Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - February - 2007 Issue
Celebrities and Writers Featured by James Pepper Rare Books
The latest catalogue from James Pepper Rare Books
By Michael Stillman
This month we review Catalogue 157 from James Pepper Rare Books. While this issue does not specify a topic, Pepper catalogues tend to carry many items related to celebrities of various sorts, be they from film, writing, politics or elsewhere. The film and theater arts appear to be a particular concentration, perhaps because so many of the people who achieve celebrity status come from these fields. There are also many books offered that became films, thereby reaching a mass audience not often achieved by the written word alone. Certainly, many of these works touch on popular culture, which makes them appealing to a wide audience. Here are a few samples.
Item 36 is a copy of Art Linkletter's 1960 autobiography, Confessions of a Happy Man, inscribed to his good friend Walt Disney and his wife. "For Lily & Walt," reads the inscription. "With affection and admiration and all the best wishes for your continued happiness." Linkletter hosted radio and TV shows for eons, being best remembered for interviewing children. He hosted the televised opening of Disneyland for Disney in 1955, and came back for the 50th anniversary in 2005. It is probably time for him to write a second autobiography, since it has been 47 years since the 94-year-old Linkletter completed the first. Priced at $150.
Item 70 is a notable piece of sheet music. It is the 1942 words and music by Irving Berlin for White Christmas. The song came from the film Holiday Inn. The cover shows images of the film's stars, including Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. Bing Crosby's recording of White Christmas went on to be the greatest selling record ever recorded, while the film title was adopted by what became the largest chain of motels. $125.
Item 26 is a piece of sheet music I find a bit confusing. Pepper describes this 1925 printing as, "Sheet music with words and music for the song 'With You, Dear, in Bombay,' from the classic Charlie Chaplin silent film, The Gold Rush." How do you have music for a silent film? $150.
Speaking of silents, here is an item featuring the now obscure dancer and performer Doraldina, or Mme Doraldina (or, officially, Dora Saunders). She was a successful club performer in New York, who starred in a few silent films around 1920. Though likely born in San Francisco, she added an Hawaiian flavor to her act. Perhaps her most notable movie was "Passion Fruit," a 1921 film as forgotten as she is now today. She actually wrote one of her films, the 1920 classic "The Woman Untamed." In each film, Doraldina played an island princess. Perhaps her relatively short movie career can be attributed to her not reaching the big screen with her exotic beauty roles until she was already 30 years of age. The picture on page 2 of this article shows Doraldina in her exotic role, and also at Opening Day 1918 for the Oakland Oaks minor league baseball team, where she threw a few pitches and then posed with future hall of famer "Cap" (or "Pop") Anson. Item 121 is The Little Movie Mirror Book, a 1921 booklet published for Doraldina's fans, featuring a painting of her and a letter to her admirers (the pictures on page 2 are not from this booklet). $65.
Rare Book Monthly
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Sotheby’s Geek Week
14-15 JulySotheby’s, July 14: Henry De La Beche. "Awful Changes," 1830. $6,000 to $9,000.Sotheby’s, July 15: [Apollo 11]. Flight Plan, Complete Original Printing Signed by Buzz Aldrin. $5,000 to $8,000.Sotheby’s, July 15: Thomas Alva Edison. Documents Establishing and Ending the Edison Electric Railway Company. $20,000 to $30,000.Sotheby’s, July 15: Richard P. Feynman. Feynman's Lectures on Gravitation 1-16, Including the Original Transcriptions of Lectures 12-16 by Morinigo and Wagner, With Richard Feynman's Manuscript Notations, 1971. $12,000 to $18,000.Sotheby’s, July 15: [Apollo 9]. A Group of Manuals and Mission Documents used by Stuart Roosa as a member of the Astronaut Support Crew. $5,000 to $8,000.Sotheby’s, July 15: [BYTE: The Small Systems Journal]. A collection of early foundational issues of Byte: The Small Systems Journal, with rare hardcover editions. $5,000 to $8,000. -
Forum Auctions
The 10th Anniversary Sale
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
July 16, 2026Forum, July 16: Inundation papyrus. P.Michael 4, the ‘Inundation papyrus’, a geographical account of the Nile near Canopus, in Greek, remains of two columns from a manuscript scroll on papyrus, Egypt, second century CE. £12,000-18,000Forum, July 16: Book of Hours, use of Sarum, manuscript on vellum, 6 full-page miniatures, with famous Middle English inscriptions, Southern Netherlands for the English market, [c.1430]. £30,000-50,000Forum, July 16: Qu'ran, Arabic manuscript on burnished, stencilled, and gold-flecked paper, 447ff., Sultanate Gujarat, Ahmadabad, [after 1411 but no later than 1442]. £15,000-20,000Forum Auctions
The 10th Anniversary Sale
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
July 16, 2026Forum, July 16: Turner (William). A New boke of the natures and properties of all wines that are commonly vsed here in England, rare first edition of the first English book on wine, By William Seres, 1568. £20,000-£30,000Forum, July 16: Spenser (Edmund). The Faerie Queene. first edition, Printed [by John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, 1590. £30,000-40,000Forum, July 16: Shakespeare (William). The Comedie of Errors, extracted from the first folio, Isaac Jaggard and Edward Blount, 1623. £15,000-20,000Forum Auctions
The 10th Anniversary Sale
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
July 16, 2026Forum, July 16: Fleming (Ian). Casino Royale, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1953. £40,000-60,000Forum, July 16: d'Agoty (Jacques-Fabien Gautier). Anatomie de la Tête, first edition, Paris, chez le Sieur Gautier, 1748. £10,000-15,000Forum, July 16: Martial Arts.- Lee (Bruce). 'Praying Mantis style' Kung Fu book, containing numerous annotations, diagrams and graphs in Bruce Lee's hand, c. 1960. £50,000-70,000Forum Auctions
The 10th Anniversary Sale
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
July 16, 2026Forum, July 16: Warre (Capt. Henry James). Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory, first edition, rare hand-coloured issue, 1848. £30,000-40,000Forum, July 16: Norie (John William). The Marine Atlas, or Seaman's Complete Pilot for all the principal places in the known world..., 1826. £30,000-50,000Forum, July 16: Mao Tse-tung.- Kim Il-sung.-[Note book for visitors from China to Korea], signed by Mao and Kim, [Beijing, 1954]. £10,000-15,000