WASHINGTON, June 27 (RIA Novosti) - A rare signed copy of Anton Chekhov’s “Stories and Tales” failed to find a buyer at the Russian Literature and Works on Paper auction at Bonhams in New York City Wednesday.
The book, which was inscribed in 1897 by Chekhov to Semen Ilich Bychkov, a waiter at the Grand Hotel in Moscow was expected to reach $25,000-$35,000. Another major classic, the complete works of Gavrila Derzhavin, likewise signed by the author and estimated at up to $80,000 also went unsold.
Modernist and avant-garde works did much better. The calligraphic manuscript of “At the Fox’s Ball,” a 12 page poem by émigré writer Alexei Remizov sold for $62,500, while a signed copy of Symbolist poet Aleksandr Blok’s “Poems about Russia” sold for $31,250.
Pamphlets and ephemera from the legendary director Vsevolod Meyerhold were also in high demand, including an album of Meyerhold’s family photos, which fetched $3,500.
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