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The Flemish post-Impressionist Emile Claus (1849-1924) embraced the prevailing taste for plein-air painting when he moved to the village of Astene by the river Lys in 1883.

Our listing of British and Irish book auctions taking place from July 23-August 3, 2019.

Items on offer reflect collecting ethos of the annual London fair now in its 10th year.

This pair of green stained ivory cufflinks offered by Dreweatts (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) of Donnington Priory was made by Child & Child after a design by the eminent Pre-Raphaelite painter and jewellery designer Edward Burne-Jones.

A collection of diamond jewellery attracted international competition at Greenslade Taylor Hunt’s (19.5% buyer’s premium) June sale in Taunton. The cache of pre-war jewels was consigned following a house call by gemmologist and valuer Richard Slater. “It was a wonderful selection of jewellery. The owner had great taste,” he said.

The annual Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe which run this year from August 2-26 attract audiences of 400,000-plus visitors to the city.

A medal, silver cigar box and ‘oil lamp’ lighter sold at Ramsay Cornish's latest sale in Edinburgh had come by descent from Major Jonathan Leslie Dean (1859-1926). He was a key participant in the defence of O’okiep (1902), the small town in the Northern Cape that was besieged by Boer Commandos from April 4-May 4, 1902, towards the end of the Second Boer War.

A recent sale at Dix Noonan Webb (20% buyer’s premium) included a private collection of antique jewels, gold and enamelled boxes and pocket watches.

Alexandre Calame’s oil on canvas The River Lutschine near Lauterbrunnen was one of the highlight sales during this summer’s London Art Week (LAW).

This rare American scene by noted railway painter Terence Cuneo (1907-96) turned up at Canterbury Auction Galleries (20% buyer’s premium) in Kent.

Associations including Queen Victoria’s daughter help to boost 17th century manuscript.

A prime example of mid-century Scandinavian furniture is offered at the Cotswolds Decorative, Antiques & Art Fair next month by dealer Roger Burgett of Scandinavian by Design.

A 17th century oak panel marking the rebuilding of one of the best-known dwellings on the Chester Rows sold at auction last week for £4600.

Anglicised, Anglican and Tory landowners controlled many aspects of Welsh life in the Georgian period – particularly when it came to politics.

No record exists of any signed, autograph letter in the hand of Mao Zedong being previously sold on the international market, said Sotheby’s (25/20/13.9% buyer’s premium) of the example it offered as part of a June 11 sale of manuscripts, Continental books and music.

Edinburgh gallery Fettes Fine Art offers a painting by Scottish artist John Phillip at its local Galloway Fair this week.

Week of royal celebration now includes a one-day 20-exhibitor antiques and vintage fair.

Following “unprecedented demand”, a popular antiques and collectors’ marquee is set to return to this year’s three-day New Forest Show in Hampshire after it was not included in last year’s event.

On January 4, 1940, the London subsidiary of the Omega Watch Co received an urgent order from the Goldsmiths and Silversmiths Company for 2000 watches intended for Royal Air Force crews. Delivery was to be made by March 10, 1940.

Beneath the famous anchor and dolphin device that denotes a product of the Aldine presses in Venice, the final leaf of a 1516 edition of Ovid’s Metamorphoses below bears an inscription that reveals the reason this little work in its later vellum binding sold at £6000.