USA: First edition of "Oliver Twist" nets highest sale price ever for work by Charles Dickens

Record ID: 1533854

  • Title: USA: First edition of "Oliver Twist" nets highest sale price ever for work by Charles Dickens
  • Date: 6th April 2008
  • Summary: (L!1) NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (APRIL 02, 2008) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) THOMAS LECKY, CHRISTIE'S HEAD OF BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS, SAYING: "It's a lot of presentation copies at one time, and many of these haven't been on the market in 30 or 40 years, so an estimate is always just a guess of what it could bring in a current market. And overall the results were incredibly strong for the presentation copies to his close associates." BIDDERS AT THE AUCTION
  • Embargoed: 21st April 2008 19:22
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Industry
  • Reuters ID: LVACQAZTYUUQI7VPC5UN6NM8SWEJ
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: The sale of a first edition of "Oliver Twist" brings in 229,000 U.S. dollars at Christies' New York, the highest amount ever paid for a work by British author Charles Dickens.
    Rare works by Charles Dickens auctioned at Christie's New York on Wednesday (April 2), received a mostly warm welcome. The auction of over 208 lots, including a first edition of "Oliver Twist" netted the highest sale price ever for a work by the British author. Dated to 1838, the book includes an inscription by Dickens to writer and friend William Ainsworth. It was bought by an anonymous American private collector for 229,000 U.S. dollars Christie's had estimated its sale at 200,000 - 300,000 USD.
    Thomas Lecky, Christie's Head of Books and Manuscripts, served as one of the two auctioneers for the sale. He explained what made this edition of "Oliver Twist" special.
    "It was a copy of Oliver Twist which is considered one of Dickens' greatest works, inscribed to his close friend, the novelist William Harrison Ainsworth, who had given him sort of the seed of the idea for the book, and who had also introduced him to his first publisher. So, in terms of an association between the author and the recipient, it's just a terrific association and it's also an early presentation binding," said Lecky.
    Highlights of the sale included a first edition copy of "Great Expectations" which sold for 97,000 U.S. dollars. The pre-sale value of the book was 90,000 - 120,000 dollars.
    Another sale highlight, a complete first edition set of all of Dickens' Christmas tales, including "A Christmas Carol," sold for 43,000 USD, bringing in more than its pre-sale estimate of 20,000 - 30,000 dollars.
    Even though a few top lots fell short of the higher end of the pre-sale estimates, Lecky emphasized that the enthusiasm for Charles Dickens was still very strong.
    "It's a lot of presentation copies at one time, and many of these haven't been on the market in 30 or 40 years, so an estimate is always just a guess of what it could bring in a current market. And overall the results were incredibly strong for the presentation copies to his close associates,"
    explained Lecky.
    The lots hailed from "The William Self Library Part I: The Kenyan Starling Library of Charles Dickens" and brought in a total of 1,917,488 USD. The pre-sale estimate for the entire collection was 2 million.
    Various original illustrations made for Dickens novels, including a George Cruikshank sketch for "Oliver Twist" valued between 12,000 - 18,000 U.S. dollars went unsold.
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