?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000
NEW YORK'S CAFÉ DES ARTISTES RESTAURANT GUEST BOOK WITH MANY DRAWINGS (ALBUM.) Guest book for the Café des Artistes restaurant in New York containing over 60 items Signed or Signed and Inscribed, including drawings, notes, and signatures, written 1-5 to a page on both recto and verso. 11½x10½ inches, hand-tooled sheep slipped over spiral-bound boards, markedly worn, backstrip perished; dampstaining at edges throughout (not affecting most drawings). [New York], 1936-41
Babe Ruth. "To My Pal Christy / Sincerely." Circa 1936 • Howard Chandler Christy. Graphite and colored pencil drawing, "To The Boys, / with best wishes always," showing a young woman lying on her stomach wearing nothing but red heels, 4x5½ inches. 10 June 1936 • Otto Soglow. Ink drawing, "With best / wishes to / Frank / O. Soglow," showing his Little King character in profile, 4½x3½ inches. Circa 1938 • Robert Ripley. Ink drawing, "Ripley," cartoon showing a man shackled to a ball and chain above the holograph caption, "The / only / Chinaman / that can't march! / 'Believe it or not'," 6½x7½ inches. Circa 1939 • Frederic Stanley. Ink drawing, "Fred / Stanley": "'More & Better (S)miles.' / To my good friends / Tony & Frank," showing a running dog in profile, 3½x8 inches. [12 February] 1936 • Richard E. Byrd. "REByrd U.S. Navy (rtd)." 1940 • J. Knowles Hare. Ink, graphite and colored pencil drawing, "To the / boys / at the / 'Des Artistes'," showing a woman giving a toast with a cocktail glass, 10x8½ inches. 1936 • Arthur "Pop" Momand. Ink drawing, "Pop / Momand," single panel comic showing Eddie Bowers character warning bartender to hide the canapés because Momand is coming, 7x9 inches. 1937 • Ad Carter. Graphite drawing, cartoon showing three men walking together discussing what they're drinking with Frank, 8x9 inches. 1939 • Harry Haenigsen. Ink and watercolor drawing, "Best wishes / From / Haenigsen," single panel comic showing himself drawing a pink elephant, 7½x9 inches. 12 February 1937 • Burris Jenkins. Graphite drawing, "What I think / of Harry Haenigsen," sketch showing man's head in profile. Circa 1937 • Billy DeBeck. Ink drawing, "To Frank / With best wishes," cartoon showing soldier in uniform complaining to bartender that there is no Mountain Dew available, 10½x9¼ inches. 1941 • Abner Dean. Graphite drawing, sketch showing an eye, with a holograph caption, "It might be Tony! / Anyway it's a bar constant!," 10½x9¼ inches. Circa 1941 • Ernie Bushmiller. Graphite drawing, "Best wishes," showing portrait of Fritzi Ritz character in profile, 2½x3 inches. 20 March 1937 • Mark von Arenburg (2). Two graphite or graphite-and-colored-pencil drawings, "M. Von Arenburg," sketches showing a leggy woman beside the holograph caption, "As Good As A Cocktail / At Frank's Bar"; and ocean scene showing S.S. Rex with volcano on horizon with holograph labels marking "Top" where "Bottom" is expected and vice versa, each 10½x9¼ inches. Circa 1939 • Geraldine Wyman Spalding. Colored pencil drawing, "Here's to Zena, / Frank & / Tony! / Your drinks / go down / like milk & honey! / No longer do I care / to roam / When Café des Artistes / is my home! / Schotchamenti[?] / to you!," showing portrait of women holding glass, 10½x9¼ inches. June 1941 • Billy Hill. AMQS and Inscribed, "To Tony--And Frank Two / God damn good cow punchers," bar from his "Last Round-Up," with holograph lyrics, "I'm headin' for the last round up." Circa 1936 • Helen Wills Moody. Small ink drawing, self-caricature, showing her head in tennis cap, 1x1 inches. 1936 • Leslie Howard. Small ink drawing, self-caricature, showing his head, 1½x1 inches. Circa 1937 • Lou Nova. "Best Wishes / To My Pal Frank / At The Des Artistes" • Don Carney. "'Hello nephews mine' / Greetings & best wishes / to a fine host / from / Uncle Don," small ink drawing, sketch showing W.O.R. microphone, 4x2 inches. 3 April 1937 • John Lewis Barkley. "To the Cafe des Artistes / The richest in Art, the finest in drinks, the / pleasure spot of New York. / With All Good Wishes, / Lieutenant John Lewis Barkley MH." 1937 • John Golden. "Pass One--Booth Theatre / Claudia [play by Rose Franken]." [1941] • Arthur "Bugs" Baer. "Bugs Baer / . . . If you believe it--you're nuts / B.B." 1939 • Albert Chandler. "To my dear friends, Howard, Nancy & the boys / from one of your real friends, the victim of a / deadly combination--'the purge--and the W.P.A.' / A.B. 'Happy' Chandler." 1938 • Dorothy Bennett Hannah. "To Frank, Zena and Tony-- / whose consummate artistry / as hosts is responsible / for much pleasant / dawdling along the rocky / road by some of us less / artful artists at the des Artistes." 25 March 1941 • Lionel Stander. "I'm just a character" • Link Hannah. Ink drawing, possibly self-caricature, showing head in profile, 6x6 inches. Circa 1941 • Kyra Markham. Small ink drawing, small caricature of a man wearing bow tie, 3x1¼ inches. 11 April 1941 • Elizabeth A. Farley • Marion Sayle Taylor. "M. Sayle Taylor / 'Voice of Experience'" • Burton Holmes • Oley Speaks • Mary Roberts Rinehart • Nancy Christy • Helen Morgan • Mary Lord Harrison • others. With--Cafe des Artistes dinner menu, featuring black-and-white reproductions of paintings by Howard Chandler Christy, and two tiers of three-course options, including filet mignon, salad, and spumoni for the upper-tier price of $1.50. 8vo, folded sheet forming 4 pages. 1930s. In 1917, Café des Artistes restaurant opened on 67th street in New York City, serving the neighborhood and guests of the Hotel des Artistes above it. Among the hotel's residents and patrons of its restaurant were Norman Rockwell, Marcel Duchamp, and Howard Chandler Christy, who painted the murals that decorated the restaurant's dining room. Café des Artistes closed in 2009, but the murals can still be enjoyed by visiting the Leopard at des Artistes, which opened in the same space in 2011.
