Christie’s has issued a catalogue for the sale of several Waugh editions from the collection of William S Reese. Here’s the general description:
The themes of Part Three of The Private Collection of William S. Reese include fine art, Yale and Connecticut, St. Barts, American practical arts including drawing and penmanship manuals, carpentry and architecture, general Americana, bibliophily and book history, and first edition literature.
Highlights include an original drawing by Henri Matisse; first edition presentation copies by Evelyn Waugh, Flann O’Brien, James Thurber, and Wallace Stevens; an original miniature painting from the Bhagavata Purana, rare manuscripts and maps relating the St. Barts, autograph material by Saki, a comprehensive collection of works by Asher Benjamin; some of the earliest American carpentry guides and price-books; and a very handsome copy of John Gundry’s large folio Specimens of Penmanship.
Perhaps the choicest items being sold as a single lot are seven presentation copies to Waugh’s biographer Christopher Sykes. The guide price on those is $7000-9000. Equally exciting are three books presented to John and Penelope Betjeman. These are being sold separately and include one of the 50 copies of the Brideshead Revisited page proofs given as Christmas presents in 1944 as well as first editions of A Little Learning and Edmund Campion. Each item is individually described in the catalogue. The sale is scheduled for online auction between 19 May and 2 June. The items may be viewed from 20-26 May, 10a-5p at 40 Rockefeller Center, New York. Here’s a link.
