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David Secrett began his working life apprenticed to a church organ-builder. After a spell as an RAF instrument-fitter and Russian linguist, he returned to organ-building and later moved to the workshops of the Science Museum in London.

MADAM – I was surprised by your editorial on 1stdibs last week and what it implies (News, ATG No 2419).

A piece of Orientalist art by German-born watercolourist Carl Haag (1820-1915) drew multiple bids at Maidenhead saleroom Dawson’s (23% buyer’s premium).

The binding of a copy of 'Vocabularis rerum' of Wenceslaus Brack sold in a recent West Sussex sale was a 19th century one and now broken, but this was in its time a very popular and much reprinted work.

Rumours of the death of shops are wide of the mark judging by the latest news of developments in the sector. Here is a selection of gallery moves and initiatives, starting with a new base for a business founded in 1884.

It’s been a challenging couple of decades for classic English furniture but early winter has witnessed a few stars across the provinces, be it classic English or more exotic overseas material, to offer some gleams of encouragement.

Our regular listing of British and Irish book auctions.

Bruneau closes the year with a December 14 sale of Comics and Toys, for which Travis Landry, its director of pop culture, will join forces with ‘event entertainment company’ Altered Reality Entertainment.

A Japanese Meiji period shibayama inlaid lacquer shodana will feature in the Asian works of art section of Weschler’s Capital Collections auction on December 13 in Rockville, Maryland.

A pair of Castelli maiolica plaques will feature in Artcurial’s mixed-discipline sale of furniture and works of art in Paris on December 16-17.

Adding a classical touch to a highly successful five-day sale at West Sussex auction house Bellmans (22% buyer’s premium) was a 1st century AD Greco-Roman marble lower torso of Aphrodite.

On January 11-12 the specialist doll auction firm Theriault’s will be offering the collection of an American heiress, the late Huguette Clark.

A selection of books relating to conjuring dating back to the 17th century is one of the features of the latest Potter & Potter Magic sale to be held on December 14 in Chicago.

The memorial service for Paul Barthaud will take place at St James’s Church, 197 Piccadilly, London W1J 9LL, on January 14, 2020, at 4pm.

Though the splendid but incomplete copy of Jakob Christoph Trew’s 'Hortus nitidissims… floribus' previewed in ATG No 2018 got close to the high estimate in selling at £85,000 as part of the opening, natural history section of a recent London sale, a number of other top lots failed to find buyers.

A new website founded by two dealers aims to offer a “user-friendly” hub for buying and selling art and antiques.