Seventeen rare books, valued at over $2 million and stolen nearly 40 years ago from the Long Island estate of former Museum of Modern Art president John Hay Whitney, have been recovered and will be formally returned to his descendants. The trove includes a first edition of James Joyce's *Finnegan's Wake*, letters from Oscar Wilde, and a portfolio of John Keats's love letters worth $2 million.
Bonhams recently concluded a highly successful auction of the Jeremy Mason collection, featuring over 500 items related to the life and legacy of Oscar Wilde. The sale, which coincided with the 125th anniversary of the author's death, achieved a total of £1.6 million ($2.1 million). Highlighting the event were iconic 1882 cabinet card portraits by Napoleon Sarony and a poignant 1900 deathbed photograph by Gilbert Maurice, which fetched £279,800 ($376,250), far exceeding its estimates.
A rare cassette tape containing one of the earliest known recordings of rapper Tupac Shakur, made in 1988 at his friend Ge-ology's home, is being auctioned by the music collecting platform Wax Poetics with an estimate of $120,000–$150,000. The sale includes other personal artifacts like handwritten lyrics and photos from Tupac's pre-fame years in Baltimore, with bidding ending February 11.