Lot 15: Arthur Szyk, Le Livre d’Esther, limited edition, with 19 color plates, custom bound by Kerstin Tini Miura, Paris 1925. Estimate $4,000 to $6,000.
When it comes to private collections hitting the auction block, individual lots are fascinating but it can also be incredibly rewarding to consider the scope of a collection as a whole, as well as the story behind it. Next week our Book Department will offer The Esther Salinas Collection of Fine Illustrated & Color Plate Books for auction. Lovingly assembled over the course of 50 years by Dr. David Salinas, PhD, of California, the collection is named in honor of his mother, Esther Benyakar Salinas, a Sephardic-Jewish immigrant who came to the United States from Macedonia in 1913.
Lot 194: Luigi Mayer, Views in Egypt, with 48 color aquatint plates, London, 1801. Estimate $2,500 to $3,500.
Dr. David Salinas identifies as a lover of all forms of picture books, from children’s books and comics to fine illustrated editions with resplendent lithographs, etchings and mezzotints, like many of the books present in this collection. He began collecting in 1968, combing used bookstores and establishing long-standing friendships with book dealers up and down the California coast.
Lot 105: Asbjørnsen and Moe, East of the Sun and West of the Moon. Old Tales from the North, with 25 tipped-in color plates by Kay Nielsen, first English trade edition, London, 1914. Estimate $2,500 to $3,500.
Dr. Salinas named the collection for his mother, Esther Benyakar Salinas. Born to a Sephardic-Jewish family in Monastir, Macedonia in 1895, Esther immigrated to America in 1913 and married Issac Salinas. The beloved mother of six children was an inspiration to others through her kindness and perseverance.
Lot 153: John Pierpont Morgan, Catalogue of the Morgan Collection of Chinese Porcelains, first edition, two volumes, 158 chromolithographed plates, New York, 1904-11. Estimate $3,000 to $4,000.
The collection reflects Dr. Salinas’s wide-ranging interests, with intricately embellished editions of the Bible, Western and Eastern fairy tales and fables, as well as illustrated classic literature by Goethe, Shakespeare, Cervantes and many others.
The sale is divided into several sections covering Dr. Salinas’s wide range of interests. Take a look through each section to discover the many highlights.
• Classic Literature (Lots 1-97)
• Fables & Fairy Tales (Lots 98-146)
• Art Books (Lots 147-176)
• Travel, Landscape & Color Plate Books (Lots 177-211)
The post The Esther Salinas Collection: A Touching Tribute appeared first on Swann Galleries News.