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Before finally achieving success in 1945 with The Pursuit of Love and then with Love in a Cold Climate, Nancy Mitford had published three novels. Two of these made record sums in a recent Stansted sale.

One of the earliest surviving incandescent light bulbs, made by the English physicist Sir Joseph Wilson Swan (1828-1914) in the 1870s, sold for £7500 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) at Bonhams’ sale titled Instruments of Science and Technology.

What still feels to many like the opening month of a new season got off to an excellent start with some serious, if occasionally unexpected, five-figure bids at four major provincial salerooms.

In the past, pictures by talented but obscure female artists were given short shrift on the secondary market. Now all that is changing.

Two contrasting marine scenes, encapsulating the unpredictable nature of the sea, were offered at a recent sale at Mitchells (20% buyer’s premium) of Cockermouth in Cumbria.

ATG’s weekly selection of items on sale at auctions and dealerships.

ATG’s weekly selection of items on sale at auctions and dealerships.

Japonisme, western art inspired by Japanese art and design, is the theme of the next Decorative Antiques and Textiles Fair in London’s Battersea. At the event, which runs from October 2-7, a showcase in the foyer focuses on pieces that reflect the influence of Japanese design on European interiors.

The art and antiques trade celebrated a victory in the US after the Trump administration dropped plans for an import tax of 25% on art and antiques of Chinese origin.

Three modestly valued works in regional sales, all sold below £1000 including a watercolour of a North African market scene by Hercules Brabazon Brabazon.

Gracing the catalogue cover of Whyte’s Irish & International Art auction in Dublin on October 1 is this work by Séan Keating (1889-1977).

Two early examples of Indo- Portuguese furniture sold for five-figure sums at auction this month.

The Northern Antiques Fair, an annual Harrogate event, is a chance for connoisseur buyers in the north to shop a little closer to home.

A large panel painting by the Flemish artist Frans Francken II (1581-1642) is to appear at Ivoire Troyes’ Auction in France on September 29.

Trading as Discover Vintage, Keeley Harris runs shows in Coventry, Manchester and Leeds – the next on Sunday October 7 at the 1970s-built Pudsey Civic Hall, on the outskirts of Leeds.

ATG’s selection of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com from the period September 13-19, 2018. This includes both the highest prices over estimate and the top prices paid online.

Our round-up of British and Irish book sales coming up from September 25-October 6, 2018.

The annual London Writing Equipment Show at the Holiday Inn in Bloomsbury on Sunday October 7 will be a sell-out, says coorganiser Jeremy Collingridge.