A first edition of Moses Harris' The Aurelian, 1776, from the library of Lawrence Baigent and Robert Erwin, is among the books being sold through an online auction by Webb's. Photo / Supplied
A visit to a South Island home to assess two paintings led to a discovery of a collection of rare books. Now they're for sale by auction. Jane Phare reports.
Webb's head of art Charles Ninow visited a home in Canterbury last month to assess two paintings, a Rita Angus
portrait and an oil painting New Zealand artist Leo Bensemann.
It was there he spotted what looked like a first edition of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby on a bookshelf, lined up with what turned out to be a collection of rare and old books. The books, some dating back to the 1700s, were from the personal library of Lawrence Baigent, a former editor at Caxton Press, and Robert Erwin, a librarian and historian.
The pair were well known in the cultural scene in mid-century Christchurch and were avid collectors of art, books and rarities, later bequeathing their art collection to Christchurch Art Gallery. The book collection had been given to the owner of the paintings Ninow went to assess.
"The vendor was a friend of Baigent and Erwin," Ninow said. "I saw a copy of The Great Gatsby on the bookshelf. I opened the book to the first page, where the name L.A. Baigent was inscribed in the top right-hand corner. Slightly further in, I saw that it was printed
in 1925. At that moment I knew I was on to something special."
