Rare Book Monthly

Articles - June - 2006 Issue

A Sordid Tale of The Destruction of a Great Collection

Heaven's Portals Wide Expand was purchased by San Francisco bookseller John Windle for a client.


What Howie and her cohorts paid for the collection is not known, though speculation puts it in the $7-$8 million range. Of course they wanted to be compensated for their role as unnecessary middlemen, and they were not looking for 5% or 10%. They estimated the value at something like $17 million, and began shopping the collection for this new and improved price. They were offered to major institutions including Yale, since they had the only other drawing from the original collection. However, the price was now too steep to sell them as a collection. The owners concluded that the only way to get their price was to sell the drawings off one at a time. Using the dubious justification that it wasn't really a complete collection anyway, since one out of twenty pieces was separated earlier, they took the collection to Sotheby's, to be sold piece by piece.

The attempt to sell the collection piecemeal in America was delayed when the owners were temporarily denied an export license. Much condemnation of the process was expressed by voices in the art and book worlds. The New York Times even chipped in with an editorial opposing the sale, noting that Blake's works were meant to be a coherent whole. It didn't matter. Money talks louder than reasoned words. If you thought art and literature has nothing in common with politics, think again.

On May 2, 2006, the collection, together for almost two centuries, was torn apart. The nineteen original watercolors by Blake, along with the portfolio labeled "Designs for Blair's Grave," were put up for sale at Sotheby's. One by one, they were sold, or at least eleven of them. Eight received insufficient bids and were not sold. The eleven, plus the portfolio, brought in a hair over $7.1 million. While the sale was something of a disappointment, with eight unsold and several others coming in below the low estimate, it is unknown whether the owners are feeling any regret over their decision. They did not collect anything like $17 million. However, they did get close to the price for which the collection was offered to the Tate, and they still have eight drawings left to dispose of in the future. They may not get as much for those eight as they once thought, but they should still get enough to turn a profit. Whether it will be enough to justify tying up millions of dollars is yet to be determined.

We asked John Windle, a San Francisco bookseller and one of America's foremost Blake experts, his thoughts on the sale. Windle purchased one of the drawings, Heavens Portals Wide Expand to Let Him In, for $329,600 (against an estimate of $350,000-$550,000) for a customer, while purchasing the leather portfolio which held the drawings for himself. He had been a strong opponent of the sale, and like many others, had unsuccessfully sought to find a way to stop it. He minced no words in describing the process: "Splitting up the collection was a disastrous decision from every possible viewpoint, a heinous crime against England's greatest visionary poet/painter/printer which dishonors his life's work and his memory." He described the process as "a sordid and grubby affair from start to finish that reflects badly on everyone involved." Mr. Windle was particularly upset to see the twelve drawings that were used in the Blair edition broken up, which he described as a "tragedy."

Rare Book Monthly

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    19th Century Shop. Shakespeare’s Poems, first collected edition
    19th Century Shop. Walt Whitman portrait inscribed with a Leaves of Grass poem
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    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HARRISON, Benjamin. Document signed (“Benj Harrison”) as governor of Virginia, certifying the service of Daniel Cumbo, a Black Revolutionary soldier. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. $4,000 to $6,000.
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    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HIGHLY IMPORTANT MORMON ARCHIVE. ALLEY, George. Archive of 23 Autograph Letters Signed by Mormon Convert George Alley to His Brother Joseph Alley. $10,000 to $20,000.
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    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: NEWLY DISCOVERED FIRST PRINTING OF "WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE... " FROM THE ONLY NEWSPAPER ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL PROCESSION. $4,000 to $8,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: A VERY RARE ACCOUNT OF BLACKBEARD’S DEATH AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PIRATE ITEMS EXTANT. $3,000 to $5,000.
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    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [VIETNAM WAR]. The original pen used by Secretary of State William P. Rogers to sign the Vietnam Peace Agreement, Paris, 27 January 1973. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: SONS OF LIBERTY FOUNDER COLONEL BARRÉ ANNOTATED TITLE-PAGE, “WHICH OUGHT TO ROUSE UP BRITISH ATTENTION”. $4,000 to $6,000.
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    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
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    Forum Mar. 28: Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression with dust-jacket, 1937 [but 1938]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Blake (William).- Thornton (Robert John). The Pastorals of Virgil, 2 vol., engraved plates by William Blake, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
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    Forum Mar. 28: America.- Mount (William J.) & Thomas Page. The English Pilot…, [bound with] The Fourth Book, describing The West Indies Navigation from Hudson's-Bay to the River Amazones, 1721. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Oldfield (Henry Ambrose), Rajman Singh Chitrakar & others. An album of 160 photographs and 13 original artworks, (1833-1919), [c. 1850s-1880s]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
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    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
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  • Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG BEADED JUDICIAL COLLAR. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS. $8,000 - $12,000
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    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: META REBNER'S WORKING SCRIPT OF THE LOVED ONE. $1,500 - $2,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A KATHY GROVE PORTRAIT OF CYNDI LAUPER FOR THE FEBRUARY 1989 DETAILS COVER. $800 - $1,200
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