August 2021 Catalogue

“Celebrated For Their Directness, Their Penetrating Immediacy” 28. JACOBI, Lotte. Photograph signed [W.H. Auden]. New York, circa 1946. Vintage gelatin silver print, measuring 11 by 14 inches; handsomely framed, entire piece measures 22 by 17 inches. $7500. Vintage gelatin silver print of poet W.H. Auden by Lotte Jacobi, signed by her and with her embossed “New York” studio stamp. The photographs of Lotte Jacobi, one of the 20th-century’s finest portraitists, “are celebrated for their directness, their penetrating immediacy, and their ability to convey the essence of the subject before her camera” (Sundstrom, 1). Jacobi’s vintage gelatin silver print, rarely found in this large 11 by 14-inch format, intuitively reveals that it was only “with books” that Auden’s “hands took on a deftness and lost all the ineptitude they had with plates and cups” (Davenport-Hines, 234). With Jacobi’s trademark penciled signature at the lower right corner of the print recto, immediately beneath her embossed stamp: “Lotte Jacobi, New York.” Lightly penciled notations on print verso reading “#111” and identified “W.H. Auden.” From the estate of Lotte Jacobi. A fine signed print. “I Expect To Be Settled At Monticello By The Middle Of January” 29. JEFFERSON, Thomas. Autographlettersigned. Philadelphia, December 8, 1793. One leaf,measuring 7-1/2 by 9 inches, written and signed on recto; p. 1; handsomely matted and framed with large engraved portrait; entire piece measures 30 by 24 inches. $22,500. Fine Thomas Jefferson signed autograph letter, written near the end of his tenure as Secretary of State, addressed to James Brown, a merchant from Richmond who handled many of Jefferson’s financial dealings, including his extensive imports fromEurope. The letter records the status of aMr. Short’s endeavor to convert his property into stock, and mentions Monticello, Richmond, and “TMRandolph”—Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr., Jefferson’s son-in-law, who was living at Monticello at the time. Lightly age-toned, faint fold lines, signature bold and clear. A fine Jefferson autograph letter, handsomely framed. F r a m e d ! 2 0 2 1 B a u m a n R a r e B o o k s 25 24