Books & Periodicals

A hundred and eighty lots in a recent West Sussex sale that offered great variety and some real rarities came from the library at West Horsley Place in Surrey.

Science fiction and fantasy were among the lifelong principal collecting interests of the late Stanley Simon, a postal worker from Queens. In a recent 19th and 20th century literature sale held in his home city of New York a number of his books brought record bids.

Much of Thomas Chippendale’s renown is thanks to his forward-thinking approach to business in the first decades of consumerism – and in particular the creation of a pioneering catalogue of furniture designs in the style of the great architectural books of the period.

Bearing a title that translates as ‘The Book of Correction of Optics for those who have Sight and Mind’, an early 14th century Arabic manuscript made a much higher than expected £450,000 during the recent Islamic week of sales in London.

Offered as part of a recent online sale, a scarce work by Walter Savage Landor that had remained unsold in a New Bond Street auction only last July finally achieved, on April 25 of this year, the high-estimate sum of £2400 that both salerooms had been looking for.

Once again it was Harry Houdini who topped the bill in the most recent magic memorabilia auction held by US specialist Potter & Potter Auctions (20% buyer’s premium).

A 1731, first printed edition of Wycliffe’s 14th century English version of the New Testament was bid to a record £10,000 against an estimate of £200-300 in a recent Nottingham auction.

Arthur Conan Doyle’s autograph manuscript of one of the 13 short stories that in 1905 were gathered together in book form as The Return of Sherlock Holmes was offered in New York recently.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from May 21-June 2, 2018.

Three extra French auctioneers are to assist in the mammoth disposal of the Aristophil collections of historic manuscripts.

Mexican lots, one of them relating to the working of a silver mine in the 16th century, produced some of the higher bids in a recent Americana sale.

Boasting a new name and venue, the ABA’s annual book fair seems poised to expand its reach to a wider range of clients while retaining its strong exhibitor base.

The first Guide Michelin was published in 1900 and no fewer than 35,000 copies were printed for the World Fair in Paris, where it was was distributed free of charge to motorists.

Likely to be the rarest and most expensive book available at the PBFA’s 'London Antiquarian Book Fair' is a copy of 'Caractères' by the French philosopher and satirist Jean de La Bruyère.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from May 15-25, 2018.

Pierre-Yves Guillemet recently opened PY Rare Books.