Sotheby’s to Offer Judge’s Copy of Lady Chatterley’s Lover Used in the Most Celebrated Trial in British Literary History

Housed for discretion in a damask bag hand-stitched by the Judge’s wife To prevent press photographers from capturing the judge carrying a copy of the book Annotated for the Judge by his wife

To be Offered as part of a Sale of Property from the Country Home of Christopher Cone and Stanley J. Seeger

Featuring Lord Byron’s snuff box, Marilyn Monroe’s picnic basket, a Steinway piano designed to be parachuted to the troops of WWII, a Fabergé copper cooking pot from 1914, the Duke of Windsor’s telescope and Picasso’s cigarette box

AUCTION IN LONDON ON 30 OCTOBER 2018

London, 26 October 2018 – The 1960 Chatterley trial, the court case that heralded the transformation of the 1960s and helped to bring to birth a more liberal and permissive Britain, stands as a defining moment in British history. Marking the end of one epoch and the opening of another, it is justly regarded as the most celebrated obscenity trial in British literary history, during which D.H. Lawrence’s infamous novel, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, came under the spotlight and caused a media sensation from Land's End to John O'Groats. It was the trial that sold two million books, but one copy holds a unique place amongst all the others.

The judge’s copy, annotated for him by his wife, and housed for purposes of discretion in a damask bag with ribbon tie, is far from the only copy of the book to have been read with particular attention to the sex scenes, but as a document of the event, it is arguably the most important copy to have survived to this day.

This autumn in London, Sotheby’s is set to offer the very book that the judge carried into court, some twenty-five years after it was acquired at auction by Christopher Cone as a present for his partner, the late Stanley J. Seeger. At the time establishing the highest price ever recorded for a paperback sold at auction, the annotated novel, together with its silk covering and hand-written list inserted within, now comes to auction with an estimate £10,000-15,000, and will be presented as part of a sale of property from their country home on 30 October.

Packed with delights, A Private View: Property from the Country Home of Christopher Cone and Stanley J. Seeger is encyclopaedic in content, with objects ranging in date from the 5th century A.D. to the second half of the 20th century. Creators as diverse as Fabergé and Picasso are set to jostle with items which carry exceptional provenances, from Edward, Prince of Wales and Lord Byron to Marilyn Monroe. Defined by its modesty, not only through the large number of small-scale objects, but also by the unassuming way in which it was assembled, the collection is marked by Seeger and Cone’s inquisitive spirit. With estimates starting at £100 and climbing to £40,000, the sale is expected to bring in the region of £1 million.

David Macdonald, Sotheby’s specialist in charge of the sale, said: “This collection enthrals, amuses and ultimately celebrates the taste of two men who hold a unique place in the landscape of British collecting. They shared a love of music, literature, flora and fauna, British folk art and post-war art, and many of the items in the sale reflect their mutual passions, their sense of humour and their utter joy in things which became part of their everyday life. What comes through is the sheer pleasure in collecting. I defy anyone not to find one thing that they absolutely love.”

Stanley J. Seeger (1930-2011) was one of the greatest post-war collectors of our time. Together with his partner of 32 years, Christopher Cone, the pair created a series of truly unique homes in England and around the world, where the sheer joy of their collecting was very much in evidence. Meeting Cone coincided with the purchase of Sutton Place – previously owned by the American oil baron J. Paul Getty – where the couple lived for several years. After moving to and from the many houses they shared together over three decades, Cone came to find out that Seeger had a great skill in creating an atmosphere, but above all else, in creating comfortable homes where they could indulge their love of collecting.

Recollecting the fun that he and Seeger had in creating homes and furnishing them, Christopher Cone said: “Stanley and I lived wonderful dreams together. It’s nice to have the chance to have found and lived with these things and now to share them with anyone who cares to dig in and discover something special for themselves.”