On 17 July, 2009, I posted the results of some Sylvia Plath materials at Sotheby's in London. In this auction, Plath's The Colossus went on the block; this copy being quite special as it was the copy she signed and inscribed to her English teacher Wilbury Crockett. A Christmas card was included. The selling price was £17,500.Well, the buyer of the was Peter Harrington, of London. I've seen his books at the Boston Antiquarian Book Fair for the last few years - he's got great stuff and he's a high end dealer. Those interested now in owning Wilbury Crockett's former copy of The Colossus will have to shell out £37,500. The other items that sold have not yet surfaced in bookseller inventories so it it possible these went to private owners or other places.
Ian MacKay also wrote about this in the September 2007 issue of Fine Books Notes. See "A Colossal Colossus" here.
Crockett lived, at the time, at 9 Summit Road in Wellesley, according to Plath's address book, which is housed as part of the Sylvia Plath Collection at the Mortimer Rare Book Room, Smith College.
I don't know about you, Peter, but I find this kind of thing reprehensible: to buy soemthing at auction (which really establishes its collectible value) for 17.500, and then to turn around immediately and try to market it for over twice that price -- I find that unconcionable and I hope nobody buys it from him for that price. It's one thing to be a "high-end" dealer...it's quite something else to be a highway robber.
ReplyDelete--Jim Long
I always find it strange that someone would shell out a huge amount of money (US$28,000+ in this case) for a book or other item
ReplyDeleteassociated with Plath, mark it up for more than twice what they paid for it, and then put it up for sale toute de suite. First, the market for this kind of item - and the power to buy it - is rather limited. I would think that in this economy, the most likely buyer - a university, perhaps - would have little in the way of $ to expend on such an item. And if a university or other entity really wanted it, wouldn't they have known about the auction and bid at that time? Using the Internet and one's professional connections it's not difficult to know when rare objects like this are going on the block. If they had a losing bid, would they really then want to pay more than twice the auction price? And furthermore, I have seen Plath items linger on various Antiquarian Bookseller sites for years. But maybe Mr. Harrington is content to wait for a long time to reap a profit. I remember a few years ago, a typescript of Ariel was offered by a seller for $75,000. Another seller bought it and put it up for sale for $125,000 immediately there after. I do think it sold eventually, but wouldn't you be kicking yourself for not having a winning bid at the first auction?! Oh well, it's not like I'm ever going to suffer that particular pain. I'm firmly a 2 to 3 digit figure girl when it comes to Plath (but not if I won the lottery!)
And, this isn't even the most expensive edition out there for The Colossus out there! The one Plath signed for Theodore Roethke is $65,000! I've had the opportunity to see and handle this copy at book fairs. It's really a great copy. This kind of purchase I suspect is for the private collector - not the university. And for it being unconcionable or reprehensible, I can merely shrug my shoulders because this is just the way the rare book business is...
ReplyDeleteBoy, I'd hate to be that private collector who, with a little research or foresight, could have snapped it up for $28,000 - but then again, if you have that kind of money, perhaps it doesn't matter! Something I will never know about!
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