Book

A first edition, first impression of The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien is a valuable proposition even without its dustjacket.

First editions of the books that made Nancy Mitford’s name – The Pursuit of Love (1945) and Love in a Cold Climate (1949) – sold for £1600 at Reeman Dansie (25% buyer’s premium) in Colchester.

The sale of Antiquarian & Collectable Books at Capes Dunn in Stockport on March 17 included a group of deluxe editions of popular classics illustrated by Arthur Rackham (1867-1939).

The Private Library Book Company is offering for sale online the library of John Russell Taylor (1935-2025), a collection of over 20,000 books, many by the renowned author and critic himself.

Inaugural Forum standalone auction achieves impressive results in south London

A first edition of Agatha Christie’s Five Little Pigs published by The Crime Club (Collins), London 1942, was consigned to Wessex Auction Rooms (24% buyer’s premium) by the family of Phyllis Rice, housekeeper to the author at Greenway House.

The 1690 Utrecht edition of Suetonius Caius Tranquillus’ Opera, “with Samuel Pitiscus’s seminal commentary, was a landmark in classical scholarship and perfectly reflects Sir William Hamilton’s deep antiquarian interests, particularly in Roman history”.

Pristine first editions from sought-after authors or documents written by the luminaries of times past are usually the ones that command the greatest attention at book auctions.

Forget Paddington Bear. Think Winnie-the-Pooh “I am a bear of very little brain…”, whose 100th anniversary this year celebrates the first outing of the gentle bear and his beloved friends including the “small and anxious” Piglet.

A collection of nine letters from Winnie the Pooh author AA Milne sold at Derbyshire saleroom Irita Marriott (24% buyer’s premium) had been passed down through the family of Vincent Seligman and his wife Barbara, who were lifelong friends of the author.

Book dealers and auction houses are all saying the same thing about fantasy and sci-fi novels: once derided as not serious objects of desire, they are now eagerly sought after by collectors and achieving really big prices.

Visitors to London at the end of the 17th century needed to take care: banditts, adamtilers and fencing-cullies were out looking to prey on unwitting buzzards, fat culls and fuddlecaps.

The records for JK Rowling’s early work sold at auction keep tumbling, both hardback and paperback

A set of JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings realised a premium-inclusive $250,000 (£187,500) at Heritage Auctions of Dallas.

Storms and the threat of snow could not dampen the spirits of rare booksellers and buyers in York for the first PBFA fair of the 2026 book calendar.

A rare first edition of Enid Blyton’s first published book, Child Whispers, hammered at £1400 in the Thomson Roddick (20% buyer’s premium) book sale on December 4.

While not instantly familiar to many non-American readers, The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams (1881-1944) has never been out of print and its many reprints have sold over a million copies in the US alone.