Good Books, Good Friends raises almost $30,000
Although a number of books were quickly snapped up with a “you own it” bid for a newly published work by Claude Cormier and a rare book signed by James Rose, the last few minutes of the Good Books, Good Friends Silent Auction, glued bidders to their phones and computers resulting in a flurry of last-minute bids. The auction had a record number of registered bidders and thanks to their persistence TCLF raised almost $30,000 which will directly support TCLF's education and advocacy initiatives.
More than 90 books by landscape architects, architects, photographers, and allied practitioners with inscriptions, autographs, sketches, watercolors, collages, original and limited edition photography and other one-of-a-kind additions that make them unique collectors’ editions were featured in the auction. Participants include photographers Marion Brenner and Alan Ward, architects Jeanne Gang and Weiss and Manfredi, landscape architects Walter Hood, Laurie Olin, Kate Orff, Michael Van Valkenburgh, and Peter Walker. In addition, a number of “legacy” books by pioneering landscape architects such as Elizabeth deForest, James Rose, and Lawrence Halprin as well as the journalist Grady Clay were also in the offfering. As bidder Joan Shafran noted: “It was like being unleashed in a bookstore after hours—-I couldn’t resist.”
Highlights included, Accidental Wilderness: The Origins and Ecology of Toronto’s Tommy Thompson Park, by Walter H. Kehm and Robert Burley. This special edition included an original signed drawing by landscape architect/author Walter Kehm and a signed photograph by co-author Robert Burley. All housed in a linen-covered presentation.
Robert Chipman’s hand painted High Sierra from Cathedral Peak and legacy donor James Rose’s signed, The Heavenly Environment - a Landscape Drama in Three Acts with a Backstage Interlude were also very popular with bidders.
Looking ahead, TCLF has begun planning the Seventeenth Annual Silent Auction for Fall 2021. Each year, the auction features dozens of paintings, drawings, sketches, photographs, rare books by award-winning landscape architects, allied designers, photographers, and artists. Many well-known artists and landscape architects frequently donate works to the auction, including Michael Kenna, Janet Echelman, Dan Tague, Millicent Harvey, and Michael van Valkenburgh. Due to the success of the Good Books auction we anticipate a repeat performance in 2022. If readers are interested in donating to a future TCLF Silent Auction contact Aileen Beringer at Aileen@tclf.org
All of this would not have been possible without the critical support from our Good Books auction sponsors: ABC Stone, Bartlett Tree Experts, Country Casual Teak, LAPITEC, and Victor Stanley, and our educational partner the American Society of Landscape Architects.
