Collectables

Johannes Blaeu’s 'Atlas maior, sive Cosmographia…' is considered the finest collection of maps ever produced.

Our regular listing of UK and Irish books and works on paper auctions

Bidders spot copy of 1631 Barker bible that contains jaw-dropping mistakes missed in proof-reading

“The Russians opened fire on our right, on our left, and then in front...

Guided at £800-1200, a 10in (26cm) medieval ‘rotating’ or ‘register’ bookmark sold at £7000 at Semley Auctioneers (22% buyer’s premium) in Shaftesbury, Dorset on May 16.

The Spink (20% buyer’s premium) sale on April 23 that included the Rorke’s Drift medal awarded to ‘Ammunition Smith’ (see News, ATG No 2742) also featured several other notable lots.

Personal stories grab the attention of militaria collectors, transforming dry histories of dates and names, facts and figures into real-life flesh and blood tales.

During the First World War aviators of the Royal Flying Corps suffered from the cold over the Western Front. A solution was the ’fug boot’.

Richard Winterton (22% buyer’s premium) offered what was described simply as a “post Second World War” leather flying helmet with goggles and gas mask on May 21 in Tamworth.

Auction lots for a while now have demonstrated a factor which may be termed a ‘Malta premium’.

Pelé’s Brazil 1958 match-worn World Cup final shirt is up for auction with an estimate ‘in excess of $6m’.

Selection of advertising art underlines the extraordinary demand in Germany

Both the first and the first trade editions of A Room of One’s Own (1929) were among a collection of eight Virginia Woolf lots included in the April 16 Rare Books, Autographs, & Maps auction at Doyle (28% buyer’s premium) in New York.

An “exceedingly uncommon” signed and inscribed photograph of the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) earned top-lot honours in an Autographs sale held at Swann.

The illustrated book that Vasily Kandinsky published in 1913 under the title 'Klänge' (Sounds) is considered one of the finest examples of Expressionist literature.

This Carless, Capel and Leonard London forecourt oil dispenser cabinet rubbed bidders up the right way at The Aladdin’s Garage: A Private Collection of Petroliana, Automobilia and Advertising Signs sale.

Our regular listing of UK and Irish books and works on paper auctions

The Dunhill ‘Unique’ B lighter, along with its smaller-sized sibling, was introduced into the firm’s line in the late 1920s.

Book owner’s son realised the impact this landmark work would have