Dec 6, 2024 10:00 EST
Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
729
A rare Chandler contribution
Estate / Collection: The Jean Vounder-Davis Collection of Raymond Chandler
NORMAN, FRANK
Bang to Rights: An Account of Prison Life. London: Secker & Warburg, 1958. Foreword by Raymond Chandler. First edition, with Chandler’s stamp on both the dust jacket and front flyleaf which also bears his ink notation “From Graham and Secker and Warburg.” Publisher's cloth, in original dust jacket. A fine copy overall with some minor wear to the jacket along spine and corners, an ink notation on the rear endpaper mentions Norman's death in 1981.
Raymond Chandler has provided the foreword to this memoir by Frank Norman who after five stints in prison went on to write plays and mysteries. In the foreword, Chandler describes Norman's writing as "no damned literary nonsense" and has underlined in blue ink that because of his experiences "he is a potentially dangerous man." Chandler did not contribute to many books in his career in this manner.
Sold for $384
Estimated at $500 - $800
Includes Buyer's Premium
Estate / Collection: The Jean Vounder-Davis Collection of Raymond Chandler
NORMAN, FRANK
Bang to Rights: An Account of Prison Life. London: Secker & Warburg, 1958. Foreword by Raymond Chandler. First edition, with Chandler’s stamp on both the dust jacket and front flyleaf which also bears his ink notation “From Graham and Secker and Warburg.” Publisher's cloth, in original dust jacket. A fine copy overall with some minor wear to the jacket along spine and corners, an ink notation on the rear endpaper mentions Norman's death in 1981.
Raymond Chandler has provided the foreword to this memoir by Frank Norman who after five stints in prison went on to write plays and mysteries. In the foreword, Chandler describes Norman's writing as "no damned literary nonsense" and has underlined in blue ink that because of his experiences "he is a potentially dangerous man." Chandler did not contribute to many books in his career in this manner.
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.
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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
