Charlie Watts’ book collection sets records at Christie’s

The late Charlie Watts’ huge collection of books went up for auction at Christie’s on Thursday, September 28, and brought in some big bucks.

According to The Independent, The Rolling Stones drummer’s first-edition copy of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 classic The Great Gatsby earned the highest bid of the day, over $276,000.

Meanwhile, a first edition of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle‘s Sherlock Holmes tale The Hound Of The Baskervilles, featuring a personal message from the author, set a new record. It sold for over $261,000, a record for the sale of a printed book by Doyle. It had been previously held by a 2022 sale of The Sign of Four, which went for $201,600.

Another record was set with the sale of an “exceptionally rare” edition of Agatha Christie’s 1932 mystery collection The Thirteen Problems. It went for just over $74,000, higher than the previous record for the sale of a Christie book, a 2021 sale of The ABC Murders, which went for over $58,000.

These sales were just a few of the several books previously owned by Watts that went up for auction, along with jazz memorabilia he collected over the years. There is also an online auction of Watts items happening until Friday, September 29.