Books from the library of Rolland Comstock, a prodigious collector of modern first editions who was murdered this summer, are turning up on the market. Quill & Brush (Allen and Pat Ahearn) have started offering the books in their e-mail newsletter (the books are not on their website):
"We have recently picked up a few thousand books--most of which are signed--from the estate of collector Rolland Comstock, who lived just outside the city of Springfield, Missouri. Rolland was an avid collector who was rumored to have 50,000 first editions. As best we could tell, he had 35 to 40,000 firsts and 10 to 15,000 magazines. Impressive by any account.
Nick Basbanes, author of the well-known book on book collecting, A Gentle Madness, interviewed Rolland in his home years ago. His essay (5 or 6 pages) on Rolland and his collection appeared in Basbanes second book, Patience and Fortitude. According to Basbanes, Rolland would take all the books he had by an author and fly to signings in New York, Washington, San Francisco, and other cities just to get the books signed. Needless to say, there are quite a large number of signed books in the collection. He also corresponded with many of the authors whose works he collected, and sent books for signature. We are sure that all of the signatures are correct.
We are in the process of preparing a catalog of some of the books, but first--over the next month or so--we will be offering several author collections for purchase as a whole. These collections are priced net to all and the price reflects a discount. If the collections don't sell, the books will be priced individually in the catalog. THE SECOND OFFERING IS A COLLECTION OF IAN McEWAN TITLES.
These books are not available on the web."
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