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.
Lucy Clifford’s correspondents
22 September 2004OFFERED as part of a Lawrences of Crewkerne sale of July 6 was ‘The Valehouse Collection of Letters to Mrs W.K. Clifford’. Though little read nowadays, ‘Lucy’ Clifford was immensely popular in late Victorian and early Edwardian times and was even classed with Edith Wharton, Joseph Conrad and H.G. Wells as one of those whose books “will never die”.
Coloured new worlds
22 September 2004WITH the frontispiece and all but the last of the 34 double-page or folding engraved plates and plans in full contemporary colour, Isaac Commelin’s Histoire de la Vie & Actes memorables de Frederic Henry de Nassau, Prince d’Orange of 1656 sold for $32,000 (£17,580) in a Christie’s New York sale of June 9.
Sylvie & Bruno meet Famous Five, Chalet Girls and the Fat Owl
22 September 2004INSCRIBED in both volumes “with the author’s love” to an Edith Barnes, presentation firsts of Lewis Carroll’s over-long children’s story Sylvie and Bruno of 1889 and its continuation or conclusion of 1893, the original red cloth bindings now uniformly faded to the spines, dampstained to the front of Vol. II and showing repairs to the spine ends of the first volume, was sold for £1400 in a Bloomsbury Auctions sale of July 15.
Foot-curving, knee-nailing, eye-screwing, and lobster-cracking – all in the troubled mind of James Tilly Matthews
22 September 2004JOHN Haslam’s Illustrations of Madness of 1810, the first book-length account of a single psychiatric case and a classic of the early literature in this field, was inspired by the case of James Tilly Matthews, a London tea merchant who undertook a self-styled peace mission between France and England in 1793.
Whose turn is it to clean the windows?
22 September 2004NOW that’s what I call a conservatory – Item No. 237 from a two vol. Illustrated Catalogue of Macfarlane’s Castings of c.1884, this monster is one of the very many items of decorative cast iron railings, gates, balconies, windows, lamps, glasshouses, etc. available from the manufacturers.
Captain Playfair and the attractions of Aden
22 September 2004ESTIMATED at £70-100 but bid way past that level by Taikoo Books of York was a copy of Captain R.L. Playfair’s History of Arabia Felix or Yemen…, a Bombay imprint of 1859 which also includes an account of the British settlement at Aden.
Amazonian ambitions
22 September 2004RIGHT: translated by William Hamilton, the 1661 first English edition of Blaise François de Pagan, the Comte de Merveilles’ Historical & Geographical Description of the Great Country and River of the Amazones in America..., contains this important folding engraved map showing French ambitions in the area.
Psalmanazar the Formosan fraud
22 September 2004BOUND in contemporary panelled calf, a 1704 first of An Historical & Geographical Description of Formosa..., the two folding engraved plates (of 16 in all) torn but skilfully repaired, realised £600 in a Lawrences of Crewkerne sale of July 6.
$1.4m quotation from AA
22 September 2004SOLD for $1.4m (£760,870) at Sotheby’s New York on June 18 was a working draft, or heavily annotated multilith copy of the text that was to become known after the organisation established by its compilers as Alcoholics Anonymous.
Rock Climbing
22 September 2004THE early 20th century George Abraham of Keswick issued three titles that have become classics of rock climbing literature and two of them, offered by Dominic Winter on July 21, are seen right.
Far and farthest south...
22 September 2004RIGHT: a folding plate from an 1847 first of James Clark Ross’ Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions, the two vols. bound in later polished calf gilt by Henry Young of Liverpool, which made £1200 in a Dominic Winter sale of August 25.
Quick witted
16 September 2004IN rubbed contemporary sheep and with the fore-edges close cropped in some places, but generally in sound condition, a 1542 first edition of the scholar and dramatist Nicholas Udall’s translation of Erasmus’ compilation of ‘Apophthegmata’, as Apophthegmes, that is to saie, prompte, quicke, witty sayings, sold for £850 (Powell) in an Y Gelli sale of July 23.
The wonderful industry of Oziana
16 September 2004THERE are few things so distinctly American in the book auction world as the collections of ‘Oziana’ that arrive in the salerooms with remarkable regularity.
Jane Austen
16 September 2004PART of a 12-vol. Winchester edition (1911-12) of the works of Jane Austen, bound in half red calf gilt by Sotherans, that made £3400 as part of the July 21 Lyon & Turnbull sale at Jordanstone.
Fund seeks new buying direction
16 September 2004THE National Art Collections Fund (Art Fund) has criticised the state of public collecting in the UK on the same day as announcing a £500,000 offer to help keep the Macclesfield Psalter in the UK.
Henry VIII hands over a confiscated priory
16 September 2004FEATURING a fine portrait initial of Henry VIII and other devices associated with the Tudor monarchs, a vellum document of November 24, 1537, in which the Priory of Combewell [near Goudhurst in Kent] is granted by the king to Thomas Culpeper, was sold for £4400 in an August 26 sale of autographs, historical documents and ephemera held by Mullock Madeley of Ludlow.
Mary Norton’s Borrowers ... Afield, Afloat, Aloft and Avenged
16 September 2004ILLUSTRATED right is a collection of eight Mary Norton first editions in dust wrappers, including copies of her first two children’s books, The Magic Bedknob (1945) and Bonfires and Broomsticks (1947), and, of course, a set of the Borrowers titles that made her famous.
The short poetic life of Private Isaac Rosenberg
16 September 2004ISAAC ROSENBERG had produced just two small pamphlet collections of verse and a play before he was killed in action on April Fool’s Day, 1918, but his reputation is now established as one of the finer war poets.
Will a wealthy Armenian step in to buy cultural heritage in one collection?
16 September 2004WHAT is billed as the first ever selling exhibition of early Armenian art to be held in a commercial gallery will be mounted by Sam Fogg at 15d Clifford Street, London W1, from September 22 to October 15.
Tonnage and Poundage rates reach £1000
16 September 2004THE Rates of Merchandise, that is to say, Subsidy of Tonnage, ...Poundage and ...Woollen Clothes, or Old-Drapery, as they are Rated and Agreed on by the Commons House of Parliament..., a 1660 copy in rebacked contemporary calf of the book of rates required by the passing of that year’s Act of Tonnage and Poundage, was sold for £1000 in a Bloomsbury Auctions sale of June 17.
- Gardiner Houlgate
- The Fred Crampton Watch Collection
- 21 Oct 2024 - 10:00 AM
- James & Sons
- Textiles, Militaria, Cigarette Cards, Antiques & Bygones
- 22 Oct 2024 - 10:00 AM
- Special Auction Services
- Coins, Medallions & Bank Notes
- 22 Oct 2024 - 10:00 AM
- Woolley & Wallis
- Silver & Objects of Vertu
- 22 Oct 2024 - 10:00 AM
- Thimbleby & Shorland
- Horse-Drawn Vehicles, Equestrian Pictures, Models & Books
- 23 Oct 2024 - 09:00 AM
- Fellows
- The Joseph Bonnar Collection
- 23 Oct 2024 - 10:00 AM
Categories
-
- Arms, Armour & Militaria
- Bank notes
- Books & Periodicals
- Cameras & Camera Equipment
- Classic Cars, Motorcycles & Automobilia
- Coins
- Collectables
- Entertainment Memorabilia
- Kitchenalia
- Maps
- Models, Toys, Dolls & Games
- Musical Instruments & Memorabilia
- Scientific Instruments
- Sporting Memorabilia & Equipment
- Stamps
- Taxidermy & Natural History
- Tools
- Wines & Spirits
- Writing Instruments
News
-
- Art finance
- Auctions
- Brexit
- Buyer's and seller's premiums
- Coronavirus
- Delivery and Shipping
- Education and Training
- Endangered Species
- Events and conferences
- Industry data
- Insurance
- Internet
- Law, crime and regulation
- Museum acquisitions
- Museum deaccessioning
- Obituaries
- Premises and Property
- Private Sales
- Recruitment
- Restoration
- TV shows
-
- 1818 Auctioneers
- Adam Partridge
- Adam's
- Addisons
- Ader
- Aguttes
- Alastair Gibson Auctions
- Alcala Subastas
- Aldridges
- Amersham Auction Rooms
- Anderson & Garland
- Andrew Smith & Son
- Anthemion
- AntikBar
- Antony Cribb
- Artcurial
- Arthur Johnson & Sons
- Aston's
- Auction Team Breker
- Auctionata
- Auctioneum
- Babuino
- Bainbridge Adam Partridge
- Baldwin's
- Bamfords
- Barbara Kirk
- Barbers
- Batemans
- BBR Auctions
- Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood
- Beaussant Lefèvre
- Bellmans
- Bentley’s
- Biddle & Webb
- Bigwood
- Bishop & Miller
- Bleasdales
- Bloomsbury Auctions
- Boldon Auction Galleries
- Bonhams
- Bonhams Skinner
- Bosleys
- Bourne End Auction Rooms
- Brettells
- Brighton General Auctions
- Brightwells
- Bristol Auction Rooms
- Brown & Co
- Bruun Rasmussen
- Burstow & Hewett
- Byrnes
- C&T
- Cambi Casa d'Aste
- Canterbury Auction Galleries
- Capes Dunn
- Catherine Southon
- Cato Crane
- Chalkwell
- Charles Miller
- Charles Ross Auctioneers
- Charterhouse
- Cheffins
- Chilcotts
- Chippenham Auction Rooms
- Chiswick Auctions
- Chorley's
- Christie's
- Clark & Simpson
- Clars Auction Gallery
- Clevedon Salerooms
- Comic Book Auctions
- Cotswold Auction Company
- Cottees
- Cowans
- Criterion
- Crow’s Auctions Gallery
- Curated Auctions
- Cuttlestones
- Czerny
- David Duggleby
- Dawsons
- Denhams
- Dominic Winter
- Dore & Rees
- Dorotheum
- Doyle New York
- Dreweatts
- Duke's
- Durrants
- Eastbourne Auctions
- Eldreds
- Elmwood’s
- Elstob Auctioneers
- Ewbank's
- Featonby's
- Fellows
- Fieldings
- Fine Art Auction Group
- Fine Art Bourse
- Flints Auctioneers
- Fonsie Mealy
- Forum Auctions
- Frank Marshall
- Freeman's
- Freeman's Hindman
- Gardiner Houlgate
- Gary Don
- George Kidner
- Gerrards Auction Rooms
- Gildings
- Golding Young & Mawer
- Gorringes
- Graham Budd
- Grand Auctions
- Great Western Auctions
- Greenslade Taylor Hunt
- Gros & Delettrez
- H&H Classics
- Halls Fine Art
- Hampstead Auctions
- Hannam’s
- Hansons
- Harper Field
- Hartleys
- Henry Adams
- Henry Aldridge & Son
- Heritage Auctions
- Hermann Historica
- High Road Auctions
- Hindman
- Holloways
- Holt's
- Hôtel Drouot
- Hotlotz
- Humbert & Ellis
- Hutchinson Scott
- Jacobs & Hunt
- John Nicholson
- John Pye Auctions
- Jones & Jacob
- JS Fine Art
- Jubilee Auction Rooms
- Juliens
- Kerry Taylor
- KettererKunst
- Keys
- Kidson-Trigg
- Kinghams
- Kings Russell
- Knights Auctions
- Knowle Auction Rooms
- Koller
- Lacy Scott & Knight
- Laidlaw
- Lawrences of Bletchingley
- Lawrences of Crewkerne
- Lay’s Auctioneers
- Lempertz
- Leonard Joel
- Lindsay Burns
- Littleton
- Lockdales
- Locke & England
- London Auctions
- Lots Road Auctions
- Louis Taylor
- Lyon & Turnbull
- MacDougall's
- Mallams
- Mander
- Marlows of Stafford
- Martel Maides
- Maxwells
- McTear's
- Mellors & Kirk
- Michael Bowman
- Millon
- Minster Auctions
- Mitchells
- Moore Allen & Innocent
- Morphets
- Morton & Eden
- Mossgreen
- Mulberry Bank Auctions
- Mullock Jones
- Nagel
- Nesbits
- Netherhampton Salerooms
- Nicholas Mellors
- Nigel Ward
- Noble Investments
- Noonans
- Olympia Auctions
- Omega Auctions
- Onslows
- Osenat
- Paddle8
- Parker Fine Art Auctions
- Paul Beighton Saleroom
- PBA Galleries
- Peter Francis
- Philip Serrell
- Phillips
- Piasa
- Pierre Bergé & Associes
- Piers Motley
- Plymouth Auction Rooms
- Potter & Potter
- Potteries Auctions
- Rago Auctions
- Railtons
- Ramsay Cornish
- Reeman Dansie
- Rendells
- Richard Edmonds Auctions
- Richard Winterton
- Ritchies
- RM Sotheby’s
- Rogers Jones
- Roma Numismatics
- Roseberys
- Ross’s of Belfast
- Rowley's
- Rushbrooks
- Ryedale
- Semley
- Sheffield Auction Gallery
- Sheppard’s
- Silverwoods
- Sloane Street Auctions
- Sotheby's
- Sovereign Rarities
- Special Auction Services
- Spicers
- Spink
- St Jamess Auctions
- Staceys
- Stanley Gibbons Group
- Sterling Vault Auctioneers
- StockholmsAuktionsverk
- Stride & Son
- Summers Place Auctions
- Swan Fine Art Auctioneers
- Swann
- Sworders
- Tajan
- Tamlyns
- Tayler and Fletcher
- Taylor's Auctions
- Tennants
- The Pedestal
- Thimbleby & Shorland
- Thomas Del Mar
- Thomas N Miller
- Thomas R Callan
- Thomas Watson
- Thomaston Place
- Thomson Roddick & Medcalf
- Thomson Roddick Scottish Auctions
- Timeline
- Toovey's
- Trevanion
- Truro Auction Centre
- TW Gaze
- Unique Auctions
- Vectis
- Veritas
- W&H Peacock
- Wallis and Wallis
- Warren & Wignall
- Watches of Knightsbridge
- Wellers Auctions
- Wessex Auction Rooms
- Whitton & Laing
- Whittons
- Whytes
- Wilkes & Curtis
- Wilkinson's Auctioneers
- William George & Co
- Wilson55
- Woolley & Wallis
- Wotton Auction Rooms
- Wright Marshall
-
- 1stdibs
- Advertising Standards Authority
- Antiquarian Booksellers Association
- Antique Young Guns
- Antiquities Dealers’ Association
- Art Business Conference
- Art Fund
- Art Loss Register
- Art Recovery International
- Art UK
- Arts Council England
- Assay Office
- Auction Technology Group
- BADA
- BAMF
- CADA
- CINOA
- Company of Arts Scholars
- DACS
- DEFRA
- DMG
- EBay
- Hiscox
- LAPADA
- Lot-tissimo
- National Trust
- NAVA
- Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association
- RICS
- Society of London Art Dealers
- SOFAA
- the saleroom
- Triple-A Auctioneers
-
- Adams Antiques Fairs
- Affordable Art Fair
- Alexandra Palace fair
- Antiques Centres
- Antiques Dealers Fair Limited
- Ardingly Fair
- Armchair Art Fair
- Art & Antiques for Everyone Fair
- Art Antiques London
- Art, Antiques & Interiors Expo
- Arthur Swallow Fairs
- Bath Decorative Antiques Fair
- Battersea Decorative Fair
- Bermondsey Market
- Book Fairs
- BRAFA
- British Art Fair
- Brussels Fairs
- CADA Fair
- Car Boot Fairs
- Clarion Events
- Continuity Fairs
- Cooper Events
- Ephemera fairs
- Fine Art Asia
- Fine Arts Paris
- Firsts
- Florida Fairs
- French Fairs
- Frieze
- Frieze Masters
- Galloway Antiques Fairs
- Harrogate Fairs
- Hatton Garden
- Haughton Fairs
- Hong Kong Fairs
- IACF
- Jaguar Fairs
- LAPADA Fair
- Lincolnshire Antiques and Home Show
- London Original Print Fair
- Masterpiece
- Miami Fairs
- Midcentury Modern
- Modern British Art Fair
- NEC Birmingham
- New York Fairs
- Newark Fair
- Newbury Antiques and Collectors Fair
- Olympia Fair
- PAD London
- Palm Beach Fairs
- Paris Biennale
- Paris Fairs
- Paris Parcours
- Paris Tableau
- Penman Fairs
- Philadelphia Fairs
- Photography fairs
- Regional Fairs
- Salon du Dessin
- Sandown Park Racecourse Fair
- Showground Fairs
- Swinderby Fair
- TEFAF
- The Open Art Fair
- The Treasure House Fair
- Winter Antiques Show
- Works on Paper Fair
-
- Alfred Taubman
- Bendor Grosvenor
- Bill Ruprecht
- Charles Hanson
- Charlie Ross
- Cornelius Gurlitt
- David Lester
- Ed Dolman
- Eric Knowles
- François Pinault
- Ingrid Nilson
- Lennox Cato
- Lord Ashcroft
- Marco Forgione
- Mark Law
- Sheikh Saud Bin Mohammed Al-Thani
- Simon de Pury
- Sue Ede
- Tad Smith
- Tim Goodman
- Victoria Borwick
-
- Abbott and Holder
- Agnews
- Alastair Dickenson
- Andrew Sim
- Blairman
- Carter Marsh
- Colnaghi
- Daniel Katz
- Dickinson
- Fabrizio Moretti
- Ian Towning
- Johnny Van Haeften
- London Silver Vaults
- Mallett
- Mark Weiss
- Partridge Fine Art
- Petworth Antiques Dealers
- Philip Mould
- Pimlico Road Dealers
- Richard Green
- Robert Young
- Roger Keverne
- Rupert Maas
- SJ Phillips
- Wartski
-
- A Lawyer Writes
- Around the Auction Houses
- Art Market
- Auction Reports
- Bid Barometer
- Books and Works on Paper
- Dealers' Diary
- Fairs, Markets, Shops and Centres
- Features
- Front Page and News
- International (print edition)
- Interviews
- Letters to the Editor
- News in Brief
- Obituaries (print edition)
- Opinion
- Pick of the Week
- Precious Metals Prices
- Previews
- Soapbox
- Special Reports
- Then & Now