Latest News Articles by Ian McKay
British and Irish book auctions (all online only): March 31-April 11, 2020
30 March 2020British and Irish book auctions, March 31-April 11, 2020.
Scott’s tipple: glass jugs with a polar connection
23 March 2020Among the Antarctic lots in the Travel & Exploration sale at Bonhams, the outstanding result came for a group of three glass jugs with silver lids, rims and, in two cases, hanging labels marked 'Whiskey'.
Bank on early financial works
23 March 2020Rare works in South Cerney sale document the formative years of the Bank of England
Austen firsts star in US
23 March 2020First editions of all of Jane Austen’s major works featured in a sale last month held by Swann Galleries (25/20/12% buyer’s premium).
Shells sell in Edinburgh
23 March 2020Containing some 600 hand-coloured engraved plates, a set of Sowerby and De Carle’s 'The Mineral Conchology of Great Britain…' of 1812-29 was just another of the many attraction in a sale last month held by Lyon & Turnbull.
British and Irish book auctions: March 24-April 4, 2020
23 March 2020Our regular listing of British and Irish book auctions.
Rare photos of Alaskan ‘Gold Rush' bid to over 25-times estimate
23 March 2020An album of 35 photographs relating to the Alaskan ‘Gold Rush’ of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries sold for £1900 rather than the estimate of £50-70 in a recent North Yorkshire sale.
Collection assembled by descendant of circumnavigator Anson anchors travel selection
16 March 2020Offered very early on in the books section of the Travel & Exploration sale at Bonhams (27.5/25/20/13.9% buyer’s premium), a 24-lot collection relating to George Anson amassed by the late Colin Paul, a descendant of the admiral, attracted considerable interest.
Sylvia Plath’s 'The Bell Jar' sells for £3000 at Surrey auction
16 March 2020A copy of Sylvia Plath’s 'The Bell Jar' in a well-preserved dust jacket sold for £3000 in a recent Surrey auction may have set a record for any uninscribed or association copy.
Even a sad Hobbit finds a home
16 March 2020A copy of JRR Tolkien’s 'The Hobbit' offered in a recent Surrey sale was a first-impression one of 1937, but essentially defined by its truly sad and defective condition.
British and Irish book auctions: March 11-31, 2020
16 March 2020ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from March 11-31, 2020.
Solid interest at Forum Auctions for Anthony Askham leaves
09 March 2020Very much the surprise of an online sale held by Forum Auctions (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) was a lot presenting incomplete fragments of 'An Almanacke and Prognosticatyon'… for the year 1552.
Rare early Biggles paperback flies again at Norfolk sale
09 March 2020An unexpected star turn of a recent Norfolk sale was a job lot of works from the library of the late Ron Fiske of Morningthorpe Manor, an East Anglian collector whose books a Norfolk auction house first started dispersing a few years years ago.
BOOKS AND WORKS ON PAPER: Grim toll of plagues up to 1666
09 March 2020List of deaths is timely reminder that outbreaks are nothing new
Middle Eastern medical manuscript proves to be £70,000 saleroom cure
09 March 2020Said to date from the 12th-14th century, an incomplete and dampstained Middle Eastern medical manuscript sold for £70,000 at Bellmans (22% buyer’s premium) on February 22.
Notorious female pirates inspired later authors
09 March 2020Shown below is a plate from A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most Notorious Pyrates… sold at Lyon & Turnbull (25% buyer’s premium) on February 19
British and Irish book auctions: March 10-21, 2020
09 March 2020Our regular listing of British and Irish book auctions.
Map buyer goes with the flow
02 March 2020Early-17th century Lithuanian plan sold alongside companion Dnieper river details
Fascinating documents showcase the foundation of the US
02 March 2020A momentous letter of July 6, 1776, in which President of Congress John Hancock announced the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, was the most expensive lot in a printed and manuscript Americana sale on January 27.
Witchcraft account sells for over six-times estimate in Essex auction
02 March 2020An eyewitness account of the trial of two elderly widows on charges of witchcraft proved one of the more successful lots in a truly Out of the Ordinary sale held in Essex on February 11.