Latest News Articles by Ian McKay
Buyer of chess rarity on board at £7000
10 December 2018Arthur Saul’s Famous Game of Chesse-Play…, the first published book on the game written by an Englishman, came out in 1614.
Tyndale Bible is eye-opener at Chiswick Auctions
10 December 2018Dated 1536 and printed in Antwerp, a defective copy of what is known as the ‘mole’ edition of Tyndale’s Newe Testament – so called from the mole (or perhaps hedgehog) depicted on a stone on which St Paul’s foot is resting in one of the many woodcut illustrations – made £30,000 in a recent London sale.
British and Irish book auctions: December 11-20, 2018
10 December 2018ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from December 11-20, 2018.
British and Irish book auctions: December 3-15, 2018
03 December 2018ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from December 3-15, 2018.
London and the world in focus at auction including an 18th century map of the capital
03 December 2018Large-scale 18th century map of the capital joins a wider global outlook at auction...
Master Race makes impact at US comic auction
03 December 2018Raising around $11m including premiums, a November 15-17 comics and comic art sale held by Heritage Auctions (20% buyer’s premium) in Dallas included many of the usual super-hero star turns – but this time the big seller was something rather different.
The economies of sale: Single-owner collection of economic essays come to auction in Germany
03 December 2018The three volumes noted here are English language highlights of a separately catalogued, 380-lot, single-owner collection in the October 30-November 1 series of sales held by Reiss & Sohn (18% buyer’s premium) that was offered under the title Wirtschaft und Staat – or Economy and State.
Travels to Mauritius and beyond with Thomas Bradshaw
26 November 2018Titled ‘In the District of Moka’, the hand-coloured litho plate shown here is one of 40 that make up a scarce folio of 1832, Thomas Bradshaw’s Views in Mauritius, or Isle of France…
‘First-hand’ tale of Columbus voyage is auction star turn
26 November 2018Containing near contemporary and even, it would seem, first-hand accounts of the voyages of Columbus and other travellers, a 1512 autograph manuscript of the Dialogo… of Bernardo of Albenga was a star turn in a November 13 sale held by Sotheby’s (25/20/12.9% buyer’s premium).
Fabulous chart reveals spice of East Indies life
26 November 2018A cartographic highlight of the mammoth October 30-November 1 series of sales held by German auction house Reiss & Sohn (18% buyer’s premium) was the Insulae Moluccae… map shown below, which sold for almost four times the estimate at €38,000 (£33,670).
Sea-Wolf in a sorry state has auction bite
26 November 2018The jacket of the 1904 first of Jack London’s The Sea-Wolf shown right is quite obviously in a sorry state – falling apart and with sizeable sections missing all round. It is, however, a jacket previously known only by rumour or talk of ‘one other copy thought to exist’.
Stephen Hawking heads up the giants at auction
19 November 2018Personal items from the renowned physicist Stephen Hawking impress among an illustrious array of names.
Liner SS Normandie oozes Art Deco luxury in souvenir publication
19 November 2018A large and handsome souvenir publication for the French liner SS Normandie was offered in a Mullock’s (20% buyer’s premium) sale of October 16.
Philip K Dick references the Dane
19 November 2018Two copies of Time Out of Joint, an early dystopian work by the well-known sci-fi writer Philip K Dick, were offered in a PBA Galleries (20/15% buyer’s premium) sale of October 18.
Copy of Emily Eden’s 'Portraits of the Princes and People of India' equals record at Bonhams
19 November 2018The camel looks terribly pleased with its hat and collar in this plate from a copy of Emily Eden’s 'Portraits of the Princes and People of India' sold on October 23 as part of an Indian & Islamic Art sale.
Abraham Lincoln’s note of caution in Dallas sale
19 November 2018Dated October 29, 1862, a letter that may very well have been Abraham Lincoln’s last to his over-cautious army chief, General George McClellan, provided a highlight of a recent Dallas sale of historical manuscripts.
British and Irish book auctions. November 20-December 1, 2018
19 November 2018ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from November 20-December 1, 2018.
Online sale discovers fascinating Burton collection
12 November 2018A recent online sale that ran to just 35 lots and closed on October 25 offered a single-owner collection of works by the Victorian explorer and writer, Sir Richard Burton.
Nikola Tesla crackles in Chiswick sale
12 November 2018Sold for £1900 in a recent London sale was an 1892 first of Experiments with Alternate Currents of High Potential and High Frequency – a record for this particular work.
Would you let your wife or servant read this?
12 November 2018The very Penguin copy of DH Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover used by Sir Laurence Byrne, the presiding judge in the famous 1960 obscenity trial, has sold for £45,000.