Book

A Latin to French dictionary that belonged to Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was among the highlights a recent sale of Rare Books, Autographs & Maps at Doyle New York (28/27% buyer’s premium).

ATG takes a look at some stand-out lots sold recently at an auction in Berlin

“There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about,” Oscar Wilde wrote in The Picture of Dorian Gray - a prescient observation that has proven remarkably true.

The public may have been surprised to discover that Barry Humphries (1934-2023), the creator of Dame Edna Everage, was a great bibliophile with a passion for rare books by the ‘decadent’ writers of the fin de siècle.

A recent Freeman’s Hindman (28/27% buyer’s premium) sale in Chicago included a first edition of John Locke’s foundational text on civil society and the nature of government 'Two Treatises of Government….'

Inscriptions and annotations can make a massive difference to value

With crossover interest to several collecting disciplines, early manuscript recipe and remedy books continue to thrive at auction.

Fragment found in an attic with receipt for £25 now sells for £39,000 hammer price

Oxfam discoveries from a pile of donations include Chinese religious rarity, Communist manifesto and Dickens

Books dealership Peter Harrington’s latest catalogue explores how technology has shaped, controlled, and empowered the voiceless, while fuelling the flow of information and culture.

Paul Nash, looking back at the 1924-25 period when he taught design at the Royal College of Art, said: “I was fortunate in being there during an outbreak of talent and can remember at least eight men and women who have made names for themselves since then in a variety of different directions.”

Book was published by champion of Swiss Calvinism four years before he became a Protestant martyr

Two unusual books took top honours at a Neumeister (30/27/25% buyer’s premium) auction in Munich, both achieving multiples of the estimates.

Letter to Queen Elizabeth I written after Robert Dudley’s marriage lacks the earlier flirtatious tone

The second tranche of material from a German autograph collector, the late Franz-Peter Bach, was offered by Anderson & Garland (30% buyer’s premium inc VAT) in Newcastle upon Tyne on March 5.

Second edition copy of Adam Smith classic work sells at £8000 in Cumbrian saleroom

Written by the English naturalist and apiarist Rev Charles Butler and printed by the Oxford bookseller Joseph Barnes in 1609, 'The Feminine Monarchie or A Treatise Concerning Bees' is considered the first book on the science of beekeeping in the English language.

Famed for his range of characters, Barry Humphries was also a bibliophile of great taste

Estimated at £200-300 but sold for £4200 at Charterhouse (25% buyer’s premium) in Sherborne, Dorset, were two design books from the Royal Doulton workshop floor.