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Sylvester Stallone

Heritage Auctions to sell Sylvester Stallone’s library of rare books March 8

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf
Sylvester Stallone
Walt Whitman VII-volume set. Estimate: $4,000. Heritage Auctions image

 

DALLAS – Sylvester Stallone’s personally owned library of rare and collectible books will debut in Heritage Auctions’ Rare Books auction March 8 in New York. Absentee and Internet bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.

The collection of nearly 45 lots, spanning hundreds of volumes includes rarities such as one of 300 sets of The Complete Writings of Walt Whitman (above), with an extraordinary 1890 hand-written postcard from Whitman (below).

 

Sylvester Stallone
Handwritten postcard signed by Walt Whitman to his publisher. Heritage Auctions Image

 

“Stallone is one of the most accomplished screenwriters of our time,” said Greg Rohan, president of Heritage Auctions. “It is little surprise his library is filled with limited edition and rare examples of works from the giants of literature – many of which include rare signatures by the authors themselves.”

The library marks the second of Stallone’s personally owned property and memorabilia collections offered at Heritage, the first of which realized more than $3 million across three public auction sessions in December 2015.

His rare book collection includes a 1902, leather-bound, 10-volume set Sir Walter Scott’s The Waverly Novels includes a one-page autographed letter, signed by Scott (est. $2,000) and a 1900, 22-volume example of the Complete Writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne, signed by Hawthorne on a tipped-in Liverpool customs certificate (est. $1,500) and limited to 500 sets.

 

Sylvester Stallone
‘Complete Writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne,’ 1900, 22-volumes, signed by Hawthorne on a tipped-in Liverpool customs certificate. Heritage Auctions image

 

The collection holds stunning examples of complete sets  available only in limited supply: Norman M. Penzler, editor, C.H. Tawney’s original 1880 English translation of The Ocean of Story, specially-bound issue, limited to 10 sets for Their Highnesses the Reigning Princes of India is on offer (est. $1,500) as is a 1886 first-edition set of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace (below), in fine condition and housed in two protective boxes (est. $2,000). Finely bound sets include works by the likes of Francis Bacon, Samuel Johnson, Thomas Browne, John Burroughs and essays by Plutarch (est. $500).

 

Sylvester Stallone
First-edition set of Leo Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace,’ 1886. Heritage Auctions image

 

Additional highlights include:

  • The Complete Works of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning in 18 volumes and limited to 275 sets (of which this is number 10) signed by the publisher and the editors (est. $1,200).
  • Works of Washington Irving, 1895-1987, Author’s Autograph Edition, 40 volumes, limited to 500 sets (of which this is No. 23) with original, one-page holographic manuscript (est. $1,200).
  • The first collected U.S. edition of Emile Zola’s The Rougon-Macquart, 12 volumes, limited to 1,000 sets (est. $1,000).
  • The Complete Writings of Lord Macaulay, 1899-1900, Large Paper Edition, limited to 500 numbered sets (of which this is No. 212), with original two-page autograph letter, signed by Macaulay and dated March 29, 1857 (est. $1,000).

 

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