Books and Works on Paper

Containing near contemporary and even, it would seem, first-hand accounts of the voyages of Columbus and other travellers, a 1512 autograph manuscript of the Dialogo… of Bernardo of Albenga was a star turn in a November 13 sale held by Sotheby’s (25/20/12.9% buyer’s premium).

Titled ‘In the District of Moka’, the hand-coloured litho plate shown here is one of 40 that make up a scarce folio of 1832, Thomas Bradshaw’s Views in Mauritius, or Isle of France…

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).

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

A large and handsome souvenir publication for the French liner SS Normandie was offered in a Mullock’s (20% buyer’s premium) sale of October 16.

Two copies of Time Out of Joint, an early dystopian work by the well-known sci-fi writer Philip K Dick, were offered in a PBA Galleries (20/15% buyer’s premium) sale of October 18.

Personal items from the renowned physicist Stephen Hawking impress among an illustrious array of names.

Dated October 29, 1862, a letter that may very well have been Abraham Lincoln’s last to his over-cautious army chief, General George McClellan, provided a highlight of a recent Dallas sale of historical manuscripts.

The camel looks terribly pleased with its hat and collar in this plate from a copy of Emily Eden’s 'Portraits of the Princes and People of India' sold on October 23 as part of an Indian & Islamic Art sale.

One of just 100 first edition copies of National Golf Links of America by Charles Blair MacDonald was the top lot in a recent US golf sale at $15,000 (£11,450).

A recent online sale that ran to just 35 lots and closed on October 25 offered a single-owner collection of works by the Victorian explorer and writer, Sir Richard Burton.

Sold for £1900 in a recent London sale was an 1892 first of Experiments with Alternate Currents of High Potential and High Frequency – a record for this particular work.

The very Penguin copy of DH Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover used by Sir Laurence Byrne, the presiding judge in the famous 1960 obscenity trial, has sold for £45,000.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from November 13-23, 2018.

The very first lot offered as part of a Harry Houdini collection in an October 20 sale held by US magic specialist Potter & Potter (20% buyer’s premium) was a 50 cent, 1898 copy of Magic Made Easy…

The last-minute discovery of a 1776 first edition of Adam Smith’s '…Wealth of Nations' was a magical, unforgettable moment for a Derbyshire saleroom’s book specialist.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from November 6-17, 2018.

Illustrated below is a spread from a 1488 edition of a popular account of travels to various parts of the world that is generally referred to as a compilation by Sir John Mandeville.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from October 30-November 9, 2018.

Published in 1962, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase was the first book in a popular series of lupine tales by Joan Aiken (1924-2004), a prolific and prize-winning author whose specialities included the supernatural and children’s books that involved an elaborate, alternative history of Britain.