There is a question mark at the end of the title of this post because I am not sure the book was auctioned after all. The Times Literary Supplement, in the July 11, 2008 issue, reported that a scarce copy of Nabokov’s Camera Obscura would be auctioned July 17 by Sotheby’s in London. But if you go to Sotheby’s website, the book is not listed among the items auctioned that night.
 
Let’s start at the beginning: In 1933, Nabokov published Kamera Obskura (Êàìåðà Îáñêóðà) in Russian. The novel was translated into French and published as Rires dans la nuit. In 1936, Winifred Roy translated the novel from the French (not the Russian original) to English as Camera Obscura. Unhappy with the result, Nabokov wrote his own translation from the Russian to English and published it in 1938 as Laughter in the Dark. The book being auctioned was the 1936 translation by Roy.
 
According to the TLS, Camera Obscura was recently offered for sale twice at Sotheby’s. The first time was in 2002, the second 2005. The book was described as one of only three known extant copies with dust jackets. Most of the stock was destroyed in WWII. J.C., in the TLS, concluded that the book offered for sale in 2002, 2005, and this year are the same copy.
 
In 2002, the estimated sale price was GBP 20,000-30,000. In 2005, the estimated price had shrunk to GBP 18,000-22,000. This time, the estimated price had shrunk yet again to GBP 9,000-12,000.
 
I searched Sotheby’s website and could not find any information about the book. I looked at the list of items auctioned July 17, which included letter by John Fowles and a seemingly inexhaustible number of Beatrix Potter books, and did not find any mention of Nabokov or Roy or John Lane, the publisher. I also looked in the archives and queried “English Literature” (which is the category under which the work was offered) from January 1, 2002 through the present. Nothing. Maybe I looked in the wrong place. But I can tell you that I tried different queries and they all came up blank.
 
Was the copy offered three times and then withdrawn? Was it withdrawn each time because the bids were too low or because there were no bids?
 
The world of book collecting is interesting, but it is a bit surreal. I value books for the words that are between the covers. It’s much simpler that way.
 
Sources: J.C., “N.B., Times Literary Supplement (July 11, 2008), sothebys.com, The International Vladimir Nabokov Society webpage on Kamera Obscura