Dec 6, 2024 10:00 EST
Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
719
An inscribed gift for Sybil from Ray
Estate / Collection: The Jean Vounder-Davis Collection of Raymond Chandler
HASSALEVRIS, CONSTANTINE [photographer] and GRANDIER, LYDIA LANDON [author]
Souvenir de Ballet. Performance photographs by Constantine. San Diego: Hester & Smith, [1947]. First edition, signed by both photographer and author, inscribed by Raymond Chandler to Sybil in 1958 "For my Sybil/With all my love/Ray/La Jolla/Feb 6th 1958 / The man on page 70 is me, but I wear pants nowadays/ R." Publisher’s orange cloth, without jacket. 10 3/4 x 8 inches (27.5 x 20 cm); 124 pp., photographic illustration. Lightly rubbed and toned, fine overall.
The kind gift of a book of dance photographs inscribed from Raymond Chandler to Sybil, daughter of Jean Fracasse [later Vounder-Davis], then 13 years old. The inscription is large, taking up the full blank, and at the bottom of the page Chandler reports that he appears on page 70 (this actually a photograph of a male dancer in tights) but notes that he now wears pants!
Sold for $640
Estimated at $500 - $800
Includes Buyer's Premium
Estate / Collection: The Jean Vounder-Davis Collection of Raymond Chandler
HASSALEVRIS, CONSTANTINE [photographer] and GRANDIER, LYDIA LANDON [author]
Souvenir de Ballet. Performance photographs by Constantine. San Diego: Hester & Smith, [1947]. First edition, signed by both photographer and author, inscribed by Raymond Chandler to Sybil in 1958 "For my Sybil/With all my love/Ray/La Jolla/Feb 6th 1958 / The man on page 70 is me, but I wear pants nowadays/ R." Publisher’s orange cloth, without jacket. 10 3/4 x 8 inches (27.5 x 20 cm); 124 pp., photographic illustration. Lightly rubbed and toned, fine overall.
The kind gift of a book of dance photographs inscribed from Raymond Chandler to Sybil, daughter of Jean Fracasse [later Vounder-Davis], then 13 years old. The inscription is large, taking up the full blank, and at the bottom of the page Chandler reports that he appears on page 70 (this actually a photograph of a male dancer in tights) but notes that he now wears pants!
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
