Latest News Articles by Ian McKay
Orkney story emerges in Norfolk auction
10 September 2018One of the harder titles in the New Naturalist series to find today is RJ Berry’s Natural History of Orkney.
Celebrated diarist turns to decorations
10 September 2018In a worn but period calf binding, a 1697 first of John Evelyn’s Numismata. A Discourse of Medals… made £350 in the book section of a recent Cornish auction.
The very last ‘Fall of Princes’?
10 September 2018Known familiarly as the ‘Audley End Lydgate’, the mid-15th century vellum manuscript shown below is ‘The Fall of Princes’, a Middle English version by the poet John Lydgate of Laurent de Premierfait’s French translation of Boccaccio’s De Casibus virorum illustrium.
Heraldic manuscripts lead Halls sale in Shrewsbury
10 September 2018Two lots offering heraldic manuscripts – one of them being of particular regional interest – produced the highest bids in a mixed sale of collectables and militaria held in Shrewsbury.
British and Irish book auctions: September 11-21, 2018
10 September 2018Our round-up of British and Irish book sales coming up from September 11-21, 2018.
Play your Panko card at Exeter auction
03 September 2018Complete with 48 cards and rules sheet, and still in its original, if slightly fragile case with printed label, Panko, or Votes for Women… is a sort of ‘Rummy’- inspired card game pitching Suffragists against Anti-Suffragists.
Computing in nearly 1000 lots at Sotheby's
03 September 2018On September 18-19 Sotheby’s will offer an American library on the history of computing formed by the late Erwin Tomash (1921-2012), a sale that runs to 944 lots in all but is divided into two sections.
British and Irish book auctions: September 4-15, 2018
03 September 2018Our round-up of British and Irish book sales coming up from September 4-15, 2018.
Christie’s sale full of optical landmarks
03 September 2018A final selection from the extremely varied Christie’s (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) major summer sale ranges from the scientific works of such giants as Newton and Galileo to the first jigsaw puzzle.
Bard doubts and beastly beliefs
27 August 2018Briefly noted in ATG No 2353 was a copy of Through the Looking Glass sold for £30,000 at Sotheby’s (25/20/12.9%) on July 10, where it was part of the eighth and latest sale of books from ‘The Library of an English Bibliophile’.
British and Irish book auctions August 28-September 9, 2018
27 August 2018Our round-up of British and Irish book sales coming up from August 28-September 9, 2018.
Eight bindings showing bountiful and bold designs
27 August 2018Fine or unusual bindings, ranging in date from the 15th century to very recent times indeed, are illustrated and briefly described here – all of them drawn from mid-summer UK auctions.
More thoughts on Alice in Wonderland lots
27 August 2018Briefly noted in ATG No 2353 was a copy of Through the Looking Glass sold for £30,000 at Sotheby’s (25/20/12.9%) on July 10, where it was part of the eighth and latest sale of books from ‘The Library of an English Bibliophile’.
Frenchman opens up US in map form
20 August 2018A cartographic highlight of the summer came with the appearance in an 11-day, online US sale of a remarkably detailed early 18th century manuscript map of the American south-west.
Early printed works impress at auction
20 August 2018The most important Greek printing project of the 15th century, and the greatest achievement of the great Venetian printer Aldus Manutius’ Greek publishing programme, was one of the landmark works seen at auction this summer.
Troubles lay over the rainbow for DH Lawrence
20 August 2018A fine copy in a well-preserved dust jacket of DH Lawrence’s The Rainbow of 1915 was sold at a record £13,000 as part of the eighth portion of the ongoing disposal of ‘The Library of an English Bibliophile’ – a sale held by Sotheby’s (25/20/12.9% buyer’s premium) on July 10.
Glagolitic breviary is a once in several lifetimes rarity
20 August 2018The first copy to come onto the market since 1895 and one of only six recorded in all, the Breviarum Romanum Glagoliticum printed in Venice in 1493 by Andreas Torresanus de Asula was another highlight of the Christie’s sale of July 11.
British and Irish book auctions August 21-31, 2018
20 August 2018Our round-up of British and Irish book salescoming up from August 21-31, 2018.
CS Lewis view on Shakespeare
20 August 2018In 1942, the annual ‘Shakespeare Lecture’ at the British Academy was delivered by CS Lewis and called 'Hamlet: the Prince or the Poem?'
Limerick features an owl of anguish
13 August 2018Illustrated 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”.