AT : How much of your collection is represented in this exhibit?
WHH: There are 183 or so items on display in this exhibit; my personal collection on the subject of quackery consists of thousands of pieces.
AT: I see from the press kit that your career was in the pharmaceutical industry. Can you elaborate more on your background?
WHH: Yes, you’ve done your homework. I was in the pharmaceutical industry at Merck for many years.
AT: Did your work in any way inspire or influence your collecting choices? Or in other words, how did your collection get started?
WHH: Yes, I guess it did. My collection began in the 1950s. What inspired it is that I went to the Barnes Collection and got the idea to start to buy prints. One day I found a print from a British book dealer with a pharmaceutical subject for five pounds. I bought it and decided to continue buying on that theme. I just wanted to find a focus, otherwise your collection is all over the place. Then in addition to prints I began to buy advertising material and ephemera and books and pamphlets.
AT: Five pounds: that’s quite a deal. Did the fact that the price was so inexpensive influence the direction of your collection?
WHH: Well, when I first started collecting, prices overall were relatively affordable, especially if you weren’t going after the top 100 American books or something like that. Everything was cheaper to collect in the 1950s. I got into my area or niche because I was interested in it and it was inexpensive. It’s more fun to collect that way as well. You need to find an angle where you can afford it, and a subject that you can see importance and value in.
AT: What’s the state of your collection today? Are you still adding to it?
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Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("Martinus Luther") to His Friend the Theologian Gerhard Wiskamp ("Gerardo Xantho Lampadario"). $100,000 - $150,000.Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: An Exceptionally Fine Copy of Austenís Emma: A Novel in Three Volumes. $40,000 - $60,000.Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Presentation Copy of Ernest Hemmingwayís A Farewell to Arms for Edward Titus of the Black Mankin Press. $30,000 - $50,000.Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript Signed Integrally for "The Songs of Pooh," by Alan Alexander. $30,000 - $50,000.Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript of "Three Fragments from Gˆtterd‰mmerung" by Richard Wagner. $30,000 - $50,000.Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Preliminary Artwork, for the First Edition of Snow Crash. $20,000 - $30,000.Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("T.R. Malthus") to Economist Nassau Senior on Wealth, Labor and Adam Smith. $20,000 - $30,000.Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Finely Bound by Michael Wilcox. $20,000 - $30,000.Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: First Edition of Lewis and Clark: Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean. $8,000 - $12,000.Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Artwork for the First Edition of Neal Stephenson's Groundbreaking Novel Snow Crash. $100,000 - $150,000.Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: A Complete Set Signed Deluxe Editions of King's The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. $8,000 - $12,000.Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("John Adams") to James Le Ray de Chaumont During the Crucial Years of the Revolutionary War. $8,000 - $12,000. -
Sotheby’s
Book Week
December 9-17, 2025Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000. -
![<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/8caddaea-4c1f-47a7-9455-62f53af36e3f.jpg "<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.")
Heritage Auctions
Rare Books Signature Auction
December 15, 2025Heritage, Dec. 15: John Donne. Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death. London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.Heritage, Dec. 15: Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.Heritage, Dec. 15: F. Scott Fitzgerald. Tender is the Night. A Romance.Heritage, Dec. 15: Bram Stoker. Dracula. Westminster: Archibald Constable & Co., 1897.Heritage, Dec. 15: Jerry Thomas. How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion, Containing Clear and Reliable Directions for Mixing All the Beverages Used in the United States… -
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