Collectables

Carroll rubbed shoulders with Wilde, Rackham, Tolkien and many other children’s works in recent auctions.

The chap in the voluminous breeches shown below is far removed from today’s riflemen as far as combat uniform is concerned.

Sold as part of a Sotheby’s (25/20/12.9% buyer’s premium) sale to benefit the charity House of Illustration, and in partnership with both the saleroom and Winsor & Newton, was a group of 33 lots gathered together under the heading First Editions Re-Covered.

A classic metaphysical fantasy novel that sold poorly when first issued but later influenced the works of CS Lewis and gained many admirers, A Voyage to Arcturus is the work of David Lindsay.

Bid to a rather higher than suggested £1300 in a Lawrences (22% buyer’s premium) sale of December 8 in Crewkerne were two early 19th century works on water meadows.

On the basis that it’s never too late for chocolate, or indeed beer, a belated report from BBR’s (15% buyer’s premium) sale of advertising memorabilia at Elsecar.

Dr Who fans can start collecting early this year with a series of lots from the cult science-fiction show going under the hammer in January.

A collection of remarkable Nelson memorabilia from the Battle of Trafalgar on offer at Sotheby’s includes a large fragment of the Union Jack believed to have flown from HMS Victory at Trafalgar.

Presentation copies of The Bostonians and a volume containing the first bookform appearance of The Turn of the Screw were among the highlights of a large Henry James collection offered in almost 50 lots as part of a Sotheby’s (25/20/12.9% buyer’s premium) sale.

Possibly the first autograph manuscript of a complete work by Bela Bartok ever seen at auction, a working manuscript for the complete score of the original version of his Second Rhapsody for Violin and Piano (BB96) was bid to £250,000 in a music sale held by Sotheby’s (25/20/12.9% buyer’s premium).

A fine Pushkin collection, running to a dozen lots in all, was a major attraction in the Russian section of at a Christie’s (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) sale.

A gentleman retires to his designated smoker’s chair, picks up his meerschaum pipe and Dunhill lighter and puffs away contentedly by his hearth… a vanished scenario in the UK today but recreated in the antiques world in these three items from December auctions.

It was around this time of year when wealthy skiers with chalets to decorate would dial in from the slopes of the world’s most prestigious resorts to take part in Christie’s South Kensington’s annual Ski Sale.

Whatever chaos faces hundreds of thousands of commuters on the railways as we enter the New Year, the better-ordered world of model trains steams on to continued success.

Must-have Christmas presents in the Sixties and Seventies, Sasha dolls have remarkable appeal today.