The next part of the Gary Gorton Crime Fiction Collection is online now.
Lot 1 Justice Limited by Duncan
Lot 24 Guy Boothby
Lot 2 Main in Murder Francis Duncan
Lot 11 Tom Clancy
Lot 6 The Mystery of the Boule Cabinet by Burton E Stevenson
Lot 35 Andrew Spiller Ring Twice for Murder
Lot 183 Reginal Hill Bines and Silence
Lot 111 Donald Mackenzie
Lot 87 Publisher Copy of the Fifth Man by Manning Coles
Lot 43 The Scotching Wind by Walter Macken
Lot 38 James Lee Burke
Lot 33 Screaming Fog John Newton Chance
Lot 32 Signed Geoffrey Household
Lot 31 Smallbone Deceased by Michael Gilbert
Lot 12 Crook's Cruise by Seafarer
Lot 7 Oppenheim
Gary collected the best copies that he could find. Many are in dustwrappers, some are signed and a few publisher file copies. His collection has been a delight to handle.
Gary Gorton was resident in Hong Kong for many years and more recently in Bangkok. He died suddenly in Bangkok in 2023. He lived most of his adult life in Asia and for fun he was collecting any book listed in Hubin’s Crime Fiction: A Comprehensive Bibliography.
The books he collected had to be first editions in dustwrapper and in very good condition. In his job as an international banker, he travelled widely and made contacts with dealers in the UK, USA, Canada and Australia and was always happy to entertain us when we were in Hong Kong or later in Bangkok.
When visiting Gary I always felt privileged to view and handle his collection and it left me totally amazed that one person could put together such a collection of fine books.
Ephemera, Art, Photography, Maps, Posters and Books -18th October
The dissemination of human knowledge and culture emerges in spoken words and song; to folded papers and photography, painting and maps.
This auction has an outstanding variety of the items including a leaf from a handwritten antiphonal, incunable leaves from seminal works, books on ancient languages, art and religion. But we have not missed out on those ephemeral items like theatre programs and travel guides and maps which are often discarded, because those are just as important in documenting our existence.
In this modern world, we are constantly feed regurgitated information and sloppy images from computers which cannot fully understand the reasons and contexts for which these things are crafted. A degree of scepticism is needed when extra hands or people are added to images, or things are just made up.
And there is something in the objects which humans create that is ineffable. A different truth. The imperfection of Wabi-sabi or the warmth of a handmade object. With objects we keep, the marks we leave behind tell a different story. The proud signature of an artist or author, a birthday inscription or notes in the margins. Or the way the ephemeral object is folded and put in a pocket with rubbing on the corners. Or the careful mending on books which mean something more. These objects tell stories that get left behind in the digital. Human culture begins and ends with humans.
Highlights
Lot Axel Poignant
Lot 139 Aboriginal Art
Lot 21 Antiphonal
Lot 162 Norman Lindsay
Lot 137 Bill Henson
Lot 212 Theatre Programmes
Lot 130 Ida Rentoul Outhwaite
Australian Culture
Lot 139 Aboriginal Art in Central Australia Dot and Circle Lot 132 Emily Kame Kngwarreye Alhalkere Paintings From Utopia Lot 231 Djanggawul Arnhem Land Aboriginal Religious Cult Lot 232 Kunapipi A Study of an Australian Aboriginal Religious Cult
Western Culture
Lot 22 Incunable leaves x4 from between 1481 and 1493 Lot 21 Renaissance Manuscript Antiphonary Leaf c155 Lot 64 Religious Work published 1625 Lot 72 1743 Early Italian printed in Venice
The ephemeral
Lot 212 Australian Theatre Programmes Lot #215 UK + Europe Maps & Guides Lot 118 1947 Cabramatta Rugby League x4
In the moment
Lot 23 1890 Photographs of Sydney Lot 126 10x Bruno Leti some Signed Limited Lot 137 Bill Henson Oneiroi Limited edition
Expression
Lot 162 Norman Lindsay Paintings in Oil 1945 Lot 134 Brett Whiteley: A Sensual Line 1957-67
Youth
Lot 130 & 131 Ida Rentoul Outhwaite Illustrations Lot 119 Australian Comics – Westerns 1950s & 1960s
