Item 28 is a love letter from blues singer Janis Joplin to her boyfriend Peter De Blanc dated August 1, 1965. Joplin had recently returned from a drug heavy lifestyle in San Francisco to her parents' home in Texas, where she was attending college and trying to go straight. De Blanc was a techie from New York who worked preparing sound stages and the like. Joplin expresses her fears of losing him, fears not unfounded as the planned marriage fell through later that year and Joplin returned to San Francisco, for her meteoric rise and fall. In her letter, Joplin describes a dream where De Blanc comes to her door with another woman. At one point, she says her mother wants her to return to school for the fall, but, "...if we're going to be married in December, I couldn't finish." It's an interesting mention of marriage in a letter filled with Joplin's fears that De Blanc is going to leave her. Those who would be interested in this letter undoubtedly know what became of Joplin in the remaining five years before her death of an overdose in 1970. De Blanc went on to do more techie things and spent much of his life providing internet access in the Virgin Islands before dying of cancer in 2002. $3,250.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, item 10 is worth 6,000. It contains six autographed drawings from famous cartoonists: Bob Kane's Batman, Charles Schultz' Snoopy, Bill Hanna's Fred Flintstone, Art Clokey's Gumby, Walter Lantz' Woody Woodpecker, and I'm not sure who from Looney Tunes artist Fritz Freleng, best known for Bugs Bunny. Click the thumbnail image above. $2,000.
You may reach David Schulson Autographs at 973-379-3800 or schulson@aol.com. Their website is www.schulsonautographs.com.
You will find many of David Schulson's autographs listed in "Books For Sale" on this site. Click here.
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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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, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Francesco Colonna. Hypnerotomachie, Paris, 1546, Parisian calf by Wotton Binder C for Marcus Fugger. €200,000 to €300,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Nausea. De principiis dialectices Gorgias, and other works, Venice, 1523, morocco gilt for Cardinal Campeggio. €3,000 to €4,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Billon. Le fort inexpugnable de l'honneur, Paris, 1555, Parisian calf gilt for Peter Ernst, Graf von Mansfeld. €120,000 to €180,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Salinger, J.D. The Graham Family archive, including autographed letters, an inscribed Catcher, a rare studio photograph of the author, and more. $120,000 to $180,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of Sense and Sensibility, the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Massachusetts General Court. A powerful precursor to the Declaration of Independence: "every Act of Government … without the Consent of the People, is … Tyranny." $40,000 to $60,000.