Swann
Galleries' Annual Auction of Printed & Manuscript African
Americana on February 28 Is Rich In Material Related To Women
Including Poet Phillis Wheatley and Abolitionist Sojourner
Truth
Sale Also Features Important Material on Slavery and
Abolition, Civil Rights, and the Performing Arts, as well
as Fine Art by Significant African-American Artists and Folk
Art
Cabinet card
photograph of abolitionist
Sojourner Truth, a previously unpublished
image, with her trademark phrase "Sell the
Shadow to Support the Substance," Detroit,
1864. To be auctioned at Swann Galleries
on February 28 (estimate: $3,500 to $5,000).
Signed and
inscribed first edition copy of
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s book "Why We Can't
Wait," New York, 1964. To be auctioned at
Swann Galleries on February 28 (estimate:
$8,000 to $12,000).
New York, NY (BlackNews.com) - For more than a decade,
Swann Galleries has been offering annual February auctions
devoted to Printed & Manuscript African Americana, in conjunction
with Black History Month. This year, the auction will be held
on Tuesday, February 28. Swann is the only major auction house
to conduct regular sales of this important material.
The 2006 auction contains a rich selection of items related
to slavery and abolition in North and South America, significant
works of art by major African-American artists, important
material from the modern Civil Rights movement; as well as
documents, photographs and books related to literature, the
military, religion, business, sports and music.
The sale features an especially strong selection of material
concerning women, including 18th and 19th century literature
and 20th century works of art. There are two copies of Phillis
Wheatley's Poems, London, 1773, both in 18th century
bindings, one signed by Wheatley (estimates: $15,000 to $25,000
and $30,000 to $40,000 respectively). In November 2005, a
newly discovered Autograph Letter Signed by Wheatley,
the first African-American ever to have a book of poetry published,
was acquired by a private collector for $253,000 (including
buyer's premium) at a Swann auction.
Other books include What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old
Southern Cooking, a first edition of the first cookbook
by an African-American, San Francisco, 1881 ($2,500 to $3,500);
and Anna Julia Cooper's 1892 A Voice from the South, By
a Black Woman of the South ($2,000 to $3,000).
There
are many items relating to abolitionist and women's
rights advocate Sojourner Truth, including a dictated
letter to her dentist asking his help with a loan ($5,000
to $7,500); a first edition of Narrative of Sojurner
Truth: A Northern Slave, in original paper wrappers,
Boston, 1850 ($3,000 to $5,000); a copy of the first
revised 1875 edition of her Narrative in teal
cloth ($800 to $1,200); and a number of photographs,
including a previously unpublished cabinet card with
a variation on her famous slogan, "I Sell the Shadow
to Support the Substance," Detroit, 1864 ($3,500 to
$5,000).
Other important photographs in the sale include an 1863
oval albumen print of Emancipated Slaves Brought
from Louisiana by Col. Geo. H. Banks, copies of
which were sold to raise money for an education program
($4,000 to $6,000); an album with 34 Civil War cartes-de-visite
that includes 11 members of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment,
Boston and Cambridge, 1863-64 ($6,000 to $9,000); and
two attractive portraits of female subjects by James
Van Der Zee ($4,000 to $6,000 each).
The Slavery and Abolition section of the sale offers
a pair of 17th-century Spanish manuscripts regarding
the importation of African slaves in the Spanish colonies,
one with a stamped signature of the Dowager Queen of
Spain, Madrid, 1673 ($4,000 to $6,000); an unusual runaway
slave broadside offering a $5 reward, Maryland, 1841
($2,500 to $3,500); a glass rolling pin in cobalt blue
decorated with an anti-slavery poem and ship design,
Bristol, England, circa 1840-50 ($2,500 to $3,500);
a beautiful engraved silver fireman's trumpet presented
by the Colored Women of Philadelphia to the Good Will
Engine Company in "appreciation of their manly, heroic
and philanthropic efforts . . . in defense of . . .
their oppressed fellow citizens," Philadelphia, 1845
($15,000 to $25,000); and a chromolithograph poster
detailing an African-American family record with birth,
marriage and death dates, as well as numerous portraits
of important historic figures, Terre Haute, 1899 ($3,000
to $5,000).
Related books include Benjamin Banneker's 1796 almanac
($8,000 to $12,000); a presentation copy of Frederick
Douglass's 1855 memoir, My Bondage and My Freedom
($20,000 to $25,000); and an inscribed copy of T. McCants
Stewart's personal observations of Liberia: The Afro-American
Republic, New York, 1886 ($3,000 to $5,000).
Among the Civil Rights material is a circa 1940s-50
plywood sign reading "Non Whites Will Not Be Served
This Side Of The Line," from the Southern United States
($1,500 to $2,500); an exceptional archive with more
than 1,000 items from the Student Non-Violent Coordinating
Committee, Students for a Democratic Society, the NAACP,
etc., from 1955-1975, compiled by Charles Levy, Ph.D.
($5,000 to $7,000); an inscribed first edition copy
of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Why We Can't Wait.
New York, 1964 ($8,000 to $12,000); and a large collection
of material from the files of King's literary agent,
including a signed photo, books, tapes and more, 1958-70
($5,000 to $7,000). There are also several lots of autograph
material related to Alex Haley's work on the Autobiography
of Malcolm X, with hand-written notations by Malcolm
X.
Literary highlights include Frank Webb's The Garies
and Their Friends, a first edition of the second
novel by and African-American author, London, 1857 ($6,000
to $8,000); Lorenzo Dow Blackson's The Rise and Progress
of the Kingdoms of Light and Darkness, a first edition
of a very rare allegorical novel, the fourth written
by an African-American, Philadelphia, 1867 ($4,000 to
$6,000); inscribed copies of poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar's
Oak and Ivory, 1893, and Lyrics and Laughter,
1903 ($4,000 to $6,000 each); an inscribed copy of Wallace
Thurman's The Blacker the Berry, New York, 1929
($3,000 to $5,000); Georgia Douglas Johnson's Bronze,
A Book of Verse, first edition with the original
dust jacket, Boston, 1922 ($6,000 to $9,000); and a
first edition of Richard Wright's The Color Curtain,
inscribed by Wright to fellow African-American author
Chester Himes, New York, 1956 ($2,500 to $3,500).
Of special note among items related to music are four
1930s autograph musical scores by Duke Ellington for
Goofus, Learn to Croon, Love in Swing
Time, and Sweetie ($4,000 to $6,000 each);
a signed flier for blues great Leadbelly's 1948 "Real
Hooteneny" in Washington, DC, signed by Leadbelly and
Pete Seeger; and an archive of hundreds of pages of
music, original and arranged by Albert "Budd" Johnson,
jazz saxophonist, 1950s-80s (each $2,000 to $3,000).
Original works of art include the plaster cast used
to make the subsequent bronze castings of Head of
a Faun, by Harlem Renaissance Sculptor Richmond
Barthé, New York, 1931 ($10,000 to $15,000); Untitled
(West-Indian Market Place), oil on illustration board
by Peggy McGuire, 1936 ($6,000 to $9,000); an Untitled
Nude drawing by Eldzier Cortor, circa 1930-40 ($6,000
to $8,000); Albert Smith's Portrait of a woman,
oil on canvas, circa 1930-40 ($4,000 to $6,000); and
Joseph Delaney's Perce Rock, from Surprise Hill,
oil on canvas, Bonaventure Island, Canada, 1930s-40s
($7,000 to $10,000).
Notable prints and multiples include a cast metal sculpture
by Augusta Christine Fells Savage, Lift Every Voice
and Sing, created as a souvenir of the 1939 New
York World's Fair where a larger version was on exhibition
($10,000 to $15,000); several linocut prints by Elizabeth
Catlett ($800 to $1,200 to $2,000 to $3,000); a selection
of carborundum mezzotints by Dox Thrash, among them
two WPA pieces, Charlot, circa 1938-39, and Evening
Tide, pre-1942 ($4,000 to $6,000 each); and a late
work by Jacob Lawrence, To the Defense, lithograph,
Seattle, 1989 ($3,000 to $5,000).
There are several examples of folk art, including a
pair of mid-19th century oil paintings of a boy and
girl peeking over a fence, circa 1860-70 ($12,000 to
$18,000); and some fine dolls including two Nora Wellings
($800 to $1,200 for the pair), and a beautifully preserved
composite doll of a young black child with bright blue
glass eyes ($800 to $1,200).
The auction will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, February
28.
An illustrated auction catalogue, with information on
bidding by mail or fax, is available for $35 from Swann
Galleries, Inc., 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY
10010, or at www.swanngalleries.com
The public is invited to a preview exhibition on Thursday,
February 23 and Friday, February 24, from 10 a.m. to
6 p.m.; Saturday, February 25, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.;
Monday, February 17, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Tuesday,
February 28, from 10 a.m. to noon.
For further information, and to make advance arrangements
to bid by telephone during the auction, please contact
Wyatt H. Day at (212) 254-4710, voice mailbox 300, or
via e-mail at wday@swanngalleries.com
CATALOGUE AND DIGITAL IMAGES AVAILABLE ON REQUEST
MORE AFRICAN-AMERICAN ART: Swann Galleries
will offer an exceptional selection of works by African-American
artists in the Tuesday, March 7 auction of 100 Fine
Works of Art on Paper. Highlights include two unique
collages by Romare Bearden, oil paintings by Lois Mailou
Jones and Hale Woodruff, drawings by Charles Alston
and Allan Crite, and prints by Jacob Lawrence, James
Lesesne Wells and Charles White. In September 2005,
Swann auctioned two collages by Romare Bearden that
sold for $106,375 each (including buyer's premium),
tying for the second highest price ever achieved for
a Bearden collage. For more information, please contact
Prints & Drawings specialist Nigel Freeman at 212-254-4710,
ext. 33, or via email at nfreeman@swanngalleries.com.
NOTE TO EDITORS: Swann Galleries introduced
entire auctions devoted to significant examples of printed
and manuscript African-Americana in 1996, and continues
to be the only major auction house to conduct these
extremely popular specialized sales. Over the past ten
years many unusual items have come to public attention
at these auctions, which are organized by expert Wyatt
H. Day. The most highly publicized item so far has been
The Bondwoman's Narrative by Hannah Crafts, a Fugitive
Slave, Recently Escaped from North Carolina, an
unpublished handwritten manuscript that was purchased
in 2001 by Henry Louis Gates Jr., who researched and
published it the following year.
Dealers, private collectors, scholars, and curious members
of the public spend hours at the preview exhibitions
examining the wealth of material and learning about
their heritage.
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