Books & Periodicals

Always likely to produce one of the sale’s best results, a 1798 first of Thomas Malthus’ 'Essay on the Principle of Population' duly led the bidding in a recent German sale.

In 1916 around 500 copies of the historic ‘Proclamation of the Irish Republic’ were printed, of which today just 30 or so survivors are recorded.

Bid to €10,000 (£9100) in a timed online sale at Fonsie Mealy (25/20% buyers premium) this summer was a two-volume collection of medical and other receipts compiled by Mrs Mary Leadbeater (1758-1826).

On September 12 Brunk Auctions of Asheville, North Carolina, is holding a single-owner sale comprising the estate of William N Banks Junior from his Georgia property, Bankshaven.

Appropriately enough, the very first lot offered in a sale called Eureka! was one that focused on scientific breakthroughs of the 20th century, was an autograph manuscript of seven pages of annotated design drawings by Thomas Edison relating to his work on light bulbs.

Manuscript was brought to Italy from Constantinople and later printed in Vicenza

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from September 8-19, 2020.

Robert Morrison, a protestant missionary, pioneer sinologist and author of several works on the Chinese language as well as a translator, has been called the ‘Father of Anglo-Chinese Literature’.

'Firsts, London’s Rare Book Fair' has announced a second digital staging to take place this month.

Mathematical work makes £300,000 in auction where composers also feature heavily

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from September 1-16, 2020.

Rare book specialist Hamish Riley-Smith, who died on August 10, did not originally intend to become a dealer.

Bernard Shapero of Shapero Rare Books is among the newcomers to the Petworth Park Antiques & Fine Art Fair (September 11-13) this year.

Extensively interleaved with scholarly notes and running to over 700pp, a Japanese and English Dictionary compiled by JC Hepburn was a notable rarity in a Cornish summer sale.

MADAM – I note with interest that the Firsts London rare book fair is on the move again (News, ATG No 2454).

PBFA (Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association) has held four monthly online book fairs, with the fifth going live to the public at noon on Saturday, August 29. Up to 15 books/items can be put up for sale by each bookseller member.

Edition of Macbeth that once belonged to actor Charlton Heston.

The two ink drawings reproduced here both made substantial sums in a June 27 sale of comic strip artwork held in Paris by Artcurial.

Our regular listing of British and Irish book auctions.