Collectables

A book elaborately illustrated with needle-work samples and commemorating Queen Victoria’s first trip to Ireland as monarch was one of the standout sales as 'Firsts London’s Rare Book Fair' opened.

News that Celtic and Rangers no longer automatically qualify for the Champions League next season put a bit of a dampener on Scottish football.

Sports stars are always looking for small incremental improvements in performance that can prove crucial to the result.

Archive sold in Somerset and bugle offered in Dorset reflect the first organised cycling clubs

Our regular listing of UK and Irish books and works on paper auctions

Published between 1750-73, Plantae selectae quarum imagines ad exemplaria naturalia Londini in hortis curiosorum (‘A selection of plants from natural specimens nurtured in London’s curious gardens’) is considered the most important botanical work ever printed in Germany.

Stand-out lots from upcoming sales including Chardin still-life, Napoleonic marshal's baton and fine art collection acquired over decades

This wreath of helichrysum (immortelle or everlasting) flowers was apparently sent to Napoleon on St Helena as a token of support from two of his sympathisers in London.

The Science, Medicine & Early Technology auction at Flints (25% buyer’s premium) in Thatcham, Berkshire on May 1 was led by a complete seven-volume set of The Mineral Conchology of Great Britain by James Sowerby (1757-1822).

A football programme for for the Estudiantes de la Plata v Manchester United Intercontinental Cup final on September 25, 1968, hammered down at a top-estimate £10,000 in Shropshire.

Cryptoryptomentyces et Cryptographiae has been described as ‘arguably the most complete tome on esoteric cryptography ever published’, an esoteric claim to fame in itself.

Original printings of two of the most familiar automotive posters sold for £15,000 each at Lyon & Turnbull (26% buyer’s premium).

Manuscript ‘sold in 1776’ at forerunner of Sotheby’s emerges in New York sale

Owen Simmons was a bit of a bread fan, it is fair to say. A lecturer at the National Bakery School in London, he produced the lavish book shown here.