Philip Roth tops the bill at PEN's annotated first edition auction

More than $900,000 was raised for charity by the sale of first editions annotated by the author at the First Editions, Second Thoughts auction

An evening at an auction house may not seem like the most exciting way to spend time in New York City, but then again, the PEN American Center First Editions, Second Thoughts sale at Christie’s wasn’t an ordinary auction. The 75 books featured were not only signed by the authors, but included annotations and even tucked-away objects or notes. The titles in the sale ranged from Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar to Louise Erdrich’s Love Medicine, who modelled the colourful vines she drew on the beadwork of the Ojibwe tribe, to The Power Broker by Robert A Caro, who was in the audience and saw his book go for $26,000.

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