Rare Book Monthly
The Greatest Sendak Exhibition Coming to the Rosenbach
Maurice Sendak is the focus of a year-long exhibition at the Rosenbach.
By Michael Stillman
The Rosenbach Museum and Library will be holding an exhibition of the life and career of famed children's author and illustrator Maurice Sendak. It is called There's a Mystery There: Sendak on Sendak, and will run from May 6, 2008 until April 30, 2009. If you will be anywhere near Philadelphia during the next year, this is your opportunity to learn all about this man and his fantastic imagination. Presented will be the largest Sendak exhibit in the world, over 130 pieces from the museum's large collection of original artwork, sketches, and never-before seen working material.
Sendak's career began as an illustrator in 1947, while still in high school, illustrating a text on atomics. It would pick up in the early 1950s as an illustrator, and then again in the middle of that decade when he began writing books for children. He was already a well-established writer and illustrator in 1963 when he published his best-known work of all, Where The Wild Things Are.
That Sendak chose the Rosenbach to house his work is most appropriate. Dr. A.S.W. Rosenbach, famed 20th century book dealer and founder (with his brother) of the museum, was perhaps the foremost bookseller of the century. He dealt in the most important (and expensive) printed works of his time, but personally he was a collector of children's books. He would undoubtedly be extremely pleased to see his legacy put to such good use. Indeed, it was just as his long career and life was coming to a close in 1952 that Sendak was just beginning a career that has lasted into the new century.
The exhibition is not limited to static displays, but includes touch-screen video interviews, which cover his career, influences, and even old family photographs. Elsewhere you will find original artwork, ranging from Where The Wild Things Are to illustrations for books never published. For those unaware, William Blake and Herman Melville were among his greatest influences.
Along with the regular exhibitions there will be several special events over the course of the year. May 17 and 18 will feature performances of the Wild Things Whirligig, while Sendak's 80th birthday will be celebrated on June 10. For more information about the programs, and days and hours the museum is open, call 215-732-1600 or visit the Rosenbach online at www.rosenback.org.
Rare Book Monthly
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Sotheby’s
Shelf Life: Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper from the Library of Stanley J. Seeger and Christopher Cone
25 June – July 7Sotheby’s, July 7: Ludwig van Beethoven. Autograph sketches for the overture "Die Weihe des Hauses", op.124, [1822], UNPUBLISHED. £150,000 to £200,000.Sotheby’s, July 7: Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice, 1813, first edition, 3 volumes, contemporary half calf. £50,000 to £70,000.Sotheby’s, July 7: Walt Whitman. Leaves of Grass, Brooklyn, 1855, first edition, first issue, original green cloth, the Doheny copy. £50,000 to £70,000.Sotheby’s, July 7: Binding—Sangorski & Sutcliffe—Omar Khayyam. Rubaiyat, London, 1872, third edition, in a magnificent jewelled Peacock binding. £15,000 to £20,000.Sotheby’s, July 7: George Eliot. Middlemarch, Edinburgh and London, 1871, first edition in the original parts. £20,000 to £30,000. -
Forum Auctions
The Private Library:
Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
July 9, 2026Forum, July 9: Hassall (Joan) A large collection of over 300 original woodblocks of engravings for various books, v.d., with Hassall's engraver's glass water-globe (Qty) - Est. £10,000-15,000Forum, July 9: Eragny Press.- [Bradley (Katherine Harris) & Edith Emma Cooper], "Michael Field." Whym Chow, Flame of Love, one of only 27 copies, inscribed by Bradley, the rarest book from the press, 1914. - Est. £3,000-4,000Forum, July 9: [Moore (Thomas Sturge)] [Wood Engravings], 71 wood-engravings printed by David Chambers from the original blocks, the only set on Japanese Hosho paper, from an edition of 5 sets, [1970]. - Est. £3,000-4,000Forum Auctions
The Private Library:
Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
July 9, 2026Forum, July 9: La Fontaine (Jean de) Contes et Nouvelles en vers, 2 vol., engraved plates after Eisen, fine early 19th century blue morocco, gilt, by Bradel l'ainé, Amsterdam [Paris], 1762. - Est. £2,000-3,000Forum, July 9: Erotica.- Prostitution.- Pretty Women of Paris (The); Their Names and Addresses, Qualities and Faults..., [Paris], privately printed at the Press of the Prefecture de Police, 1883. - Est. £3,000-4,000Forum, July 9: Vale Press.- Ricketts (Charles) & Lucien Pissarro. De la Typographie et de l'Harmonie de la Page Imprimée…, [one of 216 copies], bound in dark blue morocco tooled in gilt, by Sarah T.Prideaux, 1898. - Est. £1,000-1,500Forum Auctions
The Private Library:
Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
July 9, 2026Forum, July 9: Martin (John) Illustrations of the Bible, complete set of 20 mezzotints, good impressions, rarely found in early states, [c.1831-1835]. - Est. £1,000-1,500Forum, July 9: Golden Cockerel Press.- Four Gospels of the Lord Jesus Christ (The), one of 500 copies, Mary Gill's copy, Waltham St. Lawrence, 1931 with a signed proof of engraving on japon numbered 10/10 (2) - Est. £5,000-7,000Forum, July 9: Boccaccio (Giovanni) The Decameron, 3 vol., vol.1 extra-illustrated by John Buckland Wright with c.150 erotic original drawings in pen & ink and pencil, 1886 [extra-illustrated c.1940]. - Est. £10,000-15,000Forum Auctions
The Private Library:
Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
July 9, 2026Forum, July 9: Cox (Morris) Collection of Gogmagog Press Books, 35 vol., rare complete collection of printed books issued by the press, limited editions, most signed by Cox, 1957-83. - Est. £10,000-15,000Forum, July 9: Wynkyn de Worde.- [Terentius Afer (Publius)] [Comedie...], [Paris, Josse Badius: sold in London by Wynkyn de Worde, & others], [15 July 1504]. - Est. £4,000-6,000Forum, July 9: Mosley (James) Ornamented Types. Twenty-Three Alphabets from the Foundry of Louis John Pouchée, 2 vol., one of 10 copies for presentation, from an edition of 210, 1992-93. - Est. £1,000-2,000 -
Freeman’s, June 30. Thomas Jefferson’s “Birth of the New Nation” letter, carried to Paris with the Treaty of Peace, by a Jewish patriot. $100,000-200,000.Freeman’s, June 30. “The rockets’ red glare.” A British midshipman’s log recording the bombardment of Fort McHenry. $60,000-80,000.Freeman’s, June 30. The Critical Promotion of a Naval Hero, Oliver Hazard Perry Commission signed by James Madison, 1812. $40,000-60,000.Freeman’s, June 30. Born in the USA: First Day of Printing in the United States, July 4, 1776. $15,000-25,000.Freeman’s, June 30. One of the Earliest Printed Announcements of American Independence, in the Exceedingly Rare Original Wrappers, 1776. $10,000-15,000.Freeman’s, June 30. "The Two Big Guns of the N.Y. Yanks": A Striking Type 1 Press Photograph of Lou Gehrig's Hands. $8,000-12,000.Freeman’s, June 30. A Unique Contemporary Manuscript Account of Joseph Smith's Final Words to His Followers, the Day Before his Violent Death. $8,000-12,000.Freeman’s, June 30. The State of Minnesota Officially Certifies the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution Of the United States. $8,000-12,000.Freeman’s, June 30. Extraordinarily Large Manuscript Petition Signed by a Who's Who of Colonial New York to Queen Anne from the Colony of New York. $8,000-12,000.Freeman’s, June 30. Mickey Mantle's First Cover: The Earliest Front-Page Newspaper Image of Mickey Mantle, "Something Good from Joplin". $8,000-12,000.Freeman’s, June 30. A Call to Arms in the Months Following the Declaration of Independence: An Early Continental Army Recruitment Poster. $6,000-9,000.Freeman’s, June 30. Samuel Jones, the Statesman Behind the Newly Discovered "Jones Declaration": His Annotated Set Used in His Working Law Library. $6,000-9,000.