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.
Natural history collection includes hunting works
27 November 2017Natural history works, together with books, prints, even pictures featuring aspects of hunting, were a key component of a Sotheby’s (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) sale of November 2 billed only as The Library of a European Gentleman.
To Muriel with love from Beatrix Potter
27 November 2017It was in poor condition and lacked the backstrip, but a copy of The Tale of Mrs Tiggy-winkle offered in the book section of a Greenslade Taylor Hunt (19.5% buyer’s premium) sale of November 2 was redeemed by the presence of a presentation inscription.
Fairy tales and Dr Seuss fascinate in the Big Apple
27 November 2017Harry Clarke worked for three years on his first major book illustration commission, an edition of the Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen commissioned by Harrap.
The fruit of mysterious labours
27 November 2017Originally published in parts in the years 1804-12, George Brookshaw’s Pomona Britannica contains 90 colour-printed and hand finished aquatint and stipple-engraved plates of fruits then cultivated in Britain (pineapple pictured below).
First edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone inscribed by JK Rowling sets £85,000 auction record
23 November 2017Probably best kept out of the hands of children unless, like the member of Bonhams' staff seen here, they are wearing white gloves, inscribed firsts of ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone’ are getting seriously expensive.
Dr Seuss drawing offered at Swann in New York
20 November 2017Theodor Geisel, writer, cartoonist and artist, is better known as Dr Seuss, the author of a host of children’s books. These are now famous the world over for the magical way in which they used a repetitive vocabulary and striking images to aid reading and render it an enjoyable experience.
Lear sticks to landscape
20 November 2017A letter that Edward Lear wrote in 1881 to a friend to whom he intended to dispatch two drawings of Athens was among the more successful lots that Bloomsbury Auctions (24/18/12% buyer’s premium) sold on October 19.
December date for first Aristophil manuscript sale
20 November 2017After a two-year wait, lots from the defunct manuscript investment scheme Aristophil will be resold at the Drouot in Paris next month.
Distinguished musical group tunes up in London auction
20 November 2017Musical manuscripts, letters and photographs of composers offered at Sotheby’s (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) on October 26 comprised the first part only of what was described as “a distinguished private collection” of books that is to be dispersed next year.
Cocktail recipes go into the sale mix
20 November 2017It looks very tatty, but the dust jacket shown below is apparently a rare variant featuring a classic 1937 design by Alex Jardine for a 1927 first ‘Coronation’ edition of the Café Royal Cocktail Book.
Here be monsters… and an early view of Iceland
20 November 2017Featuring both real and mythical creatures, including a monstrous selection of denizens of the deep, this map of Iceland with its mountains, fjords, rivers, glaciers and a volcano is one of the more famous found in Ortelius’ Theatrum orbis terrarum.
Hicks’ design is a highlight at next PBFA event in London
20 November 2017Worlds End Bookshop, one of the dealers at the PBFA’s Christmas fair in Bloomsbury on Saturday, December 2, will be featuring a set of first editions by design icon David Hicks.
Where books and art meet: an exhibition you can read a lot into
20 November 2017Literary enthusiasts could get their fix at Shapero Modern’s exhibition 'Still Reading' (until December 4) this month, held in conjunction with Sladmore Contemporary. It includes a number of maquettes and bronzes by sculptor Martin Jennings.
Multi-million-pound collection of manuscripts from the scandal-hit Aristophil to be auctioned in Paris
16 November 2017A huge collection of manuscripts from investment scheme Aristophil will finally be resold in Paris after a two-year wait.
BOOKS AND WORKS ON PAPER: A botanical collection grown over decades
13 November 2017A botanical collection formed over several decades by DF Allen of Washington DC and sold on October 26 by Sotheby’s New York (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) was small in numbers but focused on the exceptional.
Holme truths about costly heraldic work
13 November 2017Earlier works in an October 18 sale held by Cheffins (22.5% buyer’s premium) included a scarce 1688 first of Randle Holme’s The Academy of Armory, or a Storehouse of Armory and Blazon, an heraldic work by the third member of a distinguished Chester family of heraldic painters and genealogists to bear that name. It made £1200.
The revolution may well be televised
13 November 2017A brief letter of 1864 in which Ulysses S Grant agrees to General William T Sherman’s ‘March to the Sea’, a bold plan to destroy Atlanta, then march across Georgia to Savannah or Charleston during the American Civil War, sold for $100,000 (£75,755) on October 19, at Heritage Auctions (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) in Dallas.
Government issues export bar for rare book by Shakespeare's contemporary Ben Jonson in hope of finding UK buyer
07 November 2017Arts minister John Glen has placed a temporary export bar on a rare book with unique annotations to provide an opportunity to keep it in the country.
5 Questions: Gilleasbuig Ferguson
06 November 2017Gilleasbuig Ferguson Rare Books trades from the Isle of Skye and is a member of the ABA, PBFA and ILAB.
Long voyage ends in Edinburgh
06 November 2017Dated by the Edinburgh auctioneers to c.1815-17, a group of watercolours made on a voyage to the Middle and Far East was bid to a far higher than expected £13,000 in a 650-lot Lyon & Turnbull (25/20% buyer’s premium) sale of October 11.
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