A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=movie%20production%20photograph&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">movie production photograph</a> from the film <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=A%20Matter%20of%20Life%20and%20Death&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">A Matter of Life and Death / Stairway to Heaven</a>.<ul><li>Photographic production still.</li><li>Conservation framed with UV plexiglass.</li></ul>

A Matter of Life and Death / Stairway to Heaven Movie Production Photograph

A&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=movie%20production%20photograph&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">movie production photograph</a>&nbsp;from the film&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=A%20Matter%20of%20Life%20and%20Death&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">A Matter of Life and Death / Stairway to Heaven</a>.<ul><li>Photographic production still.</li><li>Conservation framed with UV plexiglass.</li></ul>

Books, Manuscripts & Music, from Medieval to Modern

Friedrich von Gentz Important archive of around 350 autograph letters and billets, signed ("Gentz"; "G"), mostly to his mistress Countess Eleonore Fuchs, CONCERNING EVENTS OF THE NAPOLEONIC WARS, THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA AND HIS PRIVATE LIFE, c.1812-1831, APPARENTLY UNPUBLISHED many of the letters long and highly detailed, REFERRING TO EVENTS IN THE NAPOLEONIC WARS, discussing the Battles of Vitoria [21 June 1813] and Bautzen [20-21 May 1813], providing details of the campaign against Napoleon in 1814, describing Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Laon [9-10 March 1814], giving her the latest news on the eve of the Congress of Vienna, relating that the opening has had to be delayed on account of Lord Castlereagh, who was unable to leave London, and noting that the Tsar has solemnly promised to be in Vienna by the end of September, commenting on the last days of the Congress, where he has had no time for himself, despite having got up at seven every day, explaining that he is looking forward to the end of the entertaining he has to do following the close of the Congress, when for him a beautiful time will begin, if this hope is not perhaps also a dream, mentioning many of the notable political and social personalities of the day, including Metternich, Talleyrand, Wellington, Wallmoden, and members of the Austrian nobility, such as Palffy, Dietrichstein, Woyna, Esterházy, Gallenberg, Lobkowitz, Zichy, Waldstein, Ficquelmont, Countess Fekete, and others, reporting the news of Kotzebue's murder, alluding to the Russo-Turkish War ("Ich bin zu froh, ein Paar Seiten schreiben zu können, ohne dieses fatale Thema zu berühren..."), referring to the painter [Sir Thomas] Lawrence and a portrait of himself, informing her that yesterday (2 May [1820]) was his birthday, adding that that was a secret that now no one else in the world knows, confiding matters of a private nature, making appointments, asking her advice, making arrangements for receptions and meetings, providing invitation lists, noting the current craze for all things Russian, describing his feelings for the singer Giuditta Pasta, assessing the character of the newly-elected Pope Leo XII [1823-1829], DISCUSSING IN A NUMBER OF LATE LETTERS THE LAST GREAT LOVE OF HIS LIFE, THE BALLERINA FANNY ELSSLER, praising Paris as the most beautiful city in the world, compared to which the 'physiognomy' of London appears like 'a richly decorated grave', describing the sights and sounds of the city, including the red frock coats of the English [gentlemen] and the barbaric grooming customs of the English women, asking her to send on some books of his, including a biography of Goethe, which he has read a third of, recounting social events at Princess (Eleonore) Metternich's, asking her advice regarding the guest-list for a dinner he is hosting, opening his heart to her ("Mein Vorsatz war, sie gestern zu besuchen, um Ihnen eine Erklärung (une déclaration) zu machen, weil ich vorgestern von Ihrer Sch[ö]nheit und Liebenswürdigkeit ganz ausser mir war..."), saying that he would like to see her every day, giving poetic expression to his feelings after an apparent rebuff from her by quoting a verse of Voltaire ("On meurt deux fois, je le [vois] bien, / Cesser d'aimer et d'etre aimable / C'est une mort insupportable..."), noting how beautiful his garden is, commiserating with her on her suffering, explaining that he too is basically unhappy, chained as he is to his writing desk, gossiping about social contacts ("Unter den sonderbaren Leuten, die bey diesem Diner war, findet sich auch ein gewisser Duc de Dalberg. Ob dieser nicht vielleicht dem Prinzen sehr zuwider ist, wage ich nicht zu bestimmen..."), lamenting his shortsightedness, which means he can no longer recognize people in a crowd, some late letters expressing his melancholy, revealing his low state of mind and bitterness concerning his current position ("Was man die Gesellschaft nennt, ist mir heute noch mehr zuwider, als in den Jahren meiner langen Abgeschiedenheit von der Welt...jetzt aber bin ich in einer Art von Kriegesstand mit mehrern meiner sogenannten Freunde..."), some letters originally enclosing gifts (books, flowers, etc.), one letter quoting from Shakespeare's Macbeth ("Ich bin ins Blut so tief gewatet..."), discussing the troubles of her brother, referring to volumes by Casanova, matters concerning the theatre, his travels, and many other topics ...es ist diese Nacht ein Courier der Staatskanzley mit...Nachrichten angekommen. Napoleon war am 9ten bey Laon...geschlagen worden..., fast das ganze Corps von Marmont, mit Verlust vieler Menschen und Kanonen, gesprengt, Nap. am 11ten in grossem Gedränge auf dem Rückzug nach Soissens. St. Priest hatte Rheims mit Sturm genommen. Augereau wurde bey Macon geschlagen...Hier herrscht eine grosse Bestürzung über die Wendung, welche die Sachen genommen haben...der Congress ist, weil Lord Castlereagh jetzt London nicht verlassen kann, auf 6 Wochen verschoben; der Kayser von Russland kommt für jetzt nicht nach Wien, sondern geht über Berlin nach Petersburg zurück, hat aber aufs feyerlichste versprochen, sich zu Ende September in Wien einzufinden...Sie wissen, das die Abreise des F[ürst] M[etternich] und der übrigen Cabinets-Minister bis auf den Montag verschoben ist. Diese letzten Tage des Congresses sind nun für mich noch die härtesten, und ob ich gleich seit 8 Tagen jeden Morgen um 7 Uhr aufstehe, komme ich doch kaum einen Augenblick mehr zu mir selbst. Da aber das Ende sehr nah ist vertrage ich dies mit grosser Resignation......Stellen Sie sich vor, dass am 23ten v. Kotzebue zu Mannheim von einem mit der Post angekommenen Fanatiker, der ihm ein Papier überreichte, erstochen worden ist. Gleich darnach hat der Thäter sich selbst erstochen...Der neu-erwählte Pabst scheint, nach allem was ich bisher über ihn habe einsammeln können, ein sehr frommer, sehr gelehrter, dabey Welt-erfahrner, mit den Grossstädten und den fremden Ländern (er war 15 u. mehrere Jahre in Deutschland) sehr vertrauter, und überdies noch, wie man versichert, höchst liebenswürdiger Mann zu seyn. Er ist 62 Jahre alt, und von einer schönen Figur...Letzte Abend war die längst erwartete und ersehnte Copulation...Kommen Sie hübsch Samstag am halb 9 oder 9 Uhr zu mir, und gehen Sie nachher in die Kirche!...Ich bete Sie un Himmels Willen nur nicht auszugehen. Ich habe Ihnen die notwendigst[en] Dinge zu sagen. In einer kleinen halben Stunde...Ich habe gestern Abend mit einer Stummen (nicht von Portici, sondern von Wien) -- in ihren Augen mehr Beredsamkeit liegt, als im Munde vieler Coquetten --Ecarté gespielt...auch höre ich, dass Sie bey Albert Unterricht im Tanzen nehmen wollen. Ich sah den grossen Mann, und sein hässliches Töchterchen gestern Abend, Mir ist aber der kleine Zehe der Fanny Esler lieber als die ganze Dlle Albert...Ich sah Fanny nach dem Theater, und schöpfte aus ihren lieblichen Blicken und freundschaftlichem Reden und vernünftigen Ermahnungen, einiges Gegengift für meine tiefe Melancholie... including: 6 AUTOGRAPH LETTERS SIGNED TO JOSEPH ANTON VON PILAT (1782-1865), the political writer and one-time private secretary to Metternich, mentioning Castlereagh, discussing matters of religion, including a dispute with Count Palffy concerning the church, mentioning disturbing events in Peru, the fall of Tripolitsa, and other matters, APPARENTLY UNPUBLISHED, 12 pages, one letter apparently 1821, another 1831; one autograph letter signed by Gentz to his one-time mistress Baroness Eybenberg, 2 pages, no date; AND AN AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT OF A SHORT ESSAY ATTACKING NAPOLEON'S ONE-TIME SECRETARY DOMINIQUE-GEORGES-FRÉDÉRIC DUFOUR DE PRADT [Schlesier, v, pp.90ff.; final page of the manuscript apparently unpublished], 7 pages, 4to, ties, no place or date, first leaf becoming detached around 650 pages in all, various sizes, many gilt-edged, a few letters with autograph address-panels, one in pencil, most letters in German, a few in French, c.7 in French addressed "ma chère Reine" etc., a few twentieth-century transcriptions, with an undated 1-page letter signed by Marie d'Agoult to an unnamed correspondent, Vienna, Paris, Carlsbad, Gastein, Pressburg, c.1812-1831, where indicated, browning to a few letters, a few with seal tears and remains of seal, a few letters splitting along folds, some creasing, a few small tears PROBABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT COLLECTION OF LETTERS BY GENTZ EVER OFFERED AT AUCTION. THE ARCHIVE WOULD APPEAR TO BE LARGELY UKNOWN AND UNPUBLISHED. The statesman and political writer Friedrich von Gentz (1764-1832) is perhaps best-known today as the guiding force behind the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815), the highly consequential meeting of European great powers convened to reshape the continent after the turmoil of the Napoleonic Wars. Following eight years' service in the Prussian civil service, in the course of which he published widely on political and historical questions (earning the epithet from Napoleon of "wretched scribe"), as well as acquiring an invaluable proficiency in French and English, Gentz moved to Vienna, where in 1812 he became the Austrian chancellor Prince Metternich's right-hand man. But the master diplomat and man of letters, as this correspondence shows, was very much also a creature of flesh and blood. Gentz's relations with women were complicated and numerous (he abandoned and divorced his wife on leaving Berlin), and often recorded in frank detail in his diaries to the discomfiture of later readers. The present letters are addressed to his long-term mistress Countess Maria Eleonora Fuchs, née von Gallenberg (1876-1842), the sister-in-law of Beethoven's former piano pupil Julie Guicciardi, for whom the composer had entertained amorous feelings around 1801-1802. Only occasionally indiscreet, they are the highly informative record of an important and long-lasting friendship. A number of the later letters here shed light on a late personal relationship between Gentz and the celebrated ballet dancer Fanny Elssler (1810-1884), forty-six years his junior, whom he had met in 1829. She became something of a consolation to him in his somewhat embittered final years, after his falling-out with Metternich in 1830, living with him in his palace in the Weinhaus district of Vienna until his death in June 1832. A notable feature of some of the letters in this collection is the juxtaposition of Gentz's narration of world-changing events with homely tokens of affection for his correspondent. Thus in a letter from March 1814 Gentz relates the breathless details of a dispatch concerning Napoleon's defeat at Laon, only to sign off "this for breakfast from your admirer". And in a letter written on 19 June 1815, the day after the Battle of Waterloo resulted in the final defeat of Napoleon, amidst descriptions of attending and hosting social events for the great and the good, the event uppermost in the mind of the master diplomat was the shocking news that his correspondent had possibly broken her leg. LITERATURE: Gustav Schlesier (ed.), Schriften von Friedrich von Gentz, v (1840), pp.90ff.; Karl Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, ed., Briefe von Friedrich Gentz an Pilat, i and ii (1868)

View 1 of Lot 65:    Friedrich von Gentz | Archive of c.350 autograph letters and billets mostly to his mistress Countess Fuchs, c.1812-1831, apparently unpublished

friedrich von gentz | archive of c.350 autograph letters and billets mostly to his mistress countess fuchs, c.1812-1831, apparently unpublished

Shelf Life: Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper from the Library of Stanley J. Seeger and Christopher Cone

PROVENANCE: 1. Apparently from a manuscript perhaps produced in north-western France in c.1420, enriched with large miniatures added by the Mazarine Master in Paris. 2. Perhaps owned by Vladimir Simkhovitch (1874–1959) of New York, who sold the four leaves with large miniatures (see below) to the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1953 and 1955. 3. Probably owned by Heinrich Eisemann c.1953, from whom bought by: 4. Eric Korner (1893–1980); his nos. 80–81; 5. sold by his heirs in our rooms, 19 June 1990, lot 26. Two attractive leaves from a Parisian Book of Hours with miniatures by the Mazarine Master COMMENTARY: Two very personal leaves with illuminations by the workshop of the Mazarine Master: the first showing St Christopher carrying the Christ Child and St Denis holding his mitred head; the second depicting St Martin dividing his cloak on the recto and St Mary Magdalene. The two leaves were excised from a Book of Hours and contain parts of the Suffrages to the Saints. Suffrages are often short, specialised prayers dedicated to an individual saint, intended to seek intercession, protection, and guidance on behalf of oneself or loved ones. These sections were highly personal and tailored to the specific patron, and to the diocese or city in which the owner lived. The four saints represented in these leaves were popular intercessors, beseeched in practical matters of salvation and protection. They are characteristic of late medieval lay devotion and are frequently found in Books of Hours for the Use of Paris, each being associated with everyday practical concerns of salvation and protection. As patron saint of Paris, St Denis was one of the most popular saintly figures in Books of Hours from the region. St Christopher offered protection against sudden death and was one of the preferred saints of travellers and pilgrims. St Denis was often invoked against headaches — despite carrying his head as a sign of his martyrdom — while St Martin is invoked against poverty, and St Mary Magdalene offers the forgiveness of sins. All saints are depicted with their traditional attributes against colourful geometrical backgrounds and set within thin golden frames. They are each charmingly rendered, with details that might strike the modern viewer as humorous — St Denis’s halo is placed on top of his body where his head once was, despite its clear absence, and the bright, crisp white braies of the beggar, together with the benevolent expression of St Martin, catch the eye of the beholder. Apparently from the same manuscript are a handful of leaves, including larger miniatures, four formerly in the Korner Collection, sold in our rooms on 19th June 1990, lots 21–24. Additional sister leaves from the Suffrages include small miniatures in a style characteristic of Brittany or perhaps Normandy, as well as two leaves from a New York collection, sold in our rooms on 21st June 1994, lot 26, bought by Maggs (their Catalogue 1222, 1996, nos. 2–3, with col. pls.), and one bought from Korner by Rosy Schilling and sold after her death in our rooms on 5th December 1994, lot 24. LITERATURE: Andrews, Christine Geisler. “The Boucicaut Masters.” The Art Bulletin 63, no. 1 (March 1981): 7–28. Avril, François, et Nicole Reynaud. Les manuscrits à peintures en France, 1440–1520. Paris: Bibliothèque nationale de France, 1993. Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF). “Maître de la Mazarine.” Catalogue général. Accessed June 3, 2026. https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb154998730. Reinburg, Virginia. French Books of Hours: Making an Archive of Prayer, c. 1400–1600. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. Wieck, Roger S. Painted Prayers: The Book of Hours in Medieval and Renaissance Art. New York: George Braziller, 1997.

View 1 of Lot 77: Illuminated Manuscript—Four small miniatures on two leaves from a Book of Hours, in Latin with rubrics in French, (France, Brittany or Normandy(?), c.1420

illuminated manuscript—four small miniatures on two leaves from a book of hours, in latin with rubrics in french, (france, brittany or normandy(?), c.1420

Thomas Hardy Far from the Madding Crowd. London: Macmillan, 1908. VIRGINIA WOOLF'S COPY, WITH HER OWNERSHIP INSCRIPTION on front free endpaper ("V. Stephen"), 1908 reprint, 8vo, 32pp. publisher's catalogue at end original blue cloth, upper cover blocked in gold with TH monogram medallion, housed in collector's slipcase in blue morocco and cloth, front and rear free endpapers browned, hinges split, lower joint starting, binding worn and soiled, spine sunned “…For these reasons, Hardy’s genius was uncertain in development, uneven in accomplishment, but, when the moment came, magnificent in achievement. The moment came, completely and fully, in Far from the Madding Crowd. The subject was right; the method was right; the poet and the countryman, the sensual man, the sombre reflective man, the man of learning, all enlisted to produce a book which, however fashions may chop and change, must hold its place among the great English novels…” (Virginia Woolf, ‘The Novels of Thomas Hardy’) VIRGINIA WOOLF'S COPY OF A FAVOURITE NOVEL WITH A DEEP FAMILY RESONANCE. Virginia Woolf travelled to Max Gate on 25 July 1926 for her first and only meeting with Thomas Hardy, and Far from the Madding Crowd was a natural place for the two writers to begin their conversation on literature. Woolf admired the novel greatly but it was also a book that connected the two writers in a much more personal way. It had been Leslie Stephen, Woolf’s father, who had accepted the novel for publication when he was editor of The Cornhill Magazine. At that point Stephen was an established man of letters whilst Hardy was largely unknown, and not only did Woolf’s father play a vital role in the publication of Hardy’s breakthrough novel but he also introduced him to many figures in literary London. Hardy dedicated a poem in remembrance of Stephen in Satires of Circumstance (1914), which triggered his daughter to write to Hardy to tell him how “I have long wished to tell you how profoundly grateful I am to you for your poems and novels”. Virginia Woolf’s tea with Hardy was a memorable success and is recorded in typically exquisite detail in her diary. She records Hardy's comment about her father's publication of Far from the Madding Crowd: "We stood shoulder to shoulder against the British public about certain matters dealt with in that novel". She was impressed by his "freedom, ease & vitality": "He seemed very 'Great Victorian' doing the whole thing with a sweep of his hand (they are ordinary smallish, curled up hands) & setting no great stock by literature; but immensely interested in facts; incidents; & somehow, one could imagine, naturally swept off into imagining & creating without a thought of its being difficult or remarkable; becoming obsessed; & living in imagination". Virginia Woolf’s diaries and letters include many references to her love of Hardy’s work: when she visited Stonehenge in 1903 she was reading Tess of the D’Urbervilles, and when she was trying to encourage herself in her writing she looked to Hardy as an example (“...As for Thomas Hardy, he's a great man; his style is not made to fit, but what of that? If we had but his ribs, his thighs, his stomach and his entrails!...”, 21 May 1912). His novels are singled out for praise in The Common Reader, but her detailed critical appreciation of Hardy came with the essay ‘The Novels of Thomas Hardy’. She was commissioned in 1919 to prepare an obituary piece for the TLS, and the subject occupied her for a considerable period: in 1921 she was still “reading Hardy for my famous article – the one I'm always talking about", and she felt some discomfort that she was writing in preparation for his death. The essay, a sensitive and sympathetic survey of his work, appeared in the TLS just eight days after he died in January 1928, and was republished in The Common Reader Vol. 2 (1932). BOOKS FROM VIRGINIA WOOLF'S LIBRARY ARE RARE AT AUCTION. Virginia Woolf evidently acquired this volume while she was still "V[irginia] Stephen": i.e. before her marriage to Leonard Woolf in 1912. The lot includes a typed letter of provenance signed by Leonard’s final companion, Marjorie Tulip ("Trekkie") Parsons, recording in August 1994 that this volume "was in the library of Virginia Woolf and remained in her possession until her death'', that it passed at that time to Leonard Woolf, and then, she says, "at Leonard's death it passed to me and has remained in my possession until now". PROVENANCE: Virginia Woolf (1882-1941): inscription to front free endpaper ("V. Stephen"); Leonard Woolf (1880-1969); Marjorie Tulip ("Trekkie") Parsons (1902-1995): typed letter signed ("M.T. Parsons") and dated August 1994, confirming earlier provenance; Sotheby's, London, 8 July 2004, lot 258 LITERATURE: Marion Dell, ‘Moments of Vision: Thomas Hardy and Virginia Woolf’, The Thomas Hardy Journal, 31 (2015), 13-24

View 1 of Lot 154: Thomas Hardy | Far from the Madding Crowd, 1908, Virginia Woolf's copy

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