Latest News Articles by Ian McKay
Plates from Goethe's work on Roman carnivals sell at German auction
11 June 2018Shown below is one of 20 hand-coloured plates from 'Masken des Römischen Carnevals'. This was a rare and separate 1790 Weimar issue of the plates that illustrated a work by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe on Roman carnivals published the previous year – an item that is itself a great rarity*.
Kant first edition fetches €18,000
11 June 2018Bid to a record €18,000 (£15,660) in a May 15-17 series of sales held by Reiss & Sohn (18% buyer’s pemium) of Königstein, near Frankfurt, was a first edition of Immanuel Kant’s 'Critik der reinen Vernunft'.
Mozart and a little lute magic at Sotheby's
11 June 2018It was a four-page Mozart manuscript of an unfinished Allegro in G for piano and four hands that led the Sotheby’s (25/10/12.9% buyers’ premium) sales of May 22.
British and Irish book auctions: June 4-16, 2018
04 June 2018ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from June 4-16, 2018.
Saleroom heads out to sea
04 June 2018Dutch maritime charts feature in wide-ranging auction strong in travel and exploration.
Carry on camping in Gloucestershire
04 June 2018Old hangars and even older tents provided two of the more successful categories in a recent three-day, 1600-lot sales week in South Cerney.
Lady Caroline’s Byron kiss-and-tell account
04 June 2018A hundred and eighty lots in a recent West Sussex sale that offered great variety and some real rarities came from the library at West Horsley Place in Surrey.
Masses of Marvel at Golding Young & Mawer
28 May 2018Marvel comics in considerable numbers were a feature of a May 10 sale held by Golding Young & Mawer (20% buyer’s premium).
Tintin escapes to Paris saleroom
28 May 2018An ink and watercolour drawing from one of Hergé’s finest works achieved a stand-out result at a recent auction in France.
'Peanuts strip' by Charles Schulz offered at Swann
28 May 2018Comic strip artworks to be offered as part of the June 5 ‘Illustration Art’ sale at Swann Auction Galleries will include a 1970 'Peanuts strip' by Charles Schulz estimated at $20,000-30,000.
Frank Frazetta fantasy art bid is deadly serious
28 May 2018Bid to $1.5m (£1.11m) in a record-breaking comic and comic art sale in Chicago was a Frank Frazetta artwork.
Postal worker delivers top sums
28 May 2018Science fiction and fantasy were among the lifelong principal collecting interests of the late Stanley Simon, a postal worker from Queens. In a recent 19th and 20th century literature sale held in his home city of New York a number of his books brought record bids.
Bidders keep eyes on the prize
21 May 2018Bearing a title that translates as ‘The Book of Correction of Optics for those who have Sight and Mind’, an early 14th century Arabic manuscript made a much higher than expected £450,000 during the recent Islamic week of sales in London.
Scarce Dun Cow does well second time around
21 May 2018Offered as part of a recent online sale, a scarce work by Walter Savage Landor that had remained unsold in a New Bond Street auction only last July finally achieved, on April 25 of this year, the high-estimate sum of £2400 that both salerooms had been looking for.
Houdini on Conan Doyle
21 May 2018Once again it was Harry Houdini who topped the bill in the most recent magic memorabilia auction held by US specialist Potter & Potter Auctions (20% buyer’s premium).
Rare Wycliffe takes £10,000 at Mellors & Kirk
21 May 2018A 1731, first printed edition of Wycliffe’s 14th century English version of the New Testament was bid to a record £10,000 against an estimate of £200-300 in a recent Nottingham auction.
Sherlock Holmes and the mystery of stickmen
21 May 2018Arthur Conan Doyle’s autograph manuscript of one of the 13 short stories that in 1905 were gathered together in book form as The Return of Sherlock Holmes was offered in New York recently.
British and Irish book auctions: May 21-June 2, 2018
21 May 2018ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from May 21-June 2, 2018.
Corruption, catechisms and cacti
14 May 2018Mexican lots, one of them relating to the working of a silver mine in the 16th century, produced some of the higher bids in a recent Americana sale.
Rare Michelin guide leads to five figures
14 May 2018The first Guide Michelin was published in 1900 and no fewer than 35,000 copies were printed for the World Fair in Paris, where it was was distributed free of charge to motorists.