Book

Bid to £2400, a signed and inscribed copy of Philip Pullman’s nowadays scarce first novel, The Haunted Storm of 1971, was an unexpectedly successful lot in an online modern literature auction held by Forum (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) on August 5.

It was when the book was in the process of being catalogued by Bretells (19% buyer’s premium) of Newport, Shropshire, that a second impression copy of Tolkien’s The Hobbit was seen to bear the author’s signature.

The timed online sale of Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts including Americana that closes at Christie’s New York on October 15 includes books from the estate of Theodore Cohn, a professor of political science.

One of Persian scholar Imam Ghazali’s (1058-1111AD) best-known works, Kimiya-yi Sa’ādat (The Alchemy of Happiness), was compiled late in his lifetime during a period of unrest between Sufi mystics and Islamic scholars – the former accused of overphilosophising Islam and neglecting the importance of ritual practices.

The third edition of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol was the last of those published in 1843, coming out (appropriately) on Christmas Eve.

The Gary Munson collection of horror and fantasy books will be offered by Heritage Auctions in Dallas on October 14.

Remarkably well-preserved 1818 Frankenstein and 1897 Dracula firsts impress in New York

Author’s works were well represented in London auction that included a £24,000 surprise

This poster was used in the promotion of the first-ever stage production of Peter Pan.

Many of the lots in a June 16 sale of books, maps and pictures held by Thomson Roddick (18% buyer’s premium) in Carlisle came from the collections of the late Dr George Kozikowski of Skye, a microbiologist, archaeologist and antiquarian of Polish descent.

Among the earlier printed books, Bibles played their part in a wide-ranging auction held by Forum Auctions (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium), and none so financially well as a fine, clean example of Robert Estienne’s Greek text Bible of 1550.

Valued at £2000-4000 in an Entertainment, Memorabilia & Movie Props sale held by Ewbank’s (25% buyer’s premium) of Send on May 27 was an uncorrected 1997 proof copy of a book that was soon to make publishing, cinematic and marketing history: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

More manageable version of monumental Nuremberg Chronicle makes five-times top guide

A group of Ethiopian works of art believed to have been taken during the Battle of Maqdala in 1868 has been withdrawn from a Dorset auction after the Embassy of Ethiopia intervened.

Discovered lying unrecognised on a bookcase in a Sussex cottage, a unique edition of Thomas Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard will be offered at Gorringe’s this month with a £100,000-150,000 estimate.

The 'Oath of a Freeman', one of the most infamous forgeries in US history, heads to auction at Heritage this month. It comes for sale from Justin Schiller, the antiquarian bookseller who in 1985 attempted to broker its sale for $1.5m.

Albert Einstein letter on Communism is one of the stand-out performers in a Chicago auction

Bid 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.

Retired antiques dealer, broadcaster and author Jeremy Cooper has published his latest novel, 'Bolt from the Blue' (Fitzcarraldo Editions. RRP £12.99).