The Neville Collection: Where Cinema, Literature and Song Converge

A signed script for Citizen Kane, the manuscript inked by Orson Welles himself, sits alongside handwritten lyrics penned by Bob Dylan. Nearby rest first editions of Ernest Hemingway's Death in the Afternoon and Jack London's The Call of the Wild, their pages yellowed by decades of contemplation. Together, these pieces form the backbone of the Estate of Maurice F. Neville, a collection assembled with the discernment of someone who understood that the greatest cultural achievements often exist in their most intimate form: the working document, the artist's hand, the moment of creation preserved in ink and paper.

A Collector's Testament to Twentieth Century Creativity

The Neville collection moves across the landscape of American cultural achievement with the ease of someone fluent in multiple languages of expression. The Citizen Kane script remains one of cinema's most celebrated documents, a blueprint for a film that fundamentally altered how stories could be told on screen. That Welles signed the pages elevates the piece beyond mere historical artifact into something more personal, a direct connection between the visionary and the work that defined him.

The Dylan lyrics, rendered in the artist's own handwriting, occupy a parallel space. Music and words, married on paper in the moment of composition, carry a different kind of intimacy than the finished recording ever can. They speak to the scaffolding beneath the performance, the choices unmade and revised, the true nature of the creative impulse.

Literature in its Original State

Hemingway's Death in the Afternoon and London's The Call of the Wild represent a particular kind of collecting: the pursuit of novels at the moment of their emergence into the world. First editions of canonical works occupy a peculiar place in the collector's hierarchy. They are neither manuscript nor contemporary printing, but rather the first manifestation of a text that would go on to shape how generations read and think. Their presence in the Neville estate speaks to a vision of collecting that values the breadth of cultural history as much as individual rarities.

The collection also features striking original artwork, pieces whose identities and provenance the sale will fully reveal. These objects, alongside the literary and cinematic holdings, create a composite portrait of Maurice F. Neville's sensibility: a man drawn to the primary sources of culture, to the moment when vision becomes material form.

The November Signature Auction

Heritage Auctions will present these highlights at its Signature Auction on November 18. The sale brings together a collection whose scope and quality reflect decades of dedicated acquisition across distinct artistic disciplines. For collectors of literature, film ephemera and American cultural history, the auction represents an opportunity to examine works that have shaped how we understand the twentieth century's creative legacy.

The full catalogue and further details are available through Heritage Auctions' Signature Auction 6344.

Collectors seeking to view the collection or place bids may access the complete catalogue and bidding details on Heritage Auctions' website at HA.com/6344, with the sale taking place on November 18.

Key Facts

• Sale: Heritage Auctions Signature Auction 6344
• Date: November 18, 2026
• Notable Lots: Citizen Kane script signed by Orson Welles; handwritten lyrics signed by Bob Dylan; Ernest Hemingway's Death in the Afternoon; Jack London's The Call of the Wild; original artwork
• Collection Provenance: Estate of Maurice F. Neville
• Bidding: HA.com/6344

The Simply Luxury View

The Neville estate represents a particular species of collecting that has become increasingly rare: the assembly of primary cultural documents across multiple disciplines, driven by connoisseurship rather than investment strategy. A signed Citizen Kane script and handwritten Dylan lyrics occupy different spheres of cultural value, yet their presence together speaks to a collector who understood that the greatest twentieth century works often transcend their medium.

For the discerning collector of Americana and cultural ephemera, such sales offer more than individual rarities. They present the opportunity to understand how an educated eye moved through the century's cultural landscape, selecting from cinema, literature and music those objects closest to the moment of their creation. The Neville collection is, in that sense, a conversation across decades about what endures.

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