Sotheby’s to Offer the James S. Copley Library Sotheby’s to Offer the James S. Copley Library A Remarkable Trove of Original Manuscripts of American History, Worldwide Literary, Artistic and Scientific Achievement
News-Antique.com - Jan 22,2010 - Sotheby’s to Offer the James S. Copley Library A Remarkable Trove of Original Manuscripts of American History, Worldwide Literary, Artistic and Scientific Achievement Assembled by the Late Media Executive primarily during the 1960s and 70s, The Library will be Sold over the Course of the Next Year Highlights from the Library will be Exhibited from 16-23 January 2010 During Sotheby’s Americana Week Sales Beginning in April 2010, Sotheby’s New York will have the privilege of offering the James S. Copley Library, an astonishing survey in original manuscripts of American history and worldwide literary, artistic and scientific achievement. The core of the collection is its remarkable range of handwritten letters, documents, and other manuscripts which trace this history of America from the earliest incursions of Jesuit missionaries into California through the archive of letters sent by General Eisenhower to his wife from the battlefields of Europe. The depth and breadth of the library is astounding, reflecting the interest and passions of an inspired collector and newspaper publisher along with a dedicated curator who together sought the finest works available. Assembled primarily during the 1960s and 70s, a ‘Golden Age’ for manuscript collecting, the Library numbers approximately 2,000 manuscripts, books, pamphlets, broadsides and maps and is valued at more than $15 million*. Consigned by The Copley Press, Inc., the Library will be sold in a series of eight auctions that will be held over the course of a year, beginning in April. A complete sale schedule can be found on page 5. “The Copley Library is of a scale that can likely never again be achieved by a private collector,” said David Redden, Vice Chairman of Sotheby’s. “While institutional in scope and significance, the manuscripts and books in the Library clearly reflect the discernment of a passionate collector and equally passionate patriot. The birth, survival, and expansion of the United States is brilliantly documented in the writings of the men and women who founded and protected our nation. It would be wrong to think of the Copley Library as exclusively American, however. As a reader and a newspaperman, Mr. Copley had wide and eclectic interests, which also provided themes for the collection. Letters and manuscripts from authors, scientists, and musicians as diverse as Charlotte Brontë, Albert Einstein, and Tchaikovsky also found a place in the Library.”
The Collector
James S. Copley was born in 1917 and adopted by Col. and Mrs. Ira C. Copley after his parents succumbed to the flu during the epidemic of 1918. Col. Copley bought The San Diego Union and Evening Tribune in 1928 and, following his death in 1947, Jim became the CEO of the corporation publishing a large group of newspapers, including the San Diego Union-Tribune. He remained
editor of that paper and CEO of Copley Press until his death in 1973. He was the recipient of numerous industry awards and he and his wife, Helen K. Copley, were notable philanthropists to the San Diego area; endowing the Copley Auditorium at the San Diego Museum of
