Latest News Articles by Ian McKay
Golfosaurians and other course tales
12 November 2018One 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).
British and Irish book auctions: November 13-23, 2018
12 November 2018ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from November 13-23, 2018.
Adam Smith first edition hidden under old cabinet offered in huge Bishton Hall auction
05 November 2018The 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.
Houdini sells his secrets – for a cut-price 50 cents
05 November 2018The 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…
Fifteenth century travel yarn on track for record
05 November 2018Illustrated 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.
British and Irish book auctions: November 6-17, 2018
05 November 2018ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from November 6-17, 2018.
Sphinx stands out in Edinburgh
29 October 2018Formerly in the collections of a distinguished English bibliophile, Major John Roland Abbey, a copy of Luigi Mayer’s well-known set of Views in Egypt, Palestine and the Ottoman Empire was one of the highlights of a recent Scottish sale.
Wolves pack a punch in Cotswold selection
29 October 2018Published 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.
Grammar School rules get a tick in Sussex sale
29 October 2018A 17th century manuscript grimoire that sold for £18,000 (featured on these pages in ATG No 2363) was very much the star turn of an October 2 sale in Sussex, but certainly not the only lot to catch the eye.
First edition of a worldly work on offer in Essex
29 October 2018A handful of copies of Robert Morden’s 'Geography Rectified, or a Description of the World' have made a little more at auction than a 1680 copy offered in a Stacey’s (24% buyer’s premium) sale of September 10 – but all bar one of them were second or third editions of 1688 and 1693.
British and Irish book auctions: October 30-November 9, 2018
29 October 2018ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from October 30-November 9, 2018.
Political propaganda with plenty of auction clout
29 October 2018All rather slim – one in fact a single sheet broadside – the three items noted here were all part of a Bonhams New York (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) sale of September 25 and, spanning some 80 years, all bear Boston imprints.
Sale with lots of characters
22 October 2018Rude Rowlandson print is among the highlights of Gloucestershire auction.
Get the measure of the market with a metric pioneer
22 October 2018They may not have been the most photogenic lots in the catalogue of a recent London sale, but a couple of lots were highly attractive for their significance in the maths and measurements field.
Franklin crackles in saleroom
22 October 2018Private Collections, an October 3 sale at Bonhams (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium), offered works of art from a number of sources and among lots from the estate of the late Victor, 3rd Viscount Churchill – a cousin of Winston – there were a few books.
From Tolkas with ’Love to dearest Bobsie’
22 October 2018The dust jacket is far from pristine, but this 1933 first of The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas is signed and inscribed by both its subject and her lifelong partner, the writer Gertrude Stein.
Posthumous Pulitzer winner
22 October 2018Eleven years after John Kennedy Toole committed suicide, fellow writer Walker Percy was the man who ensured that his only book, A Confederacy of Dunces, finally got into print.
The story of a real ‘fairy tale’
15 October 2018It may seem hard to credit nowadays, but photographs of fairies at the bottom of the Cottingley (Yorkshire) garden of two young girls, produced in 1917 as a practical joke, were taken to be genuine by many people – most famously, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Manuscript’s sale magic
15 October 2018Brought into a West Sussex saleroom some months ago, a manuscript grimoire, or collection of magic spells, invocations and more practical advice on ailments and aspirations, offered quite a challenge to the cataloguer.
Sotheby’s rolls out the barrel
15 October 2018Investigation into wine storage is unusual success in computing library auction.