Latest News Articles by Ian McKay
British and Irish book auctions: February 25-March 12, 2020
24 February 2020Our regular listing of British and Irish book auctions.
Comics with an X factor sold in Cumbria
24 February 2020Comics played a significant part in a recent held by Mitchells (20% buyer’s premium) of Cockermouth, undoubtedly helped by the presence of some 30,000 Marvel comics from one private collection.
Country house improvements count in a Carlisle saleroom
24 February 2020Modestly estimated at just £100-150 in a recent Carlisle sale, an 18th century manuscript notebook offering ‘An Account of the Improvements in the Gardens & Park at Cannonhall’ proved a major attraction.
Wood engravings showing executions in grisly detail emerge at Forum Auctions
24 February 2020Two broadsides describing and illustrating with wood engravings the executions of convicted murderers were sold online at £1600 apiece by Forum.
Manuscript from c.1270 tackles Medieval marriage guidance
24 February 2020Featuring one historiated initial depicting a priest blessing the marriage of a couple who stand before him, a medieval guide to marital problems and resolutions made £32,000 online at Forum Auctions (25/20/12% buyer’s premium).
Byron bit back at a vampire fib
17 February 2020Publisher tried to link book to the poet to boost sales but a revised version was issued instead
British and Irish book auctions: February 18-March 4, 2020
17 February 2020Our regular listing of British and Irish book auctions.
Cut-outs sharp at two auctions
17 February 2020Sold for £4600 in a February 6 sale held in the Chichester salerooms of Stride & Son (18% buyer’s premium) was an album of cut-paper work produced by Elizabeth Cobbold c.1810-20.
Selection of playing cards to suit all buyers
17 February 2020Star turn among some 120 lots of playing cards offered as part of a Stroud Auctions (18% buyer’s premium) sale was the last to be offered. A complete set of Charles Hodges’ Astronomical Playing Cards, it sold online for £3000.
Astronomical texts and fantastic worlds of fairies
10 February 2020Two very different lots helped Forum Auctions (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) to boost its first major sale of the year.
Ardizzone is a top draw at auction
10 February 2020The complete original artworks for two of Edward Ardizzone’s much-loved children’s books were sold for £30,000 apiece at Bonhams (27.5/25/20/13.9% buyer’s premium).
Maps pro and amateur draw attention at Dominic Winter
10 February 2020As ever, the most recent sale held by Dominic Winter (20% buyer’s premium) contained a great many maps and atlases and shown below is one of the highlights.
British and Irish book auctions: February 11-27, 2020
10 February 2020Our regular listing of books and works on paper auctions the UK and Ireland.
Visitor gives Bristol the brush-off
10 February 2020Accounts of youthful travels in Britain and on a Grand Tour contain often blunt assessments
'Only known copy' of Blaeu's first pocket globe makes treble-estimate at Christie’s
03 February 2020Willem Janszoon Blaeu is one of the more famous names in the history of map and globe making and at Christie’s (25/20/13.5/% buyer’s premium), the tiny pocket globe attributed to him shown here was sold for a treble-estimate £230,000.
Pushkin satire bites at auction
03 February 2020Extraordinarily high prices paid for the works of the Russian writer Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilev were noted in ATG No 2425, and there were many more lots of interest in the sale held by Christie’s (25/20/13.5% buyer’s premium) in which they were offered.
Donne ownership explains high price
03 February 2020In ATG No 2427 we noted the sale at Sotheby’s on December 10, at a very much higher than expected £50,000, of a rare copy of the 1553 translation into ‘Scots English’ of Virgil’s Aeneid by Gavin Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld.
Early printed copies of Shakespeare’s plays impress as part of a celebrated collection
03 February 2020‘Masterpieces’ from the celebrated collections of Dr Martin Schøyen offered at a recent Christie’s (25/20/13.5% buyer’s premium) sale in London included some real rarities.
British and Irish book auctions: February 4-20, 2020
03 February 2020Our regular listing of British and Irish book auctions.
Rare copy of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s first book sells at Bonhams
27 January 2020Published anonymously in Boston in 1828, a copy of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s youthful first book, 'Fanshawe', sold for $38,000 (£28,790) at Bonhams New York (27.5/25/20/13.9%).