It seems everything having to do with Charles Dickens involves a good story. In “David Copperfield,” Dickens made up a company name that actually existed so after publication he presented the owners an inscribed, first edition from his own library that’s so rare it sold for $95,000, many times what his unsigned first editions go for.The company was Brookes of Sheffield. It made knives and tools. The owners sent Dickens a case of its cutlery, but legend has it that a knife gift means the friendship will be severed. So the superstitious Dickens sent his personal copy to “pay” for the knives. “David Copperfield” was Dicken’s favorite work. The book and manuscript auction was staged by Christie’s in London on June 13.
“David Copperfield” Signed By Dickens Sells For $95,000
June 13, 2012
High Prices For Fitzgerald First Editions
June 12, 2013Riding the Fitzgerald wave created by Baz Luhrmann’s movie version of ‘The Great Gatsby,” a first edition of the author’s “Flappers and Philosophers” has sold at a Sotheby’s book auction in New York for $119,000, almost doubling its high estimate of $60,000. At the same event, a first edition of “Gatsby” once owned by author Malcolm Cowley achieved a price of $112,500. The book, which came with its rare original dust jacket, included the notes Fitzgerald made in his own copy, which Cowley dutifully transcribed.
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Potter’s First Edition (with scribbles): $228,000
May 23, 2013For some reason, many authors have a compulsion to write and draw on first editions of their books, as R.K. Rowling did when she scribbled and drew on 43 pages of “Harry Pottter and the Philosopher’s Stone” (“Sorcerer’s Stone” to Yanks). That copy sold at a charity auction in London this week for $228,000 after fierce bidding. It went to an anonymous buyer on the phone.
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Milton Berle’s Jokes Laugh To The Bank
May 8, 2013For $158,000 a bidder got Milton Berle’s library, including books and boxes of bound scripts and personal correspondence, but he didn’t get the comedian’s thousands of one-liners and jokes carefully catalogued over the decades. That file went for another $65,000 at Bonham’s Entertainment auction this week.
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Rising Value of Unrestored Cars
By Malcolm Welford, Vintage Car Specialist
