Latest News Articles by Ian McKay
Horlick’s Polar exploration
08 January 2018A tin of Horlick’s was one of the odder and cheaper lots in the $3m sale of material from the Martin Greene library on ‘Russian America and Polar Exploration’ held by Christie’s New York (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) on December 7.
Pick of the Week: Orwell classic hammered down and out of saleroom at £46,000
02 January 2018Complete with slightly frayed and browned but rarely seen jacket, a 1933 copy of George Orwell’s 'Down and Out in Paris and London' was bid to £46,000 by James Hall of Lucius Books in York at a Dominic Winter sale.
Packed sales fill the schedule
02 January 2018While the end of last year was chock-full of auctions, this winter has been even busier.
Enigma machine with extra rotor
02 January 2018Where scientific instruments are concerned, recent highlights such as Albert Einstein’s telescope or a working example of the Apple 1 computer could have been selected. However, we begin instead with the improved, four-rotor Enigma cipher machine.
D-Day dummy drops in to NY auction
02 January 2018Overall, a Voices of the 20th Century sale held by Bonhams New York (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) on December 6 was rather disappointing, with only 100 of 264 lots sold (and only six of the 55 Russian lots). However, among the more curious entries was the ‘Paradummy’ pictured below.
Caricatures depict eccentric excursions including stagecoach on the sands
18 December 2017‘Stage Coach Passengers passing Woburn Sands’ is one of 100 coloured engraved caricatures after Isaac Cruikshank that illustrate GM Woodward’s Eccentric Excursions or Literary and Pictorial Sketches in England and South Wales, interspersed with Curious Anecdotes of 1807.
Seventh time lucky for first work by Brontë sisters
18 December 2017A copy of the first published work of the Brontë sisters sold for a record sum at Sotheby’s (25/20/12/5% buyer’s premium) on November 7, just a few months after a new high had been set at another London auction.
Theatrical flourishes and ladies of the night
18 December 2017A fascinating archive of manuscripts, ephemera and artefacts relating to the life and career of the great actor, playwright and theatrical manager David Garrick sold for a far higher than predicted £90,000 at Bonhams (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) on November 15.
The Brunel family tunnel vision
11 December 2017An extraordinary family archive of engineering and architectural drawings and designs for the projects of Marc Isambard Brunel (1769-1849), offered in 14 lots, sold for a total of £224,500 in a Bonhams (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) sale of November 15.
Donkey work pays off for £17,000 Golden Asse
11 December 2017Employing a translation made in the 16th century by William Adlington, the 1924 Ashendene edition of The Golden Asse of Lucius Apuleius was printed in the press’ proprietary Subiaco type in an edition of just 124 copies, of which 16 were printed on vellum but only 13 offered for sale.
Birdlife books cause a flap in salerooms across the world
11 December 2017A Great Blue Heron as seen by John James Audubon proved the unexpected avian star in a $3m-plus sale featuring mostly natural history prints, maps and atlases held by US saleroom Graham Arader (22% buyer’s premium) on October 28.
Sci-fi bidders take their chance
11 December 2017Record bids greeted a couple of works by the renowned and influential science-fiction writer Philip K Dick in a November 14 sale held by Swann (25/20/12% buyer’s premium).
Record price set for superb pictorial record of celebrated 'Cabinet of Natural History' at Christie's in Paris
09 December 2017An exceptional copy of a celebrated pictorial record of a great 18th century 'Cabinet of Natural History' sold for a record €420,000 (£376,740) in a recent Christie's Paris sale.
Rare 19th century playing cards prove a strong hand at Chorleys auction
04 December 2017Rare sets of geographical, astronomical and scientific themed playing cards featured in two recent sales. Those seen in a recent sale at Chorleys in Gloucestershire came from the estate of the late Alan and Joan Tucker, booksellers of Stroud, as did some 20,000 postcards and most of the books offered in the auction.
Cortés maps out symbolic Spanish claims to the New World
04 December 2017An exceptionally rare, complete copy in a 17th century binding of Hernán Cortés’ Praeclara Nova maris Oceanii Hyspania… of 1524 sold for a six-times estimate €240,000 (£212,390) at Hartung & Hartung (20% buyer’s premium) in its November 6-7 auction.
Bee books create saleroom buzz
04 December 2017British bee books formed an unusual feature of a November 8 sale held by Dominic Winter (19.5% buyer’s premium).
Remember to write your own Proust review
04 December 2017Described as the ‘Proustian Holy Grail’ by Sotheby’s Paris (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium), one of just five special copies printed on Japanese paper of Marcel Proust’s Du côté de chez Swann sold for a premium-inclusive €535,000 (£471,780) in a sale of October 30.
George Orwell works make large contribution to 'English Bibliophile' auction series
04 December 2017George Orwell is the focus of a first look at a November 7 Sotheby’s (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) sale of books from The Library of an English Bibliophile, the seventh in that series to have been held since 2010. Orwell’s books made a significant contribution to the overall total.
To Muriel with love from Beatrix Potter
27 November 2017It was in poor condition and lacked the backstrip, but a copy of The Tale of Mrs Tiggy-winkle offered in the book section of a Greenslade Taylor Hunt (19.5% buyer’s premium) sale of November 2 was redeemed by the presence of a presentation inscription.
Fairy tales and Dr Seuss fascinate in the Big Apple
27 November 2017Harry Clarke worked for three years on his first major book illustration commission, an edition of the Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen commissioned by Harrap.