Collectables

In February in New York, Sotheby’s will offer for sale one of the most important illustrated Hebrew Prayerbooks to come to market: The Rothschild Vienna Mahzor.

Our regular listing of UK and Irish books and works on paper sales

While not instantly familiar to many non-American readers, The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams (1881-1944) has never been out of print and its many reprints have sold over a million copies in the US alone.

Paul Parker will be fondly remembered by many England fans of a certain vintage for his role in the 1990 World Cup campaign (ignore the deflection over Peter Shilton for West Germany’s semi-final opener).

As covered in ATG No 2723, memorabilia associated with the golden age of luxury ocean liners is sought after by collectors.

A rare Georgian brass microscope by Edinburgh maker John Clark will join an important Dutch collection after its sale in the Cotswolds.

The most important of only 23 known surviving copies of the first – and subsequently withdrawn – June 1865 edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has been given jointly to Christ Church Oxford and the Bodleian Libraries.

An original illustration for one of the most entertaining works on rare book collecting hammered for £15,000 to lead Mallams’ latest Modern Art & Design auction.

An ‘exceptional and newly discovered’ Mamluk manuscript copy of an Arabic text on hippiatry (equine medicine) was the highlight of Lyon & Turnbull’s latest Islamic and Indian art sale in London.

James Boswell (1740-95), later renowned as the biographer of Samuel Johnson, arrived in London in 1762 at the age of 22.

An original Andy Pandy string puppet from the BBC children’s TV show of the same name first aired in 1950 caught the attention at a Kent auction 75 years later.

John Lennon, Yoko Ono and U2 were among the big names making big prices at the John Peel Collection Part One auction held by Omega (25% buyer's premium) back in September (see ATG No 2708).

Paul McCartney famously sang ‘Baby, You Can Drive My Car’ with the Beatles but he could clearly drive himself.

An astronomical compendium sold at Rehm (22% buyer’s premium) in Augsburg contained everything that a 16th or 17th scholar of the heavens needed for observations.

These two pages of working lyrics for the Jimi Hendrix song Room Full of Mirrors (which later appeared on his 1971 album Rainbow Bridge) are handwritten on Londonderry Hotel, Park Lane, stationery.

When a pinstripe suit came up for auction at West Midlands firm Fieldings (26% buyer’s premium inc VAT) it had an interesting consequence.

Our regular listing of books and works on paper sales

Boba Fett – one of the most feared bounty hunters in the known galaxy – was one of six hired by Darth Vader to capture the crew of the Millennium Falcon, and eventually caught up with them in Cloud City (ATG is not sure a spoiler alert is needed for early Star Wars films...).