Latest News Articles by Ian McKay
Book at German auctioneers led to an Inquisition
12 June 2017Bid to a double-estimate €42,000 (£36,290) in a Ketterer Kunst (20% buyer’s premium) sale of May 22 was a very rare, 1566-67 Lisbon first of 'Chronica da felicissimo rei dom Emanuel…'
Trio of record-breakers at Forum Auctions
12 June 2017The three lots briefly described here were not among the very highest priced lots in a Forum Auctions (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) sale of May 24 – but all brought record bids.
The words on the street - record for Sinclair Lewis' 1920 first at Swann
12 June 2017Condition leaves a little to be desired, but the spine of this copy of Sinclair Lewis’ 'Main Street' and the matching details on the jacket mark it out as a 1920 first, published by Harcourt, Brace & Howe of New York.
Music sale performs with style
05 June 2017Regarded by many as Gustav Mahler’s greatest song for voice and orchestra, ‘Ich bin der Weit abhanden gekommen’ was just one of many first-class performances featured in a 53-lot music sale conducted by Sotheby’s (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) on May 23.
Anne Frank’s diary in Dutch and English form
05 June 2017In recent times a few examples of the 1947, Dutch text, first printing of Anne Frank’s famous diary (part of a print run of just 1500 copies) have come to auction.
Pure escapism: gambling and Houdini in Chicago auction
05 June 2017A ‘gambling’ sale held on May 5-6 by Potter & Potter (20% buyer’s premium) produced what may be a record bid of $8500 (£6590) on a 1902 first of SW Erdnase’s The Expert at the Card Table.
Cruikshank cartoons count at auction
05 June 2017A rare and complete set of The Scourge…, a monthly publication of the early 19th century that also described itself as the …Expositor of Imposture and Folly, brought a record bid of $9000 (£6075) in a Swann (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) sale of May 16.
Crumb's Fritz cosies up to Charlene for Chicago sale
05 June 2017“Artworks from Underground Comix – especially from masters such as Robert Crumb – are becoming recognised in the fine art world as cultural cornerstones.”
Unique picture book made by Hans Christian Andersen bid to £270,000
02 June 2017The only picture book made by Hans Christian Andersen that remains in private hands was sold at auction this week in Copenhagen.
The Likkle People’s copy of Jock of the Bushveld offered on online auction
30 May 2017A signed copy of the South African classic, ‘Jock of the Bushveld’ by Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, with an inscription describing it as “the first copy” of the book is being offered in an online sale ending this week.
Bird’s-eye view and busy bees in Cirencester
30 May 2017Over three busy days in May Dominic Winter (19.5% buyer’s premium) mounted a three-catalogue sale that presented close on 1600 lots in all.
Motoring lots roar in to South Cerney books auction
30 May 2017The general sale at Dominic Winter was followed on May 11 by one of motoring literature, automobilia and historic bicycles and accessories – a 620-lot auction held in conjunction with Transport Collector Auctions.
Tchaikovsky and JFK in harmony in American auctions
30 May 2017The autograph sale held by Swann (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) in New York on May 4 included a musical quotation in the hand of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, the theme from the finale of his Orchestral Suite No.3 in G Major (Op.55), which sold for $14,000 (£10,855).
Cornish and Celtic lots from an all-rounder academic and bard
30 May 2017First Professor of Cornish Studies at Exeter University and Bard of Gorseth Kernow, Charles Thomas (1928-2016) was both a prolific writer and a bibliophile.
Hans Christian Andersen’s unpublished picture book comes to auction
26 May 2017Not content with writing all those those much-loved children’s stories that are his principal and lasting legacy, Hans Christian Andersen wrote plays, novels, travelogues and, just to fill up his spare time, turned his talents to drawing, creating collages and producing paper-cuts.
Irish literature delights in Fonsie Mealy's next auction
25 May 2017James Joyce, WB Yeats and Flann O'Brien headline the forthcoming May 30 sale in Dublin
Dutch show the way Down Under
22 May 2017Early Dutch discoveries in Australia and those made in Tasmania and New Zealand on Abel Tasman’s first voyage are outlined in a 1659 wall-map by the Amsterdam cartographer Joan Blaeu (1596-1673).
Hubert Dingwall: Quixotic fancies and English fairies
22 May 2017The late Hubert Dingwall began a lifetime of book collecting in 1935 with the purchase of a vellum bound copy of the second part only of a 1697 Antwerp edition of Don Quixote for one shilling and sixpence.
Illuminating Brussels result at 18 times the top estimate
22 May 2017An unexpected highlight of an April 28-29 sale held by Brussels saleroom The Romantic Agony (24% buyer’s premium), was a leaf from an illuminated manuscript.
Twain sets the pace in third Neville sale
22 May 2017Finely bound sets featured in the high spots ofa third Sotheby’s New York (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) sale of modern literature from the Maurice Neville library held on April 25.