WHH: I both add to it, and also I’ve been giving parts of it away. I’ve given parts to the Ars Medica or medical division of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I’m also continually donating to the Library Company of Philadelphia as well. I give them mostly text, because the museum wants images, not text.
AT: You mentioned adding to your collection. Where do you acquire material?
WHH: From a variety of sources: I buy at auction, on Ebay, from dealers, at fairs. Just about anywhere.
AT: Is this the first time your collection has been exhibited?
WHH: Heavens no. I first exhibited parts of this collection in, it must have been 1964 or 1965. The collection had reached a critical mass at that point. I’ve done four shows at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
AT: Did you write all the caption labels in this exhibit yourself?
WHH: Yes, I did. Of course I had restrictions from the designers: I was restricted to 7 lines a label, tops. That’s why there’s more label text in the catalogue than in the show itself.
AT: Having curated an exhibit and written caption labels myself, I know that there’s always a subtle kind of tension between curators and designers.
WHH: Yes. What’s funny is that my daughter is also a designer. She just published a beautifully designed book about cardboard wheels called Inventing the Wheel. Her name is Jessica Helfand.
AT: Ok – a hated question, but one which I have to ask: which is your favorite piece in the show?
WHH: [skirting question] Well, to any collector, the last thing he got is the favorite. But you’ll find your own favorite.
AT: What do you hope visitors to this exhibit come away with?
WHH: I guess you could sum up the exhibit this way: when it comes to quacks, some of the cures were worse than the disease. Another focus of the exhibit is the itinerant nature of quacks, and the growth of medical advertising. Anybody could get into that business [the medical industry] with no license whatsoever. Until the 1840s only 4 US states had rules on who is qualified to practice medicine.
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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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