Latest News Articles by Ian McKay
British and Irish book auctions: December 6-13, 2022
05 December 2022Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.
Nostradamus was predicted to do well
05 December 2022While this 1672 first did not quite hit the high of pre-sale hopes, it was still top lot of the Shrewsbury sale.
Bryce’s miniature marvels prove a stand-out lot
05 December 2022In terms of numbers, both in component parts and the sum achieved, a collection of over 200 miniature books published by David Bryce of Glasgow (1845-1923) was a stand-out lot in a recent London sale.
British and Irish book auctions: November 29-December 10, 2022
28 November 2022Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.
Kepler manuscript’s star value
28 November 2022Calculations on planetary movements rise to the occasion in New York saleroom
A natural history work to leaf through at your leisure
28 November 2022A few copies have made a little more, but the example of the original, 1826, folio edition of Jacob George Strutt’s 'Sylva Britannica, or Portraits of Forest Trees…' included in a November 8 sale at Reeman Dansie (20% buyer’s premium) sold for £3500 (guide £600-800).
German book from 1500 cooks up a storm at auction
28 November 2022Offered as part of a series of sales held by Reiss & Sohn (19% buyer’s premium) of Königstein im Taunus was an exceptionally early cookery book.
Flats full to the brim with books
21 November 2022First part of a collection which covered the walls and cellar of two whole flats is offered at auction
Agricultural library top of the crops in North Yorkshire
21 November 2022The Glaisdale Library was the collection of Martin Henry Burtt, a well-known figure in the Yorkshire and indeed national agricultural worlds.
British and Irish book auctions: November 22-30, 2022
21 November 2022Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.
British and Irish book auctions: November 15-24, 2022
14 November 2022Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.
Best of British courtesy of Leahy
14 November 2022Anglophile American lawyer’s excellent and extensive collection is sold in New York.
Photos of Himalayan heights draw plenty of attention in Canterbury
14 November 2022Henry Lee Shuttleworth (1882- 1960) worked for many years in the Indian Civil Service.
British and Irish book auctions: November 8-20, 2022
07 November 2022Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.
Many surprises lurk in multiples
07 November 2022Cambridge auction attracts high bids to secure several delights discovered in job lots
Modern versions show classic qualities
07 November 2022Modern, limited edition issues of well known books figured prominently among the best-selling lots in an October 4 sale held by Lacy Scott & Knight (22.5% buyer’s premium) of Bury St Edmunds.
‘The most beautiful herbal’
07 November 2022A copy of the 1543, first German language edition of a work that centuries later, in 'Printing and the Mind of Man', was declared to be “perhaps the most celebrated and most beautiful herbal ever published” was offered by Gloucestershire saleroom Dominic Winter (20% buyer’s premium) on October 12.
Naval records shipshape up well
31 October 2022Documents were consigned among contents of a house owned by the Arkwright family
Cartoonist put politics to one side
31 October 2022Much, much earlier than most other entries in a comics and comic art sale that ran at Heritage (25% buyer’s premium) from September 30 to October 2 were examples of the work of Winsor McCay (c.1866-67-1934), who was well known as an accomplished editorial and political cartoonist and for his work in the world of animation and cartoon strips.
Essex map reaches new height
31 October 2022Estimated at £600-800, a 1777 first in marbled board covers of John Chapman and Peter Andre’s 'Map of the County of Essex from an Actual Survey' was sold for what would appear to be an auction record.