15 literary autographs and their current market value

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HE TOOK HER FOR A BOY
Dodgson, Charles (1832 – 1898)
A four-page autograph letter signed “Lewis Carroll”, 12th August 1879. Written to “Mabel” [Burton], making reference to mistaken gender and identity. Written on one folded sheet of paper. Dodgson states that he was “puzzled… the other day at the Langham Hall…” The recipient of the letter was wearing “a funny sort of cap” and Dodgson therefore took her for a boy. Dodgson continues, “if only your face had been a little longer, and not quite so rosy, you would have been Ernest Nicholls…” and then lists the physical attributes of Master Nicholls concluding “…altogether, it would have been very awkward if your face had been half-an-inch longer: I’m glad it wasn’t as I would have died of love.” Dodgson then asks the recipient to come to Eastbourne. He states “…it is so lovely here. And I would speak to you, once a month or so – so that you wouldn’t be really dull for want of company…” Very slight spotting at the folds, otherwise in very fine condition.  Price: £3,750.00

 

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CAPOTE’S SPECIAL PACKAGE
Capote, Truman (1924 – 1984)
53/4×41/4. Villa Meltemi, Greece, 1958. On left message side of verso of picture postcard depicting Paros, Greece. Addressed by Capote to John Dapper, Brooklyn, New York. In full: “I am expecting a very large package from California (maybe it will come from Mexico); it is being sent in care of you. When it comes, could you just put it downstairs in the apartment? Bless you. If you and Lyman are still planning to travel this autumn, strongly recommend you come here rather than Sicily. This (sic) perfect. Love to both.” Two stamps picturing the King and Queen of Greece affixed at upper right and postmarked. Slightly soiled, a little worn at corners, else fine condition.  This item comes with a curious supplemental note handwritten by John Dapper to the postcard’s previous owner, stating that the package Capote was expecting contained a large quantity of cocaine.  Price: £2,299.00

 

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“I AM STINKING DRUNK”
Maugham, W. Somerset (1874 – 1965)
A good two-page autograph letter signed by Somerset Maugham. The author writes on Ritz-Carlton Hotel headed paper to a Mr. Dale. In part, “Thank you for sending me the book of clippings. Granted I am stinking drunk, but I found it very interesting and I was amused at my grandfather’s beautiful copper plate writing. No one knows how to write to beautifully as that now.” In very fine condition.  Price: £175.00

 

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GREENE IS HELPFUL
Greene, Graham (1904 – 1991)
A foundation subscription form for the new magazine ‘New Stories’ (1934) filled out by Graham Greene with his name and address. The author goes on to list thirty four names (front and back of the form) of those individuals that might be interested in receiving the magazine’s circulars. The names listed by Greene include such illuminaries as Ottlilie Morrell, Mrs. Julian Huxley, Lady Balfour and H.S. Ede. In very fine condition with a light horizontal mailing fold. An interesting item.  Price: £325.00

 

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A HORNY LARKIN
Larkin, Philip (1922 – 1985)

A superb four-page autograph letter signed by Philip Larkin (‘Philip’), 12th May 1944, on Wellington Public Library headed paper. The young poet come librarian writes to an old University professor, Karl Lehmann. He opens, ‘My dear Karl, Sorry to write on this bumf, but it is available, and I do not have to pay my own money for it. I regret too that we did not have intercourse but I was in a drifting mood and not prepared forcibly to yank the conversation into the desired channel. As regards young Philip the answer is yes to both questions – he is one of my discarded youth (though I don’t think he knows it yet) and I have slept with him, not once but many times. I think I prefer him homo too, but then I’m biased.’ Price £7,500

 

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A HORNY SARTRE
Sartre, Jean-Paul (1905 – 1980)

A marvellous large autograph quotation signed by Jean-Paul Sartre, apparently unpublished, written on a large approximately 12″ X 14″ sheet, opening, ‘In a society of statues we would be very bored; but we would live there according to justice and reason’. He goes on to compare the place that the face and the body would have in a society of statues with that occupied in contemporary society. He notes that the body and face, particularly those of women, are reified and denatured: “In human societies, faces reign. The body is serfed, we swaddle it, we disguise it, its role is to carry like a mule, a waxy relic… A woman knows it, her face is an erotic altar, it has been overloaded with dead victims, fruits, flowers, massacred birds; on his cheeks, on his lips we traced red signs. Society of faces, society of wizards.’ Quite rare and desirable. Price £3,950

 

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AN ANGRY BORGES
Borges, Jorge Luis (1899 – 1986)
A rare typed letter signed by Borges, July 12th 1956. The author writes on headed paper for the ‘Biblioteca Nacional, Buenos Aires’ to his fellow author Bernardo Canal Feijoo to chastise him for the pathetic conference he took part in at the library. He goes on to mention the inane comments that have been made about his colleagues contribution and thanks him sarcastically for getting involved with the library’s cultural work. Signed boldly in ballpoint pen. In very fine condition.  Price: £595.00

 

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“KILL ME, SIR”
Beckett, Samuel (1906 – 1989)
An excellent signed 6″ X 4″ head and shoulders portrait by Samuel Beckett. A nice matte-finish image of the author, signed boldly to the lower border in ink. In very fine condition. On the back, Beckett has written in an agitated hand, “Kill me. Go on, sir, kill me. I would rather you kill me than look upon me with your ugly pig’s eyes for a moment longer. Remove yourself from me. Take your ridiculous picture.” Quite scarce in this format.  Price: £1395.00

 

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“LA BELLE ÉPOQUE DES MONSTRES”
Cocteau, Jean (1889 – 1963)
A superb and rare signed and inscribed 7.5″ X 10″ photograph. Cocteau is shown apparently rehearsing on stage with a burning cigarette in his left hand. Signed in fountain pen ink to the lower border, “To Claude Labarre – the wonderful era of Monsters! The monsters have changed! Jean Cocteau”). Cocteau clearly makes reference here to his work ‘Les Monstres Sacrés’ which he wrote in 1939. In very fine condition. A wonderful item. Signed photographs of Cocteau are rare. Original Price: £1,250.00 Reduced to: £1,000.00

 

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BAD FRIEND ARAGON
Aragon, Louis (1897 – 1982)

A rare autograph letter signed by French poet, Louis Aragon to surrealist playwright Roger Vitrac. Aragon writes, “A certain spirit of perversity made me visit you the other day, Roger Vitrac. I forbade myself from telling you in person what I could explain to you by writing. Truly, it’s you that made it that way, and I’d like to repeat this same thing next time I visit. I should add that the inexplicable chatter last Tuesday was not at all due to a tendency to become paralysed which keeps returning me to a place I dread. ArrayUseless explanations. In friendship? Louis Aragon.” In very fine condition. Price £475

 

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ZONKED MARILYN?
Monroe, Marilyn (1926 – 1962)

A scarce and interesting autograph note signed by Marilyn Monroe. Written in bold red ballpoint pen on a 2.5″ X 5″ card. At the top of the card is the typed caption (presumably a question submitted to her) ‘It’s a responsibility — being a symbol of sex’. Underneath, Monroe writes, ‘I didn’t say that. I said it’s a responsibility being an actress’. The last four words of her note seem to have been written in another hand, or perhaps in her own very drug-inebriated hand. A punch-hole affecting one letter and adhesion marks to the reverse, otherwise in very fine condition. Quite desirable in this format. Price £3,250

 

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MISHIMA DESCRIBES HIS “INNER BOMB”
Mishima, Yukio (1925 – 1970)
A fascinating two-page handwritten letter signed by Yukio Mishima to feminist author Dominique Aury, 28th March 1970, two separate sheets of paper in fountain pen ink. Some interesting insights into Mishima’s inspiration to write and, penned just eight months before Mishima’s suicide, the letter sheds interesting light on the author’s state of mind. He wirtes, “For writing, I always need some balance between the critical moment of the society and the essential uneasiness in my mind, but the present Japan seems to me not likely in a ideal circumstances to make me write, since the social crisis is likely already solved and becoming too quiet. My novel can reach the highest tension when I feel my inner bomb and the outside bomb has a critical balance. I don’t intend to assassinate anybody, on the other hand, I have no possibility to be assassinated, since nobody considers me worthy to be assassinated!” A superb and important letter in very fine condition. Original Price: £3,250.00 Reduced to: £2,762.50

 

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POET TO PEDERAST
Douglas, Alfred (1870 – 1945)
A signed copy of Sonnets by Alfred Douglas, first edition, first impression. Signed boldly by the author to the title page, and additionally inscribed to the first blank page, ‘From a beautiful young poet to an ugly old pederast’, adding the date in Latin. Slight wear to the spine with toning to the flypapers, otherwise in fine condition. Price £550

 

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“WHY DOES AN ARTIST WRITE AT ALL?”
Wilde, Oscar (1854 – 1900)
A superb one-page autograph working draft of a section from an essay on artistic processes. Written in ink with several corrections and insertions. A small tear to the bottom and some slight creasing, otherwise in very fine condition. A pencil note at the top, “Wilde (par André Gide)” would indicate that this item may have at some time been in the possession of Gide. Original Price: £5,750.00 Reduced to: £4,887.50

 

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“SCREW YOUR SON”
Burroughs, Willam S. (1914 – 1997)

A rare signed 9.5″ X 7″ close-up portrait by William S. Burroughs. Boldly signed by the author to the lower border in ballpoint pen. On the back, he has written in the same ballpoint pen the cryptic phrase, “Screw your son.”  He adds the day, 23rd May 1997. In very fine condition.  Price: £225.00

 

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p.s. Hey. ** Misanthrope, On behalf of action, I welcome you back. Nice is a good start. ** Carsten, Thanks, I hope you like it. I have to find ‘No Other Land’. I know it’s somewhere, I just have to remember where. Happy to help, my friend. ** _Black_Acrylic, I saw ‘Farewell My Lovely’ but ages ago, so it’s a blur. Your methodology re: watching films naturally has my total approval. ** julian, Hi. Maybe they did care but he was too hellbent for that to matter? The answer’s in the stars. Re-adapting, etc. exactly. There’s some kind of special thrill when you can look at something you poured out in some kind of pure, propulsive way with objectivity while somewhere deep inside it still matters as much to you. Or something. I wrote the lyrics to the songs I wrote for the bands, yeah. We each wrote songs. No, it was very evident to me at the time that musician was not going to be one of my go-to talents. Years later I did try to start a punk band, but we never got beyond a couple of rehearsals, and of course that did not require much musicianship. ** Steeqhen, I’m obviously not a good judge of whether that would make you fucked up, haha. Post-college depression seems like it would be a real thing. Putting together a little writing workshop situation with writer friends or even strangers helps with the deadline thing. Interesting about you wanting/needing accompanists in your day to day, but, yeah, I don’t know what that implies. Subject or thematic for writing? ** pancakeIan, Hey. Oh, okay, about your father’s magnetic power. Strange how parental powers form the brackets on one’s life. Anna’s site … I still haven’t gone over there for no good reason. Today. Thanks. Yes, Scott and I corresponded when he was still in university and just starting to write ‘Mysterious Skin’. It’s always so nice to know someone and their work when they’re aspiring to be writers and then get to watch them succeed. Nice guy. He seems to have quit writing, which is a shame, but life calls one as it does. ** jay, Hi. There are couple of decent docs on Scandinavian Black/Death Metal out there if you want to get an overview. Cool, what is your sister’s book? What kind of book is it? That’s exciting. That writer de-virgin-ising that comes with one’s first book is super special. One time only. I hope you get to be there. Where is it happening? ** HaRpEr //, Yeah, when I read well, it’s all about modulating the quietness of my voice, and ‘shouting’ really just ruins everything. But it didn’t sound like you were shouting, it worked well. You’ll soon have a gradually building plethora of competing things out there. I really need to see the PeeWee doc. I’m sure it’s handy somewhere. I had a lot of friends who were friends of his pre-PeeWee. I think he pretty extravagant. I suppose the doc makes that visible. ** Uday, It’s way ok. I wish anyone could play with language like Mr. Joyce. Here’s a blog post featuring my 50 favorite poetry books if that helps. I’m sure there are complete unknowns in there. You’re more likely to get to Tokyo than we are, I suspect, but I really want to go there by or at least during winter, so we’ll see. Of course you can translate that. How kind of you to want to and ask. Thanks, U! ** Paul Curran, You made that great Alice Cooper song leap into my brain. ‘Cadaver eyes upon me see …….. nothing’. Abroad where? What’s his abroad dream? I suspect our film isn’t horror enough for the Horror festival, but maybe they’ll find that refreshing. Dude, we would kill to make a Tokyo film. Almost literally. It’s all about $$$$$, god damn it. ** horatio, I hope your real name is Horatio. I had a friend named Horace, but never knew a Horatio before. Although it’s perfectly fine and lovely if that’s not your IRL moniker. Embarrassment is a total worry. I was telling someone else about a psychedelic band I was in back in high school. We ended one of our performances with me, the singer, going ‘crazy’ and smashing a mannequin to bits and making a huge mess, and about halfway through doing that, I peeked at the audience, and they were looking at me like I was ridiculous, so I freaked out and jumped offstage and ran through the audience and out the door in total humiliation. But then later everybody told me how cool my doing that was. So who knows. I love your thumbnail description of your screenplay. Wow. My imagination is immediately incubating that. I’d love to see your short film if you upload it anywhere. We’re submitted to Chicago Underground Film Festival, where I think we might have a chance, and to the big Chicago Film Festival, where I really doubt we do. I’ll let you know. You move to Chicago soon? I hope we end up there. I haven’t been there in a really long time, and Zac partly grew up there and went to Northwestern, so maybe we’ll just visit if nothing else. ** Okay. Here’s a post today for all of the philographists out there if there are any. See you tomorrow.