Edgar Allan Poe Tamerlane and Other Poems First Edition
A volume of poetry and a partial poem handwritten by Edgar Allan Poe also set world records during an earlier auction Friday, Christie’s said.
A bidding war over the poem was won by an American collector who bid $830,500, a world record for a 19th-century literary manuscript, Christie’s said. The eight verses of the 16-verse poem “For Annie” was estimated to sell for $50,000 to $70,000.
A rare first edition of Poe’s first book, “Tamerlane and Other Poems,” sold for $662,500 at the same auction, the highest price ever paid for a 19th-century book of poetry.
Only 12 copies of the 40-page volume of poetry, published in 1827, are known to remain. It had a pre-sale estimate of between $500,000 to $700,000.
A Christie’s spokeswoman did not immediately have a previous auction record for works by Poe.
The metal Olivetti typewriter Cormac McCarthy used while writing his novels, including “The Road” and “No Country for Old Men,” sold at the afternoon auction for an eye-popping $254,500. It had been estimated to sell for $15,000 to $20,000.
McCarthy also invited the winner to join him for lunch at the Sante Fe Institute. The 76-year-old writer donated the auction’s proceeds to the nonprofit institute in New Mexico. via…
See guys, print isn’t dead, it’s just really, really old.
