Auctions

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.

Amy Scanlon, head of Modern and Contemporary art at Sworders of Stansted Mountfitchet, discusses her affection for Bawden prints

A section of period costume and textiles that featured in a general sale at Thierry de Maigret (24% buyer’s premium) on March 24 produced some notable results for several well-preserved examples of 18th century costume.

A 13th century Mamluk (Egyptian or Syrian) manuscript on astronomy sold for a surprise £140,000 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) in south London on April 28.

West Sussex sale highlights – including a work detailing author’s obsession with bricklaying as a hobby

Our selection of eight lots from upcoming UK and Irish auctions.

Two moulds for making buttons, given by studio potter Lucie Rie (1902-95) to her cleaning lady, were sold at a London auction on March 29.

East Bristol Auctions is expanding with a new saleroom near Bath and plans to rebrand as Auctioneum.

A handwritten note signed twice by Abraham Lincoln written just days before winning the 1864 presidential election was the toast of University Archives’ (25% buyer’s premium) April 19 online auction in Connecticut.

Estimated at £15,000-20,000, this 8½in (22cm) Elizabeth I or James I pewter bell-based candlestick sold to a private UK collector bidding online for £25,000 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) as part of the Chapman collection at Bishop & Miller in Stowmarket on April 27.

A lively market has emerged for the linocuts of Great Bardfield artist Edward Bawden

Involving a string of spectacular works, the saga of the collapsed French firm is worth a novel itself

A rare souvenir, an example of correspondence between two key figures in the French Revolution, was one of the highlights of a sale held by Osenat (25% buyer’s premium) in Versailles on March 12.

The first 90 or so lots in Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr’s (27.5/26/20/14.5% buyer’s premium) sale of Islamic and Indian Art held in Paris on April 6 were the property of a Royal collection.

Stand-out lots to watch out for in UK, Irish, European and US sales of books and works on paper

The best-selling lot in a recent Carlisle auction was a 1919, Collins first of Heritage, the debut novel of Vita Sackville-West, who at that time was better known for her poetry.

When the Bletchley Park boffins were taking a break from code-breaking in the Second World War, complicated puzzles were one of the diversions.

'A Magician Among the Spirits' by Harry Houdini conjured up one of the highest prices in the Potter & Potter (20% buyer’s premium) Houdini-related sale in Chicago on April 8 when it sold for $15,000 (£12,095).