L’Engle Library up for auction to benefit three organizations

Dear Ones,

Happy Spring! It’s hard to trust the feeling of hope and excitement that has been fluttering in my stomach and loosening the tightness in my throat, but I won’t deny it any longer, even if I know there will be disappointments and setbacks. It is ever thus, is it not?

I write to tell you that more of Madeleine’s library will be auctioned this month by New England Book Auctions. They did a test run with a small portion back in December, and raised nearly $10,000 distributed between PEN America’s Prison and Justice Writing Program, Smith College (The Madeleine L’Engle Travel Research Fellowships) and The L’Engle Initiative at Image Journal.

New England Book Auctions took on a difficult task. They moved more than 250 boxes of books, sight unseen and content and condition unknown that had been sitting in a (blessedly dry!) basement for more than a decade (more on the why of this later). They sorted and evaluated and inventoried the whole thing (I had queried other auction houses, but they all said they’d be happy to help once I made an inventory myself, which was beyond my power).

I visited last week to look at a few items, pull a few books that had particular sentimental value to our family, and collect several boxes of non-book material that had gotten mixed up in that basement with the other 250 boxes. Paul, the owner, had faithfully set aside photos and letters and even datebooks and manuscripts that were not intended to be part of the charity auction.

Some memorabilia will be part of the auction, including a photo album of Madeleine Barnett Camp and Charles Wadsworth Camp (her parents) in Europe and Egypt, perhaps on their 1908 honeymoon, but certainly before the First World War. They saw a production of Aida at the pyramids on that trip, can you imagine! There are also old Christmas cards that are hand painted (don’t worry, the full master set is at Smith) that will be offered at the auction.

The books will be sold in lots on April 8, 13, 20, 22, and 27, but bidding opens early. Lots will vary in size and value.

What took so long? 1) It is a daunting thing when a loved one dies to be responsible for the accumulations of a lifetime. 2) We’re book people! Letting go of books is painful. A bookcase is a record of time spent and history and books are harder to find good homes for than one might think. 3) Her particular status as beloved author made every decision weighted.

I am aware that other authors’ libraries and archives have been sold for very high amounts. Our family made a decision early on that we would not do this. Selling an archive to a library only takes money out of an institution you are trusting to keep something accessible forever, money that could be better used to support students. I think the time it has taken is not only a measure of the immense emotional task but also the time it took build the relationships with the three organizations that will benefit from this sale.

Also recovered from those 180 boxes  was a triple strand pearl choker that Madeleine kept in an empty book jacket on a shelf in her nyc bedroom. We had been wringing our hands over it, thinking we had somehow lost it. Though tall, Madeleine had a very slender neck and the necklace never fit anyone in the family except her. Reader, let me tell you: I am taking that choker to a jeweler and extending the clasp so I can wear it. The rest I am letting go.