Book

Small books have long been objects of wonder. The history of tiny type can be traced back to the smallest cuneiform clay tablets of ancient Mesopotamia or the diminutive papyrus codices treasured by Christians in Roman Egypt.

The first ‘Thumb Bibles’, paraphrased or abridged versions of the good book, were published in the early 17th century – the London printer John Weever offering his 128- page An Agnus Dei, measuring just over 1in, in 1601.

Ladies and gentlemen of the Georgian period carried not only prayer books and bibles, but also books of poems and the annual miniature almanacs containing practical information on everything from the phases of the moon to the currency exchange rates of Europe.

First published by James Nisbet in 1858, 'Lays of the Holy Land from ancient and modern Poets' comprises verse from a range of authors together with black and white Illustrations from Victorian artists including Myles Birket Foster, John Everett Millais and Thomas Seddon.

The third book in the 'Blandings Castle' saga by PG Wodehouse was first published in the United States on July 1, 1929 by Doubleday Doran, New York, under the title 'Fish Preferred'.

One of the stand-out results at a three-day auction of a huge American book collection came for a very British lot.

Chicago sale offers more than 300 works related to the British author amassed by US collectors

John Newton (1725-1807) is today perhaps best remembered as the writer of the hymn Amazing Grace. However, before his religious conversion he spent his early life as a slave trader.

An original dust jacket made all the difference when Weiss Auctions (20% buyer’s premium) offered a first edition copy of Agatha Christie’s Dumb Witness in Lynbrook, New York.

The Charles Dickens Museum in London and the Wilkie Collins Society are hoping to track down a missing book last recorded as sold at auction to book dealer Bernard Quaritch more than 130 years ago.

In 1585 English colonists Thomas Hariot and John White recorded their first impressions of life on Roanoke Island in present-day North Carolina.

Letters and books marking the deep relationship between author EM Forster and policeman Bob Buckingham and his family sold for £9000.

The report in ATG No 2615 that some copies of the Agatha Christie titles in the Charlie Watts sale at Christie’s were sold with dust jackets supplied from other copies raises some concerns.

Newly discovered papers show how renowned mathematician and his collaborator worked hand in hand

Astronomical manuscript for sale includes illustrations by scientist who was in fact an insurance broker

Held by the same private New England family since 1792, a copy of 'A Journal of Captain Cook’s Last Voyage to the Pacific Ocean' complete with its map came for sale at Bonhams Skinner (28/26/20% buyer’s premium).