Books & Periodicals

Material in this specialist market ranges from the early printed works of the Gutenberg Press and William Caxton right through to Modern First Editions and now up to signed copies of Harry Potter. Condition and rarity are the keys to this sector.


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Ken Spelman bookshop to close in York

06 December 2021

One of York’s oldest bookshops is closing next year.

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Pick of the week: The positive diagnosis for a medieval rarity

06 December 2021

One of around 30 known medieval English folding almanacs, and one of only a few in private hands, sold for £95,000 (plus 20% buyer’s premium) at Tennants.

British and Irish book auctions: December 7-21, 2021

06 December 2021

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.

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Horror hammer highlights

06 December 2021

Gary Munson collection delivers a string of rarities sold for record-breaking sums

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Chess: Ah, that’ll be the good old Ruy Lopez opening

06 December 2021

The World Chess Championship currently taking place in Dubai began on November 26 in familiar style.

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Bidders spellbound in the US

06 December 2021

Single-owner collections offer magical selections days apart in two salerooms

British and Irish book auctions: November 30-December 10

29 November 2021

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.

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Bound for a church career

29 November 2021

Painted with an image of an urn to the front cover of its vellucent binding and with a view of Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire to the rear, the Book of Common Prayer & Book of Psalmes shown below was printed in 1774 by T Wright & W Gill for the University of Oxford.

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Copies of Rosellini’s exceptional work on ancient Egypt emerges in Irish sale

29 November 2021

An exceptional, expanded and specially cased example of Ippolito Rosellini’s 'I Monumenti dell Egitto e della Nubia' of 1832-34 topped the bidding in a Fonsie Mealy (20% buyer’s premium) sale of the library from Howth Castle.

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Tolkien classic takes £46,000 in Dorset

29 November 2021

Among the book lots offered as part of an October 7-8 sale at Duke’s (25% buyer’s premium) the earliest was a Burgundian ‘Hours of the Virgin’ manuscript.

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Cure for a ‘Hectick ffeavour’

29 November 2021

Two very different lots shared the highest bid honours in a September 30 sale held in Norfolk. A manuscript recipe book dating from the late 17th/early 18th century onwards was, as such, accomplished in several different hands.

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Bibliophiles spoilt for choice with one live and two online book fairs on the way

29 November 2021

Buying online took off in the trade last year with one notable example being The Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association (PBFA) which launched its monthly online back-to-back book fairs in April.

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Is there anything he didn’t do?

22 November 2021

Library on offer at Forum auction in London was based on works collected by a man whose roles ranged from alchemist to diplomat

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Presidential importance boosts US lots

22 November 2021

Running to just 20 or so words, a tiny signed card in which Abraham Lincoln instructs Edwin Stanton to meet with the African-American abolitionist and officer Martin Delany in Washington led the bidding at Doyle (26/21/15% buyer’s premium) on September 23.

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ATG letter: Second go at ‘first’ books terminology

22 November 2021

I have just received ATG No 2516 wherein the old question of first edition and first impression is raised in the Letters section.

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Seven CS Lewis copies to treasure

22 November 2021

Now handsomely bound in full red morocco and contained in slipcases, a set of first-edition copies of what are collectively known as ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ of CS Lewis led a Thomson Roddick (18% buyer’s premium) sale of October 7 with a bid of £3400 from a buyer on thesaleroom.com.

British and Irish book auctions: November 23-December 3, 2021

22 November 2021

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.

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US Constitution copy takes $41m at New York auction 

19 November 2021

A hedge fund billionaire has outbid a group of crowdfunded cryptocurrency fans for a copy of the US Constitution and has agreed to loan it to a museum.

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Bird artist became pottery painter after bankruptcy

15 November 2021

Sold for £16,000 in a September 23 sale was an album of 41 watercolour studies of birds produced by William Weston Young (1776-1847).

British and Irish book auctions: November 16-27, 2021

15 November 2021

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.

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