61 authors and 14 artists have made annotations to some of their most beloved works for the First Editions/Second Thoughts (FEST) auction. The funds from this venture will benefit the PEN American Center.
The writers added in features to first edition copies of their books such as notes, essays, sketches, photos, and letters to the reader. The artists had a choice of re-making either a monograph or an important art piece.
All of the artwork and annotated books will be put on public display at Christie’s New York starting November 17th. The auction itself will take place on December 2nd.
The New York Times has an exclucisve video starring Robert A. Caro, Paul Auster, and Jane Smiley who talk about the experience of re-reading their own books (embedded above). Click here to watch another video for more details about the auction event.
Here’s more from the press release: “Among the sixty-one authors who have contributed to the collection are Philip Roth, who volunteered to annotate both Portnoy’s Complaint (1969) and American Pastoral (1997); Don DeLillo, who added notes and reflections to nearly half of Underworld’s (1997) 827 pages; Patti Smith, who completed her annotation of Just Kids (2010) on the 25th anniversary of Robert Mapplethorpe’s death with an early, handwritten draft of ‘Wild Leaves’; Robert A. Caro, who revisited The Power Broker (1974) for the first time in forty years; Michael Cunningham, who included a CD of the music he listened to while first drafting The Hours (1998); and Gillian Flynn, who added new insights to Gone Girl (2012), which was released as a major motion picture this fall.” Follow this link to check out all of the auction items.