Description:

Helen Keller
n.p., September 26, 1947
Helen Keller SB Dedicated to Yousuf Karsh, Who Photographed Her The Next Year, Ex. Karsh Estate
SB

A hardcover copy of Helen Keller, "The Story of My Life With Her Letters (1887-1901) and A Supplementary Account of Her Education…by John Albert Macy" (New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1947), gifted to Armenian-Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh (1908-2002) and retained in his personal collection. The volume is pencil-signed and personally dedicated by Keller to Karsh on the front loose endpaper as: "For / Mr Yousuf Karsh / with cordial greetings / Helen Keller. / September 26th, 1947." N.p. Bearing an official estate label of provenance on the front pastedown endpaper, easily removable if desired, and accompanied by an Estrellita Karsh Estate Certificate of Authenticity. In moss green publisher's cloth as issued and with a gilt-embossed spine. Expected wear including minor shelf rubbing and isolated stains to spine. Gently toned front and back pastedown and loose endpapers. Minor to moderate water damage affecting the front cover and the first few front loose endpapers. Else very good to near fine. 3-431pp; Index: 433-441. 5.625" x 8.125" x 1.625." Ex. Karsh Estate. This Keller signed book is more desirable than all others, because it was presented/gifted to Karsh and kept in the personal collection of Karsh and later by his wife.

Karsh photographed three views of Helen Keller just six months after receiving this dedicated presentation copy of her autobiography. Karsh took the pictures of Keller at the Hotel Algonquin on March 8, 1948, as listed on Karsh.org (Sitting #10114).

Karsh later recalled that his encounter with Keller was incredibly moving. He wrote: "On first looking into her blind but seeing eyes, I said to myself of this woman who had no sight or hearing since the age of three, ‘Her light comes from within.' When we met, she placed her marvelously sensitive fingers on my face. This was, for me, an emotional experience; I sensed she already knew me… Helen Keller's kindness and understanding, her alert mind, awed me. I told her this was not the first time we had met, for I knew her through her writing…"

A prolific portrait photographer, Karsh took an estimated 250,000 negatives of subjects over the course of 15,000 sittings over seven decades. Retrospective exhibitions of Karsh photography have pinpointed the 1940s and 1950s as Karsh's heyday - when he photographed actors, writers, artists, composers, politicians, and human rights activists, like Keller.

Karsh Estate Provenance: Held by the Estate of Yousuf & Estrellita Karsh; after Yousuf's death in 2002 passing to Estrellita Karsh; after Estrellita's death in March 2025 passing to Katherine Getchell, Co-Executor, Estrellita Karsh Estate and Personal Representative of Estrellita Karsh.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 5.625" x 8.125" x 1.625"
  • Medium: SB

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