This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/28/2021
[O’NEILL, Eugene (1888–1953)]. –– KING, Alexander, illustrator (1899–1965). Six original drawings for Eugene O’Neill’s “Emperor Jones”. Circa 1927. Each, 356 x 254 mm. Original watercolor drawings on heavy art paper. Each captioned with suggested placement within text and signed by the artist. –– [ALSO WITH:] an autograph letter signed by King to bookseller Harry Marks describing how he became involved with Eugene O’Neill and how he caught his “big break” when O’Neill “liked these sketches well enough to cancel his agreement […] with Leon Underwood”. King went on to quote O’Neill with having once said “‘If I could draw, King, that’s the way I wanted to make those fellows look.’ I still agree with him […] that the Emperor Jones is my best job”. With original envelope and a printed announcement of a King exhibition at Dudensing Galleries. –– [Together housed:] in a folding chemise and red quarter morocco slipcase gilt with black leather title label gilt affixed to front. –– Includes six of the eight drawings that King presented to Eugene O’Neill for the illustrations in the 1928 limited edition of the playwright’s play, “Emperor Jones” (see next lot for this title) that launched King’s career who was, as the illustrator put so humbly in his letter, “an obscure artist”. He would then go on to illustrate O’Neill’s other limited-edition titles: The Hairy Ape (1929) and Anna Christie (1930).