Latest News Articles by Ian McKay
Provenance provides Peel appeal while first English editions of Dostoevsky draw interest
04 May 2020Set of Euripides plays was once owned by Sir Robert Peel sold at Forum sale which also includes two first English editions of works by Fyodor Dostoevsky
British and Irish book auctions (all online only): May 5-16, 2020
04 May 2020ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from May 5-16, 2020. All sales are now held online due to the coronavirus alert.
Danger risk from grave errors
27 April 2020Essay warns about considerable perils of the ‘indecent custom’ of burials in churchyards
Student magazines with illustrations by Eric Ravilious and Edward Bawden emerge in Nottingham sale
27 April 2020The three magazines shown here were all produced by students of the Royal College of Art in the years 1925-27 and sold online for £1000 in a sale at Mellors & Kirk (24% buyer’s premium) of Nottingham.
Grim album documenting early 20th century Chinese history sells in Shrewsbury
27 April 2020The photograph seen at bottom right is a group of Chinese men convicted of spying and awaiting “…execution by Imperialists”.
British and Irish book auctions (all online only): April 28-May 7, 2020
27 April 2020ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from April 28-May 7, 2020. All sales are now held online due to the coronavirus alert.
Guide to archery by author best known for duck decoy work hits the spot in Yorkshire sale
20 April 2020Compiled by Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey of Thirkleby Park in North Yorkshire, an illustrated manuscript on archery dating from the opening years of the last century has sold for £2600. It was part of a sale held in Leyburn by Tennants (20% buyer’s premium).
Fiddle makers and fiddlers
20 April 2020Bid to £4100 and £3000 in a sale held by Lawrences (20% buyer’s premium) of Bletchingley were two albums, or ledgers, relating to the business of violin maker WE Hill & Sons – both with a direct family provenance.
‘Penbrok’ put on the map
20 April 2020This copy of Christopher Saxton’s 1578 map of Penbrok, or Pembrokeshire as it came later to be known, was offered in a Welsh Sale held by Rogers Jones (22% buyer’s premium) of Cardiff.
British and Irish book auctions (all online only): April 22-May 1, 2020
20 April 2020ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from April 22-May 1, 2020. All sales are now held online due to the coronavirus alert.
Old world, new technology at Forum's auction of works from the library of the Birmingham Assay Office
13 April 2020London auctioneer spends nine hours conducting bidding on the rostrum for online sale
British and Irish book auctions (all online only): April 14-28, 2020
13 April 2020ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from April 14-28, 2020. All sales are now held online due to the coronavirus alert.
British and Irish book auctions (all online only): April 7-25, 2020
06 April 2020ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from April 7-25, 2020.
Witch pickings in salerooms
06 April 2020Puritan Cotton Mather’s defence of executions is latest work on the subject to surface.
Shorthorn Society collection in the spotlight at Carlisle auction
06 April 2020Books, catalogues, ephemera, pictures and other material from the collections of the Shorthorn Society of the United Kingdom & Ireland formed a significant part of a recent Carlisle sale.
Horror titles cut after decapitation shocker
06 April 2020Offered without a reserve, a job lot of “low grade” comics dating from the 1940s-50s ended up selling for £1200 in a Comic Book Auctions (19% buyer’s premium) timed sale on thesaleroom.com.
Inscription in Harry Potter book acknowledges the person who spotted its potential
30 March 2020Key to a price tag of £95,000 for a slightly bumped first impression copy of 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone' offered in a recent Bonhams sale lay in an inscription.
Rail rarity sets out on a new route
30 March 2020A very early railway guide, still in the original decorative boards, was a rare and unusual lot in a recent held by Mullock’s (20% buyer’s premium).
Key work of American political theory sold at Heritage
30 March 2020Comprising essays by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay, all of which were published under the same pen name, ‘Publius’, The Federalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favour of the New Constitution… is a key American contribution to political theory.
Alamo and O Henry, oh yes
30 March 2020Sold at $60,000 (£46,295) in a recent New York sale was a broadside, Noticia Estraordinaria, printed in Mexico City in 1836, that brought news of the fall of the Alamo in March of that year.