Dec 6, 2024 10:00 EST
Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
695
Raymond Chandler's list of “Things I Hate.”
Estate / Collection: The Jean Vounder-Davis Collection of Raymond Chandler
CHANDLER, RAYMOND
"Things I Hate." A two-page typed list with pencil annotation, no date (1930?), possibly a collaboration between Chandler and his wife Cissy. 11 x 8 inches (28 x 21 cm). Marginal tears, one into text, creases and small losses.
A humorous list titled "THINGS I HATE" with Raymond Chandler's hand-annotation. The list has a whopping 46 items on it ranging from standard dislikes such as "Golf Talk," "Early Rising," and "Automobile Salesmen" but many are also humorous such as "Novels about people who can't make any money," and "Novels by writers who don't use quotation marks." One entry "Speeches by Ramsay MacDonald" may help date the list as he was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1929-31. The list also pairs equal but opposite annoyances such as "Giving money to panhandlers and feeling stung/Not giving money to beggars and feeling cheap" or "English caricatures of Americans" and "American caricatures of Englishmen." Surprisingly, on this list Chandler claims to hate gin but we believe this was written before his introduction to the gimlet.
Sold for $2,304
Estimated at $600 - $800
Includes Buyer's Premium
Estate / Collection: The Jean Vounder-Davis Collection of Raymond Chandler
CHANDLER, RAYMOND
"Things I Hate." A two-page typed list with pencil annotation, no date (1930?), possibly a collaboration between Chandler and his wife Cissy. 11 x 8 inches (28 x 21 cm). Marginal tears, one into text, creases and small losses.
A humorous list titled "THINGS I HATE" with Raymond Chandler's hand-annotation. The list has a whopping 46 items on it ranging from standard dislikes such as "Golf Talk," "Early Rising," and "Automobile Salesmen" but many are also humorous such as "Novels about people who can't make any money," and "Novels by writers who don't use quotation marks." One entry "Speeches by Ramsay MacDonald" may help date the list as he was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1929-31. The list also pairs equal but opposite annoyances such as "Giving money to panhandlers and feeling stung/Not giving money to beggars and feeling cheap" or "English caricatures of Americans" and "American caricatures of Englishmen." Surprisingly, on this list Chandler claims to hate gin but we believe this was written before his introduction to the gimlet.
Auction: Rare Books, Autographs & Maps, Dec 6, 2024
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Auction of Rare Books, Autographs & Maps on December 6, 2024
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Consignments Are Currently Being Accepted for Future Auctions
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We Invite You to Contact Us for a Complimentary Auction Evaluation of Your Books, Autographs & Maps
NEW YORK, NY -- Doyle held a successful auction of Rare Books, Autographs & Maps onDecember 6, 2024 showcased is a wonderful diversity of Americana, maps, autographs, early books and landmarks of literature and science.
Highlighting the sale was the first edition of Spinoza's Tractatus theologico-politicus from 1670 that soared to $70,350. Spinoza’s Tractatus is his only work published during his lifetime and remains his most significant. It presents a clear theory of natural right, asserting that the love of God leads to love for others. The state exists to ensure liberty, not oppression, with justice, wisdom, and toleration as key. Influential to thinkers like Blake and Goethe, it shaped Romanticism.
The Jean Vounder-Davis Collection offered the largest trove of unpublished Raymond Chandler stories, poetry, letters, books and personal artifacts to come to market. Best known for his Philip Marlowe detective novels including The Big Sleep (1939) and Farewell, My Lovely (1940) and as screenwriter of film noir classics such as Double Indemnity (1944) and The Blue Dahlia (1946), Raymond Chandler is considered one of the top writers in the hardboiled fiction genre alongside Dashiell Hammett and James Cain. Held for decades, the archive belonged to Jean Fracasse [later Vounder-Davis] who was first hired in January 1957 as Chandler's personal secretary but quickly became his close friend, confidant, fiancé and muse to whom he dedicated his last book.
We Invite You to Auction!
Consignments are currently being accepted for future auctions. We invite you to contact us for a complimentary auction evaluation. Our Specialists are always available to discuss the sale of a single item or an entire collection.
For information, please contact Peter Costanzo at 212-427-4141 ext 248, Edward Ripley-Duggan at ext 234, or Noah Goldrach at ext 226, or email Books@Doyle.com
