Books and Works on Paper

In 1942, the annual ‘Shakespeare Lecture’ at the British Academy was delivered by CS Lewis and called 'Hamlet: the Prince or the Poem?'

Illustrated with coloured engravings, The History of Sixteen Wonderful Old Women is a work of 1821 that is “thought to be the first printed book of Limericks”.

Two of only 11 leaves of the original, working manuscript of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species… known to remain in private hands were sold at auction in London last month.

Sold for £2500 in a Dominic Winter (20% buyer’s premium) sale of July 25 was an enormous archive of work produced in the 1950s and ‘60s by Leslie Starke (1905-74), a cartoonist once very popular in both the UK and US.

Sold at £620 in a July 2 sale held by Hansons (20% buyer’s premium) was a leather-bound promotional catalogue issued by the Walturdaw Cinema Supply Co of Birmingham.

Preparatory and other unused drawings relating to Roald Dahl classics come to auction

A selection of fine or unusual bindings seen at auction during the summer months will feature more prominently in a future issue, but shown here is a 1751 first of Thomas Gray’s An Elegy Wrote in a Country Church Yard in a striking later binding that was among lots offered at Chiswick Auctions (25/12% buyer’s premium) on July 12.

June and July brought a rich crop of auctions in London, around the country and overseas. A few of those sales and stand-out results have already been reported on these and the ATG news pages, but many more hammer highlights were achieved.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from August 7-18, 2018.

One of the earlier big attractions of the new season will be the September 18-19 auction at Sotheby’s of the Erwin Tomash library on the history of computing.

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

Comprising some 3000 books ranging in date from 1473-1840, one of the finest collections of books on agriculture ever assembled was dispersed by Forum Auctions (30/24/14.4% buyer’s premium inc VAT) in a July 10-11 sale that totalled £1.6m.

A copy of the posthumously published, 1633 first edition of John Donne’s Poems in a neatly rebacked but contemporary sheep binding is a desirable volume in itself.

One of a collection of ornithological and other natural history works from a country house library offered in an Edinburgh sale was a scarce, complete copy of a work that created a bitter fall-out between author and illustrator.

Issued by ‘Hunt & Sons, Card Makers to His Majesty’, a ‘Great Mogul’ deck of playing cards of c.1830, the labels that seal the packaging still unbroken after all those years, featured in a recent Suffolk sale.

There were two 1997, first-impression copies of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in the June 21 sale held by Bonhams.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from July 17-28, 2018.

Once described as “one of the rarest dog books printed in the English language”, a copy of Cynographia Britannica: Consisting of Coloured Engravings of Various Breeds of Dogs existing in Great Britain sold at $14,000 (£10,525) at Christie’s New York (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) on June 14.

An early 17th century work on …the Whole Practise of Artillery made a record sum in sale held by Tennants (20% buyer’s premium) of Leyburn.

Sold for $32,000 (£24,060) at Christie’s New York (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) on June 14 was an Edison Universal Stock Ticker.