Collectables

Andrew Cumming was among the first successful antiquarian book dealers to step into the shoes of the post-war greats such as Charles Traylen and Frank Hammond.

Sold for $150,000 (£109,490), some 10 times the low estimate, was a lot comprising 11 Xeroxed pages that constitute a pre-publication draft of Martin Luther King’s ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’ of 1963.

On May 18 Paris auction firm Tessier Sarrou is selling the first part of a collection of Japanese swords.

Our weekly listing of UK and Irish book auctions.

London auction offered wide array including famous Federalist American collection of essays

A Victoria Cross group awarded to a British soldier who volunteered to carry a vital message to a stranded platoon at Mericourt in October 1918, in the knowledge that five of his comrades had already been in killed in turn making earlier attempts, sold for £200,000.

These weighty tomes contain the complete transcripts from a high-profile court case involving a Mayfair dealership in the early 1900s.

Duo organise south London pop-up market presenting five vintage poster dealers.

The moment has arrived for bibliophiles missing the physical sight and touch of books at actual fairs.

South London auction house Roseberys (25% buyer’s premium) was instructed to sell the collection of Herbert Kennard on March 26.

The book section of a twice postponed Gloucestershire sale – one that included the rare white Chelsea owl featured on the front page of ATG No 2486 – comprised books from the library at Spetchley Park in the neighbouring county of Worcestershire.

The familiar red-lettered, yellow-cloth covers of an 1897 first of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, though now somewhat soiled, prompted a far higher than predicted bid of $21,000 (£15,150) to lead a Chicago auction of March 19 – a sum bettered only by a handful of inscribed copies.

Estimated at just £100-200, a rare automaton of a stereotypical Chinaman smoking an opium pipe sold for £7400 at McTear’s (24% buyer’s premium).

Ground level views of Ceylon offered in same sale as uplifting account of balloon voyages.

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.

The mouthwatering kitchenalia collection of Annie Marchant (1951-2020) certainly served up a treat when it came to auction on April 12-13.

I am sad to report the passing of my dear friend Reginald ‘Reg’ Charles Remington (1931-2021) who died peacefully in hospital after a very short illness on Friday, April 2.