Edward R. Leahy has devoted over half a century to the pursuit of rare books—succumbing to a temptation here, seizing an opportunity there—resulting in a remarkable library filled with choice copies. His bibliophile pursuit has been characterized by astute judgment, tenacity, patience, passion, and action. Constant curiosity, a strong aesthetic sense, and lifelong Anglophilia have further guided his ambition to acquire the best books in diverse fields, such as modern illuminated manuscripts and fine bindings, important English literature, especially Samuel Johnson and James Boswell, early printing, and fascinating travel accounts. Mr. Leahy is in many ways the quintessential antiquarian. He would have been right at home in Hester Thrale’s salon, accompanying Thomas Frognall Dibdin on his bibliographical journeys across Britain, or even (perhaps especially) in the auctions rooms with the fictional Dr. Syntax. He is a “serious” connoisseur who cloaks his sharp acumen and competitive streak, honed as a keen athlete and successful international lawyer and businessman, in humor and modesty. He is a raconteur par excellence, but his book collection, a veritable antiquarian pleasure ground, speaks for itself.
Mr. Leahy’s collection is already well known for his outstanding group of modern British illuminated manuscripts and fine bindings. In the first decades of the 20th Century, the two firms of Sangorski & Sutcliffe and Rivière & Son competed to produce some of the most elaborate book bindings ever attempted. Resplendently bound with jewels, inlays, and fine gilt work, some of the Sangorski illuminated manuscripts took several years to accomplish. The Leahy library includes nine such manuscripts in jeweled and relievo bindings, plus three additional jeweled bindings and two additional Sangorski manuscripts, and nine exceptional Cosway bindings with portraits and scenes painted on ivory, chiefly by the renowned C.B. Currie; plus even more in the Cosway style. Of the jeweled and other magnificent bindings, the Sangorski illuminated manuscripts, and Cosway bindings, there has been no comparable collection at auction since the great Phoebe Boyle sale in 1923. Indeed, some of the most exquisite such copies in the Leahy collection formerly graced the Phoebe Boyle collection too: the stunning Guinevere (lot 61), the Cosway Sovereigns of England (lot 82), and five other lots. Phoebe A.D. Boyle (d. 1922) is a legend in this field, described by the binder George Sutcliffe as “rivaling the Medici in her patronage of the production of beautiful books” (The Cinderella of the Arts, p. 63).
You will find many important books from the finest American bibliophile libraries of the past in the Leahy collection: not only Phoebe Boyle, but also Beverly Chew, Theodore de Vinne, Estelle Doheny, Jerome Kern, Paul Chevalier, and Cornelius Hauck—to name only a few. Note in particular the fine Doheny copies of both Brant’s Ship of Fools (lot 16) and Dickens’s Christmas Books (lot 165). This frequent historic provenance is an indication of the high quality across all subjects. Mr. Leahy’s library will take you from the first decades of print, when important texts were reproduced via movable type and enhanced with hand-painted illumination or copious woodcuts, across the great works of English literature including the plays of “the triumvirate of wit,” i.e., Ben Jonson, John Fletcher, and William Shakespeare. There are two Folio editions of Shakespeare in the sale, one in fine red morocco and another in contemporary calf (lots 23 and 24). These are followed by a very fine copy of Machiavelli’s Prince, printed in English for the first time on the eve of the English Civil War (lot 27), and distinguished copies of first editions by some of Britain’s most celebrated authors: John Milton, Thomas Hobbes, Daniel Defoe, Edward Gibbon, Robert Burns, John Keats, and P.B. Shelley. The Leahy copy of Gray’s Elegy Wrote in a Country Church Yard (lot 42) is probably the finest copy in existence.
The collection is deep in the works of Samuel Johnson and his biographer, James Boswell. As for so many others, Boswell’s Life of Johnson was deeply inspirational to Mr. Leahy—in his early school years it was his favorite book. This provides some explanation for the fact that he acquired five (!) copies of the first edition. They are all different and all uniquely important: a presentation copy inscribed twice by Boswell to John Douglas, a friend of Johnson’s and Bishop of Carlisle and later of Salisbury; the A.E. Newton copy with the incredibly rare uncanceled leaf containing Johnson’s remarks on marital infidelity; a beautiful copy uncut in the original boards; the Whiby-Wedgwood copy with the biographically important letter from 1735 tipped in concerning Johnson’s short-lived career as a tutor; and, finally, a fine copy in a gorgeous Cosway-style binding with oval portraits of Boswell and Johnson adorning the covers (lots 86-90). These are followed by a panoply of Johnson’s other works, and even a unique broadside advertisement for the first American edition of the Life (lot 93).
The Leahy collection of William Bligh and the Mutiny on the Bounty closes the first session of the auction. This choice group of ten lots includes the most important Bligh manuscript in private hands: his autograph navigational guide of the Caribbean, with a hand-drawn map; a rare presentation copy of Bligh’s Narrative of the Mutiny; and other fascinating rare and unique documents surrounding the trial of the mutineers.
The second session is devoted entirely to 19th- and 20th-century literature, with special focus on horror and fantasy and the especially beloved authors: Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, and A.A. Milne. The pinnacle of horror is a special first edition of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, signed by Rudolph Ackermann and his brother Adolphus at the time that their father published a story by Mary Shelley—a tantalizing association (lot 132). There is a wealth of J.R.R. Tolkien material, but particularly important is the eight-page letter that Tolkien wrote in 1943 to two young fans, expounding in great detail on his development of historical runes and the runes used in The Hobbit (lot 147) and justly been dubbed “the Rosetta Stone of Middle Earth.”
A Christmas Carol is clearly a beloved title among the many fine works in this collection by Charles Dickens and it (like Boswell’s Life) is represented in no less than five lots: a first impression with a moving letter about the book written by Dickens to his friend John Dillon; the unsurpassed Doheny copy mentioned above; a uniformly bound set of the Christmas Books in Cosway bindings with autograph letters bound in to each volume; a first American set of Christmas Books in wrappers; and the Starling-Self copy of the broadside playbill for the first stage production of A Christmas Carol. In the Children’s Literature section, the Winnie-the-Pooh books by A.A. Milne are almost equally represented. The jewel among these is the set of three ultra-deluxe versions, each one of only 20 copies bound in full publisher’s vellum and signed by both the author and the illustrator. This most limited of the limited editions has never before been offered as a complete set at auction.
At Christie’s we feel both honored and grateful to offer at auction Valuable and Important Books and Manuscripts from the Library of Edward R. Leahy. Honored because of the bibliophile quality of the collection with its many high-spots and unique copies. Grateful because the joy with which this collection was formed remains so palpable. Brimming with romance, friendship, adventure, and tactile beauty, these books and manuscripts are immensely pleasurable. On behalf of Mr. Leahy, we invite you to share that enjoyment.
Contact: Rhiannon Knol
212-636-2664
