News

UK: QUITE possibly starting its long career as a Christmas present for a child, this Steiff teddy bear was the familiar target of collectors at the Horsham rooms of Latimers (15 per cent buyer’s premium) on December 14, the second of a two-day dispersal at this new addition to the Sussex auction world.

Namiki: The Art of Japanese Lacquer Pens by Julia Hutt and Stephen Overbury, published by Pens Unlimited Inc. of Toronto and distributed through The Battersea Pen Home, PO Box 6128, Epping CM18 4GG, www.penhome.com tel: 0870 900 1888; email: info@penhome.com ISBN 0968643507. £120 hb.

UK: THE FIRST Tolkiens of 2001 combined to add £11,000 to the takings at this Bath sale.

UK: A VOLUME containing a dozen reports, tracts and pamphlets relating to the 18th century trial of a local man, Aylsham lawyer Christopher Layer, went to Jarndyce at £400 in this first Aylsham sale of the year.

Treasures To Hold: Irish and English Miniatures 1650-1850 from the National Gallery of Ireland Collection by Dr Paul Caffrey, published by the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin. tel: 01 661 5133. email: artgall@eircom.net ISBN 090316275X £19.99.

FRANCE: THIS Heures de la Vierge manuscript, from Auvergne or the Lyon area (c.1485) fetched Fr215,000 (£20,5000) at Bondu on December 22. This Book of Hours (Use of Rome), 61/2 x 61/2in (17cm x 17cm), had a tired 16th century brown morocco binding but contained 14 full-page paintings influenced by Jean Colombe and artists from Bourges, and many of its 131 leaves (from a probable 135) had decorative borders with flowers, strawberries, fabulous creaturs and acanthus leaves.

Identifying Marble by Jacques Dubarry de Lassale, published in English by Editions H. Vial, Dourdain, France and distributed by Hilmarton Manor Press of Calne, Wilts. tel: 01249 760208 fax: 01249 760379 email: mailorder@hilmartonpress.co.uk ISBN 2851010654 £95.00 hb.