Latest News Articles by Ian McKay
British and Irish book auctions: June 3-15, 2019
03 June 2019ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from June 3-15, 2019.
Ortelius atlas with sea monsters off Iceland is popular feature of auction with global outlook
27 May 2019Successfully bid to £80,000 among cartographic lots offered in London was a fine coloured copy of Ortelius’ Theatrum… of 1592.
Two salerooms make cards the real deal at top-deck levels
27 May 2019Playing cards from two recent provincial sales are featured here – five examples from a 250-lot, single-owner collection offered in Gloucestershire, and a single pack from a Worcestershire sale.
British and Irish book auctions: May 28-June 8, 2019
27 May 2019ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from May 28-June 8, 2019.
Scarce ‘Gentleman’s Recreation’ guide from 1704 is one of several curiosities sold at Hansons
20 May 2019Discoloured, stained and in a crudely restored old binding, a scarce hunting work of 1704 was sold for a much higher than expected £1400 at a recent Hansons (20% buyer’s premium) sale.
Simple Houdini poster does the trick at auction
20 May 2019One of the more successful acts in a recent American magic and conjuring sale involved the appearance among the literary contributions of a doubly inscribed copy of Harry Kellar’s 'A Magician’s Tour' of 1886.
Printed edition of Islamic medical text is healthy seller
20 May 2019Billed as the first printed edition of the most authoritative medical text in the Islamic world, a 1593 copy of a work known in the English-speaking world as Avicenna’s ‘Canon of Medicine’ was part of a recent London sale.
Bids under the microscope at Flints auction in Reading
20 May 2019A sale of photographica and scientific instruments held at Reading’s Madejski Stadium included a rare work in the history of the microscope.
British and Irish book auctions: May 21-June 2, 2019
20 May 2019ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from May 21-June 2, 2019.
British and Irish book auctions: May 14-25, 2019
13 May 2019ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from May 14-25, 2019.
Pioneering 16th century French work dances its way to a five-figure auction result
13 May 2019Pitched at £15,000-25,000, a rare 16th century French work made its lower estimate at Mellors & Kirk (20% buyer’s premium).
Le Corbusier designs a tour de force
13 May 2019The pictorial spread and designer binding shown here feature in a work by the celebrated French-Swiss architect and designer, Le Corbusier.
Frankenstein meets the sleepwalker
13 May 2019An 1831, third (first illustrated) edition of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a version that not only contained a new introduction but added a new chapter to that famous work, sold for £2800 in a Norfolk sale.
New World music making at Swann's Americana sale
13 May 2019Billed as the first music to be both composed and printed in the New World, Juan Navarro’s setting of '…Quatuor passions Christi' was one of several items of Mexican origin to do well in a recent Americana sale.
Royal Navy journals become surprise success at South Cerney auction
06 May 2019Sent to auction by a descendant, two partly broken and disbound journals relating to the early years in the naval career of William Chimmo (1828-91) proved an unexpected success in a recent South Cerney sale.
Golf, Goldfinger and an early 007 classic sell at Swann New York
06 May 2019Ian Fleming firsts in a Swann of New York sale of May 14 will include a copy of Goldfinger of 1959 inscribed to a famous golfer, Henry Cotton, estimated at $12,000-18,000 (£9250- 13,850).
Auckland auction focus on Antarctic
06 May 2019A library focused on Antarctic exploration gave a New Zealand saleroom one of its more successful book and manuscript auctions since the company’s foundation in 2011.
British and Irish book auctions: May 8-15, 2019
06 May 2019ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from May 8-15, 2019.
The recipe for disaster in cookery book sold at auction
06 May 2019Plague water is one of the more striking entries in a now worn but finely bound volume of cookery and medical recipes sold recently in London.
Monk into the swim of things at German saleroom
06 May 2019Bought by a German collector for €115,000 (£99,140) at an auction in Cologne, a 15th century illustrated account of 'Leben der Heiligen Altväter', or ‘Lives of the Holy Fathers’, was a great rarity.