Discoveries of Manuscripts, Acquisitions and Sales

This page contains a chronological list of discoveries of manuscripts by Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji. It also lists, as they are found (usually in descriptions published in auction catalogues or on Abebooks), acquisitions and sales of items by or relating to him. The items fall into the following categories:

Musical manuscripts (acquired as gifts from the composer or as a result of a purchase at an auction)
Letters
Inscribed copies of Around Music and Mi contra fa (plain copies are not usually listed)
Inscribed copies of published scores (plain copies are not usually listed)
Objects (works of art and collectibles) from the composer’s collection

The list is divided into two sections, with curly brackets being used to indicate the date of discovery of the items when a more precise date cannot be given:

Discoveries of Manuscripts
Acquisitions and Sales

Items discovered on websites such as AbeBooks may be only introduced by a year rather than a fuller date, such as month and year. This is because the items have been discovered by chance rather than through an automatic notification, which is an easy way of being kept informed of sales. Links to citations on Curator.org (free registration needed for full details) are given whenever they exist in case the citations on the sellers' websites disappear; these citations usually provide the estimates or starting prices not always given on the sellers' websites.

Links to the specific pages where items are held in libraries and archives are provided wherever possible, but it should be noted that URLs resulting from searches in library databases are often long and complex and are subject to change. Permanent links (permalinks) are provided whenever possible.

Links to auction house websites, such as those linking to Abebooks listings, are most likely to have disappeared once a sale has been completed and are therefore not given. Some links may be recovered with tools such as the Wayback Machine.

Special editions of published works are treated on another page.

Warning: Collectors are warned not to be misled by offers made on sites such as Abebooks for bound or “deluxe” copies, which are simply print-on-demand copies.

An appeal to private collectors: Private collectors who have acquired manuscripts and other valuable documents relating to Sorabji are urged to consider the possibility of eventually donating their treasures to research libraries rather than selling them to second-hand dealers, as this will simply move them from one private collection to another and keep them inaccessible to scholars for research purposes. Their heirs or representatives may not be able to properly appreciate the scholarly value of such documents and may find it difficult to dispose of them properly.

Discoveries of Manuscripts

1970s: The manuscripts of several previously unknown early works are discovered to be part of a private collection, dispelling the legend spread by his friend and dedicatee Clinton Gray-Fisk in his April 1960 Musical Times article that Sorabji had burned “a mass of juvenilia”:

The Poplars (1915; 3 pp.)
L’heure exquise (1916; 2 pp.)
Second manuscript of Vocalise pour soprano fioriturata (1916; 3 pp.)
Apparition (1916; 5 pp.)
Quasi habanera (1917; 6 pp.)
Désir éperdu — Fragment (1917; 1 p.)

This group also includes the first manuscript of the Fantaisie espagnole (1919; 23 pp.) and that of “Pantomine” from the Trois poèmes pour chant et piano (1918, 1919; 9 pp.).

1987: Alistair Hinton discovers the manuscript of the previously unknown Concerto pour piano et orchestra da camera [no. 3] (1918; 100 pp.); acquired in 1994 by the Paul Sacher Stiftung.

1988: Alistair Hinton receives from his friend and dedicatee Christopher à Becket Williams’s daughter the score of the previously unknown Concerto for Piano and Orchestra [no.] III [no. 6] (1922; 144 pp.); acquired in 1994 by the Paul Sacher Stiftung.

1989: Clive Spencer-Bentley discovers in an antiquarian bookshop in southern England a previously unknown Sorabji letter of 1963 to that bookshop inserted in a copy of Mi contra fa. This leads Alistair Hinton to conclude that pp. 1-24 of what would become known as the Sonata no. 0 (1917; 30 pp.) were acquired by a private collector in the early 1960s. Through the instrumentality of the record producer Chris Rice, Alistair Hinton was asked to authenticate various manuscripts purchased from a street market by another private collector in the 1970s:

pp. 25-30 of the piano sonata mentioned above
the manuscripts of three early songs previously thought to have been destroyed:
- Chrysilla (1915; 4 pp.)
- Roses du soir (1915; 4 pp.)
- Arabesque (1920; 2 pp.)
a copyist’s copy of the Pastiche on the “Minute Waltz” by Chopin (1922; 7 pp.)
Toccatinetta sopra C.G.F. (1929; 8 pp.)

A fuller description of the events leading up to the reassembly of the manuscript of Sorabji’s early sonata can be found in a posting by Alistair Hinton on the Sorabji Group (31 March 2003).

March 1991: Alistair Hinton receives from Harold Morland three manuscripts:

20 Frammenti aforistici (1964; 9 pp.)
Frammento cantato (1967; 1 p.)
Due sutras sul nome dell’amico Alexis (1981, 1984; 2 pp.)

18 June 1999: Marc-André Roberge locates the manuscript of Opus secretum atque necromanticum (1980-81; 48 p.), listed as unknown in Paul Rapoport’s catalogue of works (SCC, 173), at Syracuse University (New York), where it had been since December 1982. Roberge also establishes that when Sorabji dedicated it to Kenneth Derus, he had already dedicated the piece (previously known only as Opus secretum) to Norman P. Gentieu.

Around September 2000: The manuscript of a previously unknown first version of the Rapsodie espagnole de Maurice Ravel: transcription de concert pour piano (1923; 16 pp.) is acquired by the Pierpont Morgan Library (New York) from Lisa Cox Music (Exeter, Devon).

11 May 2004 at the latest: The previously unknown Fragment: Prelude and Fugue on FxAxx DAxEx (1926; 3 pp.), a short work written in 1926 as a wedding present for a friend named Frank G. Davey, is purchased by a private collector from the dealer Jonathan Gibbs (Malvern, Worcestershire) for the catalogue price of USD 832.26 (equivalent of the price in British pounds).

19 September 2006: Marc-André Roberge locates the heiress of the English writer Robert Malise Bowyer Nichols and learns that the manuscript of the libretto of The Rider by Night, written for Sorabji, has been in the Manuscripts Department of the British Library for some time, where it is still in an uncatalogued collection. The first edition of the libretto is now available as part of Roberge’s edition of Sorabji’s work (Sorabji Archive, 2008).

October 2006: Alistair Hinton learns that the leather-bound manuscript of Chaleur—Poème (1916-17; 32 pp.), of which only a copyist’s copy was known, is in a private collection. The work is offered by Sotheby’s (sale L07408, 4 December 2007, lot 131 of 133) but fails to meet its reserve price of GBP 4,000. The manuscript is subsequently acquired by the Paul Sacher Stiftung in 2008. Citation on Curator.org.

23 April 2008: Marc-André Roberge, while browsing the Sorabji entries in Northwestern University’s online catalogue, discovers citations for two manuscripts, thus identifying the owner of the first work and revealing the existence of the second one.

Third Symphony for Piano Solo (1959-60; 144 pp.), which had been purchased at a Sotheby’s auction in 1992.
Concerto pour piano et grand orchestre [no. 4] (1918; 100 pp.), formerly unknown piano solo part (the catalogue entry offers images of the entire work).

28 March 2017: Travis & Emery (London) offer, under the title “From an Imaginary String Quartet”, a fragment written as a gift “for my very good friend Francis George Scott”. The existence (but nothing more) of such a musical manuscript received by Scott in October 1926 was known from a letter from the recipient of the gift to Sorabji, dated 30 December 1926. This album leaf had already been offered by the same seller on 28 July 2014 and, previously, by Colin Coleman Music (Stewkley, United Kingdom).

25 September 2019: The manuscript of the Toccata terza (1955; 91 p.), long thought to have disappeared, and a piano part for the Symphony [no. 1] for Piano, Large Orchestra, Chorus, and Organ (1921-22; 300 pp.), previously unknown to exist, surface, as announced on the Sorabji Forum.

Acquisitions and Sales

Before 30 March 1928: The Library of Congress (Washington, D.C.) receives six manuscripts as a gift from Sorabji:

Fantaisie espagnole (1919; 23 pp.)
Sonata no. 1 for Piano (1919; 42 pp.)
Sonata seconda for Piano (1920; 49 pp.)
Sonata III for Piano (1922; 75 pp.)
Symphony [no. 1] for Organ (1924; 81 pp.)
Valse-fantaisie for Piano (1925; 16 pp.)

After 1945 (date unknown): The Jagger Library at the University of Cape Town acquires the manuscript of Opus clavicembalisticum (1929-30; 253 pp.).

29 and 30 November 1966: A copyist’s copy of the piano part for the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra [no. 5] (1920; 144 pp.), from the collection of Alfred Cortot, its dedicatee, is auctioned for 280 DM. The score was advertised in Autographen aus verschiedenen Besitz. Auktion am 29. und 30. November 1966 in Marburg, Kurhotel Ortenberg — Katalog 577 (Marburg: J. A. Stargardt, 1966), 182, with a price tag of DM 180.

16 June 1973: The British Library acquires the manuscripts of the Music to “The Rider by Night” (1919; 54 pp.) from Philip Heseltine’s son, Nigel; filed under Add. 57966.

1977: The manuscript of Le jardin parfumé: Poem for Piano Solo (1923; 16 pp.) is sold by H. Baron (London) to Northwestern University (Evanston, Illinois), after having been in their possession for probably several years. The score was advertised in the firm’s Catalogue 100 (“Around the Piano”) with a catalogue price of USD 560.

1 August 1978: The British Library acquires from Raymond Monk the manuscript of the previously unknown Concerto [no. 1] pour piano et grand orchestre (1915-16; 177 pp.); filed under Add. 65183.

March 1988: The William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections at McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario) acquires a large collection of letters and memorabilia from Frank Holliday, a former friend of Sorabji, via Bertram Rota (London). This collection forms the first accrual of the Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji Collection.

1989: The Paul Sacher Stiftung (Basel) acquires at a Sotheby’s auction the manuscript of the work now known as Introduction, Passacaglia, Cadenza, and Fugue (1929; compl. Alexander Abercrombie, 2004; 79 pp.). The score was advertised in Music, Continental Manuscripts and Printed Books, Science and Medicine, including the Autograph Manuscript of Turgenev’s “Fathers and Sons”, London, Thursday 18th and Friday 19th May 1989, 255 (item 507), with a reserve price of GBP 600-800.

3 and 4 December 1992: Northwestern University (Evanston, Illinois) acquires from Sotheby’s the manuscript of the Third Symphony for Piano Solo (1959-60; 144 pp.). The score was advertised in Continental Printed Books, Manuscripts and Music, comprising Printed Books, Autograph Letters and Manuscripts..., 307 (item 623). The score of the Second Symphony for Organ (1929-32; 350 pp.), advertised as item 624 and offered at a reserve price of GBP 4,000-5,000, is not purchased; it is to be acquired by the Paul Sacher Stiftung in 1994.

1994: The Paul Sacher Stiftung (Basel) acquires the collection of Sorabji manuscripts from the Sorabji Archive (Bath). A basic catalogue is published as Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji: Musikmanuskripte, Inventare der Paul Sacher Stiftung, no. 15, compiled by Felix Meyer and Sabine Hänggi-Stampfli (Winterthur: Amadeus Verlag, 1995), 16 pp.

1994: Philips, de Pury & Company (New Bond Street, London) offer a copy of the Sonata III for Piano (1922; 75 pp.), donated by the composer and BBC producer Robert Simpson (1921-97), “with the composer’s markings in purple ink”. Result of sale unknown. Donald Macauley, The Power of Robert Simpson: A Biography (Bloomington: Xlibris Corporation, 2013), 218, writes that Robert Ponsonby, who was the administrator of the Musician’s Benevolent Fund and Simpson’s former boss at the BCC, had asked him for a signed manuscript, but that he sent Sorabji’s score instead of one of his own.

1994: Sotheby’s offers a collection of letters (lot 120) to Colin Scott-Sutherland, the biographer of Arnold Bax, by Sorabji, as part of a sale of “Continental Manuscripts and Music”. An excerpt of a letter about Bax, Harriet Cohen, and Ireland is reproduced verbatim on the website invaluable.

25 May 1994: Phillips Auctionners (New York) offers a copy of Sonata III for Piano (1922; 75 pp.) described as being “with the composers [sic] markings in purple ink[.] Donated by Dr Robert Simpson.” Outcome of sale unknown. Citation on Curator.org.

1998: The National Library of Scotland (Edinburgh) acquires the papers of the composer Ronald Stevenson (Acc. 11567), including 87 items of correspondence between Sorabji and Stevenson.

November 1998: The William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections at McMaster University acquires a collection of letters from Dr. Cecil Ewing, a professor of ophthalmology who had befriended Sorabji, forming the second accrual of the Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji Collection.

26 June 2000: The manuscript of a previously unknown first version of the Rapsodie espagnole de Maurice Ravel: transcription de concert pour piano (1923; 16 pp.) is purchased by the Pierpont Morgan Library (New York). The score was advertised in Catalogue 38 (Autumn 2000) of Lisa Cox Music (Exeter, Devon) with a catalogue price of GBP 1,500.

8 December 2000: Sotheby’s offers one or two letters from Sorabji to the music critic Ernest Newman, dated “11-20 November 1958” (11 and 20?) as part of sale L00209 (lot 101, identified as “Howells, Herbert. Seven autograph letters by Howells, Sorabji and Bush”). Link <http://www.sothebys.com/app/live/lot/LotDetailPrintable.jsp?lot_id=37CM2> no longer active. Current location unknown.

13 February 2002: Christie’s, as part of a sale of “English and Continental Furniture, Tapestries and Works of Art”, offers an “Edwardian travelling ivory Staunton pattern chess set in a fitted rosewood box, inlaid with a plaque inscribed with the name Kaikhosru Sorabji MCMXXVI”. Estimated at USD 1,420-2,130; sold for GBP 1,800. Citations on Invaluable (which also refers to an accompanying letter from Sorabji stating that the box and board were “made to commission”) and Curator.org.

June 2005: The William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections at McMaster University acquires from Paul Rapoport the collection of Norman P. Gentieu, an American friend and dedicatee of Sorabji, a large collection of letters. This collection is the third accrual of the Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji Collection.

23 May 2007: Sotheby’s offers, as part of a sale of “Printed and Manuscript Music” (lot 165; link to page no longer available), five letters by Sorabji in defence of Rachmaninov, dated 26 February to 1 November 1941. Also included is a page proof of a letter from Clinton Gray-Fisk to The Musical Times, a letter from William McNaught (1883-1953), the editor of the Musical Times, and an unsigned carbon copy of another letter. Hammer price with buyer’s premium: GBP 660. Current owner unknown. Citation on Curator.org. The letters, together with one from McNaught to Sorabji were also offered for EUR 2,000, by Kotte Autographs (Rosshaupten) under no. 580 in their catalogue no. 44 (undated).

2009: RR Auction (Amherst, NH) offers, as part of a sale entitled “RR Auction Monthly Autograph Auction #352” (lot 1040; see also the Invaluable website under lot no. 708), five detailed letters to William McNaught, editor of The Musical Times, dated from 1941. Accompanied by a printer’s proof of a review, a letter from McNaught to Sorabji, and an unsigned letter (by McNaught) to Sorabji. Excerpts are quoted in the sale’s documentation. Marked as sold for USD 2,372 as of November 2022. Citation on Curator.org.

July 2009: Schubertiade Music (Newton, MA) offers a copy of The Meaning of the Glorious Koran: An Explanatory Translation by Marmaduke Pickthall (London: Alfred Knopf, 1930) containing an inscription to Alec Rowley by Sorabji, dated 16 April 1932. The catalogue entry include a picture of the inscription. Listed as sold as of September 2018.

19 October 2009: A copy of the published score of the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra [no. 5] (1920; 144 pp.) with an inscription to the conductor Walther Straram (1876-1933), is offered by Alde (Paris) in their catalogue Musique: Vente aux enchères publiques. Le lundi 19 octobre 2009 à 14 h 00..., 90 (no. 388). Citations on Invaluableand Curator.org. Now in a private collection.

1 December 2010: The manuscript of Il tessuto d’arabeschi (1979; 32 pp.) is sold by auction by Sotheby’s (hammer price with buyer’s premium: GBP 2,750) as part of a sale of Music, Continental and Russian Books and Manuscripts (sale L10406, lot 85 of 140). Citations on on Invaluable and Curator.org.

May 2011: Travis & Emery (London) offer on AbeBooks.com a copy of Opus clavicembalisticum (1929-30; 253 pp.) bearing the ownership stamp of Edmund Rubbra, who had reviewed the score of Opus clavicembalisticum (1929-30; 253 pp.) for the Monthly Musical Record in 1932. Outcome of sale unknown.

April 2012: Jonathan Gibbs Books (Worcestershire, United Kingdom) offers on AbeBooks.com a postcard dated 27 May 1972 to a Mr. Wright about Medtner records.

June 2012: Travis & Emery (London) offer on AbeBooks.com a copy of the Trois poèmes pour chant et piano (1918, 1919; 9 pp.) signed by the composer and inscribed to Francis George Scott.

12 June 2012: Bonhams, of New Bond Street (London), as part of a sale of “Jewellery” (auction 19830), sells the following items:

Lot 200: An “amethyst ‘Bishop’s’ ring”, formerly the property of Sorabji; sold for GBP 3,500. This is the ring described six years earlier in Sean Vaughn Owen, “Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji: An Oral Biography” (PhD diss., University of Southampton, 2006), 31-32.
Lot 202: A “Chinese bang ring”, formerly owned by Sorabji; sold for GBP 1,250.

4 July 2012: Bonhams, of New Bond Street (London), as part of a sale of “British and European Ceramics, Glass & Asian Art” (auction 20054, lot 322), sells for GBP 687 what is described as a “Chinese brass dragon incense burner, 19th century”, formerly the property of Sorabji.

5 July 2012: Bonhams, of New Bond Street (London), as part of a sale of “Fine European Furniture, Sculpture and Works of Art” (auction 20017, lot 134), sells for GBP 13,750 what is described as a “Roman 19th century micromosaic panel depicting Pliny’s Doves”, formerly the property of Sorabji.

18 December 2012: Bonhams, of New Bond Street (London), as part of a sale of “Fine Watches and Wristwatches” (auction 19810, lot 258), sells for GBP 5,000 what is described as a “fine and interesting 18ct gold bracelet watch especially commissioned for the composer Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji”, built around 1937 by the English firm of Charles Frodsham (whose founder lived from 1810 to 1871). Citation on Curator.org.

April 2013: Travis & Emery (London) offer on AbeBooks.com a copy of Mi contra fa inscribed “To my dear friend Erik with love from K.” (with three corrections in Sorabji’s hand).

23 April 2013: Bonhams, of New Bond Street (London), as part of a sale of “Islamic and Indian Art” (auction 20833, lot 301), sells for GBP 8,750 what is described as a “repoussé gold tea Caddy[,] India, Kutch”, formerly owned by Sorabji. This was previously offered in auction 20020, lot 242.

September 2013: Travis & Emery (London) offer on AbeBooks.com a copy of the Trois poèmes pour chant et piano (1918, 1919; 9 pp.) signed by the composer and inscribed to Francis George Scott. See the entry for June 2012, of which this announcement may be a reposting of the same item.

July 2014: Peter Ellis (London) offers on AbeBooks.com a copy of Mi contra fa, signed and dated (VI.V.MCMLVII) by the author.

6 June 2015: Bonhams sells in San Francisco, for USD 305,000, two fountain pens described as “Golden Tiger and Black Cat A-Grade Maki-e Fountain Pens, Emperor-Size, Commissioned by Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, Signed by Haruo and Mansui, early 1930s” as part of a sale of fine writing instruments (lot 1126). The seller’s website includes a detailed essay on the significance of the items and of their provenance. They were formerly owned by Kevin Vicars, whose mother had been given them by Sorabji in the 1980s. The pens were kept in a humidor and, according to a note by Denise Vicars, were used to write some of his largest works.

July 2015: Travis & Emery offer on AbeBooks.com a copy of Nicolas Medtner: A Memorial Volume — A Tribute to His Art and Personality, edited by Richard Holt, in which Sorabji’s contribution is signed.

2016: Travis & Emery (London) offer on AbeBooks a copy of Mi contra fa signed and dated by the author.

2016: Travis & Emery (London) offers on AbeBooks a copy of Nicolas Medtner: A Memorial Volume — A Tribute to His Art and Personality in which Sorabji’s is signed by the author (on p. 122). This may be identical to the item listed above for July 2015.

2016: Henry Pordes Books (London) offers on AbeBooks a copy of Mi contra fa containing a printed slip marked in red biro (a kind of ball-point pen dating from 1947) “With compliments to Mr. Desmond Shawe-Taylor. Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji.” The description also mentions that there is “a couplet of verse in the same hand” at the bottom. One or more letters from Sorabji to the music critic Desmond Shawe-Taylor (1907-95) are in the collection of Indiana University.

May 2016: Wool House Books (Beckley, East Sussex) offers on eBay a one-page letter from Sorabji to Yonty Solomon, dated 17 November 1974.

August 2016: Travis & Emery (London) offer on AbeBooks a copy of the Valse-fantaisie for Piano (1925; 16 pp.) signed by the composer.

August 2016: Travis & Emery (London) offer on AbeBooks a copy of the Trois fêtes galantes de Verlaine (ca. 1919; 11 pp.) signed by the composer.

September 2016: Travis & Emery (London) offer on AbeBooks a copy of the Hyperion reprint (1979) of Around Music inscribed “Kaikhosru” to Clive [Spencer-Bentley].

[September 2016?]: Travis & Emery (London) offer on AbeBooks a copy of Mi contra fa inscribed “Kaikhosru” to Clive [Spencer-Bentley].

January 2017: A seller identified as “vinyltreasures1” offers on eBay, for GBP 399.99, a copy of the Symphony [no. 1] for Organ (1924; 81 pp.) with an inscription reading “For Mr. Emyln Davies:— / fine musician and accomplished organist — / in memory of a splendid performance of ‘Ad Nos ad Salutarem Undam’[.] / [B]est wishes and kindest regards / of Kaikhosru Sorabji / 1926”. The sale ended on 8 January 2017. The listing on the Dutch eBay website includes several images not found on the British site. This score was once owned by Yonty Solomon (seen at the owner’s home in 1997).

March 2017: Colin Coleman Music (Stewkley, United Kingdom) offers on AbeBooks copies signed by the composer of the Fantaisie espagnole (1919; 23 pp.) and the Sonata seconda for Piano (1920; 49 pp.).

April 2017: Travis & Emery (London) offer on AbeBooks a copy of Richard Holt’s book Nicolas Medtner (1879 [n.s. 1880]-1951): A Tribute to His Art and Personality in which Sorabji’s contribution is signed. This may be identical to the item listed above for July 2015 and in 2016.

22 May 2017: Peter Kennedy Antique Books (Surrey; aka pkartandbooks) offers on eBay a card from Yonty Solomon to Sorabji dated 5 July 1977, consisting of one typed side and one handwritten page (in red ink). Images are offered.

Early 2018: An article by Tony Earnshaw, “Sold! Composer’s letters make a grand before they even get to monks’ auction”, The Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 3 February 2018, reported that letters from Sorabji to the actor George Bethell Datch (1893-1976), which had been donated to the Anglican monks of the Community of the Resurrection, has been bought for GBP 1,000 even before the auction, which was due to take place on 23 June at the Community of the Resurrection, Stocks Bank Road, Mirfield. The photograph accompanying the article shows copies of the scores of the Trois poèmes pour chant et piano (1918, 1919; 9 pp.) and Opus clavicembalisticum (1929-30; 253 pp.), the latter badly damaged, as well as photographs of Sorabji and press cuttings showing Datch. See also the thread entitled “Auction with Sorabji-related items” on the Sorabji Forum, 8 May 2018.

20 March 2018: Christie’s sells, as part of Live auction 16044 (Modern: British & Irish Art), 21 March 2018, lot 112, a drawing in pencil, ink, watercolour, and metallic paint on paper by Austin Osman Spare (1886-1956), described as “An ascending plume of faces, figures and atavistic forms”, dated ca. 1929. Estimated at GBP 10,000-15,000; sold for GBP 20,000. Originally owned by Sorabji, the drawing was first sold by Sotheby’s (Sussex) on 25 February 1987 as lot 839. From the American art collector Frederick R. Koch (1933-2000), it was sold on 30 October 1997 by Sotheby’s (London) as part of the sale “Realms of the Mind: British Fantasy Art and Illustration”, lot 86, and again as described above.

5 April 2018: Schubertiade Music (Newton, MA) offers under no. 13025 copy no. Eleven of Opus clavicembalisticum (1929-30; 253 pp.) in the special edition on Whatman paper, formerly owned by Carl Engel (1883-1944), chief of the Music Division at the Library of Congress, to which Sorabji had given six of his manuscripts in 1928. The inscription reads “For Mr. Carl Engel with friendly regards and remembrance”. Previously offered by Bradley Ross Books (Los Angeles) in January 2014. Listed as sold as of September 2018.

12 July 2018, 28 February 2019: Chiswick Auctions (London) offer, as part of sale “Autographs & Memorabilia”, a letter by Sorabji to Ronald Stevenson, dated 15 June 1961, mentioning some of his works. This first appeared under lot 163, for whicih the citation mentions “Image coming soon”, but for which Curator.org shows both pages. The letter is again offered on 28 February 2019 under lot 168, with the citation showing only the first page, and marked as sold for GBP 300 (including buyer’s premium); citation on Curator.org (selling price not mentioned).

15 May 2019: Travis & Emery (London) offer on AbeBooks a copy of Mi contra fa with an inscription reading (reproduced as in the seller’s description) “Have you [.] read this? What??!! No???!!! Gesu-Maria!!! Then its high time you did!! [.] of friend Mr. Anglo-Saxon from Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji.”

{12 October 2019}: Schubertiade (Newton, MA) offers under no. 17751 a copy of the Fantaisie espagnole (1919; 23 pp.) in which the composer added his signature in red ballpoint pen (which the composer often used in the 1960s and after) on the title page as well as “75p.” below the original retail price blotted out in black by the publisher (Seven shillings and six pence net). He also crossed out (in black) the wrong copyright date (MCMXII) at the bottom of the first page of music and replaced it with “MCMXXII”. The price is listed as USD 600. This was previously offered on eBay on 13 July 2019 by a seller named “bossyossy”, who sold it on 19 July 2019 for GBP 199.99. The picture of the last page has ossias that give the possibility that the octaves in the left hand of the last two systems, except for the final sonority, be not C sharp but C natural. This means that most of ending can alternate between tonic and tritone rather than tonic and dominant.

{3 February 2020}: Travis & Emery (London) offer on AbeBooks a copy of the Prelude, Interlude, and Fugue for Piano (1920, 1922; 17 pp.) previously owned by Yonty Solomon, with two inscriptions: “for my dear friend Yonty, with much love from Alistair [Hinton] (Sept., 1990)”, “this, the very last printed copy of this work is and shall remain the sole property of Yonty Solomon and shall not be given or lent to anyone else under any circumetances [sic?] (.!!).” The price is set at USD 238.83.

18 August 2020: Colin Coleman Music (Stewkley, United Kingdom) offers under no. 13402 (also on AbeBooks) a copy of Symphony [no. 1] for Organ (1924; 81 pp.) signed and dated by the composer (iv.iv.MCMLXXI). The price is set at GBP 175.

{10 November 2020}: J. & J. Lubrano Music Antiquarians (Syosset, NY) offers under no. 35825 a copy of Symphony [no. 1] for Organ (1924; 81 pp.) with the (undated) inscription “To Bill Little / Best wishes for an effective performance / George Faxon” on the title page. See also Catalogue 90 (November 1990) (Modern Music: A Collection of Manuscripts and First & Early Editions, 20th Century, Part I) under no. 232. The American organist George Faxon (1913-92) taught at Boston University from 1956 to 1978. Bill (William A.) Little is likely to be the professor emeritus of organ and music at the University of Virginia and the author of Mendelssohn and the Organ (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010). Neither name is known to be associated with Sorabji. The price is set at USD 110.

{10 November 2020}: J. & J. Lubrano Music Antiquarians (Syosset, NY) offers under no. 34336 a copy of Sonata seconda for Piano (1920; 49 pp.) with the (undated) inscription “À Monsieur Borowsky avec les compliments de l’auteur” on the title page. Sorabji also crossed out and replaced the publisher’s address there and on the front cover. See also Catalogue 90 (November 1990) (Modern Music: A Collection of Manuscripts and First & Early Editions, 20th Century, Part I) under no. 233. The score comes from the collection of the Cairo-born American pianist Mario Feninger (1923-2016), who was a champion of Busoni’s music. The price is set at USD 225. The recipient is obviously the Russian-American pianist Alexander Borowsky (1889-1968), whom Sorabji had described as “a pianist of quite extraordinary attainments” (“Music”, The New Age 35, no. 7 [12 June 1924]: 79-81; 80). On the other hand, he wrote two years later that he was very disappointing in Bach’s Concerto in D Minor and that his playing of the “hideous arrangement of the Carnival scene from ‘Pétruschka’ was a sad lapse in taste” (“Music”, The New Age 38, no. 26 [29 April 1926]: 308).

21 January 2021: Dominic Winter Auctioners (Cirencester, UK) puts on sale under lot 608 (part of a sale of Children’s Books, Literary Autographs, 19th & 20th Century First Editions) a musical quotation from Opus clavicembalisticum (1929-30; 253 pp.), written on three staves, in black ink, in the lower-right corner of one of his pages of music paper, consisting of the opening melodic line (with some rhythmic variants), with the inscription “Opening melody of my Opus clavicembalisticum / Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji”. Provenance not mentioned; estimated at GBP 300-400, sold for GBP 250.

24 February 2021: Lyon & Turnbull (Edinburgh) puts on sale under lot 242 (Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs, sale no. 630; see also this link) a set of first proofs for Opus clavicembalisticum (1929-30; 253 pp.), marked “1. Korrektur” and dated 11 July 1931; estimated at GBP 800-1,200, sold for GBP 5,500 (including buyer’s premium). Citation on Curator.org (sold for GBP 4,400 according to this source).

23 June 2021: Lyon & Turnbull (Edinburgh) offer under lot 211 (Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs, Wed, 23rd June 2021, sale no. 644; see also this link) a collection of typed letters between Sorabji and Norman Peterkin. Opening price set at GBP 650, estimated at GBP 1,000-1,500; sold for GBP 1,625 (including buyer’s premium). Other items in the collection include notes by Peterkin about Sorabji’s works, documents relating to Oxford University Press’s agency for same, typed letters from Peterkin to Ian Watson and Edward Nairn, and notes of telephone calls and conversations. Citation on Curator.org (sold for GBP 1,300 according to this source).

22 September 2021: Lyon & Turnbull (Edinburgh) offer under three separate lots as part of sale “Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs” highly valuable items given to Norman Peterkin by Sorabji.

Lot 112: Sorabji, Kaikhosru: Inscribed musical scores, letters & photographs, comprising [...]. Sold for GBP 4,250. Includes original editions of Sorabji’s works inscribed to Norman Peterkin, including a copy of the special edition of the Sonata seconda for Piano (1920; 49 pp.) signed to Edward Nairn and Ian Watson.
Lot 113: Sorabji, Kaikhosru: Autograph music scores, comprising [...]. Sold for GBP 5,000. Includes the manuscripts of seven of Sorabji’s early compositions and a fragment of a later one as well as various unidentified snippets. Sold for GBP 5000 (including buyer’s premium). Citation on Curator.org (sold for GBP 4,000 according to this source).
Lot 114: Sorabji, Kaikhosru and Norman Peterkin: A collection of signed music and photographs. Sold for GBP 2,750. Includes of what remains of a complete set of published works given to Peterkin by Sorabji, all but two of which were signed to him, as mentioned in Peterkin's provenance note; the description mentions only three scores plus two copies of another work. The score of Opus clavicembalisticum (1929-30; 253 pp.) is inscribed “For my friends Edward Nairn and Ian Watson, Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, III.XI.MCMLXXVII”. Several items appear to have been removed at a later date, as noted by the auctioneers, who add that a later note refers to the gift of the collection to Nairn and Watson. Also included are some twelve photographs of Sorabji and Corfe Castle and a professional inscribed photograph of the former at his desk.

17 November 2021: Dreweatts (Newbury, Berkshire) sells the autograph of Rosario d’arabeschi (1956; 45 pp.) under lot 387 as part of the sale “Weston Hall and the Sitwells: A Family Legacy”; opening price set at GBP 300-400, sold for 2,600 GBP to an unidentified collector. See the catalogue and the entry on p. 245. See also Contents of Weston Hall, a family seat of the Sitwells, to be offered at auction by Dreweatts.

2 February 2022: Lyon & Turnbull (Edinburgh) offer under lot 322 of sale “Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs ft. the Library of the Late William St Clair” one of the numbered copies (number not given) of the special edition of Opus clavicembalisticum (1929-30; 253 pp.), signed and inscribed for his dear friend Norman Peterkin, together with the typescript (151 leaves, with an additional handwritten leaf and some leaves with extensive handwritten notes of Mi contra fa: The Immoralisings of a Machiavellian Musician. Opening price set at GBP 300; sold for GBP 2,750 (inclusive of buyer’s premium). Citation on Curator.org (GBP 2,200 according to this source).

{12 March 2022}: Antiquariat INLIBRIS (Vienna) offers under no. BN#58123 a one-page letter dated 18 April 1954 from Sorabji to Mr. Isaacs, presumably the pianist Harry Isaacs (1902-72), who performed in duo with Sorabji's friend York Bowen (referred to as “Uncle Yobo”), whose praise is the main subject of the letter, together with Clinton Gray-Fisk. The citation includes a reproduction of the letter and an almost complete transcription. The same item also appears on the website of Kotte Autographs under no. 88282. The price is set at EUR 3,500.

13 July 2022: Lyon & Turnbull (Edinburgh) offer two separate lots as part of sale “Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs” two items that may come from given to Norman Peterkin by Sorabji.

Lot 174: Liam O'Flaherty, The Fairy Goose and Two Other Stories (New York: Crosby Gaige, 1927). First edition, signed by the author, with an inscription by Sorabji reading “To my dear friend Frank Holliday very affectionately ... K. 30/9/43.” Opening price set at GBP 180; sold for GBP 1,500 (including buyer’s premium). Citation on Curator.org (sold for GBP 1,200 according to this source).
Lot 185: Charles Baudelaire’s Les fleurs du mal (Paris: Louis Connard, 1922), with an inscription by Sorabji reading “You ought to possess a good copy of this remarkable poet's work, bless you, yours ever, K” (addressee not named). This is part of a lot of twenty-seven books, with one of the 300 (numbered?) copies of Ernest Downson’s Decorations: In Verse and Prose (London: Leonard Smithers, 1899). Opening price set at GBP 180; sold for GBP 812 (including buyer’s premium). Citation on Curator.org (sold for GBP 650 according to this source).
Lot 196: Norman Douglas, How About Europe? Some Footnotes on East and West (Florence: privately printed, 1929). One of 550 copies numbered and signed by the author, inscribed “To my great ... generous and dearly loved friend Frank (Frank Holliday), from ... K (Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji)”. Opening price set at GBP 240; sold for GBP 875 (including buyer’s premium). Citation on Curator.org (sold for GBP 700 according to this source).

{20-10-2024}: H. Baron (London) offers two different versions of the privately printed brochure Splendour upon Splendour, one being 4 pages, the other 10. Both have an inscription to the same person, Baron Arnold Hartzhorn von Strömer, who corresponded with Sorabji between 1942 and 1977.

“greetings to Arnold Hartzhorn von Strömer from Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji. X. VIII. MCMLX”. Seller ID 10.019.48. Offered for GBP 160.
“For Arnold Hartzhorn von Strömer / tante buone cose / from Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji / VIII. VIII. MCMLXVI”. Together with an autograph card reading “I forgot to send this <> with my letter earlier today. Don’t return it: I have other copies. Bless you. KSS.” Seller ID 10.019.49. Offered for GBP 175. For an illustration see Sean Vaughn Owen’s Facebook post of 18 October 2024.