Collectibles With Wide Appeal Offered At 37th Annual Book Sale

By Nancy K. Crevier

John Renjilian, rare and antiques book expert, has lent his professional opinion to the Friends of the C.H. Booth Library as a book sale volunteer for several years. This year, said Mr Renjilian, the library has received a greater quantity of potentially valuable books than last year, many with appeal to both seasoned and novice book collectors.

“We probably won’t see any in the $3,500 range like last year,” said Mr Renjilian, referring to the 2011 sale of the 1800s handwritten whaling journal of Second Mate William E. Percival of Sandwich, Mass. However, he believes that books like the 1811 first edition Lachesis Lapponica (Tour of Lapland), by famed botanist Linnaeus, will grab the attention of book lovers who attend the 37th Annual Friends of the C.H. Booth Library Book Sale, July 14 to 18, at the Reed Intermediate School on Trades Lane.

“It’s filled with his drawings, and the writing is journal form, as he wrote it,” said Mr Renjilian. “The book is in good condition. It has held up pretty well for a book that is 201 years old,” he said. Tour of Lapland is being offered for $600.

The Vicar of Wakefield is valuable not so much for the author, Oliver Goldsmith, but because of its illustrator, Arthur Rackham, whose ethereal drawing illustrated one of the editions of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. “Rackham was one of the popular illustrators of that era,” said Mr Renjilian of the 1929 book. “This is the English limited edition [159/575], signed by the illustrator,” he said. Bound in velum, a less durable material than leather, Mr Renjilian said that the book was “not in bad condition” for its age, giving it a selling price of $450.

Anybody who is interested in psychology or the history of human ideas, he said, may be interested in the collection of transcripts from lectures given by Carl Jung, in September 1936, at a seminar on Bailey Island, Maine. “These transcripts were provided only to the attendees, approximately 100 of them,” Mr Renjilian said. The lectures were never published, he added. Inserted in the transcript collection is a small sheet of doodles. The collection is priced at $150.

In fine condition is the autographed copy of Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. The 50th anniversary edition is offered at $65.

Known more for his acting than literary talents, Richard Jenkins Burton penned a brief biography of his wife, Elizabeth Taylor “Jenkins” Burton. A copy of Meeting Mrs Jenkins, signed by both “Mrs Jenkins” and Richard Burton will be found in the Specials Collection, as well, in Room 201.

The volumes of the mid-20th Century French periodical Verve, six issues in five volumes, are certain to be attractive to collectors, Mr Renjilian said, pricing the collection at $1,250. The library is pleased to have received Picasso and the Human Comedy, constituting the American edition of Verve, Numbers 29 and 30. “That is going for $600,” Mr Renjilian said.

Other offerings in the Specials Collection at this year’s sale, he said, include works by T.S. Eliot, Charles Dickens, J.K. Rowling, George Bernard Shaw, and 11 volumes of poetry and prose of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

“The Longfellows are more of decorative value,” said Mr Renjilian. Bound in green leather with gilt print and marbled edges, the late 19th Century volumes will add interest to book shelves, he said.

Among his favorite offerings this year is a book that he spent two years researching. Fox’s Book of Martyrs, The Acts and Monuments of the Christian Church is actually two volumes, from 1828 and 1829. The book, with a blatantly Puritan, anti-Catholic slant, was actually used as a children’s book, Mr Renjilian discovered. “It’s a throwaway as a book,” said Mr Renjilian, gingerly handling the tattered tome, “but the lithographs are what make it of value. This is from within the first ten years of American lithography, and include five plates by Pendleton, who was one of the biggest early lithographers in America,” he said.

“This is a book with a multiplicity of plates,” he added, and one very unusual lithograph is not included in the directions to the binder at the back of the book, leaving him to conclude that it was an extra plate, and one not included in every copy of the Book of Martyrs. That is a lithograph from Anthony Imbert, of artwork drawn on stone by a woman artist, “Miss H.T.”

Mr Renjilian noted that there are more art books in his rare and antique books list than previous years. Photography specials include the Special Collection 24 Photos by Helmut Newtown, stated as a first edition in fine condition. “These are very avant garde photographs, many of nudes,” he said. Two books of black and white photography by Richard Avedon, Observations, with text by Truman Capote, and Nothing Personal, signed by writer James Baldwin, are certain to gain attention, Mr Renjilian said.

The library received a donation of approximately 400 chromolithographs of botanical prints from The Garden and other publications, being offered for $1,000.

Music collectors can seek out the more than 1,000 opera LPs, 200 of which are autographed by the artists, in the Specials Collection room, during the book sale.

There is a solid offering in the Specials Collection this year, Mr Renjilian said, as well as many signed books from contemporary and classic authors. “I think there is something for everyone,” he said. For information on a very special book being sold in the Special Collections Room this year, see the accompanying article, “If The Odds Are In Your Favor.”

Bibliophiles will want to rise and shine on opening day of the book sale. Numbered admission tickets on Saturday, July 14, go on sale at 7 am, for $5, with entry at 9 am. Last year’s premier offering, the whaling journal, sold within the first minute of the sale.

For more information on book sale highlights, visit www.boothbooksale.org.