Batman Beats Superman with Highest Sale Price - Ever
It’s only been four days since a 1938 edition of Action Comics No. 1, the first appearance of Superman, sold for a record $1 million at auction, but that figure has already been surpassed by $75,500. Not surprisingly, the culprit is the first appearance of Batman - a 1939 edition of Detective Comics No. 27. Again, both parties involved in the sale chose to remain anonymous, but it was revealed that the comic was purchased by the seller in the late ’60s for $100. Not too shabby.
Apparently, Adam West’s Batman wasn’t driving prices into the stratosphere, but if current box office is any indicator, fans seem to by migrating towards characters who have more human vulnerabilities—and Batman is tops on that list. So, for now, the holy grail of comic book collecting appears to lie with him. And who knows when, or if, high quality copies like this will ever be sold back to back again.
There are some rather elitist book collectors who look upon comic book collectors as odd step-children. They think that "true book collections" must hold only antiquarian, or only modern first editions, or only award winners, or only collections of a particular author, or only author signed books, or only books related to a specific subject... or only... The list of "acceptable" collections - those that are worthy of being referred to as book collections at all is quite long and seems to be limited only by the imagination of the collector. I recently reported about a collector who has 400 volumes of the same book! Comic book collectors, in my opinion are also book collectors who are just as obsessed about their collections as your "regular" book collector.
With the very high auction prices being realized on rare comic books, I suspect these collectors may well move into the main stream. Who needs elitism anyway? I have always balked at pigeon holing folks. It just goes against my natural inclinations.
When Jackie Met André: Jacqueline Kennedy's Gift Book to Malraux
André Malraux (foreground, left) with Jacqueline Kennedy
and JFK, state dinner at the White House, May 11, 1962.
Thanks, very much, to Stephen J. Gertz who wrote this interesting piece for the Seattle P. I. and was kind to give me permission to post it here. I have always though a gift of a rare book to be the most thoughtful gift to give or receive for any book lover. Jackie Kennedy, of course, had incredible resources. With sites such as ABE, Biblio, Powells Books and others online, it is easy for the average person to locate delightful rare gems. Personally, I collect signed books. I will be going to a book signing by Joe Hill on Thursday at the Booksmith in San Francisco, by the way. I am now reading his newly released book, Horns. I read and collect across a broad range of genre with some of my favoite signed books being ones by Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams. Now on to Stephen's article... Enjoy!
*********
The personal gift of Jacqueline and President Kennedy to French Minister of Culture André Malraux, in celebration of his visit to Washington, D.C. in May of 1962, has surfaced.
It is a book. Not just any book but a perfect copy of the great British caricaturist George Cruikshank's Remembrancer of a Tour on the Continent, a series of eight hand-colored aquatint engravings gently satirizing European travel.
London: Published by H. Humphrey, June 30, 1821.
"[Jacqueline Kennedy] had a degree in French literature and was captivated by the fiction of André Malraux, author of La Condition Humaine (Man's Fate), which won the Prix Goncourt literary prize in in 1933 and elevated Malraux to global attention. He was one of the striking figures and truly original minds of the era, and Jackie was powerfully drawn to his ideas about culture, humanity, and social justice.
"When plans for an official presidential trip to Paris in 1961 were under way, Jackie expressed her hope to meet the flamboyant writer and social critic, who was now France's Minister of Culture...
La Diligence (plate four).
"On May 31, 1961, the Kennedys arrived in the French capital to find cheerful mobs of well-wishers...The following day, Malraux was Jackie's guide for a tour of Paris's cultural highlights...It was no secret that Jackie was captivated by him. Her social secretary...observed that Mrs. Kennedy held Malraux in such high esteem that she developed a palpable 'intellectual crush' on the charming French minister" (Davis, Margaret Leslie. Mona Lisa in Camelot. Da Capo Press, 2008).
"Comparing Notes; or Venus Dei Medici Amongst Others !!!"
(Plate 8).
Malraux was enchanted by Jackie. After she and JFK and returned to the United States, official invitations to visit Washington were extended to Malraux but it was only after Jackie personally interceded that he accepted. The official state dinner with André was held on May 11, 1962.
It is on the very next day, May 12, 1962, that Jacqueline Kennedy presented this suite of hand-colored engravings to Malraux. The title, delightfully appropriate, refers to the Kennedys' visit the prior year. The satiric views within, five of which occur in France, could not have produced anything less than a smile from Malraux; Cruikshank's take on the human condition, a grotesque, tragi-comic and empathic vision of humanity must surely have struck a chord. Laughter is a manifestation of the spirit in revolt against fate, and, though transient, an escape from the bondage of suffering and the pain of existence. This is Malraux territory. Mrs. Kennedy thought about this gift carefully, her choice pitch-perfect; it has her touch, if not her fingerprint. And. quite deliberately, she chose a rare book. Well- and deeply-thought out rare books have long been, and continue to be, treasured gifts.
The President and First Lady's signatures have been unofficially confirmed as genuine by the Kennedy Library's research archivist, Steven Plotkin. By his signature - well nigh illegible - it appears that JFK was having a very bad day. "No, a usual one," Mr. Plotkin reported during a phone interview. It may come as a shock to learn that JFK's signature was, as Mr. Plotkin reported, "protean;" it constantly changed, and the archivist related that, once, JFK was asked by a small group of school children for his signature. The autograph was different for each of the six kids - all written on the same day.
The President and First Lady's autographs,
dated May 12, 1962, to inside cover of portfolio.
Note below, in French, from a former owner.
While there is no official record in the JFK Library of this gift, the Library's research staff suspects this was a private presentation from the First Lady and President and, hence, would not have been recorded by her secretary, Letitia Baldrige. Mrs. Kennedy's personal papers, on deposit at the Library but not yet cataloged, likely contain a reference to it.
Only one copy of this color-plate book has come to auction within the last thirty-five years.
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CRUIKSHANK, George. Remembrancer of a Tour on the Continent, In Eight Coloured Prints, Designed after Nature by an Amateur, and Engraved by G. Cruikshank. London: Published by H. Humphrey, June 30, 1821.
First issue, the signed and dated (May 12, 1962) gift of President John F. Kennedy and the First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy to French Minister of Culture, André Malraux. Oblong folio (11 x 15 1/2 in; 284 x 393 mm). Eight hand-colored aquatints with captions.
Original brown wrappers with printed title on pink label. Housed within a green cloth portfolio with gilt title.
The Plates:
1. La Douane. The Searcher's Office.
2. Le Traiteur Chez Véry. Madame Véry's Coffee House, Paris.
3. Quartière con Mobili; or Hints on Taking Lodgings.
4. La Diligence.
5. Mer de Glace. Sea of Ice (dated as others; Cohn's copy has undated plate).
6. Visit to Vesuvius. Cineri Doloso.
7. Forum Boarium; or Mr. Bull in the Beast Market at Rome.
8. Comparing Notes; or Venus Dei Medici Amongst Others!!!
Cohn 1230 (as Inconveniences of a Tour of the Continent).
Penn Libraries receive $4.25 million gift for Rare Books Library
PHILADELPHIA, PA – The Penn Libraries have received $4.25 million for the renovation of the Rare Book & Manuscript Library (RBML) and the creation of a Special Collections Center. The donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, is a member of the Libraries’ Board of Overseers. This is the largest gift to the Libraries from a living donor.
“Because of this gift, we will have a multi-purpose space in our Rare Book & Manuscript Library that is equal to the scholarship that our special collections inspire,” said Penn President Amy Gutmann. “Students will now have a place where they can physically experience the past as part of their preparation for the future. We are thrilled and enormously grateful.”
The gift will support the first phase of a $15 million expansion project whereby the collection, study, and curatorial facilities on the sixth floor of the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center will be transformed into a new Special Collections Center.
The redesigned Center will play to the strengths of the rare book library’s teaching and digitization program. The Center will encourage the use of special collections in both research and in the curriculum; a fully equipped and staffed conservation suite will ensure continued effective stewardship of Penn’s rare book and manuscript collections. The new design will also include much-needed additional classrooms, improved reader spaces, and a media lab. Its new consultation areas will foster interaction between curators and scholars.
The Rare Book Library’s existing spaces, including its Furness Shakespeare Library are to be remodeled and improved. And the Schoenberg Center for Electronic Text and Image will have an entirely new home, one that enables humanities researchers to create—and experiment with—a wide range of digital content.
The centerpiece of the Special Collections Center will be Penn’s more than 250,000 rare books, representing subjects as diverse as Aristotle, the history of chemistry, Shakespearean and Renaissance literature, the 18th Century, the Spanish Inquisition, comic books and cookbooks, and the Gotham Book Mart Collection. In addition to 800 medieval manuscripts, notable manuscript collections include those of Theodore Dreiser, Lewis Mumford, Marian Anderson, Alma Mahler Werfel, Howard Fast, and, most recently, Chaim Potok, as well as the Lenkin Family Collection of Photography, which comprises nearly 4,000 historical photographs of the Holy Land taken between 1850 and 1947.
“This gift will energize fundraising efforts to reach our $15 million goal for the Special Collections Center,” said Carton Rogers, Vice Provost and Director of Libraries. “It is a truly momentous gift for Penn and the Libraries.”
The first phase of construction of the Penn Libraries’ Special Collections Center will begin in late summer 2010.
[Top]Neverwhere Ltd - The Author's Preferred Text - By Neil Gaiman
Released by Harper Collins - Today
Price: $200.00
On Sale: 2/23/2010
Book Description
A painstakingly produced limited edition of a beloved classic by #1 New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman. Limited to a single edition of just 1,000 copies, the limited edition of Neverwhere is an example of bookmaking at its finest.
Each volume is hand-numbered--limited to 1,000 copies
Each volume is signed by the author
Each volume and its accompanying slipcase is hand-bound i n rich midnight blue cloth
Volume front case and spine are gold-stamped
Slipcase features a die-cut aperture through which is seen the gold-stamped door illustration on volume front case
Elegant two-color interior design
Printed endpapers feature map of the London Underground, faithfully reproduced from the book's original trade edition
Large 7" X 10" format
Text is the "Author's Preferred Text"; this volume includes a special introduction to the book by the author
Special addendum to this limited edition: "The Neverwhere Files"--material from the author's files that give a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the evolution of Neverwhere
Each volume comes in its own protective cardboard case--labeled with title, author, price, publisher information, and barcode
[Top]The First Million-Dollar Comic Book
It's a bird, it's a plane – it's the million-dollar Superman comic book!
By Marjorie Kehe / February 22, 2010 for Christian Science Monitor
It has been called the world's most coveted comic book. It's Action Comics #1, the 1938 comic book that introduced Superman to the world. There are estimated to be only about 100 copies of the book in existence, and today one of those copies sold for $1,000,000.
ComicConnect.com, which sold the rare book, notes that another copy of Action Comics #1 – in slightly less mint condition – was sold for $317,200 in 2009. In 1938, the book originally sold for 10 cents.
Action Comics #1 is "considered by most people as the most important book," John Dolmayan, a comic book enthusiast and dealer and also the drummer for System of a Down, told ABC News. "It kind of ushered in the age of the superheroes."
On its cover, the comic book shows Superman lifting a car over his head. Inside, it tells the story of Superman's birth on the planet Krypton and his arrival on Earth. It also sets the scene for the ongoing romance between Clark Kent – Superman's other identity – and female reporter Lois Lane.
The book was last sold 15 years ago for a price of $150,000. It has been in a private collection ever since. Today's buyer has not been identified.
“It’s the Holy Grail of comic books,” says Stephen Fishler founder of ComicConnect.com., who insists that it's worth every penny of the record-breaking price it fetched. “There is nothing else like it.”
Marjorie Kehe is the Monitor's book editor.
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43d California Book Fair and the State of the Trade
Posted by: Stephen J. Gertz at February 18, 2010
On Seattlepi.com
Last weekend's 43d California International Antiquarian Book Fair in Los Angeles, the first major book fair of the year, provided an excellent overview of where the rare book trade now stands and where it may be headed.
As reported at the Fair's beginning, the market has stabilized; the panic of '09 is over. Dealers have lowered posted prices and there is movement, albeit limited. Cash remains tight for collectors as well as dealers but seems to be loosening; collectors are returning to the market but only for fresh material, in certain areas, at certain price points.
Trade sales, sluggish at the Fair's onset due, in part, to the short lead-time between set-up and opening, picked up on Saturday through Sunday with enough books and/or invoices moving around to notice but not directly collide with.
Many, if not most, of the British dealers exhibiting were disappointed with trade and retail sales; a few of them reported that it was their worst Fair ever. One with a long memory for trade history declared the current rare book market as being the worst in eighty years, since the Depression.
It should be pointed out that they made money, just not as much as they've been used to. This is a common refrain.
I did talk to a couple of dealers who busted out, not earning enough to cover expenses. They were the exception. Every Fair has a few who go underwater for the duration; it is not uncommon.
Most of the movement of goods fell into the $2500 and below range. That was the result at last year's New York Antiquarian Book Fair, last September's Santa Monica Book Fair, and the San Francisco Book Fair two weeks ago. It is safe, I think, to conclude a trend.
Antiquarian material remains somewhat sluggish, though fresh material at whatever price continues to lure buyers. It appears that the market for such may be contracting with the high-culture, financially-secure collecting base that supports it. To what degree it contracts remains to be seen, though if that collecting base continues to shrink leaving fewer and fewer individuals in the buying pool along with institutions then we may see a turn lasting quite some time until tastes - and the economy - change.
A few dealers reported that they were so disappointed with results that they are reconsidering showing in New York in April, their rationale being that the market will not be changing that dramatically, particularly with fresh material, in two months to warrant the expense.
Yet other dealers were were quite pleased with how they did. One hailing from a Western state was kissed by serendipity followed by a lightning strike: Someone walked into his shop three weeks ago with a few boxes of books containing full runs, signed first editions, first printings of post-1950 American novelists, including William Vollman. He scurried to get them cataloged in time to show at the Fair. On Saturday, he found himself in conversation with a librarian. She had a problem: She's trying to build a collection of books by latter-20th century American novelists. He had the solution. She bought it all.
Jesus Saves! could have been the headline to this post. On Saturday, a buyer representing a well-funded private Christian evangelical library in Texas visited each exhibitor's booth and snapped up Bibles and related Christian volumes at all price points as if building an ark in anticipation of a latter-day Deluge. Given the current cultural-political climate, that might actually be the plan, for all I know.
The Pied Piper of Bibles drew editions of Scripture out from the Fair's every nook and cranny. From his flute, a seductively lilting song of Mammon at play in the fields of the Lord wafted throughout the showrooms.
"Bible Guy, have you seen the Bible Guy?"
"Where's the guy looking for Bibles?"
"I've got a Bible! Where is he?"
"Is he looking for a signed first edition?"
"Does the Marijuana Bible count?
The money-changing in the temple of rare books was most welcome, if irreverent by Biblical standards. It was certainly a blessing. The gentleman reportedly spent over a million dollars for acquisitions.
The younger dealers are coming into their own. Each I spoke with reported that they did good to great business. Some were writing more invoices to reach prior dollar volume but no one complained. They are adapting to a changing marketplace.
The book collecting base's tastes are changing. Fresh material of any sort will always attract buyers. But fresh material and new and, up until now, soft collecting genres that appeal to the under-40 demographic seems to be the direction the collecting base is heading toward. The trade will, hopefully, follow.
Those who feel that collecting the Western canon of literature is at dire risk should remember that collecting tastes and interest in authors and subjects ebbs and flows. At some point, everything old-old will become new-old again. The standard collectible war-horses may be headed out to pasture for awhile but they'll return ready for another run for the money.
In sum, there was crying and there was smiling at the Fair. Things are, indeed, returning to normal.
Close
Posted by: Stephen J. Gertz at February 18, 2010 12:30 a.m.
Categories: Book News of the Day, Bookselling, The Business of Books
Rare Bookstore, Skyline Books, Closes Doors After 20 Years
This story by the New York Daily News is heartbreaking to rare book collectors everywhere. http://bit.ly/dxf4IO Time passes and the rare book shops pass with it. Many of our favorite haunts are gone - victims to - as this bookshop owner says. "The big book chains, Amazon.com and online auctions like eBay." We wish him well and deeply regret the passing of yet another spot where we and "our kind" have gone to commune with books and with bibliophiles...
Rare Bookstore, Skyline Books, Closes Doors After 20 Years
Say goodbye to yet another dusty, musty piece of vanishing Manhattan.
All that's now left of Skyline Books is a sign in the window reading "End of an Era. Thanks for 20 Great Years."
That's how long Robert Warren's used book store at 13 W. 18th St. lasted - a kind of hole-in- the-wall home to a universe of rare books, from first editions of Beat Generation classics like "The Dharma Bums," to pornographic Italian comics to an autographed copy of Charles Bukowski's "Post Office."
But last Saturday, Warren, 55, bid the neighborhood farewell. He says he can't afford to renew the lease, which increased by more than 50%.
"The evils are three," he said, combing through a copy of an $8,000 first edition of "Les Americans" by Robert Frank. "The big book chains, Amazon.com and online auctions like eBay."
For years, the Bronx native collected books, scouting for them at fairs and estate sales.
Warren says Skyline Books was his life, its employees his family, among them his "fiancée," Linda, a 12-year-old, 15-pound gray tabby cat fond of jumping the shelves.
"Linda is the manager in command," said human store manager Christopher Cosgrove. "She is cold with dogs but super-friendly with customers."
"You know why I come here?" asked Joseph Jesselli, a reporter for thesmokinggun.com, a couple of days before the closing. "For the creaking floor, the dust, the feeling of a book in your hands."
Others would show up just to meet other bibliophiles.
"This place was a communion between people who love books and history," said Jennifer Parkhurst, a former English teacher who was flipping through "First Selected Poems" by William Packard, whom she called a friend.
Last week, Warren was walking around his racks, reshuffling travel guides and philosophy pamphlets, making sure they were not trashed by customers.
"For them, they are just books," he said, picking up a children's tale, "Horseshoe Tree" by Lucy Daniels and stroking it. "But I know them one by one."
Warren plans to donate most of his collection - about 10,000 books valued at $75,000 - to New Alternatives, a nonprofit that works with homeless kids. Warren says he wants to share his treasure trove with younger generations.
For himself, Warren will only keep a bright red poster, a Republican banner from the Spanish Civil War, which he plans to put in his living room. Many customers had inquired about buying the poster, but were rebuffed by the steep asking price - $10,000. That's a joke, because it's actually not for sale.
"Sometimes there are things that have no price," Warren said. "Like this shop; it was my baby."
[Top]Correlation In Art And Book Markets
It has long been my contention that the worlds of the Art Market and the Rare Book Market are closely connected. This contention may lie in my strong interest in both areas but I believe that a careful look at the history of the strengths and weaknesses of them will show amazing similarities. The desire to own both art and rare books is, in my opinion, rooted in the same spot of the psyche - the place where we long to have not just something lovely but also something with historical significance. We place value on both areas, unlike those who are pleased with just visual stimulation. New heights were recently reached in the art market with the record breaking sale of Walking Man 1 by Giacometti at Southebys. This auction had amazing results both in what sold and what did not - indicating an as yet precarious market that show strong improvement yet volitility. The New York Times Art Beat had this to say:
An Art Market Suddenly at Dizzying Heights
By SOUREN MELIKIAN
Published: February 4, 2010
LONDON — The art market is suddenly soaring to dizzying heights unmatched in the giddiest moments of the pre-recession days.
At Sotheby’s historic sale of Impressionist and Modern art, which netted £146.82 million, or about $233 million, Giacometti’s life-size bronze figure “L’homme qui marche I” (The Striding Man I), cast in 1961, did not walk but leapt to £65 million. In so doing, it became the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction and more than tripled the high estimate set at £12 million to £18 million, plus a sale charge in excess of 12 percent.
Few professionals imagined that the bronze figure, 183 centimeters, or 72 inches, high, could come anywhere near such a level. Seconds before the sale began, David Nehmad, a seasoned international dealer whose experience extends over more than 30 years, told this reporter that the sculpture might perhaps rise to £20 million.
The bronze is not even a unique piece. It is numbered 2/6, meaning it is the second of an edition of six, plus four artists’ proofs. True, three of these casts are now respectively ensconced in the Carnegie Institute Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, the Fondation Maeght in Saint-Paul de Vence in southern France and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York.
To these may be added the casts of a closely related second version, referred to as “L’homme qui marche II.” Several of them also adorn major institutions, which range from the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the Art Institute of Chicago, to the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, Netherlands, and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art at Humlebaek, Denmark.
This roll call of museums famous for their collections of 20th century art, all duly listed in Sotheby’s long essay about the piece, gave the bronze a unique aura, transforming it into a must-have for any collection, public or private, with aspirations to an international standing.
Of equal importance is the place that the elaboration of the sculpture holds in the post-World War II history of artistic developments in New York. The late James Lord, the author of “Giacometti: A Biography,” noted that the sculpture was to form part of a project commissioned to the Paris school bronze-maker for the Chase Manhattan Plaza. The installation of sculpted figures never saw the light of day, but “L’homme qui marche I” became an icon in its own right.
A committee of curators and leading museum officials in New York and Boston had selected Giacometti in preference to Alexander Calder and Isamu Noguchi.
While preparing for the project, Giacometti executed at least 40 versions of the walking man, and eventually destroyed all of them except two.
It is against this backdrop of U.S. cultural history that such a price was achieved, essentially through anonymous bidders fighting it out over the phone. Thunderous applause broke out as Henry Wyndham, chairman of Sotheby’s Europe, who is also one of the most talented auctioneers of his generation, brought down his hammer on the final £58 million bid.
Interestingly, this fantastic feat had no bearing on another Giacometti. The sculpture in painted plaster of a “Petit buste sur colonne” (Small Bust Atop a Pillar) actually is unique. Yet, the bust, executed around 1952 and estimated to be worth £1.8 million to £2.5 million plus the sale charge, fell unwanted at £1.5 million.
This was not the only contrast in one of the strangest auctions held within living memory.
Other phenomenal prices were paid — and other striking failures observed.
A world auction record was set for any landscape by Gustav Klimt when “Church in Cassone,” done in 1913, realized £26.9 million even though it lacks the Pointillist vibrancy of some of the Austrian artist’s earlier works.
An astonishing £11.8 million greeted the appearance of Cézanne’s still life painted around 1893-1894 in oil on paper laid down on panel. The composition with a table top that takes too much space and is seen in an awkward perspective is hardly the artist’s best ever.
A steep £4.4 million was paid for Matisse’s picture of a woman asleep on a couch done around 1917. The rendition of the reclining figure is not immune from clumsiness and the maroon band spreading across most of the wall above the woman is unfortunate.
Right at the beginning, the sketch in Conté crayon of a seated boy by Seurat shot up to £1.94 million despite the confused interpretation of the figure. Oddly, a deeply poetic sketch by the same Seurat, “Evening, Gravelines” with a sailing boat moored in the distance, which followed on its heels, was unsold as the hammer fell at £220,000.
One of Max Liebermann’s finer landscapes, “Flower Shrubs in Wannsee Garden,” painted in 1919, merely matched the low estimate at £241,250.
Money is ready to flow as never before. But the ups and downs of the bidding pattern, not clearly connected with the intrinsic merit of the works being offered, indicate that the market remains haphazard, making reasonably accurate predictions virtually impossible. This is not going to make life easier for auction house specialists or the buyers they hope to attract.
[Top]California International Antiquarian Book Fair Takes Visitors into the Rare Books World
Book lovers, collectors and scholars have the opportunity to see and purchase the finest in rare and valuable books, manuscripts, autographs, graphics, prints, maps and more at the 43 rd California International Antiquarian Book Fair : in Los Angeles at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel from Friday, February 12, through Sunday, February 14, 2010. Additionally, visitors will
get a distinctly literary perspective on the journey a story makes from the book to the big screen at the special exhibit, From Author to Oscar®.
Sponsored by the Southern California Chapter of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America : , the Los Angeles Book Fair is recognized as one of the world's premier antiquarian book exhibitions and sales. Over 200 pre-eminent members : of the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers and the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America will feature books from five centuries of printing, as well as rare manuscripts that predate Gutenberg.
Books will cover every imaginable area of interest -- from the history of travel and exploration, early science and medicine to literature and the arts. Items range in price from a few dollars to more than six figures.
From Author to Oscar ® celebrates literary works that were turned into Best Picture Academy Award ® -winning films with a display of rare copies of the original books. Further illustrating the connection between the books and films are unique items from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences’ Margaret Herrick Library, including correspondence between authors and studios, production photos, press materials, posters and advertising. Fifty-two out of the 81 Best Picture-winning films are based on books, plays or other literary works ranging from Hamlet to No Country For Old Men and from Gone with the Wind to The Godfather.
A related seminar : on Saturday, February 13, at 3 p.m. will feature rare book experts Kevin Johnson and Jim Pepper as well as Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan to discuss the role of great books in Oscar-winning movies and the impact of Academy Awards on the book collecting world.
On Sunday seminars include Rare Books 101 Seminar at 12 p.m. and Discovery Day at 1:30 p.m. Discovery Day is an opportunity for the public to present up to three items to experts for free examination.
Admission is $15 on Friday for a three-day ticket and $10 on Saturday or Sunday. There is $5 off admission for students with valid identification. The event will take place at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel, 2025 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles. Hours are Friday, February 12, 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday, February 13, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Sunday, February 14, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For further information, visit www.labookfair.com : or call the hotline at (800) 454-6401. Connect with the Book Fair on Twitter at twitter.com/labookfair : or become a fan at www.facebook.com/LABookFair : .
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