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Fall 2004

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The Future's So Bright

The Prince of Pages

The Changing Face of Beauty

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Ken Gloss's top five Favorite Finds

5: A Ring of Truth “I regret I sold this: a three-page handwritten letter from J.R.R. Tolkien in which he answers the questions he is most often asked. I got this from a woman who had been the public relations director of Houghton Mifflin who had published Tolkien in the 1950s. In the letter he says that it was never meant to be a trilogy—it was just too long to be one book. I kick myself for not keeping it.”

4: Bird in the Hand One-hundred-fifty-five hand-colored prints by Audubon. “Each print was two feet tall. There were three volumes and each one weighed 40 to 50 pounds. It’s one of those things you bring back to the store and say ‘You’ve got to see these.’ They came from an estate in Newport, R.I., and the family had to pay a big tax bill. I sold them for $125,000 seven years ago. Today they’re worth at least twice that.”

3: Frost, Uncut A collection of Robert Frost put together by a man who had been friendly with Frost. There were first editions, signed letters—most of it untouched for the past 50 years. A collector from California bought it.”

2b: Dear Tom A few years ago I got a call from a man in the greater Boston area. He was cleaning out his mother-in-law’s house and was about to get rid of a trunk when he opened it and found letters by Madison, Monroe, Adams—and 10 letters by Jefferson. In one he told how to treat terrorists and traitors. I knew I had something special. I brought them home for my daughters. Jefferson’s words fit so well today. They were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. We worked out an agreement—a museum got some, I got some.”

2a: Not-So-Marginal Notes A first edition of The Great Gatsby, inscribed from F. Scott Fitzgerald to T.S. Eliot—and Eliot had annotated the entire book. Here we had one of the century’s great books inscribed to one of the greatest poets and you get his perspective on the book. This was 30-35 years ago and it was one of the highlights of my father’s career. The value of that book today must be at least $150,000. It sits in the safe of a collector.

1: The Maine Event The North American Indian by Edward Curtis. “There’s no question this is the best find of my career. It’s 40 volumes, 20 of text, 20 of photos. (Curtis spent his life photographing Indian tribes at the turn of the century.) The volumes were in a library in Maine and we got the bid. I brought them home and Joyce and I would just look at one photo at a time. I had to sell them soon—I couldn’t afford to keep them, but we were so fortunate to have that weekend with the books. I bought it for $50,000-$75,000, now it’s worth up to $700,000.”

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The Prince of Pages

The Prince of Pages: more images

Ken Gloss's top five Favorite Finds