Latest News Articles by Ian McKay
British and Irish book auctions: August 4-20, 2020
03 August 2020ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from August 4-20, 2020.
Copy of Viscount Kingsborough’s 'Antiquities of Mexico' sells at Christie's in New York
03 August 2020Christie’s New York (25/20/13.5% buyer’s premium) recently staged two important book sales online that between them raised almost $3.38m, including premiums.
Letters feature prominently in exceptionally varied Edinburgh auction
03 August 2020An exceptionally varied and very successful recent Scottish sale contained a great many letters and plenty of fascinating manuscript material.
Early printed book in Arabic elucidates interest at Bloomsbury Auctions
20 July 2020One of the “very earliest books printed in Arabic by means of moveable type” made £18,000 at Bloomsbury Auctions (25/20/12% buyer’s premium).
Geniuses score six out of 10 in test at Bonhams
20 July 2020Running to just 10 lots and held online Essential Genius: Ten Important Manuscripts for Modern Times was a Bonhams New York (27.5/25/20/13.9%) auction.
Last and lawless Just William makes appearance at Keys
20 July 2020Published in 1970, 'William the Lawless' marked the last appearance in full book form of Richmal Crompton’s much-loved schoolboy hero – almost 50 years on from the publication of the first, 'Just William' of 1922.
British and Irish book auctions: July 21-Aug 1, 2020
20 July 2020ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from July 21-Aug 1, 2020.
Kenneth Grahame’s letter on the loss of his son sells in Bristol
20 July 2020A letter in which Kenneth Grahame writes about the suicide of his son, Alastair, sold at East Bristol Auctions (18% buyer’s premium) for £1200.
Copy of David Roberts' The Holy Land owned by its creator
20 July 2020Unusual proof example of mid-19th century work was a copy which belonged to David Roberts.
Portrait plays second fiddle to map with famous Blaeu name
13 July 2020Bearing an estimate of just €100-150, a double-sided lot in a big Dutch sale attracted great international interest and ended up selling at €32,500 (£29,120).
British and Irish book auctions: July 14-29, 2020
13 July 2020ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from July 14-29, 2020.
Kipling first edition equals auction record thanks to author’s signature
13 July 2020The gilt decorated blue cloth binding showed signs of age, but a copy of Rudyard Kipling’s 'Captains Courageous, A Story of the Grand Banks' offered in a Philadelphia sale bore the author’s signature on the title-page.
Texas located for the third time
13 July 2020Rare early map of the region from three years before the Alamo has another saleroom outing
British and Irish book auctions: July 7-23, 2020
06 July 2020ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from July 7-23, 2020.
Album of watercolours sold for £52,000 shows view of sailors greeting friendly natives
06 July 2020Presenting some 434 lots and with a total not far short of £1m, a recent sale held by Forum Auctions (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) included a rich enough string of successes to outshine a few of the more highly valued lots left unsold.
Churchill: if looks could kill…
06 July 2020Though largely made up of books, the star turn in a US sale of 100 lots called ‘Churchill in Charge’ was a portrait by the photographer usually known simply as Karsh. The sale was inspired by the 80th anniversary of his assuming the office of Britain’s Prime Minister.
British and Irish book auctions: June 30-July 17, 2020
29 June 2020Our regular listing of British and Irish book sales.
Winter auction goes supersize
29 June 2020South Cerney sale of nearly 900 lots mirrors the huge offerings held in Germany
Nobel Prize and bindings combine to impress
29 June 2020Christie’s (25/20/13.5% buyer’s premium) recent sale in Paris of books and manuscripts was led at €125,000 (£113,635) by a Nobel Prize for Literature medal awarded in 1947, just four years before his death, to the essayist, critic, novelist and dramatist André Gide.
Travel account of early US sells for many times estimate
22 June 2020An account of travels in Indian territories in the early 19th century was one of two letters of particular North American interest sold for notably higher than expected sums by Forum (25/20/12% buyer’s premium).