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THE sale at $350,000 (£190,215) of Conan Doyle’s autograph manuscript of the Sherlock Holmes story, The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire, has already been noted in the Antiques Trade Gazette (No.1646) but the Christie’s New York sale of June 9 that brought that very high bid also included the pair of first edition copies of The Adventures... and Memorials of Sherlock Holmes (1892 and ’94) seen right.

HIGHLIGHT of Sotheby’s (23.92/14.35% buyer's premium) book and manuscript sale on June 30 was Antonin Artaud’s 1947 portrait of his publisher Alain Gheerbrant, pencil, 14 x 20in (35 x 50cm), seen right, that made a double-estimate €210,000 (£140,000) to set a record for an Artaud drawing.

THE earliest book in English on the subject, John Stalker’s Treatise of Japanning and Varnishing... of 1688 has been described by H.D. Molesworth as “a work of art in its own right... as readily accepted for its literary content as for its technical information”.

PART of the large consignment of 18th century English porcelain from a local, mid-Wales private vendor, this 18th century underglaze blue painted Lowestoft cider mug, offered as the final lot in Brightwells’ Ceramics and Glass sale in Leominster on July 21, proved to be the star of the sale.

THE British Antiques and Collectables Award winners have been announced for 2004, making Dreweatt Neate the first firm to win an auction house award twice.

HAVING sold her four-storey town house on The Circus, one of Bath’s most prestigious Georgian streets, Dr Teri McGovern announced: “I’m on the move. I came with two suitcases and I’m moving out with two.”

ON July 14 there was a sale at Bonhams (incorporating Glendinings). The return of this appellation to their catalogues will please the sentimental because there is still world-wide affection for the Glendining name.