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Market traders and dealers at fairs are being urged to join a Facebook group to share information to protect themselves from gangs of thieves.

Rediscovered books and manuscripts that once belonged to former antiquarian book dealer John Percival Love and had been stored away in a bank vault for nearly 50 years captivated collectors and the trade alike at auction.

A digital museum showcasing items from the celebrated clock collection of John C Taylor launches next month.

Memorabilia from the descendants of Captain Frederick Lewis Maitland – the officer Napoleon surrendered to on board HMS Bellerophon on July 15, 1815 – is coming to auction.

Actress cheated by the Prince of Wales turned to a campaign based on ‘injustice of mental subordination’

Portrait of monarch impresses as château of the Comtes de Marcellus delivers treasures to auction

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions

Blue-glazed decoration thought to have been invented by king’s architect takes £55,000 at auction

Toby Taylor launched Taylors Direct in the Cotswolds around three year s ago.

An ensemble of modernist rosewood furniture by the designer and architect Pierre Chareau (1883-1950) is to be offered by Valoir Pousse-Cornet auction house.

Charles Dickens spent a great many chapters of his life in Kent, and had much to say about the Medway towns including Faversham, where he described “the queer little market square... the lop-sided little town hall with its big-faced clock and supporting pillars forming a little arcade, in which probably the merchants of Faversham do congregate”.

Our selection of lots from 12 upcoming auctions

A Chinese blue and white dish recognised by bidders as a fine example of bleu de Hue porcelain flew to $26,000 (£20,500).

The owner of a visitors book from 10 Downing Street dating from the Margaret Thatcher and John Major era plans to sell it despite the government saying it is official property.

Essex saleroom Sworders (25% buyer’s premium) enjoyed a white-glove sale and a £406,000 total for the personal collection of Maurice Turpin (1928-2005).

A printing of George Washington’s 1795 Thanksgiving Day proclamation sold way above hopes at Sarasota Estate Auction (23% buyer’s premium) in Florida.

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