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Tom Lecky

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Tom Lecky
Born
Thomas Lecky

1972 (age 52–53)
Alma materColumbia University, Stanford University
Occupation(s)Antiquarian bookseller, Musician, Artist
Years active1995–present
Known forGuitar, piano, photography, drawing
StyleExperimental, jazz, Photography
Websitewww.thomaslecky.com

Tom Lecky (b.1972 in Plattsburgh, New York) is an American antiquarian bookseller, musician, and artist. He was the Head of Books and Manuscripts at Christie’s auction house in New York, and is the owner of Riverrun Books & Manuscripts. He also records music under the name Hallock Hill and is an artist and writer who has published photo books and artist's books.

Early Life and Education

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Tom Lecky was born in Plattsburgh, New York and lived in the Adirondack Mountains region of upstate New York through most of his youth.[1] Lecky went to Choate Rosemary Hall and received his BA in English from Columbia University and MA in American Literature from Stanford University. At Stanford, Lecky studied with Gilbert Sorrentino who introduced Lecky to the writers and methods of the Oulipo group and fostered his interest William Carlos Williams, the so-called Language poets, and the writers and artists of Black Mountain College.[2] Lecky began editing the letters of Irving Rosenthal (see Kaliflower Commune) to Allen Ginsberg and Ira Cohen relating the Rosenthal's novel "Sheeper" (edited by Sorrentino while working for Grove Press). After Stanford, Lecky returned to New York to begin his career in the auction world handling rare books, manuscripts, and archives. Lecky lives in Hastings-on-Hudson New York with his wife and two sons.

Rare-book appraising and auctioning

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Tom Lecky began his career as the Head of Books and Prints at William Doyle Galleries in New York City.[3] Lecky then served as a rare-book specialist for Christie’s auction house in New York,[4] where he served as Head of Books and Manuscripts.[5] An auction he worked on early in his tenure in 2001, was the original manuscript for Jack Kerouac’s On The Road.[6] In 2012, the Robb Report reported that Lecky had noted a change in the trend of rare-book collectors, moving from focusing on a single author in the past to those looking to create a more expansive library.[7] The BBC also noted his role in the pricing and auctioning of rare maps and atlases.[8]

Lecky also served as an auctioneer for Christie’s. Over the years he auctioned items including the Stratocaster guitar played by Bob Dylan during the 1965 Newport Folk Festival where he first played electric guitar live,[9][10] a sale that set the world auction record for the price of a guitar.[11]  He was also the auctioneer for the original lyrics to Don McLean’s song “American Pie”,[12] a copy of the US Constitution with hand written notes by its owner President George Washington,[13] and for philanthropic auctions supporting organizations like the PEN American Center.[14] Lecky was a witness in the case involving manuscript lyrics for The Eagles’ “Hotel California” that had appeared on the market in the 2010s.[15]

In 2016 Lecky acquired the company Riverrun Books & Manuscripts,[5] which was founded in 1978 in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.[3] The business sells rare books, in addition to providing estate, charitable donation, and insurance appraisals.[16] Lecky is also frequently featured as an appraiser on the Antique Roadshow,[17] where he appraises Books and Manuscripts[18] including letters written by Mahatma Gandhi,[19] and Franklin D. Roosevelt.[20] In 2019 he appeared in the documentary The Booksellers, that featured New York area book sellers.[21]

Lecky is also the founder of the publisher Understory Books.[22]

Music career

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Lecky performs as the musical artist Hallock Hill, playing and recording on the guitar and piano.[23] In 2011 he released his first solo acoustic guitar album The Union on the label Hundred Acre Recordings. Ash Akhtar reviewed the work for The Quietus, stating that “There is something wondrous about this implacable and partly untraceable album.”[24] Marc Masters of Pitchfork reviewed the work as filled with “wistful emotions and fond memories [that] can be as deep and complex as darker themes. It’s my favorite solo acoustic album of the year so far.”[25]

After several self-released albums, such as There He Unforeseen,[26] in 2014 he released his fourth album, Kosloff Mansion, again on Hundred Acre Recordings. [27] Ben Graham of The Quietus reviewed the album, stating “Like all of [Hallock Hill’s] releases, it insinuates itself into your life, and gradually takes it over. The first time you play this record, you barely notice that it’s there; but you keep returning to it, on grey rainy afternoons, on hungover Sunday mornings when it’s about all you can face, and slowly it begins to flower, revealing new aspects, fresh layers on each listen.”[28] In The Wire Magazine, Nick Southgate wrote about The Union/A Hem of Evening, "In a world overpopulated with acoustic guitar players, Lecky’s increasingly refined and focused experiments with such shifting, half-repeating, subtly accreting textures makes his music stand out as having courage and vision where far too many only have technique and tradition.”[29]

Art career

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Lecky is a visual artist and bookmaker. His 2012 artist’s book A Hem of Evening accompanied the album The Union/A Hem of Evening (MIE Records).[30] His photobook The Archive of Bernard Taylor was profiled by The Nearest Truth: “This quizzical tome considers a form of local history and the phantom-like presence of an author defined by his output more than his life. It is an interesting take on American biography, history, and the permeable ability for photography to be read with imagination and vigor despite its disregard to conform to absolutes.”[31] Bomb Magazine described the book as “at times disorienting, playful, melancholy, and retrospective.”[32]

Discography

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Solo

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  • The Union CD, Hundred Acre Recordings (UK), 2011. OCLC 874811301
  • There He Unforeseen CD, No Label (US), 2011
  • Found Objects CD, No Label (US), 2011
  • The Union/A Hem of Evening 2LP, MIE Music (UK), 2012
  • Kosloff Mansion, Hundred Acre Recordings (UK), 2014. Collaboration with Tim Noble of The Lowland Hundred OCLC 900890755
  • Folsom Cave, MP3 release, 2015

Collaborations

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Bibliography

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References

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  1. ^ "Spotlight 8: Gideon Wolf, Hallock Hill, Parallel 41, Tin Hat". Textura. Retrieved 2025-06-08.
  2. ^ "Bright Young Booksellers: Tom Lecky". Fine Books & Collections. Retrieved 2025-06-09.
  3. ^ a b "Tom Lecky: the next stage". www.rarebookhub.com.
  4. ^ Graydon Carter (2017). Vanity Fair's Schools For Scandal: The Inside Dramas at 16 of America's Most Elite Campuses—Plus Oxford!. Simon & Schuster. p. 210.
  5. ^ a b Pradeep Sebastian (2023). The Book Beautiful: A Memoir of Collecting Rare and Fine Books. Hachette. p. 113.
  6. ^ "Buy the book: the bibliophile's collectible | Campden FB". campdenfb.com.
  7. ^ Tolson, Shaun (December 1, 2012). "Holiday Desires: Books".
  8. ^ "Globetrotters' passion: Collecting maps". www.bbc.com. November 3, 2014.
  9. ^ Assefa, Haimy (December 6, 2013). "Bob Dylan Stratocaster sets auction record, sells for nearly $1 million". CNN.
  10. ^ Feis, Aaron; Piccoli, Sean (December 6, 2013). "Bob Dylan's famed electric guitar sold for nearly $1M".
  11. ^ "Bob Dylan's electric guitar sets auction world record". Express.co.uk. December 8, 2013.
  12. ^ Leopold, Todd (April 6, 2015). "'American Pie' lyrics sell for $1.2 million". CNN.
  13. ^ PARNASS, SARAH. "George Washington's constitution to be auctioned". Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
  14. ^ Galo, Sarah (December 3, 2014). "Philip Roth tops the bill at PEN's annotated first edition auction". The Guardian.
  15. ^ Browne, David (February 24, 2024). "Eagles 'Hotel California' Trial: Lyric Pads, Taped Phone Call, and 'God Henley'". Rolling Stone.
  16. ^ Independent, Hudson (June 2, 2017). "Riverrun Books & Manuscripts Provides Literary Portal into the Past". The Hudson Indy Westchester's Rivertowns News -.
  17. ^ Hafner, Katie (February 17, 2005). "Bits of History (of Bits) on the Auction Block". The New York Times – via NYTimes.com.
  18. ^ "Take a Closer Look at Letters by Barack Obama Saved by His College Roommate". Antiques Roadshow | PBS.
  19. ^ "1904 M.K. Gandhi Handwritten Letter". Antiques Roadshow | PBS.
  20. ^ "Franklin D. Roosevelt Archive". Antiques Roadshow | PBS.
  21. ^ ""The Booksellers" - A Tribute to New York's Book Trade is out! | Ligue Internationale de la Librairie Ancienne (LILA)". ILAB - FR.
  22. ^ "BOMB Magazine | The Multiple Becomes Unique: Tom Lecky Interviewed". BOMB Magazine.
  23. ^ "Hallock Hill". Discogs. Retrieved 2025-06-09.
  24. ^ Quietus, The (May 17, 2011). "Hallock Hill — The Union". The Quietus.
  25. ^ Masters, Marc (June 3, 2011). "Beyond Fahey". Pitchfork.
  26. ^ Quietus, The (November 3, 2011). "His Sinister Shadow: An Interview With Hallock Hill". The Quietus.
  27. ^ "Album Review: Hallock Hill - Kosloff Mansion". DrownedInSound. April 7, 2014. Archived from the original on June 18, 2021. Retrieved March 12, 2025.
  28. ^ Quietus, The (April 28, 2014). "Hallock Hill — Kosloff Mansion". The Quietus.
  29. ^ Southgate, Nick (November 2012). "Reviews". The Wire. Vol. 345. p. 60.
  30. ^ "Hallock Hill - The Union". Limited Run.
  31. ^ "Tom Lecky is an American artist and publisher". Nearest Truth.
  32. ^ "The Multiple Becomes Unique: Tom Lecky Interviewed". BOMB Magazine.
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