DS, two pages, 8.5 x 11, August 4, 1969. An agreement between Nabokov’s company, McGraw Hill International, Inc., and Columbia Pictures regarding an Option Agreement, in full: “Reference is made to an Option Agreement between you and the undersigned dated as of April 5, 1969 (hereinafter the ‘Option Agreement’) with respect to the motion picture and allied rights in and to that certain literary work entitled ‘Ada or Ardor’ (hereinafter the ‘Work’). Pursuant to the terms of said Option Agreement, the option contained therein was exercisable by the undersigned not later than August 5, 1969. You and we hereby agree to amend said Option Agreement as follows:
1. The time within which the undersigned is entitled to exercise its option pursuant to said Option Agreement is hereby extended until August 5, 1970.
2. In consideration for the extension of time for the exercise of the option as provided in Paragraph I hereof, the undersigned hereby agrees to pay the sum of Thirty Thousand ($30,000) Dollars as follows: (a) To you, upon execution of this agreement, the sum of Twenty-Seven Thousand ($27,000) Dollars, receipt of which is hereby acknowledged. (b) To Irving Paul Lazar Agency, for your account, the sum of Three Thousand ($3,000) Dollars payable on January 5, 1980.
3. You hereby acknowledge and agree that in the event the undersigned exercises its option under said Option Agreement, then and in such event, said Thirty Thousand ($30,000) Dollars shall be credited against the first sums payable to you and Irving Paul Lazar Agent, on account of the purchase price.”
In very good condition, with scattered light creasing, uniform toning, a staple mark and a whole staple to the top left corner, a staple mark at the top edges, with the mark on the second page slightly torn, and two binder holes along the top of each page, none of which affect the crisp signature.
Two weeks after his seventieth birthday, Nabokov published Ada or Ardor, the book that the New York Times Book Review praised as "a great work of art, a necessary book, radiant and rapturous, affirming the power of love and imagination" and said that it "provides further evidence that he is a peer of Kafka, Proust and Joyce." This romantic novel started off as two separate projects, but when Nabokov saw a connection between the two ideas, he combined them and made what would be his longest and most allusory novel. The greatest tragedy of this masterpiece is that after securing the rights, Columbia decided against exercising its option to bring the film to life. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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