large desk with several smartly dressed, young men and women, answering telephones and assisting patrons, a scene very appropriate for a busy hotel. Yet, this was Christie’s, as the large and proudly displayed Estate Sale announced to my right. I turned around, hoping to find a little corner where I could wait for the rest of our group, but could not refrain from gawking like a buffoon at every other person milling about. I have never been inside an auction house before, and I was extremely fascinated to either confirm or cancel my pre-conceived notions about such an establishment. When I saw several older gentlemen in tweed suits and horn-rimmed glasses walk by, I could not help smiling. I wanted to join them on their hunting trip (for it looked as though that is precisely what they were about to do), but I followed the rest of our group into the exhibition spaces housing Impressionist and Expressionist works that were to be auctioned the following week.
I wanted to relinquish myself from feeling slightly out of place, but I was extremely aware of the other patrons or buyers, looking at these works as if they were items in a store. As soon as I saw three Schiele pieces, the magnitude of what was taking place at Christie’s became very real to me. To view these works with a price tag as their main descriptive accompaniment was like no other experience I have had. This dramatically changed my perspective of viewing art, for the discourse surrounding much of these works was financial rather than aesthetic. I felt unsettled by this presumption and at the same time, extremely eager about the possibilities of such an environment.
After looking at several works on canvas and paper, we met with Francis Walhgren, who was extremely enthusiastic and accommodating. As I have found for most of our trips, the people whom we meet and interact with are usually the ones who enliven these institutions by being so welcoming and informative. Mr. Walhgren was fantastic in that he really wanted to share his experience of auctioning the Berland Shakespeare Folio with us. He had materials available for us regarding the layout of the Folio’s history and condition, and he told us about the inner workings of the Book Department at Christie’s. Mr. Walhgren put it beautifully when he stated that what he represented was the merging of the scholarly with the business field. Though I am still deciding whether or not this kind of merger could be a harmonious balance for me, I find a great deal of what Mr. Walhgren spoke about very appealing. He informed us that Christie’s acts as an intermediary between the owner and buyer of a work or object, implying that there is a very strong degree of exposure to all worlds and contexts within which the item has existed. I love this idea very much. He also shared with us the kind of cataloging and history tracing that he and his colleagues have the opportunity to do. This segued into the realm of comparing Christie’s to a library, and the kinds of differences and similarities that make up both institutions. I found it extremely interested when he said that Christie’s took the stance of preserving works just as they were found. I agree with this on a certain level, but I also agree with the library stance, which more often then not, is concerned more with mending the work and stabilizing it so that it may continue to service the needs and queries of patrons. This issue is a very difficult one to take sides on, for in an ideal world, both methods would be terrific.
After speaking with Mr. Walhgren, and after having the pleasure of experiencing the tension and excitement of such a monumental moment in auction history when we saw footage of the auction, we left the conference room and traveled down the same set of stairs with, what seemed to me, a sense of ease, whereas only a short time before, we had ascended with nervous and anticipatory doubts about Christie’s as a whole. Walking out of Christie’s I felt that I had indeed cancelled out all of my previous notions about the institution.
American Shakespeare
November 8, 2006
Christie’s
Each time I walk east along the broad streets near Rockefeller Center, I sense a kind of holiday, film-like cheer that resides permanently within the raucous traffic, sidewalk steam, and Fifth Avenue suits walking briskly to and from lunch. Since I can remember, this journey east has been unfailingly the same, boisterous and elegant, annoying and glimmering, and I love and loathe it every time. However, this particular trip down the same nostalgic, big city road was a little different in that I entered an interior space that mirrored much of what I experienced outside. This space was Christie’s New York.
When I first walked into the auction house (an effortless transition from outside to inside with the help of a doorman pushing the revolving door for me) I thought that perhaps I had mistakenly waltzed into a hotel. There was a large desk with several smartly dressed, young men and women, answering telephones and assisting patrons, a scene very appropriate for a busy hotel. Yet, this was Christie’s, as the large and proudly displayed Estate Sale announced to my right. I turned around, hoping to find a little corner where I could wait for the rest of our group, but could not refrain from gawking like a buffoon at every other person milling about. I have never been inside an auction house before, and I was extremely fascinated to either confirm or cancel my pre-conceived notions about such an establishment. When I saw several older gentlemen in tweed suits and horn-rimmed glasses walk by, I could not help smiling. I wanted to join them on their hunting trip (for it looked as though that is precisely what they were about to do), but I followed the rest of our group into the exhibition spaces housing Impressionist and Expressionist works that were to be auctioned the following week.
I wanted to relinquish myself from feeling slightly out of place, but I was extremely aware of the other patrons or buyers, looking at these works as if they were items in a store. As soon as I saw three Schiele pieces, the magnitude of what was taking place at Christie’s became very real to me. To view these works with a price tag as their main descriptive accompaniment was like no other experience I have had. This dramatically changed my perspective of viewing art, for the discourse surrounding much of these works was financial rather than aesthetic. I felt unsettled by this presumption and at the same time, extremely eager about the possibilities of such an environment.
After looking at several works on canvas and paper, we met with Francis Walhgren, who was extremely enthusiastic and accommodating. As I have found for most of our trips, the people whom we meet and interact with are usually the ones who enliven these institutions by being so welcoming and informative. Mr. Walhgren was fantastic in that he really wanted to share his experience of auctioning the Berland Shakespeare Folio with us. He had materials available for us regarding the layout of the Folio’s history and condition, and he told us about the inner workings of the Book Department at Christie’s. Mr. Walhgren put it beautifully when he stated that what he represented was the merging of the scholarly with the business field. Though I am still deciding whether or not this kind of merger could be a harmonious balance for me, I find a great deal of what Mr. Walhgren spoke about very appealing. He informed us that Christie’s acts as an intermediary between the owner and buyer of a work or object, implying that there is a very strong degree of exposure to all worlds and contexts within which the item has existed. I love this idea very much. He also shared with us the kind of cataloging and history tracing that he and his colleagues have the opportunity to do. This segued into the realm of comparing Christie’s to a library, and the kinds of differences and similarities that make up both institutions. I found it extremely interested when he said that Christie’s took the stance of preserving works just as they were found. I agree with this on a certain level, but I also agree with the library stance, which more often then not, is concerned more with mending the work and stabilizing it so that it may continue to service the needs and queries of patrons. This issue is a very difficult one to take sides on, for in an ideal world, both methods would be terrific.
After speaking with Mr. Walhgren, and after having the pleasure of experiencing the tension and excitement of such a monumental moment in auction history when we saw footage of the auction, we left the conference room and traveled down the same set of stairs with, what seemed to me, a sense of ease, whereas only a short time before, we had ascended with nervous and anticipatory doubts about Christie’s as a whole. Walking out of Christie’s I felt that I had indeed cancelled out all of my previous notions about the institution.
Friday, 16 November
Hello American Shakespeare Scholars!
Please check your email.
We are back at Mercer Street this afternoon. We shall start there and then head to the library together for reseacrh sessions.
I am soooo looking forward to seeing how you are all getting on with your incredible work!
All best,
ASH
Please check your email.
We are back at Mercer Street this afternoon. We shall start there and then head to the library together for reseacrh sessions.
I am soooo looking forward to seeing how you are all getting on with your incredible work!
All best,
ASH
Friday, November 10, 2006
Columbia's Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Getting off the 1 train on 116th street, it wasn't difficult at all to find Columbia's campus. Since it was around lunch time, I decided to eat my $3 lunch (omelet sandwich and a Snapple from a street vendor, yum!) on the steps of their main library, the Low Library. Columbia's campus truly is a beautiful place, yet a part of me realized that I get the same peaceful feeling while sitting in Washington Square Park. In a way I guess, Columbia represents the Ivy League campus life that I'm not sure if I wanted or not.
Anyway, getting into the Butler Library itself was also an easy process. To get in, I just had to get a non-Columbia patron card, which allows you to have reading access to the library for three months. With this in mind, I found the Butler Library to be a lot like the NYPL research libraries in the sense that I have reading access to them for free. The building itself also gave off a traditional air that I often associate with the NYPL system, with its large columns and marble floors. Even the elevators (when I finally did find them) were traditional in the sense that the floor indicator was a rotating arrow pointing to the floor numbers in a clock-like fashion. Whereas Columbia, as an Ivy League school, embodies tradition with its grassy closed campus and orderly library, NYU in a sense is the opposite "postmodern" embodiment with the crazy architecture of Bobst and our open, un-traditional campus.
Once I reached the Rare Book and Manuscript Room, I once again had to go through procedures similar to that of NYPL. The polite attendant at the desk had me fill out a paper with my information to register me as a researcher, and afterwards, I was told to sit at one of the desks for one of the librarians to give me the book I requested (the 1611 printing of Spencer's "Fairie Queen"). Before sitting down, I also had to check in my bag and my coat for security purposes. After a few minutes of waiting, I was greeted by the friendly smile of Jennifer Lee with "The Fairie Queen" in her hands. She laid it out on a green foam book stand for me to read it on, and then left me to enjoy it. I was surprised to see that I wasn't required to wear gloves, but as I looked around the room, I noticed that none of the other patrons had gloves on either.
Although it isn't as cool as personally looking through the first folio, leafing through "The Fairie Queen" was still a fun experience. Despite a few imperfections (a few repaired tears, some pencil marks, dents in the paper, and some stains), the book was very readable and visually pleasing. As I read through a few of the cantos, it took me a while to get used to the old English writing (using "f" for "s", "v" for "u", etc), but after a while, I noticed that my mind began to instantly fix the words into modern English.
What I found really fascinating about the edition was the engravings. In addition to the beautiful images on the title pages, at the beginning of each canto there were four different engravings that were rotated throughout the book. One was of two falcons, one with a sword and the other being burned in a fire, another showed the lion and the griffon of the royal crest holding flags, another showed the lion and the griffon writing, and the fourth showed two cupids amidst roses and thorns. These engravings were also visible in the second part of the Fairie Queen which contained books 4, 5, and 6 and was printed in 1613. The only difference between the two parts was that in the second, the first letter of each canto was enlarged and embellished, which I thought gave the work a nice touch.
The only visible printing mistake that I saw as I went through the book was in the second edition, in Canto III of the forth book. In this canto, the griffon in the title engraving had been rotated 90 degrees to the left. This small mistake shouldn't be too surprising, considering the large length of the book, as well as the printing methods used at the time. As I looked through the book, thoughts about our session with Mindy Bellof frequently came to mind. If it took us three hours to set less than ten lines of text, it must have taken these printers years of time and patience to set the type for this large edition.
Overall, my experience was a good one in the sense that it allowed me to get in touch with my inner book geek by interacting with a book that existed so many centuries before me. Now that I know that I have reading access to the library, I may take advantage of doing some studying at Columbia in the future.
Anyway, getting into the Butler Library itself was also an easy process. To get in, I just had to get a non-Columbia patron card, which allows you to have reading access to the library for three months. With this in mind, I found the Butler Library to be a lot like the NYPL research libraries in the sense that I have reading access to them for free. The building itself also gave off a traditional air that I often associate with the NYPL system, with its large columns and marble floors. Even the elevators (when I finally did find them) were traditional in the sense that the floor indicator was a rotating arrow pointing to the floor numbers in a clock-like fashion. Whereas Columbia, as an Ivy League school, embodies tradition with its grassy closed campus and orderly library, NYU in a sense is the opposite "postmodern" embodiment with the crazy architecture of Bobst and our open, un-traditional campus.
Once I reached the Rare Book and Manuscript Room, I once again had to go through procedures similar to that of NYPL. The polite attendant at the desk had me fill out a paper with my information to register me as a researcher, and afterwards, I was told to sit at one of the desks for one of the librarians to give me the book I requested (the 1611 printing of Spencer's "Fairie Queen"). Before sitting down, I also had to check in my bag and my coat for security purposes. After a few minutes of waiting, I was greeted by the friendly smile of Jennifer Lee with "The Fairie Queen" in her hands. She laid it out on a green foam book stand for me to read it on, and then left me to enjoy it. I was surprised to see that I wasn't required to wear gloves, but as I looked around the room, I noticed that none of the other patrons had gloves on either.
Although it isn't as cool as personally looking through the first folio, leafing through "The Fairie Queen" was still a fun experience. Despite a few imperfections (a few repaired tears, some pencil marks, dents in the paper, and some stains), the book was very readable and visually pleasing. As I read through a few of the cantos, it took me a while to get used to the old English writing (using "f" for "s", "v" for "u", etc), but after a while, I noticed that my mind began to instantly fix the words into modern English.
What I found really fascinating about the edition was the engravings. In addition to the beautiful images on the title pages, at the beginning of each canto there were four different engravings that were rotated throughout the book. One was of two falcons, one with a sword and the other being burned in a fire, another showed the lion and the griffon of the royal crest holding flags, another showed the lion and the griffon writing, and the fourth showed two cupids amidst roses and thorns. These engravings were also visible in the second part of the Fairie Queen which contained books 4, 5, and 6 and was printed in 1613. The only difference between the two parts was that in the second, the first letter of each canto was enlarged and embellished, which I thought gave the work a nice touch.
The only visible printing mistake that I saw as I went through the book was in the second edition, in Canto III of the forth book. In this canto, the griffon in the title engraving had been rotated 90 degrees to the left. This small mistake shouldn't be too surprising, considering the large length of the book, as well as the printing methods used at the time. As I looked through the book, thoughts about our session with Mindy Bellof frequently came to mind. If it took us three hours to set less than ten lines of text, it must have taken these printers years of time and patience to set the type for this large edition.
Overall, my experience was a good one in the sense that it allowed me to get in touch with my inner book geek by interacting with a book that existed so many centuries before me. Now that I know that I have reading access to the library, I may take advantage of doing some studying at Columbia in the future.
About Columbia's Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Hey guys, I talked with Jennifer Lee via email the past week, and it's basically set in stone that the only way that we can see the first folio is through the glass case. However, if you make an appointment with Jennifer, you can get an equally rare document to interact with if you want. For example, she suggested that I should reserve the 1611 edition of the Fairie Queen, which I agreed to. They also have a first folio of the Works of King James, an early printing of Ovid's Metamorphosis, and a bunch of other stuff that is equally cool to see.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Columbia's Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Going to Columbia's Rare Book and Manuscript Library was like a field trip. While we've traveled to various niches of Manhattan, Columbia is so far uptown, it's almost like you're not in Manhattan anymore! My voyage started at Columbus Circle, yet another part of the city that is so vastly different than the village. Columbus Circle is modern and shiny and crowded. I was sidetracked on my way to the subway and peeked my head into the Time Warner Building - I suggest you all check it out, it's reminiscent of the malls back home with a touch of New York City opulence. The Time Warner Building screams commercialized cosmopolitan chic - I overheard a woman in Sephora mention that Britney Spears had been there twice since yesterday. Like the village, this part of town seems to attract the rich and famous as a place to be and be seen. On to the subway ride uptown!
I took the 1 train up to 116th street and as I stepped out, I was greeted by young, sweatshirt clad co-eds. This is Columbia. For some reason the kids here (especially the men)look like they belong on a j.crew catalog - typical ivy leaguers. The weather was nice today and the sprawling lawn was covered with young boys throwing frisbees and footballs. I felt like I was on a REAL campus; it was very refreshing considering the concrete that consumes our campus. I found the Butler Library with considerable ease. It's on one side of the huge field and on the other side is the main library, which looks like a national monument that belongs in Washington or Massachussetts or somewhere historic. I know New York is filled with historic institutions but I felt like it was a bit much for a bunch of college students in New York City. Even entering the library as a non-Columbia student felt very "normal"; I'm accustomed to glass protector walls at Bobst and invasive security checks every time I step into an NYU building. I must also mention that the outside of the Butler Library is gorgeous. It has the names of "world authors and US statesmen" (http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/butler/walk.html) carved around the building, and yes, Shakespeare is on there, alongside Cervantes, Milton, Voltaire and Goethe. I found it very interesting that Shakespeare was categorized with Voltaire and Goethe. I proceeded inside and received a visitors library card for the semester (so I can come back and not have to check in!) and went upstairs to the 6th floor. The Rare Book and Manuscript Library is at the end of a hall that looks like an ordinary college hall way but when you reach the glass doors that read "Rare Book and Manuscript Library", you feel as if you are walking into a government secured operative like the CIA's Rare Book and Manuscript Library. There is a lot of glass and doors and a long hall way surrounded by more glass and cases that leads to the help desk. Along the way I saw other works in the glass cases and noticed that there was an entire room (the rare book reading room) that was open to staff only. Columbia seems less "tight" than NYU but there are very definitive lines between what is "allowed" and what is not. I asked to see the First Folio and inquired about Jenny Lee, however, she was busy (I should have made an appointment, try to make one before you come all the way here) but I was shown the First Folio anyway. It's in a glass case. It's open to a page with Shakespeare's picture and looks 500 years old, as it should. It also has information on the history of this piece and how it was acquired by Columbia, like we saw at the Morgan Library. I asked whether we were allowed to see it outside of the case and whether seeing Jenny would make a difference and I was told that it would not as the committee decided in August that our class would have to settle with seeing it in the glass case. I'm not sure how set in stone that actually is or if talking with Jenny would at least get me more information on who is allowed to see it (just post-graduate Shakespearean scholars?) or if they resolved not to take it out ever because of the frailty of the book (I was informed that it was 500 years old by the lady at the help desk, she was very friendly). And so my trip to Columbia to see the First Folio concluded by browsing around the rest of the floor and seeing a piece by Chaucer in another of the glass cases.
Columbia is absolutely breathtaking as a campus, I recommend you all get up here while the weather is still considerably nice and take advantage of the library as an alternative to Bobst to get your work done. It's cushier and the ivy league air works much better with the Shakespeare culture and attitude versus that of Bobst and the village.
I took the 1 train up to 116th street and as I stepped out, I was greeted by young, sweatshirt clad co-eds. This is Columbia. For some reason the kids here (especially the men)look like they belong on a j.crew catalog - typical ivy leaguers. The weather was nice today and the sprawling lawn was covered with young boys throwing frisbees and footballs. I felt like I was on a REAL campus; it was very refreshing considering the concrete that consumes our campus. I found the Butler Library with considerable ease. It's on one side of the huge field and on the other side is the main library, which looks like a national monument that belongs in Washington or Massachussetts or somewhere historic. I know New York is filled with historic institutions but I felt like it was a bit much for a bunch of college students in New York City. Even entering the library as a non-Columbia student felt very "normal"; I'm accustomed to glass protector walls at Bobst and invasive security checks every time I step into an NYU building. I must also mention that the outside of the Butler Library is gorgeous. It has the names of "world authors and US statesmen" (http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/butler/walk.html) carved around the building, and yes, Shakespeare is on there, alongside Cervantes, Milton, Voltaire and Goethe. I found it very interesting that Shakespeare was categorized with Voltaire and Goethe. I proceeded inside and received a visitors library card for the semester (so I can come back and not have to check in!) and went upstairs to the 6th floor. The Rare Book and Manuscript Library is at the end of a hall that looks like an ordinary college hall way but when you reach the glass doors that read "Rare Book and Manuscript Library", you feel as if you are walking into a government secured operative like the CIA's Rare Book and Manuscript Library. There is a lot of glass and doors and a long hall way surrounded by more glass and cases that leads to the help desk. Along the way I saw other works in the glass cases and noticed that there was an entire room (the rare book reading room) that was open to staff only. Columbia seems less "tight" than NYU but there are very definitive lines between what is "allowed" and what is not. I asked to see the First Folio and inquired about Jenny Lee, however, she was busy (I should have made an appointment, try to make one before you come all the way here) but I was shown the First Folio anyway. It's in a glass case. It's open to a page with Shakespeare's picture and looks 500 years old, as it should. It also has information on the history of this piece and how it was acquired by Columbia, like we saw at the Morgan Library. I asked whether we were allowed to see it outside of the case and whether seeing Jenny would make a difference and I was told that it would not as the committee decided in August that our class would have to settle with seeing it in the glass case. I'm not sure how set in stone that actually is or if talking with Jenny would at least get me more information on who is allowed to see it (just post-graduate Shakespearean scholars?) or if they resolved not to take it out ever because of the frailty of the book (I was informed that it was 500 years old by the lady at the help desk, she was very friendly). And so my trip to Columbia to see the First Folio concluded by browsing around the rest of the floor and seeing a piece by Chaucer in another of the glass cases.
Columbia is absolutely breathtaking as a campus, I recommend you all get up here while the weather is still considerably nice and take advantage of the library as an alternative to Bobst to get your work done. It's cushier and the ivy league air works much better with the Shakespeare culture and attitude versus that of Bobst and the village.
Monday, November 06, 2006
Christie's - Parisa
Christies 11/3/06
I took the BDFV to Rockefeller Center. The walk through Rockefeller Center leading up to the entrance of Christie’s was very different than any of the other places we have visited. Midtown Manhattan has an opulence about it that is much flashier than Gramercy Park and more modern than the Upper West Side.
We arrived an hour early and noted that many of the other visitors were old men wearing expensive looking scarves. Even the air in Christie’s smelled expensive. During our wait we were invited to look around. We saw mainly impressionist/modern paintings and paper drawings. Some of the names that stood out were Picasso, Renoir, Matisse and Chagall. Again, people there were predominantly over 50 and male, very affluent and men accompanied any of the women there.
Mr. Wahlgren was very warm. He first showed us the skybox that is reserved for very private clients. I could understand why a place like Christie’s that sells pieces for millions of dollars on a regular basis would have options for certain clients to preserve their privacy and security. If I was bidding millions of dollars on a painting, I may or may not want the world to know this piece was in my possession or sitting in my home. The fact that Christie’s caters to their clients shows how much business dominates the art world. Mr. Wahlgren actually emphasized the fusion of business and art at Christie’s. One of the rooms we walked through held $100 million worth of paintings alone.
We learned more Mr. Berland’s Shakespeare collection that Mr. Wahlgren auctioned off himself. When Mr. Berland began to have the means, he started collecting Shakespeare and then bought the First Four Folios from John Fleeming in New York in 1962. One of the mentioned aspects of selling collectibles is that the world sees you as a collector when you sell your pieces and you become a part of the catalog of owners. Berland sold his collection while he was still alive because he wanted to know to whom the pieces were going to. The entire collection sold for $13.5 million and made it to the Top 10 of book collections. Among book collectors, the First Folio is the cornerstone of great literature. It comes up every ten years at an auction. Christie’s holds the record over Sutheby’s. Their copy was missing a leaf and that damages the value. It may have been imperfect from its publication, but it sold for £3.5 million, which came out a little under the dollar record held by Christie’s five years ago. The sale took place three weeks after 9/11. Because of the timing, they didn’t know if people would be in the state of mind to buy such material. Mr. Berland came to both houses, Sutheby’s and Christie’s to look at the collections and they had to come up with a proposal of how they would market the auction (they tour it around the world, it gets press and is celebrated when it’s shown by Christie’s). A sale typically takes six months to prepare for. The catalog was prepared for the proposal. Wahlgren informed us that the rarity of Shakespeare is in its completeness because so many copies have missing leaves at the beginning and end. The bidder that eventually won this copy was on the phone with the Christie’s staff and the under bidder in the room was from a dealer from the west coast called Heritage Books.
According to Wahlgren Librarians know the significance of the books but at Christie’s they know the value and the “numbers” of the books. Librarians always insist on wearing gloves but the auctioneers prefer to use clean hands because you’re more likely to drop or rip pages because you exert more energy when wearing gloves. Regarding preservation/conservation: they’ll usually just have a box to protect a piece. They keep it in a glass jewelry case and if a potential buyer wants to see it one of the staff will come and take it out. It’s then stored in a room temperature-controlled vault downstairs. The binding is desired in its original form and the Provenance (list of owners) is very important.
Regarding the sale of pieces: If the price is too high, they scare away customers with “sticker shock” but if it’s too low, the seller gets upset. The Second Folio is more common than the Third Folio so it’s worth $80-120,000, whereas the Third Folio, even through published at a later date, went for $500,000. In order to research the history and value of books they consult New York Public Library and they are close with the Grollier Club and now they do a lot of work online. They also have book catalogers on staff. John Wolfson, one of the three owners of the First Folio in North America is a curator of the Rare Books collection at the Globe Theatre in London. The First Folio made up for half of the sale of the Berland collection at $5.6 million. The sale was $6.1 million because the buyer and seller pay commission. There is a 15% commission on the buyer side.
This was my first visit to Christie’s and one of the most memorable parts was entering one of the rooms of impressionist/modern art and feeling exhausted and overwhelmed by all the visual stimulation. One of the rooms actually had so many paintings crammed side by side that it looked like a well lit storage room! That Christie’s auctioned off one of Shakespeare’s First Folio’s for $5.6 million demonstrates that Shakespeare really is in a strata of art and culture revered by and reserved for the wealthy and elite.
I took the BDFV to Rockefeller Center. The walk through Rockefeller Center leading up to the entrance of Christie’s was very different than any of the other places we have visited. Midtown Manhattan has an opulence about it that is much flashier than Gramercy Park and more modern than the Upper West Side.
We arrived an hour early and noted that many of the other visitors were old men wearing expensive looking scarves. Even the air in Christie’s smelled expensive. During our wait we were invited to look around. We saw mainly impressionist/modern paintings and paper drawings. Some of the names that stood out were Picasso, Renoir, Matisse and Chagall. Again, people there were predominantly over 50 and male, very affluent and men accompanied any of the women there.
Mr. Wahlgren was very warm. He first showed us the skybox that is reserved for very private clients. I could understand why a place like Christie’s that sells pieces for millions of dollars on a regular basis would have options for certain clients to preserve their privacy and security. If I was bidding millions of dollars on a painting, I may or may not want the world to know this piece was in my possession or sitting in my home. The fact that Christie’s caters to their clients shows how much business dominates the art world. Mr. Wahlgren actually emphasized the fusion of business and art at Christie’s. One of the rooms we walked through held $100 million worth of paintings alone.
We learned more Mr. Berland’s Shakespeare collection that Mr. Wahlgren auctioned off himself. When Mr. Berland began to have the means, he started collecting Shakespeare and then bought the First Four Folios from John Fleeming in New York in 1962. One of the mentioned aspects of selling collectibles is that the world sees you as a collector when you sell your pieces and you become a part of the catalog of owners. Berland sold his collection while he was still alive because he wanted to know to whom the pieces were going to. The entire collection sold for $13.5 million and made it to the Top 10 of book collections. Among book collectors, the First Folio is the cornerstone of great literature. It comes up every ten years at an auction. Christie’s holds the record over Sutheby’s. Their copy was missing a leaf and that damages the value. It may have been imperfect from its publication, but it sold for £3.5 million, which came out a little under the dollar record held by Christie’s five years ago. The sale took place three weeks after 9/11. Because of the timing, they didn’t know if people would be in the state of mind to buy such material. Mr. Berland came to both houses, Sutheby’s and Christie’s to look at the collections and they had to come up with a proposal of how they would market the auction (they tour it around the world, it gets press and is celebrated when it’s shown by Christie’s). A sale typically takes six months to prepare for. The catalog was prepared for the proposal. Wahlgren informed us that the rarity of Shakespeare is in its completeness because so many copies have missing leaves at the beginning and end. The bidder that eventually won this copy was on the phone with the Christie’s staff and the under bidder in the room was from a dealer from the west coast called Heritage Books.
According to Wahlgren Librarians know the significance of the books but at Christie’s they know the value and the “numbers” of the books. Librarians always insist on wearing gloves but the auctioneers prefer to use clean hands because you’re more likely to drop or rip pages because you exert more energy when wearing gloves. Regarding preservation/conservation: they’ll usually just have a box to protect a piece. They keep it in a glass jewelry case and if a potential buyer wants to see it one of the staff will come and take it out. It’s then stored in a room temperature-controlled vault downstairs. The binding is desired in its original form and the Provenance (list of owners) is very important.
Regarding the sale of pieces: If the price is too high, they scare away customers with “sticker shock” but if it’s too low, the seller gets upset. The Second Folio is more common than the Third Folio so it’s worth $80-120,000, whereas the Third Folio, even through published at a later date, went for $500,000. In order to research the history and value of books they consult New York Public Library and they are close with the Grollier Club and now they do a lot of work online. They also have book catalogers on staff. John Wolfson, one of the three owners of the First Folio in North America is a curator of the Rare Books collection at the Globe Theatre in London. The First Folio made up for half of the sale of the Berland collection at $5.6 million. The sale was $6.1 million because the buyer and seller pay commission. There is a 15% commission on the buyer side.
This was my first visit to Christie’s and one of the most memorable parts was entering one of the rooms of impressionist/modern art and feeling exhausted and overwhelmed by all the visual stimulation. One of the rooms actually had so many paintings crammed side by side that it looked like a well lit storage room! That Christie’s auctioned off one of Shakespeare’s First Folio’s for $5.6 million demonstrates that Shakespeare really is in a strata of art and culture revered by and reserved for the wealthy and elite.
Morgan Library
Morgan Library 10/27/06
Anna Lou Ashby is a curator at the Morgan that gave us the tour. It is an independent research library with a very strong museum function. Pierpont Morgan was one of the great collectors of the 20th century. J.P. Morgan was a banker and collector. They wanted to establish an institution for public use. It holds works primarily from Western civilizations. They have old master drawings but they do not buy paintings. Morgan collected paintings but when he died, he decided to give them away to other museums. Pierpont was President of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They also have old watches and sculptures. They have a strong interest in art so they continue to buy drawings but not paintings. There is a major collection of printed books. Printed type started in the West with Gutenberg in 1450. Morgan collection of 15th century printing is the biggest in the country. Incunabula’s (implying the “infancy”) were printed between 1455-1500. 1501 starts the 16th century. The Morgans fine-bindings collection is the best in the world. The Morgans were great collectors and the have great curators so they continue to acquire. They have a collection of children books in the form of chap-books. Chap men sold cheap books on the street. The market for children books started at the turn of the 18th century. Pictures were produced for children. They are very concerned about the intellectual content, but they look at books as objects. Today they buy education toys and games. The early children’s books collection is part of that.
She is working on the early women writers collection. One of the writers she is featuring is Margaret Fuller and her comments on the role of women in the modern world. Fuller died in a shipwreck off of Long Island and they have a letter of hers to Emerson when she was coming back from Italy and it said “watch out for a shipwreck.” There is an “At Home and Abroad” compilation made by her brother of reports send to New York newspapers. She was one of the first transatlantic reporters. There are also a lot of European writers featured in this collection.
The library also holds original Austen, Dickens and Bob Dylan manuscripts. Friday night from 6-9 pm is free. We had admission to all the exhibitions. There are also some science manuscripts (like the first editions of Galileo and Copernicus). This library tries to build its collections by things that relate. They have Near Eastern cylinder seals made out of semi-precious stones.
Music manuscripts include Mozart, Schubert, and some modern composers as well as a Mozart show itself. We were shown the Marble Hall and asked to be sensitive to the doorways. The Marble Hall used to be the entrance but now the entrance is on Madison Avenue. The Medieval Manuscript Department holds Dante’s Inferno and roman architecture by Aliberti. The labels tell you what the work is at the top and when/how it was acquired at the bottom. Ms. Morgan Jr. collected books on gardening and architecture and her sons donated her collections.
1485 – Le Morte d’Artur: there are only two copies of this book left; the other is in England. It was purchased by Pierpont in 1911. The manuscript of Book I of Paradise Lost by John Milton (1608-74) was purchased by Pierpont in 1904. They control the light and temperature in the glass cases because collections in paper have chemicals that are affected. The first printed edition of William Blake’s “Songs of Innocence” (1789). Blake printed it himself and etched the plate, controlled the color and writing on it. He was trained as an engineer. This copy was printed by Blake for his friends in 1794.
Photographs of Native Americans by Edward Curtis (1868-1952) to preserve what he knew about Indians. The Morgans helped pay for this project. It was purchased between 1907-1930.
The copy of King Richard II, owned by D.H. Lawrence, has comparative notes with his girlfriend, Jesse Chambers (1907). Research libraries hold these because of the special annotations that serve as research material.
We saw:
Byron’s manuscript of Don Juan, autographed (1818-1820).
The typed script of Oscar Wilde’s “An Ideal Husband” (1894).
Drawing books by Jean de Brunhoff (1899-1937) of “The Story of Babar” that show the creative process.
Galileo’s manuscript on the back of an envelope from the 14-25 of January, 1611.
Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1838) with French illustrations of J.J. Grandville.
Thoreau’s journal from August 1852 to January 1853.
Lewis Carrol’s “Through the Looking Glass and what Alice Found There” with 50 illustrations (1872).
Ibn Bakhtishu, Manafi al-Hayawar (“Uses of Animals”) in Persian between 1297-1300.
The Hours of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese are images like those on Sistine Chapel. The curators used this to refer to when trying to work on the Sistine Chapel to authenticate colors because the “Farnese Hours” was the last great Italian Renaissance manuscript.
The center of the library is glass encased. The walls and ceilings were designed by Piano and completed in April 2006. The back of the building is 100 years old, designed by McKim. The reading room is upstairs with cherry tables and has natural light coming through and lamps on each of the tables. Piano’s idea was to make a piazza “town square” where you can look up at the surrounding buildings. The Morgan library was built by Charles McKim. Morgan had so many books they had to add two uppers rings before the construction finished. It’s reminiscent of Renaissance art. The muses indicate the genre. McKim, Mead and White is the firm that worked on it. Morgan was not just an anglophile. His French and German collections are huge and he was interested in Egypt and Italy.
In the East Room (library): There is a copy of the Gutenberg Bible from 1455. Morgan has 3 copies of 50 survived copies today from 180 prints (2/3 are in paper, 1/3 in vellum). There is an engraving of Adam and Eve by Albrecht Durer (1504), a collection of prayer books and an edition of the Koran. The columns are covered in lapis.
Morgan died in 1913 and his wife died in the 1920’s. The house was torn down and J.P. rebuilt the 1926 building. Spencer and Aaron’s collections are at the New York Public Library. They came to New York to work on 18th century works collection then went to New York Public and then to the Morgan.
The West Room (the study): the wallpaper has arms of Renaissance Chigi family. The books are first printings of British authors. The ceiling is made of wood with old details but colored design is not original. The original renaissance paintings are on the walls. The First Folio from 1623 and 1632. The little room in the corner is a safe room.
The reading room is for graduate students and scholars only. They need a letter of recommendation to justify that you are a serious scholar. It’s an issue of access and preservation. I also noticed that the majority of the people at the Morgan were elderly. Compared to the New York Historical Society that had visitors of all ages and backgrounds, the Morgan’s visitors were predominately white and old. Observations like this made me question the divides that reserve Shakespeare for the “elite” and convince everyone in the periphery that Shakespeare is intangible.
Anna Lou Ashby is a curator at the Morgan that gave us the tour. It is an independent research library with a very strong museum function. Pierpont Morgan was one of the great collectors of the 20th century. J.P. Morgan was a banker and collector. They wanted to establish an institution for public use. It holds works primarily from Western civilizations. They have old master drawings but they do not buy paintings. Morgan collected paintings but when he died, he decided to give them away to other museums. Pierpont was President of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They also have old watches and sculptures. They have a strong interest in art so they continue to buy drawings but not paintings. There is a major collection of printed books. Printed type started in the West with Gutenberg in 1450. Morgan collection of 15th century printing is the biggest in the country. Incunabula’s (implying the “infancy”) were printed between 1455-1500. 1501 starts the 16th century. The Morgans fine-bindings collection is the best in the world. The Morgans were great collectors and the have great curators so they continue to acquire. They have a collection of children books in the form of chap-books. Chap men sold cheap books on the street. The market for children books started at the turn of the 18th century. Pictures were produced for children. They are very concerned about the intellectual content, but they look at books as objects. Today they buy education toys and games. The early children’s books collection is part of that.
She is working on the early women writers collection. One of the writers she is featuring is Margaret Fuller and her comments on the role of women in the modern world. Fuller died in a shipwreck off of Long Island and they have a letter of hers to Emerson when she was coming back from Italy and it said “watch out for a shipwreck.” There is an “At Home and Abroad” compilation made by her brother of reports send to New York newspapers. She was one of the first transatlantic reporters. There are also a lot of European writers featured in this collection.
The library also holds original Austen, Dickens and Bob Dylan manuscripts. Friday night from 6-9 pm is free. We had admission to all the exhibitions. There are also some science manuscripts (like the first editions of Galileo and Copernicus). This library tries to build its collections by things that relate. They have Near Eastern cylinder seals made out of semi-precious stones.
Music manuscripts include Mozart, Schubert, and some modern composers as well as a Mozart show itself. We were shown the Marble Hall and asked to be sensitive to the doorways. The Marble Hall used to be the entrance but now the entrance is on Madison Avenue. The Medieval Manuscript Department holds Dante’s Inferno and roman architecture by Aliberti. The labels tell you what the work is at the top and when/how it was acquired at the bottom. Ms. Morgan Jr. collected books on gardening and architecture and her sons donated her collections.
1485 – Le Morte d’Artur: there are only two copies of this book left; the other is in England. It was purchased by Pierpont in 1911. The manuscript of Book I of Paradise Lost by John Milton (1608-74) was purchased by Pierpont in 1904. They control the light and temperature in the glass cases because collections in paper have chemicals that are affected. The first printed edition of William Blake’s “Songs of Innocence” (1789). Blake printed it himself and etched the plate, controlled the color and writing on it. He was trained as an engineer. This copy was printed by Blake for his friends in 1794.
Photographs of Native Americans by Edward Curtis (1868-1952) to preserve what he knew about Indians. The Morgans helped pay for this project. It was purchased between 1907-1930.
The copy of King Richard II, owned by D.H. Lawrence, has comparative notes with his girlfriend, Jesse Chambers (1907). Research libraries hold these because of the special annotations that serve as research material.
We saw:
Byron’s manuscript of Don Juan, autographed (1818-1820).
The typed script of Oscar Wilde’s “An Ideal Husband” (1894).
Drawing books by Jean de Brunhoff (1899-1937) of “The Story of Babar” that show the creative process.
Galileo’s manuscript on the back of an envelope from the 14-25 of January, 1611.
Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1838) with French illustrations of J.J. Grandville.
Thoreau’s journal from August 1852 to January 1853.
Lewis Carrol’s “Through the Looking Glass and what Alice Found There” with 50 illustrations (1872).
Ibn Bakhtishu, Manafi al-Hayawar (“Uses of Animals”) in Persian between 1297-1300.
The Hours of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese are images like those on Sistine Chapel. The curators used this to refer to when trying to work on the Sistine Chapel to authenticate colors because the “Farnese Hours” was the last great Italian Renaissance manuscript.
The center of the library is glass encased. The walls and ceilings were designed by Piano and completed in April 2006. The back of the building is 100 years old, designed by McKim. The reading room is upstairs with cherry tables and has natural light coming through and lamps on each of the tables. Piano’s idea was to make a piazza “town square” where you can look up at the surrounding buildings. The Morgan library was built by Charles McKim. Morgan had so many books they had to add two uppers rings before the construction finished. It’s reminiscent of Renaissance art. The muses indicate the genre. McKim, Mead and White is the firm that worked on it. Morgan was not just an anglophile. His French and German collections are huge and he was interested in Egypt and Italy.
In the East Room (library): There is a copy of the Gutenberg Bible from 1455. Morgan has 3 copies of 50 survived copies today from 180 prints (2/3 are in paper, 1/3 in vellum). There is an engraving of Adam and Eve by Albrecht Durer (1504), a collection of prayer books and an edition of the Koran. The columns are covered in lapis.
Morgan died in 1913 and his wife died in the 1920’s. The house was torn down and J.P. rebuilt the 1926 building. Spencer and Aaron’s collections are at the New York Public Library. They came to New York to work on 18th century works collection then went to New York Public and then to the Morgan.
The West Room (the study): the wallpaper has arms of Renaissance Chigi family. The books are first printings of British authors. The ceiling is made of wood with old details but colored design is not original. The original renaissance paintings are on the walls. The First Folio from 1623 and 1632. The little room in the corner is a safe room.
The reading room is for graduate students and scholars only. They need a letter of recommendation to justify that you are a serious scholar. It’s an issue of access and preservation. I also noticed that the majority of the people at the Morgan were elderly. Compared to the New York Historical Society that had visitors of all ages and backgrounds, the Morgan’s visitors were predominately white and old. Observations like this made me question the divides that reserve Shakespeare for the “elite” and convince everyone in the periphery that Shakespeare is intangible.
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Christie's -- Adrianna Borgia
Overall, our visit to Christie's gave me yet another perspective of the art world. Rather than view old manuscripts and books from a conservation or informational perspective, Christie's made me think about them as a collector or a business man would. In some ways, this felt a bit strange. As I stepped into the building, I felt that I was both in an art museum as well as a corporation. Not only was there a description printed next to each painting, but also a price range as well. This felt a bit strange to me, putting a monetary value to art. In some ways, it made me feel that I'm really not very knowledgeable when it comes to the art world. It seemed that every painting that I felt was really beautiful or provoking was worth a lot less than others that I found merely "okay."
I feel that the value of a painting or any type of art (visual or literary) greatly depends on who created it. As Frances Wahlgren stated, a sketch that took Picasso an afternoon to make could yield thousands, even millions of more dollars than a rare manuscript. He told us that overall, it's rare for a book or manuscript to make over two million dollars. We should ask why then that Shakespeare's first folio alone was auctioned off for 6.1 million dollars? Part of the reason could be what I stated before: it is because of who wrote it. Like Picasso or Monet, Shakespeare is a universally recognized figure. In a way, his image and status in both the American and international mindset is what allows his work to "sell itself," ever at the price of over 6 million dollars.
I found the overall atmosphere of the place to be friendlier than I expected as well. From the receptionists to coat room (believe me, I've met many disgruntled coat room people, and luckily, Christie's had none), everyone was very accommodating and friendly. I was also pleasantly surprised with our host, Mr. Wahlgren as well. I was worried that he would be a little uptight like the main librarian of the Hampden Booth library, but as it turned out, he was the complete opposite. He was very energetic, amiable, and overall likeable guy. Not only did he show us the catalogue for the folio sales, but he also went through the trouble of getting us copies of the pages describing the volumes, which was thoughtful of him. I also thought it was cool that we got to see the video of the first folio sale, because it was interesting to see both the tension between the buyers, as well as the tension that Mr. Wahlgren was feeling as well.
His comparison between an auction house and a library definitely showed how business and conservation take different views on rare books. Whereas in a library like the Morgan, one can only touch a special text with gloves and a recommendation, in an auction house like Christie's, anyone is allowed to interact with it, whether it be the first folio or an early edition of Alice in Wonderland. In a way, an auction house is a like a museum where you can touch things. Though this concept may be a conservationist's worst nightmare, in the business world, it makes sense. If you're asking people to buy a rare book for a large sum of money, they want to be sure that what they're buying is intact and in good condition. In a way, after observation the conflict of conservation between different library settings, it was interesting to see a different institution in which touching something as sought after as the first folio is acceptable.
I feel that the value of a painting or any type of art (visual or literary) greatly depends on who created it. As Frances Wahlgren stated, a sketch that took Picasso an afternoon to make could yield thousands, even millions of more dollars than a rare manuscript. He told us that overall, it's rare for a book or manuscript to make over two million dollars. We should ask why then that Shakespeare's first folio alone was auctioned off for 6.1 million dollars? Part of the reason could be what I stated before: it is because of who wrote it. Like Picasso or Monet, Shakespeare is a universally recognized figure. In a way, his image and status in both the American and international mindset is what allows his work to "sell itself," ever at the price of over 6 million dollars.
I found the overall atmosphere of the place to be friendlier than I expected as well. From the receptionists to coat room (believe me, I've met many disgruntled coat room people, and luckily, Christie's had none), everyone was very accommodating and friendly. I was also pleasantly surprised with our host, Mr. Wahlgren as well. I was worried that he would be a little uptight like the main librarian of the Hampden Booth library, but as it turned out, he was the complete opposite. He was very energetic, amiable, and overall likeable guy. Not only did he show us the catalogue for the folio sales, but he also went through the trouble of getting us copies of the pages describing the volumes, which was thoughtful of him. I also thought it was cool that we got to see the video of the first folio sale, because it was interesting to see both the tension between the buyers, as well as the tension that Mr. Wahlgren was feeling as well.
His comparison between an auction house and a library definitely showed how business and conservation take different views on rare books. Whereas in a library like the Morgan, one can only touch a special text with gloves and a recommendation, in an auction house like Christie's, anyone is allowed to interact with it, whether it be the first folio or an early edition of Alice in Wonderland. In a way, an auction house is a like a museum where you can touch things. Though this concept may be a conservationist's worst nightmare, in the business world, it makes sense. If you're asking people to buy a rare book for a large sum of money, they want to be sure that what they're buying is intact and in good condition. In a way, after observation the conflict of conservation between different library settings, it was interesting to see a different institution in which touching something as sought after as the first folio is acceptable.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
"Folio, Where Art Thou?"
Dear American Shakespeare Scholars:
In lieu of our visit to Christie's tomorrow to meet with the man responsible for the $6.1 million dollar of a Shakespeare First Folio in 2001, please have a look at the following article from Smithsonian magazine, October 2006.
Cheers,
ASH
p.s. Just click on the blue question mark to get to the article.
In lieu of our visit to Christie's tomorrow to meet with the man responsible for the $6.1 million dollar of a Shakespeare First Folio in 2001, please have a look at the following article from Smithsonian magazine, October 2006.
Cheers,
ASH
p.s. Just click on the blue question mark to get to the article.
"To be or not to be Shakespeare" - Smithsonian Magazine, 0ctober 2006
Dear All:
Please click on the following link/point (the blue question mark below) and it will take you to a very interesting Shakespeare article that just appeared in the Smithsonian magazine.
Cheers,
ASH
p.s. Thanks to Ori for spotting this piece!
Please click on the following link/point (the blue question mark below) and it will take you to a very interesting Shakespeare article that just appeared in the Smithsonian magazine.
Cheers,
ASH
p.s. Thanks to Ori for spotting this piece!
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