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.
Great Exhibition game unites nations on wooden blocks
24 July 2017Purchased at the Great Exhibition of 1851, the ‘Industrial Exhibition of All Nations’ jigsaw type game shown here sold for £1350 at Lawrences (22% buyer’s premium) on June 16.
So many results in the pipeline
24 July 2017An extraordinarily rich and varied crop of book sales have taken place this summer.
Maggs Bros exhibition of Waugh’s illustrations includes plague-inspired Christmas card
17 July 2017Evelyn Waugh (1903-66) came back into the spotlight earlier this year with the release of a new BBC adaptation of his 1928 book Decline and Fall, the satirical story of a young man’s expulsion from Oxford and subsequent adventures.
Thomas More not the merrier at the Tower
17 July 2017Translated from a Paris version that had appeared earlier in that same year of 1535, an 8pp German newsletter giving an account of the execution of Thomas More sold for $11,500 (£9055) as part of the Eric Caren archive at Christie’s New York (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) on June 15.
First French version of The Little Prince
17 July 2017Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s much-loved tale of The Little Prince was first published in New York in 1943, with Reynal & Hitchcock issuing it in both French and English versions.
Newton was master of the universe but not money
17 July 2017Sold by RR Auction (25/22.5% buyer’s premium) on June 14 was a financial document of November 1721 bearing the signature of Isaac Newton – an order to pay to a Dr Francis Fauquier the dividend due on his substantial investment in the South Sea Company.
Happy birthday to Dickens 12 years late
17 July 2017The Charles Dickens Birthday Book, edited by his eldest daughter, Mary, and illustrated by his youngest, Kate, was published in 1882, 12 years after the writer’s death.
Galileo landmark astronomical work at auction
17 July 2017A 1610 first of Galileo’s Sidereus nuncius, a foundation work in modern astronomy, sold for €320,000 (£278,400) on June 15 at Minerva Auctions (25/18% buyer’s premium) of Rome.
Map marks early view of Canada
17 July 2017Marc Lescarbot’s Nova Francia… of 1609 is an account of French settlements in North America and what we now think of as Nova Scotia and Canada. It predates the more famous first accounts of Champlain’s voyages and discoveries by three years.
Wrighting record wrongs
15 July 2017In ATG No 2292, I noted as a record the £13,000 sale of a copy of Thomas Wright’s Original theory… of the universe… (1750), as part of the Christie’s April 26 sale of the Beltrame library.
Jane Austen letter hilariously mocking gothic novel to be auctioned for the first time at Sotheby’s
10 July 2017A letter written by author Jane Austen to her favourite niece reveals her wit as she amusingly parodies a gothic novel the pair had read.
Vienna Vesalius is a truly impressive body of work
10 July 2017Andreas Vesalius’ De humani corporis fabrica is one of those rare epoch-making works, a publication that changes everything in its field and sets a standard for others to emulate.
Evolution of a book business
10 July 2017Charles Darwin’s great-great-grandson has opened an antiquarian bookshop in the headquarters of an online used books business.
Fifteen years a slave: a pirate prisoner
10 July 2017A June 16 sale at Lawrences (22% buyer’s premium) of Crewkerne included theological works from the library of Edward Tottenham (1810-53), a cleric whose parishes were in Bath and Wells.
Beano takes magical turn
10 July 2017A further selection of children’s annuals from the Brenda Butler archive, characterised as usual by superb condition, provided some of the highlights of a May 2 sale at Comic Book Auctions (16% buyer’s premium).
Catalan cruises in the Med
10 July 2017Sold for £55,000 by Bonhams (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) on June 14 was a newly discovered and very decorative portolan chart on vellum of the Mediterranean.
Dutch discoveries in a world guarded by Spain and Portugal
10 July 2017The island of St Helena featured in a folding plate from a 1598, first English edition of Jan Huygen van Linschoten’s famous Itinerario – published as Discours of Voyages into ye Easte & West Indies – offered by Ketterer Kunst (20% buyer’s premium) on May 22.
Goya flop is now a big auction seller
10 July 2017Preserved in a fine contemporary binding of crimson morocco gilt that seems likely to have been specially commissioned by the artist from Pasqual Carsi y Vidal, a leading Madrid binder, a rare presentation set of Goya’s Los Caprichos prints sold for $500,000 (£393,700) at Christie’s New York (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) on June 15.
Pirate-hunter manuscript offered in selection of Venetian documents at Christie’s
07 July 2017It was known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice but life in the Italian city state could be turbulent. The maritime republic spanned the 8th to 18th centuries though opportunities to amass power and wealth were challenged by outside threats, particularly from the Ottoman Empire. Among a group of documents on offer at Christie’s is one which recalls the city’s naval endeavours - a commission for the pirate-hunter Benedetto Pesaro.
New director of fine books and manuscripts at Bonhams New York
05 July 2017Ian Ehling has joined Bonhams’ New York office as director of fine books and manuscripts.
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