Book

Etymologist buys a glossary which provides a rich seam when it comes to English language changes

Auctions like this don’t come along often these days.

A first edition copy of 'The Left Bank and Other Stories' by the Dominican author Jean Rhys (1890-1979) and 'Portrait of New York' by Cecil Beaton (1904-80) were offered together at Ewbank’s (25% buyer’s premium).

A group lot of works by or pertaining to CS Lewis performed rather better than its modest guide at Scottish firm Taylors Auction Rooms (26% buyer’s premium).

While TS Eliot’s poem 'The Waste Land' had appeared in book form in the US in 1922 – and in two magazines the same year – the edition published by Leonard and Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press in Richmond, Surrey in 1923 was the first in the UK.

A recent rare books sale at Heritage Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) in the US delivered strong performances for a handful of coveted 20th century firsts in dust jackets.

The presence of the author’s signature dramatically enhanced the value of a copy of Ian Fleming’s (1908-64) first collection of James Bond short stories 'For Your Eyes Only' offered at an auction at University Archives (25% buyer’s premium).

Swann Auction Galleries (25% buyer’s premium) recorded head-turning sales during its series of New York sales in May.

A foundation document of Western sinology appeared at Freeman’s Hindman (28% buyer’s premium) in Chicago.

London rare book dealership Peter Harrington has revealed that it placed the top bid on the first editions of William Blake’s 'Songs of Innocence' (1789) and 'Songs of Experience' (1794) at Christie’s Maurice Sendak auction last month.

A tiny Oxfam shop in Headington, Oxfordshire, was celebrating after a set of 12 books dropped off by an anonymous donor later sold at Bonhams for £13,000 (£16,640 with premium).

Courtesy of Dava Sobel’s 1995 best-seller, the compelling story of a Yorkshire horologist’s struggle to receive a prize for creating a reliable and accurate method for determining longitude at sea is well known.

Two separate lots at the recent books and manuscripts sale held by TW Gaze (26.4% inc VAT) in Diss, Norfolk sold at £20,000.

A fine association copy of Ian Fleming’s You Only Live Twice was sold by Reeman Dansie (25% buyer’s premium) in Colchester on April 30.

Chiswick Auctions (26% buyer’s premium) held a sale titled The Art of Nature – a themed catalogue of art and antiques based on the natural world.

Important mathematical work by young German genius Gauss makes a rare appearance at auction