Latest News Articles by Ian McKay
British and Irish book auctions: May 25-June 11, 2021
24 May 2021Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.
Rare work detailed the trial of the last woman to be condemned for witchcraft in England
17 May 2021Bid to £2000 at Dominic Winter (20% buyer’s premium) was a 1712 first of Francis Bragge’s 'Witchcraft Farther Display’d', a rare work that opens with an account of the case of Jane Wenham – the last woman to be condemned for witchcraft in England.
Cuddled up with a good read
17 May 2021A couple of Winston Churchill letters were among the more successful lots in a second selection from a History in Manuscript collection* formed over the last 20 years and offered at Sotheby’s (26/20/13.9% buyer’s premium).
British and Irish book auctions: May 18-29, 2021
17 May 2021Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.
British and Irish book auctions: May 11-29, 2021
10 May 2021Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.
Books and works on paper: Sale with something for everyone
03 May 2021London auction offered wide array including famous Federalist American collection of essays
Martin Luther King's plea from Birmingham Jail
03 May 2021Sold for $150,000 (£109,490), some 10 times the low estimate, was a lot comprising 11 Xeroxed pages that constitute a pre-publication draft of Martin Luther King’s ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’ of 1963.
British and Irish book auctions: May 4-21, 2021
03 May 2021Our weekly listing of UK and Irish book auctions.
Former slave who became an abolitionist, writer and composer
26 April 2021The book section of a twice postponed Gloucestershire sale – one that included the rare white Chelsea owl featured on the front page of ATG No 2486 – comprised books from the library at Spetchley Park in the neighbouring county of Worcestershire.
Bidders get their teeth into a single-owner collection
26 April 2021The familiar red-lettered, yellow-cloth covers of an 1897 first of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, though now somewhat soiled, prompted a far higher than predicted bid of $21,000 (£15,150) to lead a Chicago auction of March 19 – a sum bettered only by a handful of inscribed copies.
British and Irish book auctions: April 27-May 8, 2021
26 April 2021Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.
Eye Kandy and look to the sky
26 April 2021Ground level views of Ceylon offered in same sale as uplifting account of balloon voyages.
Roman relics and much more
19 April 2021Account of a temple study in Scotland is one of the stand-out auction lots in South Cerney
Princess Di on ‘the Boss’ – the queen
19 April 2021A group of some 40 letters and greetings cards sent in 1990-97 by Diana, Princess of Wales, to her good friend Roger Bramble sold for almost £70,000.
Varied selection from execution to excise in Exeter saleroom
19 April 2021Bid to a far higher than predicted £1000 in a recent West Country sale was a broadside whose lengthy title read: 'Life, Trial, and Execution of T.Cooper. Who was executed at Newgate this Morning for the Murder of Timothy Daly, a Policeman, at Highbury.'
British and Irish book auctions: April 20-30, 2021
19 April 2021Our regular listing of UK and Irish book sales.
A very worthwhile exercise in auction value
12 April 2021Manuscript demonstrating young lady’s educational achievements sells for £35,000
Why the Defiance should be remembered as well as the Alamo
12 April 2021The story of the fall of the Alamo is familiar to many, even if only from a famous film version
British and Irish book auctions: April 13-23, 2021
12 April 2021Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.