Books & Periodicals

Material in this specialist market ranges from the early printed works of the Gutenberg Press and William Caxton right through to Modern First Editions and now up to signed copies of Harry Potter. Condition and rarity are the keys to this sector.


Books and works on paper auction calendar, December 19 2023-January 18, 2024

18 December 2023

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions taking place via thesaleroom.com

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Turing and Bayley in tandem as scientific archive comes to the saleroom

18 December 2023

Newly discovered papers show how renowned mathematician and his collaborator worked hand in hand

WEB Harry Potter 1 Hansons

Boy wizard Harry Potter casts his spell on book collectors

12 December 2023

Harry Potter continues to bring big bids at auction especially for the earliest hardback editions

Victorian travel album

Indian and Egyptian travel photo album takes sensational £135,000

11 December 2023

An impressive result emerged at Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood on December 5 when a travel album titled The Ramblings and Adventures of an Indian Officer was knocked down at £135,000.

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Discover the story of the Japanese Antarctic Expedition

11 December 2023

Few people can profess to know more about the 1910-12 Japanese Antarctic Expedition than the Arizona book dealer Chet Ross.

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Eye-witness account of Captain Cook’s death

11 December 2023

Held by the same private New England family since 1792, a copy of 'A Journal of Captain Cook’s Last Voyage to the Pacific Ocean' complete with its map came for sale at Bonhams Skinner (28/26/20% buyer’s premium).

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Brilliant minds Leibniz and Wotton bring brilliant price

11 December 2023

Letter from German mathematician to English scholar takes £14,000 in Edinburgh saleroom

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Pelerin’s source of enlightenment

11 December 2023

Astronomical manuscript for sale includes illustrations by scientist who was in fact an insurance broker

Books and works on paper auction calendar, December 11-19, 2023

11 December 2023

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions taking place via thesaleroom.com

Books and works on paper auction calendar, December 5-10, 2023

04 December 2023

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions

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Gallery brings out the colourful side of the Middle Ages

04 December 2023

From 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' to 'The Last Duel', films nearly always depict the Middle Ages as dark, dingy and beset by bad weather.

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Most famous novelist of her day – now hardly known

04 December 2023

Top-selling lot in Halls’ (24% buyer’s premium) books and manuscripts sale on November 15 was a collection of 14 letters written by the Anglo-Irish novelist Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849) between 1818-31.

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Jade catalogue owned by the last tsar

04 December 2023

Among the many highlights of the Alan and Simone Hartman collection at Bonhams New York is a copy of the monumental catalogue of the famed Bishop collection of Chinese jades. The deluxe volume, once owned by the last tsar of Russia, carries expectations of $100,000-150,000 as part of the 114-lot dispersal on December 14.

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Not a bog standard auction offering

04 December 2023

The Christmas Rare Books & Collectors sale at Irish auction house Fonsie Mealy on December 12-13 includes No33 of only 150 copies in a limited special edition of Bog Poems by Seamus Heaney illustrated by Barrie Cooke (London, Rainbow Press, 1975).

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Presentation copies with a special touch

04 December 2023

Pictured here are two fine 19th century presentation copies that, unexpectedly, topped sales in South Cerney and Cambridge in October.

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Shipshape $7000 surprise

04 December 2023

A group of letters sent from a clipper ship captain in Shanghai during the Second Opium War (1856-60) to his sons in the Charlestown area of Boston resounded with bidders at Merrill’s Auctioneers (21% buyer’s premium) in Williston, Vermont on November 3.

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Of mice and men and a pesky pup

04 December 2023

Scrap of paper came as result of half a manuscript book being chewed into ‘confetti’ by Steinbeck’s dog

Books and works on paper auction calendar, November 28-December 10, 2023

27 November 2023

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions

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T Kimball Brooker delights span eight sales

27 November 2023

Dispersal of renowned collection launches with the first auctions including Aldine ‘crown jewels’

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Bidders make beeline for Beeleigh

20 November 2023

Wide-ranging items from Christopher Foyle of bookshop fame generate a white-glove sale in Gloucestershire

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