Latest News Articles by Ian McKay
Pioneering Caxton work leads the way for an impressive diverse selection
20 September 2021Three very different lots brought six-figure bids at a Christie’s (25/20/14.5% buyer’s premium) summer sale – and they were not the only ones to reach such impressive heights.
A present from Isaac Newton at Bonhams
20 September 2021Presentation copies and private press books were a key feature of a Bonhams (27.5/25/20/14.5% buyer’s premium) summer sale.
British and Irish book auctions: September 21-October 1, 2021
20 September 2021Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.
Saleroom with a view on Forster
13 September 2021Author’s works were well represented in London auction that included a £24,000 surprise
Gandhi’s digits make five figures
13 September 2021One of the more unusual lots that I have encountered in recent times is a piece of card bearing the only known example of Mahatma Gandhi’s fingerprints.
Rome and India emerge in London
13 September 2021Highlights of Chiswick Auctions earlier this summer
British and Irish book auctions: September 14-October 28, 2021
13 September 2021
Travel to Stonehenge via Skye
06 September 2021Many of the lots in a June 16 sale of books, maps and pictures held by Thomson Roddick (18% buyer’s premium) in Carlisle came from the collections of the late Dr George Kozikowski of Skye, a microbiologist, archaeologist and antiquarian of Polish descent.
Comics fulfil auction promise
06 September 2021Collection now up for sale was owned by soldier killed in Korea but kept safe by his brother
Buyer’s Noble intention pays off
06 September 2021Having secured his prize for a notably higher than estimate sum, the buyer of a ‘Fireball XLV’ artwork told Malcolm Phillips of Comic Book Auctions (19% buyer’s premium) that very few artworks by its creator, Mike Noble, ever come to auction.
British and Irish book auctions: September 7-23, 2021
06 September 2021Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.
Rare copy of important work by proto-feminist bid to 10-times estimate
30 August 2021A recent sale in New York was led at $65,000 (£47,100) by a disbound but rare example of the work of Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648-95).
British and Irish book auctions: August 31-September 19
30 August 2021Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.
Rare and costly Ptolemaic prize discovered in Turin
30 August 2021Estimated at €50,000 but sold for €405,000 (£346,275) in a sale held in Turin by was a 1482 edition of Ptolemy’s Cosmographia.
From boy wizard to cat in a hat
30 August 2021New York sale maintains run of high JK Rowling prices while Dr Seuss surfaces also in UK
First book-form edition of Middlemarch sets record at Doyle
30 August 2021George Eliot’s much-admired novel 'Middlemarch…' made its first appearance in a parts issue in 1871.
Private press sector comes to the fore in Gloucestershire auction
23 August 2021Morris works and Sangorski & Sutcliffe bindings stand out in single-owner collection
Expert shows cutting-edge skills
23 August 2021In terms of improvement on expectations, the most successful lot at a Ketterer Kunst (25% buyer’s premium) sales earlier this year comprised early 19th century paper-cuts.
Records of doomed North Pole balloon expedition sold at Swedish sale
23 August 2021Two unpublished diaries sold in Sweden related to Salomon August Andrée’s ill-fated attempt to reach the North Pole by balloon.
British and Irish book auctions: August 24-September 11, 2021
23 August 2021Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.