Collectables

The 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.

Our round-up of British and Irish book salescoming up from August 21-31, 2018.

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

The annual two-day York Card Expo International at York Racecourse, which runs this year on Friday and Saturday, August 31-September 1, is now in its 29th year.

As both a collecting and a decorating sphere, taxidermy is one of the major growth areas over the past decade.

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.

The strong suit in the extensive cricket section of Abacus Auctions’ (18% buyer’s premium) Sporting Memorabilia sale in Melbourne on July 22 proved to be a collection of early 20th century autographed real photo postcards of test cricketers that were offered individually.

Potter & Potter, specialist in auctions of magic memorabilia, is holding its summer sale in Chicago on August 25.

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.

Rare books and prints valued at millions of dollars remain at large in the international market in the wake of a US library theft.