Levitt, Helen

New York. New York. 23 original gelatin silver prints, with four autograph postcards singed (one is also a Levitt photograph) and an inscribed publication of the Museum of Modern Art (1985); various sizes and formats. One print wrinkled; two have been mounted on stiff board; another mounted on stiff paper backing; one print with remnants of glue on verso from having once been mounted; corners of a pair of prints with tiny abrasions where they were once taped. Item #205446

An excellent collection of photos, five of them signed by Levitt on their versos, and others with neat pencil annotations in her hand, and one with her studio stamp. From the collection of Edna Ocko Meyers and her husband Sidney Meyers (1906-1969), who were close friends and sometime collaborators with Levitt. A multitalented polymath, Sidney Meyers is best known as a film editor and director. His 1949 documentary "The Quiet One", which was nominated for an academy award, was done together with screenwriter James Agee and Levitt as cinematographer. Levitt remained on close terms with Meyers and his wife and was a frequent guest at their upper west side Manhattan apartment. The photographs were most likely printed by Levitt between the 1960s and 1980s. The images range from some very well known pieces from her major publication (also with Agee) A Way of Seeing, focusing on Harlem street life, as well as some her of her Mexico work. Three of the photos are exhibition prints on 11 X 14 inch sheets, signed and dated by Levitt on the backs; others are smaller format, some being informal working prints. The postcards were written, signed and mailed by Levitt to Edna Meyers as well her son Nick; the MoMA ephemeron is a schedule from the museum's film department that included screenings of "The Quiet One" as well as Meyers's groundbreaking 1961 film "The Savage Eye", which Levitt also worked on. An outstanding collection.

Bradbury, Ray

(Los Angeles): 1949. (Los Angeles): 1949. Tempera on cardstock paper, approx. 10 X 14 in. Wear to edges; some flaking of the surface. Item #205718

Nighttime cityscape depicting images of Los Angeles, with the central image of a streetcar filled with passengers and all around lighted signs (Bond Pants, Follies, Tivoli Theatre, Beer, Parking, Wine, Ice) a lamppost, a telephone booth, and a leafy tree. Signed "R. Bradbury - July, 1949" at the bottom. In a 2009 interview with the LA Times, Bradbury recalled his early exposure to art and stated that "painting has been part of my life since I was a child . . . My artwork doesn't inspire my writing, it's my writing that inspires my artwork." The streetcar figures in some of Bradbury's stories, including "The Trolley" in the collection Dandelion Wine. Given the date, however, it is conceivable that this image may have been inspired by a 1947 story Bradbury published in the New Yorker, in which a Mexican immigrant is forced to leave his adopted home of Los Angeles: "On many nights he had walked the silent streets and seen the bright clothes in the windows and bought some of them, and he had seen the jewels and bought some of them for his few lady friends. And he had gone to picture shows five nights a week for a while. Then, also, he had ridden the streetcars—all night some nights—smelling the electricity, his dark eyes moving over the advertisements, feeling the wheels rumble under him, watching the little sleeping houses and big hotels slip by." (Provenance: the estate of LA musician, composer, and longtime UCLA faculty member Theodore Norman, who was given the painting by Bradbury). Price: $15,000.00

[Sterne, Laurence]

London: T. Becket and P.A. De Hondt, 1768. London: T. Becket and P.A. De Hondt, 1768. First Edition. Two vols., small 8vos; xx + 203, [ii] + 208pp, with both half titles and subscriber's list; edges trimmed and speckled; later three-quarter calf with gilt spines and black and red labels, by Bayntun. A professionally mended tear across one leaf in the second volume;. Item #205733

A bright, crisp, and handsome set of Sterne's second, and last, novel, published the year prior to his death. Sterne based the book upon his own experiences, albeit filtered through the persona of Mr. Yorick, a character he had created earlier in Tristram Shandy. Price: $3,500.00

Godwin, William

London: B. Crosby, 1794. London: B. Crosby, 1794. First Edition. Three vols., small 8vo., 293, [1, errata]; 285; 304pp; modern three-quarter calf and brown cloth with gilt spines; (the binder erroneously stamped the date "1797" to the spines), t.e.g. A stain affects the upper corners of the first half-dozen leaves in Volume 1; some scattered, faint foxing; nice copies in a custom cloth slipcase. Item #206047

A complete copy of Godwin's celebrated novel, with all half-titles. Appearing amid the intellectual ferment inspired by the French Revolution, Godwin's novel was immediately popular and controversial owing to Godwin's radical politics and his depiction of class tensions. But beyond those considerations, it was also radical in form and style. Today it is regarded as one of the first detective novels and a key work of Gothic fiction. The first edition has become very uncommon. Price: $3,500.00

Fielding, Henry

London: A. Millar, 1749. London: A. Millar, 1749. First Edition. Six vols., 8vos, lxii, [2], 214; 324; 370; 312; 294; 304pp; full polished calf gilt. Ownership inscriptions; hinges worn, covers detached on Vols. 1, 2 and 5, with the front endpaper of Vol. 1 also detached; a very good set but for these external flaws. Item #205898

A decent set of Fielding's masterpiece, with all cancels, and errata leaf in Vol. 1. One of only 2000 copies in the first printing, which was almost immediately sold out by subscription before publication, prompting a near simultaneous second printing. The novel is a cornerstone of modern English literature. Price: $5,000.00