Collectables

Alexander the Great’s conquest of the Persian Achaemenid empire delivered into his hands a vast wealth.

This copy of 'Hansel and Gretel', 1925, with 12 tipped-in colour plates by the Danish artist Kay Nielsen (1886-1957), is one of 600 numbered copies (numbered 16) signed by the artist, in the original publisher’s pictorial cloth.

Books related to Polar explorers are among the highlights of Bonhams’ Travel & Exploration sale on September 20.

The Premier Sale held by St James’s Auctions on September 22 includes this gold half guinea token with a ‘phoenix from the flames’ motif made for Wilson and Younge of Sheffield in 1812.

Catalogued as a ‘very good, complete copy in original condition of the first really modern scientific book published in England’, a 1600 first edition (Peter Short) of De Magnete by William Gilbert is estimated at £10,000-15,000 in Forum Auction’s Fine Books, Manuscripts & Works on Paper sale in London on September 29.

The Books & Autographs auction at Koller in Zurich on September 21 features the greatest work by artist and naturalist Maria Sybilla Merian on the insects and fauna of Surinam, estimated at SwFr120,000-160,000.

A copy of 'Howl' signed by leading lights of the Beat literature scene in New York is on offer at 'Firsts: London’s Rare Book Fair', where this year the theme is banned books.

Freeman’s September 21 Books and Manuscripts auction, in Pennsylvania is led by an ‘extremely rare’ first edition of 'New Englands First Fruits' (estimate $20,000-30,000), a 1643 account of Puritan evangelisation in New England.

'Hortus sanitatis' (Gart der Gesundheit, Augsburg 1485), considered among the most important early works of natural history and one of the first scientific incunabula in a vernacular language, is on offer at Munich saleroom Ketterer Kunst on November 28.

The PBFA swapped its London fair dates from the usual early summer slot to autumn, meaning it coincides as usual with the ABA’s flagship fair.

The principal portion of a two-part sale conducted by Sotheby’s New York included not one, but three lots that brought seven-figure bids.

This scarlet and navy woollen cape sold in an Essex auction is sewn with the numerous cloth regimental badges that were given to Esme Kathleen Robinson (d.2017) by the soldiers she treated in Oxfordshire as a member of the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) during the Second World War.

A lot offering Action Man outfits and accessories from the flock hair period c.1970 sold for 100 times the low estimate at a Devon saleroom thanks to a considerable rarity it contained.

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.

Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr is holding a sale in Paris on September 21 of a cabinet of curiosities given over to natural history, entomology and minerals.

Bertoia’s sale of the collection of Bill and Stevie Weart will be held over two days in Vineland, New Jersey, on September 8-9.

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.