From Thursday, one of the most important private collections with work by the Belgian writer Louis Paul Boon, known from the Kapellekensbaan and Zomer in Ter-Muren, among others, will go under the hammer in Brussels. Auction house Arenberg Auctions, which will steer the auction in the right direction, has announced this. It concerns dozens of first editions, books, handwritten texts and letters by the author, which are sold by a Dutch admirer.
The Boon collection contains about a hundred lots that are offered in three consecutive auctions. For example, there are dozens of handwritten sheets on which Boon has penned his iconic ‘Boontjes’. The screenplay of the radio serial Pieter Daens, erotic images and first editions are also part of the collection.
The seller J.H. wishes to remain anonymous, but said that he wants to find a new owner before his death. “Otherwise my collection will end up with the old paper. We must absolutely avoid that in the interest of Flemish literature.”
The auction house expects a minimum auction price of 10,000 euros for the Boon collection, but reports that it can also go under the hammer for a multiple. In addition to Boon’s works, a few exceptional items will also be auctioned, such as a rare list of banned books from 1550, two letters from the French author Alexandre Dumas and a letter from Charles V’s secretary. Arenberg Auctions will auction a total of 1,454 lots in three days.
This article is originally published on bruzz.be