Books & Manuscripts

William Faulkner

Faulkner, WilliamThe Sound and the Fury. New York: Jonathan Cape and Harrison Smith, [1929] 8vo. Original black and white boards with white cloth spine; some fading to head and foot of spine, and rubbing along bottom edge. No price on dust jacket and $3.00 price on rear panel for "Humanity Uprooted"; unrestored dust-jacket with usual fading to spine, two small chips to top of back panel and one to top of front panel, small bit of loss to head of spine, spine with visible crease. First edition, first printing of Faulkner's pioneering work of American modernism. The Sound and the Fury was Faulkner's fourth novel and employed a stream-of-consciousness technique and multiple narrators. The flap copy says it "suggests Joyce in its technique and the Russians, – perhaps Dostoyevsky – in its theme," but in retrospect the work is purest Faulkner, with multiple narrators and cascading layers of history, telling the story of the fall of a grand Southern family through the generations. REFERENCESPeterson A6b

The Sound and the Fury, first edition

The Bill Evans Archive, 1959–1982A collection of twenty-one original manuscript compositions for several of the jazz icon’s hits, spanning seven albums from 1959 to 1982 21 pages (approximately 8 x 11.5 in). Condition upon request. Jazz is a quintessentially American art form—a diverse creation born out of a diverse environment. Pulling in the musical traditions of African rhythms and syncopation, European harmonic structure, it was further strengthened by the lessons and doctrines of ragtime and blues. Jazz moved with people nearly as much as it moved them, with iterations and sub-genres populating across the nation from the Gulf Coast to the West Coast. This national sound birthed a cultural phenomenon, underscored literary and historical movements, and saw the creation of some of the best American musicians of all time.&nbsp; As one of the most important jazz pianists of his generation, Bill Evans cultivated and expanded the music tradition, moving beyond the hard bop tradition that defined the 1950s. Offering up a moodier sound enhanced by the ballad-driven and lyrical choices within his compositions, Evans' artistry would go on to inspire other jazz pianists such as Brad Mehldau, Chick Corea, and Herbie Hancock.&nbsp; The famed pianist began his long and storied relationship with the piano at age six, later adding the violin, piccolo, and flute. Much like Jazz’s early origins in New Orleans and later cultivation in New York City, it was only sixty miles north of the birthplace of Jazz and within the various iconic clubs of Manhattan that Evans would come to artistic maturity. It was under a flute scholarship rather than piano, that Evans studied at Southeastern Louisiana College, receiving a degree in music education in 1946. The late 40’s marked Evans’ first period of musical creation with his first known tune “Very Early”. After backing Billie Holiday in a brief tour making appearances across the nation, Evans received the draft and joined the U.S. Army where he played in the U.S. Fifth Army Band.&nbsp; Moving to New York in 1955, Evans met jazz composer George Russell, Lucy Reed, and Scott LeFaro—all formative figures within his life and collaborators within various stages of his career. Though struggling to make a name for himself amongst the roaring and reigning subgenres of Hard bop, murmurings of Evan’s innovative style began to make waves within the jazz scene and began to incite attraction from some of the genre’s top names.&nbsp; "Bill had this quiet fire that I loved on piano. The way he approached it, the sound he got was like crystal notes or sparkling water cascading down from some clear waterfall." — Miles Davis In early 1958, Miles Davis would call upon Russell to bring Evans for a performance with his band at the Colony Club. More than just a one-night feature, this performance was essentially an audition with&nbsp;Evans formally joining the Miles Davis Sextet soon after. With Evans on the piano, Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley as featured saxophonists Davis’ critically acclaimed album Kind of Blue was born. Despite its success, Evans would break off and begin to organize his own trio. It’s upon this departure and step into his own, that Evan’s original work begins to take shape.&nbsp; The present archive of original manuscript compositions offers a glance into highlights of Bill Evans's career in its formative moments—as a maturing bandleader, introspective composer, and Grammy-winning pianist. The archive includes compositions for:<ul><li>"Blues in F"</li><li>"34 Skidoo"</li><li>"Walking Up"</li><li>"Fudgsicle Built For Four"</li><li>"Loose Bloose"</li><li>"Fun Ride"</li><li>"There Came You"</li><li>"Funny Man"</li><li>"Time Remembered"</li><li>"A Simple Matter of Conviction"</li><li>"These Things Called Changes"</li><li>"Orbit (Unless It's You)"</li><li>"Prologue"</li><li>"One for Helen"</li><li>"Story Line"</li><li>"My Bells"</li><li>"Epilogue"</li></ul> Representing over seven albums released from 1959 to 1982, this archive reflects the pianist's detailed creative process in crafting his iconic original compositions. In its drafts, notes, and revisions, we see a composer innovating in his genre, refining a legacy that continues to influence jazz to this day.&nbsp; "Jazz is not a what, it is a how. If it were a what, it would be static, never growing. The how is that the music comes from the moment, it is spontaneous, it exists at the time it is created." — Bill Evans Detailed inventory upon request.

The Bill Evans Archive, 1959–1982

The Ray Sipherd Sesame Street Archive, 1969–1985 "Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street?" — SESAME STREET THEME&nbsp;&nbsp; A remarkable archive of Sesame Street's production dating from its earliest episodes, comprising:<ul><li>Hundreds of mimeographed typescripts, beginning in November of 1969, and running through December 1985, many with Ray Sipherd’s manuscript annotations</li><li>Mimeographed typescripts for test episodes that predate Episode 1</li><li>Manuscript notes related to rewrites and brainstorming sessions “The Sesame Street Writers’ Notebook,” which served as the show’s curriculum</li><li>Numerous daily production schedules</li><li>Lyric sheets</li><li>Guest lists</li><li>Bert and Ernie puppets, dating to the early days of Sesame Street </li><li>Ray Sipherd’s personalized, official “Production Staff” raincoat</li></ul> Detailed inventory available upon request. From its very first episode, Sesame Street captivated the imaginations of America’s children. Created by Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett in the late 1960s, the show aimed to not only entertain, but to educate. Sesame Street is now regarded as the largest—and least costly—early childhood intervention to ever be implemented in the United States. It is undoubtedly part of the American cultural fabric. Three-time Emmy Award-winner Raymond ("Ray") Duke Sipherd was one of the four original writers of Sesame Street, and he contributed to the show for 17 years. The present archive captures not only the highlights of Ray's career with Sesame Street, but also the origins and development of countless iconic characters, songs, and stories that have inspired children and adults alike in the nearly 60 years since the show's premiere. Sesame Street was founded upon tenets of developmental psychology in children, and in order to reach a diverse audience, it applied a research-based approach behind-the-scenes. The present archive contains not only the "Writers' Notebook," which outlined the writers' theories about effective youth education across socioeconomic backgrounds and long-term goals for the show, but also the scripts of the test episodes which aired before the first season premiered. Test audiences of children in Philadelphia and New York watched and responded to five episodes of the variety show in July 1969 before the show's official first episode on 10 November 1969—the script of which is also contained in the archive. Among the highlights of the archive is the pilot script, which introduces iconic characters like Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, and Bert and Ernie (who also appear in the archive as early puppets). There are song lyrics, from Ernie's Grammy-nominated signature song "Rubber Duckie," to Kermit's poignant ballad "Being Green," to the show's memorable theme song. The script for Episode 1439 introduces Elmo, the red puppet who developed from a non-speaking unnamed character to one of the most beloved and recognizable characters in the series; other scripts highlight guest stars like Carol Burnett, James Earl Jones, C-3PO and R2-D2, Stevie Wonder, and more. Throughout, Sipherd's annotations to scripts, lyric sheets, call sheets, and research documents illuminate the day-to-day development of the storylines and characters over the years. The nearly comprehensive archive provides a glimpse into the production of America's most iconic children's series, capturing the intersections of American television history, developmental psychology, socioeconomic policy, and childhood nostalgia.

The Ray Sipherd Sesame Street Archive, 1969–1985

Mark Twain

Clemens, Samuel Langhorne (Mark Twain)Adventures of Huckleberry Finn … By Mark Twain. Illustrated by E.W. Kemble. New York: Charles L. Webster, 1885 Square 8vo. Some minor foxing and a few pages with toning. Publisher's deluxe half brown morocco and marbled boards, gilt spine with raised bands, marbled edges and endpapers; rubbed at extremities. First American edition. First edition of Twain's enduring classic of boyhood, in the deluxe publisher's half morocco binding — at the time of publication the rarest and most expensive of the various publisher's bindings. The first edition comprised 30,000 copies; the publisher Webster announced that 20,000 would be bound in green or blue cloth ($2.75), 2,500 in a sheepskin library binding ($3.25), and 500 in this deluxe half morocco binding ($4.25). The remaining copies were perhaps bound in the same proportion.&nbsp; In his "Huck Finn among the Issue-Mongers," Kevin MacDonnell has shown that there are only three points which distinguish the first printing from the second printing of 10,000 copies: "the plates were corrected to reflect three changes in the text: at page 13 the erroneous page reference '88' was changed to '87'; at page 57 the misprint 'with the was' was corrected to 'with the saw'; and at page 9 the misprint 'Decided' was corrected to 'Decides.'" Our copy exhibits all three first printing points. The Uncle Silas plate at page 283, which was defaced at some point during the printing, is here in the cancel state. As for the other points enumerated by Blanck and Johnson, they derived from corrections made to the electrotyped plates during the course of printing and do not indicate a priority of issue. Huckleberry Finn prompted Hemingway to state: “All modern literature comes from one book by Mark Twain. It’s the best book we’ve had. All American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing since.” REFERENCESBAL 3415; Grolier American 87

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

John Steinbeck

Steinbeck, JohnGrapes of Wrath. New York: The Viking Press, [April, 1939] 8vo. Tan cloth, decoratively stamped in brown on cover and spine, unclipped dust jacket; small closed tear to upper rear of dust jacket, spine lightly sunned. First edition of the classic novel of the Great Depression. The tale of the Joad family as they travel across the country from Oklahoma to California in the midst of the Great Depression is one of the most influential novels of the twentieth century. It is Steinbeck's masterpiece. The Grapes of Wrath won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer and was central in the awarding of Steinbeck the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962.

Grapes of Wrath, first edition

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Fitzgerald, F. ScottTender is the Night. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1934 8vo. With decorations by Edward Shenton. Original dark bluish green cloth (linen-like grain). Jacket with blurbs by Clum, Seldes and Rawlings on front flap; very good with some wear at extremities and paper repairs on verso. First edition, first printing in the second state jacket. Fitzgerald began Tender is the Night in 1925, the same year The Great Gatsby was published. He know he had written an important book with Gatsby, but thought that his success hinged at the follow-up. By the time he had finished Tender in 1933, however, his life had taken several torturous turns: Zelda's breakdown and the onset of the Great Depression darkened Fitzgerald's sensibilities, a shift which became evident in portions of the book.&nbsp; REFERENCESBruccoli A14.I.a

Tender is the Night, first edition

Frederick Douglass

Douglass, FrederickMy Bondage and My Freedom: Part I - Life as a Slave, Part II - Life as a Freeman...with an Introduction by Dr.James M'Cune Smith. New York and Auburn: Miller, Orton and Mulligan, 25 Park Row and 107 Genesee-st, 1855 8vo. Frontispiece, plates, ads in the rear; usual foxing. Publisher's purple cloth; spine faded as usual. First edition. Douglass published his first autobiography, Narrative of the Life..., in 1845 in which he described his years in captivity in Maryland and his eventual escape and involvement in the abolition movement. "Published seven years after the author escaped slavery. It is probably the best known narrative of the ante-bellum period" (Blockson).&nbsp; Ten years later, he heavily revised and expanded his autobiography as the present My Bondage and My Freedom. Almost three times the length of the Narrative, My Bondage provides considerably more detail about Douglass' enslavement and escape and includes events which had occurred between 1845 and 1855 as a free man. Notably, the book also includes an appendix with extracts from some of Douglass notable speeches, including both his famous "Letter to His Old Master" and "What to to the Slave is the Fourth of July." The work also includes a new introduction by African American abolitionist James McCune Smith, whom Douglass described as "the single most important influence" on his life. The book was an instant bestseller, selling around 5,000 copies in two days. REFERENCESBlockson 9717

First edition of Douglass's autobiography

Truman Capote

Capote, TrumanBreakfast at Tiffany's. A Short Novel and Three Stories. New York: Random House, [1958] 8vo. Publisher's yellow cloth with black leather spine label lettered in gilt, original typographic dust jacket; faint fading to spine. In a custom cloth clamshell box. First edition, first printing. With three stories in addition to the title novella: "House of Flowers," "A Diamond Guitar," and "A Christmas Memory."

Breakfast at Tiffany's, first edition

James Baldwin

Baldwin, JamesNotes of a Native Son. Boston: The Beacon Press, 1955 8vo. Red cloth with black stamping, dust jacket depicting photograph of Baldwin; fading to spine and one little bump to top of rear hinge. First edition of Baldwin's powerful first book of essays. This first collection of Baldwin's non-fiction essays centers on issues of race and identity in both the United States and Europe, where he had emigrated in 1948. The ten texts were previously printed in periodicals such as Harper's Magazine and Partisan Review, and ranged from critical discussions of Uncle Tom's Cabin, Richard Wright's Native Son, and Carmen Jones, to Harlem, Jim Crow segregation, and being Black in France. In 1998, the Modern Library named it to its list of the top 100 non-fiction books of the 20th century, placing it at number 19.

Notes of a Native Son, first edition

Walt Whitman

Whitman, WaltLeaves of Grass. Brooklyn, New York: [Printed for the author], 1855 Folio. Second state of copyright notice as usual, second state of p. iv, engraved frontispiece portrait of Whitman with tissue guard (first state printed on heavy paper); frontispiece washed, some paper repairs to upper inner corners of frontispiece and title and small repairs to subsequent leaves, occasional light foxing and offsetting. Publisher's green cloth (Myerson binding A), covers and spine stamped in gilt with decorative title, covers with gilt triple-rule border, stamped all over in blind with floral ornaments, marbled endpapers; expertly recased with some restoration to extremities and gilt stamping. Housed in a custom velvet-lined cloth box. A newly-discovered first edition of Leaves of Grass, passed by descent through the family of Whitman's friend Frank Baker (1841–1918), physician, founding member of the National Geographic Society, and one-time superintendent of the National Zoo. Prior to an illustrious medical career, Baker served in the 37th New York Volunteers (1861–1863) and then transferred to Washington, D.C., for government service, where he became intimately familiar with John Burroughs and Whitman. In a postcard from 1889, Whitman intriguingly refers to Baker as “my first nurse” (Walt Whitman to Richard Maurice Bucke, 1 May 1889). This copy descends directly through Baker’s family, though it was evidently acquired by Baker on the secondary market, bearing as it does an unrelated ownership signature dating from the 1880s.&nbsp; REFERENCESBAL 21395; Grolier American, 67; Myerson A2.1.a(1) PROVENANCEFrank Baker — Herman Bean (ownership signature on verso of ffep, 1886)

Leaves of Grass, first edition

Edgar Allan Poe

Poe, Edgar AllanThe Raven and Other Poems [and:] Tales. New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1845 2 vols. bound in 1, 8vo. Raven: half title, "Wiley and Putnam's Library of American Books", name of stereotyper T. B. Smith on the title verso. Tales: third printing with three-line copyright. Three quarter blue morocco gilt, t.e.g., by Riviere &amp; Son; binder's endsheets with foxing, text with slight toning and a few stray traces of foxing. ﻿First editions of both titles, comprising "The most important volume of poetry that had been issued up to that time in America..." (Grolier American, 56). A choice set of the major books published during Poe’s lifetime, BAL’s “reissue B”, issued by Wiley and Putnam in April 1846, comprising the first edition sheets of The Raven and The Tales in either second or third printing (here in BAL’s third printing, distinguishable by the three-line copyright notice). Students all over the world know of the title poem, and many know others as well: "The Conqueror Worm," "Eulalie," "Leonore," "To Helen," etc. BAL notes that “impressions from the plates of several pages vary in an anomalous way. For instance, the first three letters of the last three lines of p. 160 appear both battered and intact within the three printings.” This copy has slight battering to “I” and "o" on p. 160, while the "v" is intact. The E in the running head on p. 187 is broken here (as in most copies of all printings. BAL cautions, “It is possible that the printings designated below as second and third are in fact two states of the same printing.” This copy is textually complete in both books, including the integral ads; the volume has been rebound without the separate gatherings of advertisements that followed the text. REFERENCESBAL 16146, 16147; Heartman &amp; Canny 92-94, 97-108; Grolier American, 56

The Raven and Other Poems [and:] Tales, first editions

Ernest Hemingway

Hemingway, ErnestThe Old Man and the Sea. London: Jonathan Cape, 1955 8vo. Half title, illustrations by C.F. Tunnicliffe and Raymond Sheppard. Half-cloth and illustrated paper boards; some warping and foxing to boards and endpapers, endemic to books from the Caribbean, in dust jacket with some fading to spine, bit of edgewear and some closed tears along top edge, with a "With the Compliments of the Author" panel pasted to rear flap. The second English edition, first printing, second issue, and the first illustrated edition. A wonderful association copy of The Old Man and the Sea, inscribed by Hemingway on the half title to film director and producer Fred Zinnemann: "Dear Freddy: Better luck if there is a place where we get better luck, Papa." Laid in are two photographs of Ernest and Mary Hemingway at a table with Fred Zinnemann, who had made an unofficial trip to Cuba in October 1955 to discuss the project with Hemingway before being brought on as director. Additionally laid in is a typed sheet with the heading: "December 20th, 1955 / "Old Man of the Sea" / Lima - Peru" containing notes on prices, accommodations, restaurants, etc. associated with filming on location in Peru. There is also a pictorial postcard from a group fishing expedition in Peru for capturing footage for The Old Man and the Sea film, that includes Hemingway and Mary, as well as cinematographer Hans Koenekamp. They spent April in Cabo Blanco, Peru, fishing every day and getting footage of Marlins for the film. The card's typed message is addressed to film producer Norman Cook and Fred Zinneman at the Hotel Rosita De Hornedo in Havana, Cuba, from Joe Barry, who's name appears in minor film roles throughout the period, as well as in the Leland Hayward archive at the NYPL, and was likely working as a production assistant on this shoot. Sent on 1 May 1956, he writes about the photo on the verso: "This is the one we got but he did not give us any action, 730 lbs. 13 Ft 5 In. long. Too bad, he might have been the one, it is one foot longer then [sic.] the biggest one caught here but not as heavy. We are still trying and hope we get what we came here for. My best wishes to you both and hope to see you soon."&nbsp; Leland Hayward, who had persuaded Life magazine to serialize the novel, acquired the rights to The Old Man and the Sea in 1953, Hemingway was brought in to work on the script—eventually handled by Peter Viertel—and supervise the fishing scenes. Fred Zinneman's first film The Wave (1936)—shot on location in Mexico with non-professional actors—was one of the earliest examples of a social realist film. He had recent success with the films High Noon, From Here to Eternity, and Oklahoma! Zinneman was unhappy with the difficulty in capturing marlin and shark activity suitable for use in the film, and after a mechanical marlin sank in the waters off of Cuba, Zinneman walked away, saying afterwards: "It made little sense to proceed with a robot pretending to be a fish in a studio tank pretending to be the Gulf Stream with an actor pretending to be a fisherman." His son, Tim, gives a more colorful version of his parting from the film: "My father had been directing the movie of 'Old Man and the Sea' but had a series of fights with Spencer Tracy and quit in the middle of shooting. Hemingway took my father’s side and gave him the book with the 'better luck next time' message. They remained good friends until Hemingway’s death... Hemingway, Tracy and Leland Hayward were the producers of the film. Tracy would get drunk and habitually show up five or more hours late on the set (at sea). My father was furious and quit. Hemingway backed up my father and went to see Hayward at his hotel in Havana – got into an argument with him and punched him out." A letter sent to Zinneman by Hemingway in August 1956, after the project has already wrapped, reads, "Will not write any atrocity stories about the picture. You must be as sick of them as I am," and congratulates Zinneman on passing up an offer to work on a film version of The Sun Also Rises (Christie's, 2005). Finally, laid into the book is a Christmas card to Zinnemann's family written by Mary Hemingway, and sent during the Hemingways' European trip at the end of 1956: "Dear Z's—we really ought to be together in this fine town—best to have all three of you—Mary (Hemingway) (Paris)" Beneath Mary's inscription, Hemingway writes: "Love Papa. Hope things go well." A lovely association between Hemingway and someone he saw as a close friend until the end of his life. REFERENCESGrissom A.24.1; Baker, Carlos, Ernest Hemingway: A Life, pp. 533

The Old Man and the Sea, association copy inscribed to film director Fred Zinnemann

Thirteen star American Flag, 5 pointed variant of the "Great Star Pattern" [likely Rhode Island], ca. 1777-1794 Stripes of homespun wool bunting, hand-stitched with cotton and linen thread, cotton stars single-appliquéd and under-hemmed, hoist of plain weave cotton binding along the hoist, with two whip-stitched, buttonhole grommets; with field or camp repairs. The famed ex-Mastai Collection "Kirby Flag." One of the earliest American flags extant, with attributed Revolutionary War provenance of Lt. Ephraim Kirby of Connecticut, wounded multiple times in the Revolution and ensign in Olney’s Rhode Island Battalion—an integrated unit partly comprised of the remains of the “Black Battalion” (the first such of its kind in America).&nbsp; Though Ephraim Kirby spent much of the early war at the rank of private, he nonetheless managed to forge a larger-than-life presence that continued well after the 1783 Treaty of Paris. Participating in 19 engagements with the enemy, he was wounded 13 times. In one skirmish along the Schuylkill River, near Philadelphia, he is recorded as having been slashed in the head 7 times by a saber and left for dead. On 23 August 1782, he received a commission with the rank of ensign. In this role he became flag-bearer.&nbsp; In 1783, Kirby became a founding member of the Society of the Cincinnati. Within Washington’s lifetime, Kirby held the positions of Secretary (1793–1797) and Vice President (1797–1798) of the organization in the State of Connecticut.&nbsp; EXHIBITIONHall of Science in Flushing Meadows Park, in Corona, New York: Selections from the Mastai Flag Collection, July 1977Museum of The American Revolution: “A New Constellation,” 14 June–21 July 2019;&nbsp;"Flags &amp; Founding Documents," 12 June–6 September 2021;&nbsp;"Banners of Liberty," 19 April–10 August 2025

Thirteen star American Flag, 5 pointed variant of the "Great Star Pattern" [likely Rhode Island], ca. 1777-1794

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr.Birmingham Jail Logbook, signed by Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ralph Abernathy Single bifolium (11 x 14 inches; 288 x 356 mm), two conjugate leaves from a commercially-printed ledger book, dated between 3/4/63 and 11/27/63, ruled in blue and red on cream stock, signed by King twelve times—seven on page 61 and five on page 63—and Ralph D. Abernathy five times, three on page 61 and twice on page 63. Partial separation and minor loss at center hinge, light handling and moderate toning, signatures in blue ballpoint ink, bold and legible. "INJUSTICE ANYWHERE IS A THREAT TO JUSTICE EVERYWHERE." This seemingly routine record of incoming correspondence reflects on the most consequential episodes in American history. The sheet logs the incoming mail of the Birmingham City Jail for the spring and summer of 1963, its columns densely filled in multiple hands with dates, names, delivery modes, and recipient signatures, documenting the flow of correspondence into a facility that was, for a critical stretch of weeks, the temporary receiving point for Southern Christian Leadership Conference and its leadership. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested on Good Friday, April 12, 1963, during the SCLC's Project C—for Confrontation—a direct-action campaign targeting Birmingham's segregated commercial district. The Birmingham authorities, under Public Safety Commissioner Bull Connor, were among the most intransigent in the South, and King's imprisonment was both a calculated strategic move and a genuine danger. While confined, he read in a smuggled copy of the Birmingham News an open letter signed by eight white Alabama clergymen urging him to stand down, to trust the courts, to wait. His response became the "Letter from Birmingham Jail," arguably the most important prose document of the American civil rights movement. The Letter is a work of extraordinary rhetorical and moral force: a systematic dismantling of the case for gradualism, a defense of nonviolent direct action as the only available instrument of justice, and a sustained meditation on the difference between just and unjust law drawing on Augustine, Aquinas, Tillich, and Buber with the fluency of a trained theologian. Composed in fragments under harsh conditions of physical confinement and surveillance, smuggled out through King's legal team, and distributed first as a mimeographed pamphlet before achieving wider publication, King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was written against time and against the counsel of white moderation — and has been repeatedly reprinted, anthologized, and taught. A sympathetic contact smuggled in a copy of the April 12 Birmingham News, which carried "A Call for Unity," an open letter signed by eight white Alabama clergymen urging King to abandon his campaign and trust the courts. The statement provoked him into an immediate response. As King later wrote in Why We Can't Wait: "Begun on the margins of the newspaper in which the statement appeared while I was in jail, the letter was continued on scraps of writing paper supplied by a friendly Negro trusty, and concluded on a pad my attorneys were eventually permitted to leave me." Walter Reuther, president of the United Auto Workers, arranged $160,000 in bail to free King and the other jailed protesters; King walked free on April 20, 1963. This log sheet is a rare institutional artifact of that history: a record-keeping trace capturing King’s incoming correspondence—signed by him twelve times. The entries for April 12 and the weeks immediately following document the rapid flower of incoming correspondence to King, Ralph Abernathy, and their associates in real time—the telegrams, special delivery letters, and registered mail that connected the jailed leadership to the movement outside. The signatures in the right-hand columns, acknowledging receipt, include King's own. Among the few known surviving artifacts directly tied to King’s Birmingham confinement, this jail communication log preserves an institutional record of the incoming correspondence acknowledged by King and Abernathy during the days surrounding the composition and circulation of the Letter from Birmingham Jail. The entries date between 3/4/63 and 11/27/63 including the period between 4/12/63 to 4/20/63, the dates of King’s incarceration. The four pages (front and back) are still partially hinged at the center, numbered 61 to 64. Each line represents a written communication received at the jail, with the left-hand page recording the date, the inmate's name, and the type of correspondence, while the right-hand page was reserved for the recipient's signature confirming delivery. While page 60 (which would have recorded the incoming log written by an employee of the jail) is not present, the facing page 61 documents 7 incoming items signed for by King. Page 62 notes the delivery of a "SP Dil Letter" (special delivery letter) on 4/17; a "W U Telegram" and "Reg. Let." arrived on 4/19, and two more Western Union telegrams on 4/20, the day of his release. A powerful document of the Civil Rights movement, a poignant reminder of King’s fight against institutional injustice, logged during the creation of a masterwork of American letters, and its clarion call for Freedom everywhere: “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” PROVENANCEAccording to family oral history reported by Hake’s, the pages were preserved by a Birmingham jail employee after he was instructed to destroy the ledger, then descended in that employee’s family — Hake’s Auctions, Auction #231 Part I, 24 February 2021, lot 1

Martin Luther King’s Incarceration for Peaceful Protest: The Birmingham Jail Warden’s Log

Marc Chagall

Marc Chagall1887 - 1945Le CirqueParis, Tériade Éditeur, 1967.In-folio (425 x 324 mm).En feuilles, couverture en vélin d’Arches, sous chemise et étui toilés de l’éditeur.L’un des chef -d’oeuvres de Chagall.Textes de Marc Chagall.38 lithographies originales de Marc Chagall, dont 23 en couleurs, comprenant 3 sur double page.Les lithographies ont été t irées sur les presses de Mourlot.Édition unique à 270 exemplaires sur vélin d’Arches. Exemplaire de collaborateur non signé.