The enduring appeal of The Fall was underlined again this week as personal items of the late Mark E Smith were auctioned for some crazy prices, including a letter to the NME which fetched £950, artwork proofs for C.R.E.E.P. which sold for £1,800, and handwritten lyrics for Edinburgh Man which went for £1,750.
Adam Spencer, who crowdfunded to try and save items to donate to the Bury Archive Service, managed to buy four items at a cost of £1,792 – lot 374, The Fall/Mark E Smith typed 1970s set lists (£480); lot 375, A handwritten set list from the Prestwich Hospital gig in November 1978 (£440); lot 380, tour date sheets by Mark (£220), and lot 388, a tour itinerary with a hand written set list (£260).
Adam managed to raise £1,200 from 53 supporters to buy the items, but overspent by £590 to ensure success, and has thus kept his JustGiving page open in the hope that people will continue to help him reach his target of £1,790…
“I purchased as many of these items as possible which I am donating to Bury Archive Service (the Archivist has agreed to accept them)” writes Adam “This will ensure their long term preservation and availability for the people of Bury. Please give what you can. Many thanks.”
To donate to the Keep Mark E Smith’s Archive in Bury Just Giving page – click here
To see the Auction prices – click here
See previous article on the sale on the Bury New Road website – click here
Good luck.
I wish everything could have been bought and archived. I bid on several items but the money went silly so Im glad you “saved” 4 items. As you know there is a second auction soon with even more “valuable” stuff which I fear may be lost forever. As a Fall fan I never saw your crowdfund so wonder where it was made known. Can I suggest the influencial FB page The Mighty Fall with its 6k members. All the best.