Lot 99: Rare Signed Photo of "BUtterfield 8" Author, John O’Hara

O’HARA, JOHN. (1905-1970). Acclaimed American author best known for his novels BUtterfield 8 and Appointment in Samarra. SP. (“John O’Hara”). 1p. Small folio (Image size: 6¼” x 9¼”, overall size 10¾” x 5¼”). N.p., N.d. A black-and-white, wide-margin Pach Bros. portrait photograph of O’Hara in three-quarters profile.

O’Hara worked in radio and newspapers before earning a reputation for the hundreds of short stories he wrote for The New Yorker. His 1934 novel Appointment in Samarra was critically acclaimed and the following year, he penned BUtterfield 8. His works are noted for their attention to social status and class, preoccupations which, combined with his own self-aggrandizement, made him unwelcome in the literary establishment.

Pach Brothers, founded in 1867, was, until its close in 1993, the nation’s oldest photography studio. They took the official portraits for the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, of which O’Hara was a member.

Signed in the center of the lower photographer’s mount above a penciled line. Framed and fine; not examined out of the frame. Scarce.