Book

The first 90 or so lots in Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr’s (27.5/26/20/14.5% buyer’s premium) sale of Islamic and Indian Art held in Paris on April 6 were the property of a Royal collection.

The best-selling lot in a recent Carlisle auction was a 1919, Collins first of Heritage, the debut novel of Vita Sackville-West, who at that time was better known for her poetry.

'A Magician Among the Spirits' by Harry Houdini conjured up one of the highest prices in the Potter & Potter (20% buyer’s premium) Houdini-related sale in Chicago on April 8 when it sold for $15,000 (£12,095).

The Negro Motorist Green Book, first produced in 1936, was the indispensable guide for African-American families travelling.

Now hugely popular, this collecting field actually took many years to get going

A copy of Johann Kraft’s 'Pomona Austriaca' (Fruit Trees of Austria) featuring both the French and German texts as well as 100 hand-coloured plates is on offer at this spring’s Bloomsbury Book Fair Spring Event.

François Pierre de la Varenne (1618-78) is the chef credited with bringing French cuisine into the modern era.

Edward Donovan’s 'The Natural History of British Fishes', a 19th century colour plate-illustrated British ichthyological work, featured in the Sporting & Travel Books sale held by Doyle (26/21/15% buyer’s premium) in New York earlier this year.

An early 16th century illustrated edition Aesop was the highlight of an auction of books held by Giquello & Associes (25/20.5/17% buyer’s premium) in Paris on April 14.

A library of works relating to hunting, horseriding and dogs assembled over a 40-year period by a hunting historian, the Comte d’Orglandes, went under the hammer on April 12 at Deloys (22% buyer’s premium inc tax) in Angers, part of the Ivoire group.

This special edition of A Japanese Collection (1898) by Michael Tomkinson (1841-1921) is one of the first 25 copies printed on Indian paper and is signed and dedicated by the author to his daughter Dora.

Forgotten today, a collection sold in Somerset remembers a multi-talented showman and author

A prayer book once owned by a priest who helped Charles II hide after defeat at the Battle of Worcester, and later heard his death-bed confession, has sold at auction to a national heritage organisation.

Inscribed as a gift and sent with his kind regards to Miss Anne Stephenson, the daughter of his aunt and uncle, Abigail and Samuel Longfellow Stephenson, an 1868 edition of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 'The Courtship of Miss Standish and other Poems' was offered in a sale held by Sarasota Auctions (26% buyer’s premium).

Offered as part of a March 2 sale held by Heritage (20% buyer’s premium) that was billed as a Pulp Magazine Showcase was this October 1919 issue of 'The Thrill Book'.

Shown here is what would be an arachnophobe’s nightmare: one of the 29 hand-coloured engraved plates that illustrate a copy of John Blackwell’s 'History of Spiders of Great Britain and Ireland'.

First published in 1755, Samuel Johnson’s 'A Dictionary of the English Language' had taken eight years to compile with six helpers.

Shrewsbury sale offered rare opportunity to bid for a letters by the great writer and lexicographer

A sale held by Martel Maides (20% buyer’s premium) of Guernsey to disperse the contents two island homes included some 60 or more single and multiple lots of books, a number of which boasted special bindings.