Europe

Written just a year before his death in 1955, a famous two-page letter in which Albert Einstein put down his thoughts on religion, his Jewish identity and his own search for the meaning of life sold for $2.4m (£1.89m) in a New York auction on December 4.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from December 11-20, 2018.

Along with Pallas’ 'Flora Russica', the 'Icones Plantarum novarum… floram Rossicam' of the German-Estonian botanist Carl Friedrich von Ledebour is recognised as one of the great works on Russian flora.

December is one of two key periods in the French calendar when the auction houses concentrate their sales of Asian art. Pictured here is a selection of highlights and unusual pieces coming up for sale this month in the Paris rooms.

The influx of Asian art buyers that accompanies the Asian Art in London initiative also encourages activity across the Irish Sea. Both Adam’s (20% buyer’s premium) in Dublin, for the first time, and Sheppards (20% buyer’s premium) in Durrow held designated sales on November 3 and November 11 respectively.

A trip to France before Christmas to buy unusual gifts is always a good plan. Here are three antiques and vintage brocantes to visit: two well-known weeklies in Paris and a biannual event in Bordeaux.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from December 3-15, 2018.

The three volumes noted here are English language highlights of a separately catalogued, 380-lot, single-owner collection in the October 30-November 1 series of sales held by Reiss & Sohn (18% buyer’s premium) that was offered under the title Wirtschaft und Staat – or Economy and State.

Italy, like many European countries whose economies were ravaged during the war, had to face the challenge of picking itself up and starting afresh once hostilities were over.

It is the quirky designs of husband-and-wife team François-Xavier and Claude Lalanne that populate the top echelons of so much French design in the salerooms these days.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from November 27-December 7, 2018.

The French dealer François Laffanour, whose Galerie Downtown is on the rue de Seine in Paris, has specialised for 25 years in furnishings by post-war architects and designers.

A cartographic highlight of the mammoth October 30-November 1 series of sales held by German auction house Reiss & Sohn (18% buyer’s premium) was the Insulae Moluccae… map shown below, which sold for almost four times the estimate at €38,000 (£33,670).

Of all the types of playful drinking cups or trinkspiel made by Dutch and German goldsmiths during the 16th and 17th centuries, the example offered by Sotheby’s in Paris last week was surely the most elaborate.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from November 20-December 1, 2018.

Dogny Auction in Switzerland will be offering around 75 lots of ceramics and other Asian works art from the collection of Rolf Heiniger in its winter sale on December 4-5 in Lausanne.