DALLAS, TX.- Bibliophiles aspiring to create or add to their own personal libraries have one last opportunity to bid on hundreds of rare items from a legendary collection at the Sept. 10-11 Important English and American Literature: The William A. Strutz Library, Part III, Rare Books Signature®Auction.

This third and final sale comprises a wider and deeper selection from the celebrated library formed over 60 years by attorney and avid reader William A. Strutz of Bismarck, North Dakota. Heritage Auctions established numerous record prices in its $5.6 million sale of the first part of the Strutz library on June 27, 2024, and realized more than $1.2 million with the second sale in December 2024.

“This final portion of the sale of the Strutz Library is the largest in volume and range of material and further represents the depth of Mr. Strutz’ collecting taste, with a focus on books of literary significance, in superb original condition and with important provenance. Presentation and association copies abound throughout these nearly 400 lots,” says Francis Wahlgren, Heritage Auctions’ International Director of Rare Books & Manuscripts. “This sale includes his favorite genres and authors, with strong emphasis on English and American poetry.”

Headlining the library’s concluding auction, the 266-volume complete Modern Library assemblage is rare enough in its scope and rarer still to remain in such fine condition, with all but four of the works still retaining their original dust jackets. Such an expansive lot would make for an impressive collection on its own or comprise an impressive foundation of any personal or institutional library.

“Spanning over two decades of publishing, it offers not only a survey of twentieth-century literature but a vivid chronicle of mid-century book design, assembled with care and discernment,” Wahlgren says. “For the collector, it is nothing less than a ready-made cornerstone.”

Founded in spring 1917 by the publisher Boni & Liveright, the Modern Library was intended to provide inexpensive editions of literary works to the American public including older classics and modern works alike. The Modern Library was purchased in 1925 by Boni & Liveright vice-president Bennett Cerf, who stewarded the publishing company for the next 34 years in partnership with Donald S. Klopfer and saw it through its reorganization as Random House, Inc., in 1936. During this time, the availability, mass distribution and affordable prices made Modern Library books staples to those with interest in serious literary works and ensured the publisher’s place in the American cultural landscape.

Literature enthusiasts with slightly less room for their collectibles might consider bidding on a pencil. It is, of course, not just any pencil — it was manufactured by J. Thoreau & Co., founded by transcendentalist author Henry David Thoreau’s father, and has a direct connection to the writer.

“During his years at Harvard and shortly after graduating, the young Henry worked at his father’s company, where he invented a special graphite formula that made Thoreau pencils renowned nationwide,” Wahlgren says. “He attempted to sell them to finance the publication of his first book, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1849). It is remarkable to imagine Thoreau using pencils just like this to draft his many works.”

Heritage Auctions Manager of Rare Books and Specialty Collections Samantha Sisler recommends the “Books into Film” lot, a group of nine first editions of works that have been adapted for the screen or stage, including four author-signed works.

“This carefully curated group of nine volumes reminds me of the ‘Firsts into Film’ auction we held nearly four years ago,” she says. “These modern first editions have been turned into some excellent movies. Whether you are a bibliophile, a cinephile or both, this assortment is a wonderful opportunity to begin — or expand — your own ‘Books into Film’ collection.”

Sisler also points to the excellent copy of Christopher Morley’s The Haunted Bookshop (1919) with its especially rare dust jacket, only two other examples of which have appeared at auction in the last quarter century, and an advance reading copy of the first edition of Michael Shaara’s haunting Civil War novel The Killer Angels (1974).

Along with plenty of other first editions (including a four-book lot of H.P. Lovecraft works, a seven-volume lot of C.S. Lewis books and a group of three presentation-copy Sinclair Lewis first editions), this auction features a dozen lots of manuscript material from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and journalist James Agee, a particular favorite of Strutz. They include various notes on and incomplete drafts of unpublished works, letters and a mimeographed 36-page typescript draft of his classic 1937 travel feature “Havana Cruise,” complete with corrections and annotations in ink and pencil.

Also up for bids are important Robert Browning presentation copies; numerous ephemeral Robert Frost works, including signed and inscribed copies; William Wordsworth first editions and an autograph letter signed to his nephew; some very rare first books inscribed by their respective authors; as well as a selection of works by U.S. Presidents, including many signed and inscribed copies.

This sale offers the final opportunity for collectors to participate in the historic sale of the William A. Strutz Library, the scale and depth of which is not likely to be offered again.