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Fuchs, CONCERNING EVENTS OF THE NAPOLEONIC WARS, THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA AND HIS PRIVATE LIFE, c.1812-1831, APPARENTLY UNPUBLISHED many of the letters long and highly detailed, REFERRING TO EVENTS IN THE NAPOLEONIC WARS, discussing the Battles of Vitoria [21 June 1813] and Bautzen [20-21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

The Jay T. Snider Collection of Benjamin Franklin

(Benjamin Franklin — David Hall) The Pennsylvania Gazette. Containing the Freshest Advices, Foreign and Domestick. Philadelphia: Printed by B. Franklin, Post-Master, and D. Hall, 6 January 1757–1 December, 1757 46 weekly issues, numbers 1463–1510, without numbers 1488 and 1489, folio (381 x 248 mm). Each issue a bifolium of 4 pages, printed in three columns, with a woodcut armorial at the head of the first page, and occasional small woodcut illustrations in the text, number 1492 with an early ownership signature; Light toning, a few spots, generally quite minor excepting number 1497, some chipping and wear to corners and edges, trimmed close at the top edge, occasionally shaving a letter or a headline, infrequent tears and one loss at a corner, two holes near the gutter from a previous binding throughout, issue number 1510, the last in the series, with chipping and tears along edges, with losses to the printing on the second leaf at the lower corner and the top edge, and with a paper repair along the fold. Disbound; with remnants of a previous binding at spine, and much of the sewing intact. Half red morocco slipcase, chemise. A rare and extensive run of 46 weekly issues of Benjamin Franklin's newspaper, The Pennsylvania Gazette, covering nearly all of 1757 and encapsulating a year's worth of vital news for North America and especially Philadelphia. These newspapers are also an important source for information on The French and Indian War, which raged across North America from 1755 to 1763. In October 1729, Benjamin Franklin, already established as both printer and journalist, assumed control of an existing paper and shortened its name to The Pennsylvania Gazette. Franklin then changed both the paper's design and its content, and under his direction the Gazette became arguably the finest newspaper in the colonies, with the largest circulation, the most pages, the highest advertising revenue, and the liveliest editorial columns. Walter Isaacson, in his popular biography, characterizes Franklin the newspaper editor and journalist as one who was "charmed and amused by the world and delight[ed] in charming and amusing others... skeptical of both orthodoxies and heresies... earnest in [his] desire to seek truth and promote public betterment." As such, "Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette was filled not only with short news items and reports on public events, but also with amusing essays and letters from readers. What made his paper a delight was its wealth of this type of correspondence, much of it written under pseudonyms by Franklin himself" (Isaacson, p. 65). In 1748, Franklin took on David Hall as partner and stepped away from active printing. By 1757, the period covered in the present run, Franklin would not have been involved in the daily activities of the paper — he was engaged as Pennsylvania's Colonial Agent that year, and departed for England on 20 June. That said, Franklin continued to publish and occasionally write for the paper until 1765, when he sold his share of the printing business to Hall, a deal that was finalized on 1 February 1766. The Gazette itself continued to be published until 1815. These 1757 issues of The Pennsylvania Gazette are an especially important record for the French and Indian War, providing, for example, accounts of the French defeat of General Braddock in western Pennsylvania in July 1755, and the English rout of the French at Lake George later that September. There is also information about a variety of world events, including the concurrent Seven Years' War in Europe, and various proclamations and acts from King George and the English Parliament. The Gazette includes a variety of news from various colonial centers, including New York, Boston, Kingston, and Williamsburg. There is also information about colonists' interactions with Native Americans, including accounts of whites taken into captivity, and the texts of agreements between Pennsylvania and the Six Nations. The newspaper is also filled with information on Philadelphia, giving accounts of the votes and proceedings of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and serving as a veritable "who's who" for the city. Additionally, the advertising matter in the Gazette offers a fascinating record of colonial life in the city of Philadelphia, reporting on escaped enslaved persons and runaway servants, ship embarkations and arrivals, auctions, lottery schemes, real estate sales, legal notices, new publications by booksellers, and scores of artisans and professionals offering their services, including cabinet makers, silversmiths, grocers, textile merchants, and more. Some other notable inclusions in the advertisements are Lewis Evans's death and the auction of his maps, Franklin's selling of his own "Very Good Lampblack" at his printing office, information on Franklin's fire insurance company The Philadelphia Contributionship, and notices for books printed on Franklin's own press, such as The Trial of the late Admiral Byng. This run of 46 issues is among the three largest groups of Franklin imprint Pennsylvania Gazettes to have appeared at auction in the last century, per RareBookHub. REFERENCES Miller 662; Walter Isaacson, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, New York: Simon and Schuster, 2003

View 1 of Lot 74: Benjamin Franklin — David Hall | A nearly complete 1757 run of "The Pennsylvania Gazette," Franklin and Hall's Philadelphia newspaper 

benjamin franklin — david hall | a nearly complete 1757 run of "the pennsylvania gazette," franklin and hall's philadelphia newspaper

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

Benjamin Franklin Autograph letter signed (“BFranklin”) to Henry Home, Lord Kames (“Lord Kaims,” at foot of first page), 3 pages (320 x 197 mm) on a disjunct bifolium of laid paper (watermarked Pro Patria with Maid of Dort, countermarked crowned GR), London, 28 February 1768, on the venting of chimneys and the happiness derived from “small Conveniencies or Pleasures that occur every day,” with a six-line autograph postscript; a few tiny pinholes to top horizontal fold of second leaf. Accompanied by a neat clerical “Copy of part of a Letter from Dr. Franklin. To Sir Alexander Dick— London, January. 21. 1762” (superscription at head of first page), 3 ½ pages (302 x 183 mm) on a disjunct bifolium of laid paper (watermarked arms of the United Kingdom, countermarked crowned GR), docketed on final page “Copy Letter from Dr. Franklin about his Chimney Machines. 21 January 1762”; inner margins and some folds skillfully reinforced, final page lightly soiled. And with an address panel directed “To The Rt. Honble. Lord Kames Edinburgh,” with red wax seal largely intact; soiled and repaired. (This address panel perhaps covered the transcription of Franklin’s letter to Dick, since the Papers describes the present letter to Kames as bearing the autograph address and franking signature, “To The Right honble. Lord Kaims, at Edinburgh B Free Franklin”; this was perhaps retained by a member of the Family Trust at the time of the 1995 sale.) Half green morocco folding-case gilt, two chemises. One of Franklin’s first and most famous inventions was the Franklin stove, also called a “circulating stove” or “Pennsylvania fireplace.” Invented by Franklin in 1742, and significantly improved by David Rittenhouse, the Franklin stove was intended to produce more heat and less smoke than an ordinary open fireplace. The notoriety of the invention led Lord Kames to consult Franklin, in a letter of 18 February 1868, about an issue with his new house in Edinburgh: “I begin to perceive in my decline of life that happiness, comfort at least, depends more upon what a Philosopher would call slight conveniences than a young man in the ardour of his studies is apt to imagine. I have bought a house in this Town which luckily is absolutely free of smoke except what is commonly called neighbour smoke; that is the smoke issuing from one vent sometimes goes down a neighbouring vent and issues into the Room when there is no fire in it. I apply to you for a remedy as to an universal Smoke Doctor; and if I had a remedy, mine would be the most compleat house in Edinburgh” (Papers 15:50–51). Franklin here responds fully to his friend, apologizing for his laxity in writing and voicing his concurrence with Kames’s perception of “slight conveniences”: “I have long been of an Opinion similar to that you express, and think Happiness consists more in small Conveniencies or Pleasures that occur every day, than in great Pieces of good Fortune that happen but seldom to a Man in the Course of his Life. Thus I reckon it among my Felicities that I can set my own Razor and shave my self perfectly well, in which I have a daily Pleasure, and avoid the Uneasiness one is otherwise oblig’d sometimes to suffer from dull Razors, and the dirty Fingers or bad Breath of a slovenly Barber.” But Kames had consulted Franklin on a practical, not philosophical, matter, and the greater part of Franklin’s answer is devoted to a meticulously detailed commentary on the issue of “neighbor smoke,” its cause and its remedy. “I congratulate you on the Purchase of a new House so much to your Mind, and wish that you may long inhabit it with Comfort. The Inconvenience you mention of Neighbour Smoke coming down the Vents, is not owing to any bad Construction of the Vent down which it comes, and therefore not to be remedied by any Change of Form. It is merely the Effect of a Law of Nature, whereby whenever the outward Air is warmer than the Walls of the Vent, the Air included being by those Walls made colder, and of course denser and heavier, than an equal Column of the outward Air, descends into the Room, and in descending draws other Air into the Vent from above to supply its Place; which being in its Turn cooled and condensed by the cooler Walls of the Vent, descends also, and so a Current downwards is continued during the Continuance of such Difference in Temperament between the outward Air and the Walls of the Vent. When this Difference is destroy’d, by the outward Air growing cooler and the Walls growing warmer, the Current downward ceases; and when the outward Air becomes still colder than the Walls, the Current changes and moves from below upwards, the warmer Walls rarifying the Air they include, and thereby making it so much lighter than a Column of the outward Air of equal Height, that it is oblig’d to give way to the other’s superior Weight, and rise; is succeeded by colder Air, which, being warmed and rarified in its turn, rises also, and so the upward Current is continued. In Summer when Fires are not made in the Chimneys, the Current generally sets downward from nine or ten in the Morning during all the Heat of the Day till five or six in the Afternoon, then begins to hesitate, and afterwards to set upwards during the Night, continuing till about Nine in the Morning, then hesitating for some time before it again sets downwards for the Day. This is the general Course, with some occasional Variation of the Hours according to the Length of Days or Changes of Weather. Now, when the Air of any Vent is in this descending State, if the Smoke issuing from a neighbouring Vent happens to be carried over it by the Wind, part will be drawn in and brought down into the Room. The proper Remedy then is, to close the Opening of the Chimney in the Room, by a Board so fitted that little or no Air can pass, whereby the Currents above-mentioned will be prevented. This Board to remain during the Summer, and when Fires are not made in the Chimney. Those Chimneys that have Fires in them daily, are not subject to this Inconvenience, the Walls of their Vents being kept too warm to occasion any downward Current during the Hours between the going out of one Fire and the kindling of another. And indeed in Summer, those Vents that happen to go up close joined with the Kitchen Vent, are generally kept so warm by that, as to be free from the downward Current, and therefore free from what you call Neighbour Smoke.” Kames, in his letter, had also asked Franklin if he should adopt “your Philadelphia Grate, as it promises to save Coal, and to diffuse an equal heat through the Room,” but Franklin here advises that, under the circumstances, this is an unnecessary addition: “The Philadelphia Grate which you mention, is a very good Thing, if you could get one that is rightly made, and an ingenious Workman to fix it properly. Those generally made and used here are much hurt by fancied Improvements in their Construction, and I cannot recommend them. As Fuel with you is cheap and plenty, a Saving in that Article is scarce an Object. The Sliding Plates (of which I sent a Model to Sir Alexander Dick) are in my Opinion the most convenient for your purpose, as they keep a Room sufficiently warm, are simple Machines, easily fix’d, and their Management easily conceiv’d and understood by Servants.” Franklin described these sliding plates, based on his “more than 20 Years Experience of my own Contrivances and those of others, for the Warming of Rooms,” in a letter of 21 January 1762 to Sir Alexander Dick (Papers 10:13–16). A contemporary transcription of this letter to Dick accompanies the present missive to Kames, although its origins are uncertain. It is most likely that after receiving Franklin’s answers to his questions about chimneys, Lord Kames applied to his fellow Dunediner for the information. Franklin concludes by promising himself the happiness of accepting Kames’s invitation to be entertained at “one of the finest places [in Scotland] with an inchanting Winter Garden”; Franklin fulfilled this promise in 1771. In a postscript, he describes “a late Paper of mine, written to palliate a little the late offensive Behaviour of the Boston People relating to the use of the Manufactures of this Country.” This was “Causes of the American Discontents before 1768,” which was printed in The London Chronicle, 5–7 January 1768. “Henry Home, Lord Kames (1696–1782), Scottish judge, son of George Home, a country gentleman of Kames, Berwickshire, was indentured at the age of sixteen to an Edinburgh writer to the signet. He studied assiduously in his spare time and was admitted to the Scottish bar at twenty-eight. His published collection of legal decisions four years later brought him to professional attention; he prospered, and was appointed an ordinary lord of Session in 1752, whereupon he assumed the personal, non-hereditary title of Lord Kames. In 1763 he became one of the lords of the Justiciary Court, where he sat until a few days before his death. He had a wide variety of interests including the promotion of fisheries and manufacture and improvement in agriculture. He wrote voluminously on law, antiquities, ethics and natural religion, and criticism. His Introduction to the Art of Thinking (Edinburgh, 1761) and Sketches of the History of Man (1774) included versions of [Franklin’s] 'Parable against Persecution.' As a judge he was severe in criminal cases, but personally he was jovial and vivacious, with a ready, though coarse, humor” (note in Papers, ed. Labaree, 9:5). REFERENCES Papers of Benjamin Franklin, ed. Willcox, 15:60–62 PROVENANCE Deposited in the Scottish Record Office by a Family Trust of Kames’s Descendants — Sold by the Trust (Christie’s London, 29 June 1995, lot 512) — Bonhams New York, 11 June 2008, lot 2384 (undesignated consignor)

View 1 of Lot 103: Benjamin Franklin | The “universal Smoke Doctor”

benjamin franklin | the “universal smoke doctor”

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

thomas hardy | far from the madding crowd, 1908, virginia woolf's copy

Benjamin Franklin Autograph letter signed ("BF") to Jacques-Donatien Le Ray de Chaumont ("Cher Ami"), in French, half page on a sheet of laid paper (227 x 181 mm), Passy, on or after 3 July, 1780, addressed to "Monsieur de Chaumont" on the verso, remnants of red wax seal to recto and verso, two tiny chips and a very short tear at the edges, a closed tear next to the seal, none of which affects the text of the letter, a box of sun-toning around the text. Housed in a custom brown leather clamshell case and cloth chemise, with an earlier collector's paper folder laid in, the folder with a manuscript title and an unidentified, likely French, collector's stamp. A letter that reveals much about Franklin—his diplomacy, his pragmatism, and his preference for avoiding direct conflict. Franklin writes to Chaumont in French regarding the June 1780 mutiny on board John Paul Jones's fleet's flagship, the Alliance. The recipient of this letter, Jacques-Donatien Le Ray de Chaumont, was a French merchant who had made his fortune trading in the East Indies. He became one of the American Revolution's biggest supporters, acting as a go-between for Franklin and the French court. A close friend to Franklin, he rented him a portion of his Hôtel de Valentinois in Passy, initially at no cost, commissioned Jean-Baptiste Nini's portrait medallion of the "docteur" (see lot 118), and refitted an old French East Indiaman into a 42-gun frigate for the U.S. Navy, renamed the Bonhomme Richard. The letter, however, deals with a different ship—the frigate Alliance. When completed in 1777 in Salisbury, Massachusetts, it was the finest and fastest warship ever built in America. First named Hancock, it was renamed in honor of the new alliance between the United States and France. Alliance departed Boston in January 1779, captained by the commissioned Frenchman, Pierre Landais, carrying the Marquis de Lafayette back to France. Once arrived, despite Landais's orders to return with supplies to America, Franklin ordered the ship to join John Paul Jones's squadron. Landais obeyed Franklin but, following a nighttime collision of the Alliance and the Bonhomme Richard, as well as a heated argument between their two captains, he soon stopped taking orders from Jones. In September, the squadron took part in the Battle of Flameborough Head, off the coast of Yorkshire. The Alliance kept its distance from the action until, hours after the first shots were fired, while the Bonhomme Richard and the Serapis were lashed together in a death struggle, she began firing indiscriminately into both ships. Soon after, as Bonhomme Richard sank, Jones commandeered the damaged Serapis and set sail for the Dutch Republic. Once the Alliance had returned to France, Franklin relieved Landais of his command and began an enquiry into the captain's conduct. Franklin's letter to John Paul Jones of 15 October 1779, reveals the seriousness of the matter: "I have accordingly written to him this Day acquainting him that he is charged with Disobedience of Orders in the Cruise and Neglect of his Duty in the Engagement... direct him to render himself immediately here, bringing with him such Papers or Testimonies as he may think useful in his Defence. I know not whether he will obey my Orders... it will be necessary, if he should refuse to come, that you should put him under an Arrest, and in that Case as well as if he comes, that you should either appoint some Person to command his Ship or take it upon yourself; for I know of no Person to recommend to you as fit for that Station" (Papers 30:537–538). In the end, Franklin did install Jones as captain of the Alliance. He planned to send the ship to America with arms, uniforms, and other supplies. However, it took months for Jones to ready himself. Landais, on the other hand, travelled to Lorient seeking passage to America, where he planned to acquit himself in a court martial. While there, he met Arthur Lee, the diplomat who had been sidelined after Franklin's arrival in France. Lee was also awaiting passage to the United States. He told Landais that Franklin had no authority to remove his captaincy, since he held a Continental Commission. On 12 or 13 June, with Jones in Paris and Lee at his side, Landais boarded the ship and assumed command. Around 16 June, Le Ray de Chaumont urged Franklin to command Landais to remain in port. On 19 June, he wrote a longer, more urgent letter to Franklin warning him of Arthur Lee's involvement in the affair, and now suggesting that he order the ship out of port - an unpunished mutiny at port set a bad example for the other sailors. However, when Jones arrived in Lorient on 20 June, he found that the Alliance had already weighed anchor. She had sailed to Port Louis, and was now blocked in the harbor by a boom and surrounded by three French warships with orders to fire if she tried to escape. Jones, however, interceded on the Alliance's behalf — he apparently wished to avoid losing the ship and harming Franco-American relations. Captain Landais took command of the frigate Alliance and absconded with it to America, Franklin had originally ordered that the crew not be paid for its trip—he was obviously angry at being so blatantly disobeyed, and he did not want to support mutineers. However, in the present letter, written to Le Ray de Chaumont after the ship has already departed France, Franklin's fury seems to have cooled: "Notre Intention en donnant l’Ordre de ne pas payer leurs Portions a ceux qui avoient signé le Mutinerie, n’etant qu’un Expedient temporaire pour les reclamer; il me semble qu’actuellement il sera mieux de rapeller cette Ordre; parceque il y a en Amerique des Loix pour les punir; & je crois qu’il sera bon de payer les portions de ces gens en France plutôt qu’en Amerique, parceque ils ont nombre des Creanciers à l’Orient qui perdront beaucoup de leur Droits si l’Argent est envoyé en Amerique, & cela causera grand Clameur. Je suis donc d’Avis de payer à Messrs. Puchelberg tout ce qui est dû aux Matelots & aux Officiers du produit des Prises. On evitera par ce moyen nombre de Soupçons & de Censures—" ["As our intention in giving the order to not repay the shares of those who had signed the mutiny agreement was only a temporary expedient to secure their return; it seems to me that it would now be better to revoke this order; this is because, in America, we have laws for punishing them; and I think that it will be good to pay these individuals' shares in France rather than in America, as they have numerous creditors in Lorient who would stand to lose a significant portion of their claims were the funds to be sent to America, and this would cause a great clamor. I am therefore of the opinion to pay Misters Puchelberg the all that is due to the sailors and officers from the profits of the prizes. We will, in this way, avoid much suspicion and censure"; translation by Noah Goldrach.] The Alliance departed soon after. Landais, however, proved to be a disastrous captain, abusing his men and making unsafe decisions. Thinking him insane, his officers mutinied, forcibly relieving him of his command on 11 August. When the Alliance arrived in Boston, naval authorities found Landais guilty and removed him from service. "A beleaguered Franklin decided it was best to let others sort it all out. He had other things in France to deal with" (Isaacson, p. 390). REFERENCES Papers of Benjamin Franklin, ed. Oberg, 32:544–545; Walter Isaacson. Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. (New York: 2003); "Alliance I (Frigate)," in Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, (2015), (https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/a/alliance-i.html)

View 1 of Lot 122: Benjamin Franklin | Autograph letter to Le Ray de Chaumont, regarding a mutiny on the Frigate"'Alliance," 1780

benjamin franklin | autograph letter to le ray de chaumont, regarding a mutiny on the frigate"'alliance," 1780

Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana. Part 2

Greenaway, Kate (ill.) Five original watercolors for Little Ann and Other Poems, ca. 1880s Five original watercolors (from 70 x 93 mm to 162 x 250 mm). Each initialed; faintly toned, edges lightly browned and finger soiled, rubbed at corners beyond the matted frame, closed tear in the margin of one drawing, labeled in pencil on verso. All hinged to boards and neatly matted; a few stray stains to matting not affecting drawings, one mat split at joint. [with:] Greenaway, Kate (ill.) — Jane and Ann Taylor Little Ann and Other Poems. London: George Routledge and Sons, [n.d., 1882] 8vo (230 x 150 mm). Inscribed on front free endpaper, numerous in-text and full-page illustrations, all in color; some stains and smudges throughout, offsetting of illustrations, one small closed tear. Quarter green cloth over colored pictorial paper-covered boards, yellow endpapers, edges stained blue; covers worn, rubbed and chipped at extremities, upper hinge weak but holding. Housed together in a blue morocco-backed cloth slip case with two folding chemises. Five charming original watercolors for Little Ann, along with a first edition, first state presentation copy of the work from Greenaway to Agnes Haswell Shaw, wife of the famed British architect Richard Norman Shaw: "Mrs. Norman Shaw from Kate Greenaway November, 1883." The five illustrations resemble the versions printed on pages 12, 38, 39, 52, and 54 in the final work. Greenaway indeed maintained a personal relationship with the Shaws—in 1885, Richard Norman Shaw designed her home and studio in Frognal, Hampstead. She moved into the house with her parents and brother in February 1885, and she continued to live at the residence until her death. Greenaway, it appears, did not love the home, and nor did her friends. In a letter that March, she recalled that a friend had recently declared, "What a frightful falling off from the old one." She continued, adding her own opinion, "Isn't that sad?—but I fear true" (Spielmann p. 142–144). REFERENCES Schuster & Engen 109a; Spielmann, Kate Greenaway, 1905 PROVENANCE Agnes Haswell Shaw (presentation inscription to front free endpaper, dated November 1883) — Parke-Bernet, 23–24 November 1943, lot 250 — A. Light (ownership inscription to front free endpaper verso, dated '62)

View 1 of Lot 442: Greenaway, Kate (ill.) | Five original watercolors for Little Ann, with a presentation copy

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