Potter & Potter

US auction offers lots ranging from mutiny on the Bounty to polar tales and a starry menu

Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin (1805-71) began to develop the very first mystery clocks in c.1830.

A first edition copy of a book documenting the sinking of a ship by a sperm whale in 1820 went under the hammer at Potter & Potter (25% buyer’s premium).

The top lot in Potter & Potter’s (25% buyer’s premium) latest Wunderkammer Sale was Gustave Vichy’s (1839-1904) 'Aubade a la lune' (Serenade to the Moon) mechanical automaton. It is considered a signature model of the firm.

Erik Weisz (1864-1926) launched his monumental career as the illusionist Harry Houdini in 1891 as a specialist in card tricks.

The 504-lot book sale at Potter & Potter (20% buyer’s premium) in Chicago on July 25 was topped by a four-volume set of one of the great records of the Gilded Age.

Warrant for Madame du Barry, mistress of Louis XV, sells well eight years after last auction appearance

Chicago sale offers more than 300 works related to the British author amassed by US collectors

Richard Potter (1783-1835) is considered the first successful stage magician born in the US and African-American celebrity.

Top lot in the Potter & Potter (25% buyer’s premium) comics sale featured the debut of Captain America – introduced on the cover punching Hitler.

Few people can profess to know more about the 1910-12 Japanese Antarctic Expedition than the Arizona book dealer Chet Ross.

The sale of Vintage & Modern Magic at Potter & Potter (20% buyer’s premium) in Chicago on August 26 included this original theatre contract signed by Erik Weisz, the man better known as Harry Houdini (1874-1926).

A trove of material related to the Japanese Antarctic Expedition (JAE) of 1910-12 comes to market at Potter & Potter in Chicago on October 12.

As co-publishers and editors of Firsts: The Book Collector’s Magazine established in 1991, Robin and Kathryn Smiley’s bookshelves were brimming with choice first editions from across the broad span of British and American literature.

‘Sherlockian scholar’ is the term Potter & Potter (20% buyer’s premium) uses to describe Robert Hess.

Potter & Potter’s second books auction of the year includes Charles Dickens’ (1812-70) Great Expectations estimated at $8000-12,000.

'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).

A 1908, presentation first of one of WW Jacobs’ maritime tales, 'Salthaven', was the top lot in a sale held by Potter & Potter (20% buyer’s premium).