UK

An 1841 guide to London’s ladies of the night sold by Hansons for £3300 featured recently in ATG (No 2390), and one of the many rarities that emerged from the recent Gloucestershire sale of the late Martin Orsky’s library was a group of four 18th century broadsides advertising prostitutes.

A 2m-wide early 1950s sofa offered for £7000 on the stand of The Modern Warehouse was one of the larger objects attracting buyers at the latest 'Art & Antiques Fair Olympia'.

A large canvas by the Taiwan-born British minimalist Richard Lin (1933-2011) sailed to £84,000 at Ludlow saleroom McCartneys (17% buyer’s premium), setting a house record in the process.

Tennants credited “fresh-to-market pictures with a strong provenance” as the driving force behind the notable results in its Modern and Contemporary Art sale.

Bamfords’ James Lewis has set a new Guinness World Record for the 'Longest Auction by One Single Auctioneer'.

Peter Card’s fascination with this niche area stretches to the joy of extensive research

Two musical boxes catching the eye and ear among the small vertu sections at summer silver sales.

The Patriotic War of 1812 stirred up powerful feelings of national pride in Russia.

For three years now Forum Auctions (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) has, in addition to its high-profile auctions, been holding fortnightly, online-only timed sales that in their diverse content, it feels, act as a useful bellwether for the book world at large.

Denys Wilcox of The Court Gallery specialises in British and French art from 1880 to the late 20th century with an emphasis on English Post-Impressionism and the Paris School. He recently published 'The Art of Doris Hatt'.

As a reminder of the days when a piece of quality furniture could be expected to top a wide-ranging provincial sale, a George II giltwood and gesso occasional table led the way at Dawson’s (20% buyer’s premium) 550-lot event in Maidenhead.

The resurrection of vinyl continues apace as was evident when a large collection of classical records offered by Ledbury auction house John Goodwin (15% buyer’s premium) attracted specialist trade and private interest from all over the world.

Stand-out lot in a recent Irish sale was one of the 100 special copies of Ulysses printed on Dutch handmade paper by Van Gelder that James Joyce signed on publication in Paris in 1922.