In a message dated 6/23/2000 5:34:48 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
d.klappholz@worldnet.att.net writes:
the Huntington Library paid $30,000 for an original (this tidbit of info
from Wirth's letter to Miss Adomeit)
The Huntington copy of Tamerlane may have been valued or appriased or insured
at $30,000 at some point; but the Huntington Library did not pay $30,000 for
In fact the Huntington Library didn't pay for it at all.
In 1915 Henry E. Huntington bought the library of Frederick R. Halsey en
bloc. The Halsey library included two copies of Tamerlane (really); and
Huntington resold one of them immediately -- through George D. Smith -- to
none other than Frederick Halsey. That copy is now at Austin.
The copy that Huntington retained was given by him to the Huntington Library
1919-22.
Tamerlane prices rose as high as $28,500 in the late 1920s, but fell again to
$4,300 in the Dunbar sale 1938, and $15,500 in Frank Hogan's sale 1945.
Jay Dillon
Jay Dillon / Rare Books & Manuscripts
http://www.abebooks.com/home/jaydillon