Latest News Articles by Ian McKay
Norfolk auction sets record for autobiography of pioneering evolutionist Alfred Russel Wallace
04 January 2021Bid to a record £1900 in a Norfolk auction was a 1905, two-volume first of 'My Life: A Record of Events and Opinions'.
Shakespeare brightened up by colouring
04 January 2021Shown here is the opening spread of a special copy of an 1895 Dent edition of 'A Midsummer Night’s Dream' sold at Lyon & Turnbull (25/20% buyer’s premium).
Broadside or chapbooks in demand
04 January 2021The surprise lot at Thomson Roddick (18% buyer’s premium) was one in which the principal attraction may well have been a penny broadside of 1826.
Olde Worlde charm… from 1847
21 December 2020Quaintly titled book about Great Yarmouth was one of the varied attractions in Cambridge auction.
Arabic work presents ‘complete book of the medical art’
21 December 2020A rare complete copy of a famous Arabic medical text sold for £30,000 in a sale of manuscripts and other works on paper from the Islamic and Near Eastern worlds.
Naturally appealing in NY
21 December 2020Americana, travel and natural history were billed as the main attractions of a sale at Bonhams New York (27.5/25/20/13.9% buyer’s premium).
British and Irish book auctions: December 20, 2020-January 28, 2021
21 December 2020Our regular listing of British and Irish book auctions.
When art meets science
14 December 2020Sixteenth century book-maker’s creativity makes maths and astronomy more accessible
Four lots take half sale total at Christie's New York
14 December 2020Four lots between them raised $1.5m including premiums to rack up more than half the total at an online sale in New York.
British and Irish book auctions: December 15-Jan 1, 2020
14 December 2020Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.
Newton taken on a journey
07 December 2020English edition of the most famous scientific book of all finally ends up in German hands.
Cottam gems and much more
07 December 2020Bid online to a record £3200 in a Norfolk auction was one of 375 copies of a 1924 Nonesuch Press work comprising the first chapter of Genesis…, as illustrated with a dozen woodcuts by Paul Nash.
An easier US election to sort out
07 December 2020Letter informs George Washington of his election to the presidency.
British and Irish book auctions, December 8-15, 2020
07 December 2020Our regular listing of British and Irish book auctions.
Wallis cracks it in the saleroom
30 November 2020Unpublished work by mathematician John Wallis who was also a major influence in code breaking sells at Dominic Winter
Debut with lots of Biblical proportions
30 November 2020A single leaf from a Gutenberg Bible that sold for a higher than expected $65,000 (£50,980) in a Philadelphia sale this autumn.
Sang collection of historical documents returns to Sotheby's New York
30 November 2020Several decades on from the last of the five major auctions Sotheby’s held to disperse items from the remarkable collections of American historical documents and letters formed by Philip (1902-75) and Elsie Sang (1906-97), a further selection appeared at Sotheby’s New York (26/20/13.9%).
British and Irish book auctions: December 2-12, 2020
30 November 2020Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.
Pioneering Arabic printing and a kind of magic in Edinburgh sale
23 November 2020Edinburgh auction offered 1592 book from first European press dedicated to such a typeface.
Bobby meets his ‘Boswell’
23 November 2020Top lot in a golfing sale at PBA Galleries (20/15% buyer’s premium) was a 1927 first of Down the Fairway: The Golf Life and Play of Robert T Jones, Jr.