Pat McInally Collection of Children's Literature Auction

Cliff Aliperti | December 15th, 2009 | Announcements, Other Collectibles | No Comments »

Great coverage of this auction closing Wednesday, December 16, being provided over on the Examiner.com by our friend Walt “Auctionwally” Kolenda.

The auction is being conducted by Profiles in History and you can bid online on any of the 101 lots being offered through icollector.com.

Auctionwally has been providing excellent daily coverage this week over on the Examiner, including lot by lot descriptions and slideshows containing images of some of the auction’s highspots. Here’s Wally’s coverage so far:

And those are just some of the more iconic works being auctioned. The Profiles in History auction is primarily high grade first edition books though there are some other more ephemeral items included as well such as Lot #1, an original unpublished handwritten poem by Hans Christian Anderson, a signed letter as well as an ink drawing by Alice in Wonderland author Lewis Carroll, an unpublished autographed manuscript by Winnie the Pooh creator A.A. Milne, an original and complete press book for The Wizard of Oz 1939 film release–and that brings me to the point of mentioning this auction.

Lot 10 - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, First Edition, first state of the text and first state of the plates, Fine. Baum, L. Frank. (1856-1919) Estimate: 40,000.00 - 60,000.00

While I didn’t spot any movie collectibles beyond the Wizard of Oz press book, I noticed that nearly all of the 101 lots from Profiles in History would be of interest to the film buff. Beyond Oz there are pristine first editions being offered of several books eventually adapted to film including National Velvet by Enid Bagnold, Lost Horizon and Random Harvest by James Hilton, Captains Courageous and others by Rudyard Kipling, Portrait of Jennie by Robert Nathan, and even a presentation copy of The Time Machine by H.G. Wells which comes with a hefty $20,000-$30,000 estimate.

No, the Pat McInally offerings from Profiles in History are not cheap, but that’s kind of the point–these are some of the most famous titles ever published, many looking like they did the first day they hit book store shelves! An impressive offering and at the same time nothing unusual from Profiles in History.

Lot 25 - The Nursery Alice, rare First Edition, presentation copy inscribed by Lewis Carroll’s sister. Dodgson, Charles Lutwidge (Lewis Carroll).... Estimate: 10,000.00 - 15,000.00