Dec 6, 2024 10:00 EST
Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
710
Steinbeck on Malory, Don Quixote, and Salinas
Estate / Collection: The Jean Vounder-Davis Collection of Raymond Chandler
STEINBECK, JOHN
Autograph letter signed on literature. Sag Harbor: 15 March 1966. A two-page autograph letter on sheets of legal length yellow lined paper, signed in full "John Steinbeck," the letter address to Jean Vounder-Davis. Usual folds, else fine; Together with a postcard from Steinbeck, dated 22 August 1965, with the typed note “Glad you got the job…” above a printed signature. Creases.
Steinbeck opens this letter discussing morality: "Man is only immoral because he can conceive morality. But in this I think of morals as a pragmatic system for letting us live together without killing one another. I'm afraid that when the moral balance tips too far a system dies. Many have." Steinbeck continues discussing his research in Malory and Arthurian legend. In researching a certain manuscript, he writes "It is the only known (so far) Arthurian ms in English prose before Malory. There's the Latin... the Breton and of course the English alliterative poem but there is no pre-Malory English prose ... Quite privately I wonder whether there was a Malory or whether he might not be like Geoffrey of M's cleric who put in Geoffrey's hand an 'ancient writing in the British tongue.' Could be. I think perhaps it is." He continues discussing the inattentiveness of readers which is provable by asking even scholars what is Don Quixote's name ("and it's right in the second paragraph!"). Steinbeck closes with a description of Salinas, CA, up the coast from where Jean received the letter, and relates a funny story of a boy in a movie theater there who upon learning he was sitting next to John Steinbeck had to ask his father "Who's John Steinbeck?"
Sold for $2,048
Estimated at $1,500 - $2,500
Includes Buyer's Premium
Estate / Collection: The Jean Vounder-Davis Collection of Raymond Chandler
STEINBECK, JOHN
Autograph letter signed on literature. Sag Harbor: 15 March 1966. A two-page autograph letter on sheets of legal length yellow lined paper, signed in full "John Steinbeck," the letter address to Jean Vounder-Davis. Usual folds, else fine; Together with a postcard from Steinbeck, dated 22 August 1965, with the typed note “Glad you got the job…” above a printed signature. Creases.
Steinbeck opens this letter discussing morality: "Man is only immoral because he can conceive morality. But in this I think of morals as a pragmatic system for letting us live together without killing one another. I'm afraid that when the moral balance tips too far a system dies. Many have." Steinbeck continues discussing his research in Malory and Arthurian legend. In researching a certain manuscript, he writes "It is the only known (so far) Arthurian ms in English prose before Malory. There's the Latin... the Breton and of course the English alliterative poem but there is no pre-Malory English prose ... Quite privately I wonder whether there was a Malory or whether he might not be like Geoffrey of M's cleric who put in Geoffrey's hand an 'ancient writing in the British tongue.' Could be. I think perhaps it is." He continues discussing the inattentiveness of readers which is provable by asking even scholars what is Don Quixote's name ("and it's right in the second paragraph!"). Steinbeck closes with a description of Salinas, CA, up the coast from where Jean received the letter, and relates a funny story of a boy in a movie theater there who upon learning he was sitting next to John Steinbeck had to ask his father "Who's John Steinbeck?"
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
