Latest News Articles by Ian McKay
Ladybirds at sea and in the air
22 May 2017Artwork produced for the much-loved ‘Ladybird’ books by the late John Berry (1920-2009) were offered by Tennants (18.5% buyer’s premium) on April 28.
Christie’s notes on ‘whodunnits’
22 May 2017Containing over 150pp of notes and fragmentary drafts for two of her novels and a play, an autograph notebook used by Agatha Christie while in Baghdad around 1948 – perhaps while travelling with her husband, the archaeologist Max Mallowan – sold for $15,000 (£11,625) in a Swann Auction Galleries (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) sale of May 4.
‘Heretical’ Galileo planetary work which horrified the Inquisition is star lot in Paris auction
15 May 2017Following the publication in 1632 of his Dialogo…, Galileo found himself hauled before the Inquisition and tried for his heretical views.
Henry James inscription lifts HG Wells book at Charterhouse auction
15 May 2017Books from the library of neurologist Dr MacDonald Critchley sold as part of an April 20-21 auction held by Charterhouse (19.5% buyer’s premium) naturally included books related to his professional interests, among them copies of his own works. But the lot that attracted most bidding interest was a novel by HG Wells.
Books marking 500th anniversary of Protestant Reformation offered in German auction
10 May 2017As far as I can recall, my first introduction to Martin Luther was a colour plate in a children’s book, showing him nailing his ‘95 Theses’ to a church door.
Hemingway under the hammer in New York auction
08 May 2017Ernest Hemingway and F Scott Fitzgerald were among the financial big-hitters when a third part of the extensive Maurice F Neville collection of modern literature was sold by Sotheby’s New York (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) on April 24.
Hunter S Thompson's fearful and loathsome jacket
08 May 2017“We were somewhere around Barstow when the drugs began to take hold” are the opening words of Hunter S Thompson’s notorious and loosely autobiographical novel Fear and Loathing Las Vegas…
Dive in to bid for pioneering swimming works
08 May 2017Sold for £6000 in a Forum Auctions (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) sale of March 30 was a copy of one of the earliest books on swimming.
Scarfe savages all before him with 130 works at auction
08 May 2017More than 130 original artworks by the artist, sometimes savage political cartoonist and stage designer, Gerald Scarfe, were offered by Sotheby’s (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) on April 5.
First Just William work takes rightful pole position
08 May 2017Reversing the usual pattern where it is an author’s first book that makes the big money, it is the last of the 38 books featuring Richmal Crompton’s most famous children’s book creation that has for many years been one of the most expensive purchases for collectors.
Historian has a swing at covering ‘world’s first golf club’
08 May 2017Best round scores in the most recent PBA Galleries (20/15% buyer’s premium) golfing sale came with the appearance of a group of the papers of golfing historian and collector CB Clapcott.
Literary path begins for Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain
08 May 2017Compiled by J Wells Kelly and published in San Francisco in 1862, a rare copy of the First Directory of Nevada Territory…, which was worn, dry and splitting but in original, leather-backed printed boards, sold for $6500 (£5080) in a PBA Galleries sale of April 20.
Many happy returns for book anniversaries
02 May 2017Literary anniversaries are a good story to tell to potential sellers but do they bring greater interest and greater prices?
Rare Blaeu maps of Asia and Australia emerge at Sotheby’s upcoming auction
24 April 2017Willem Janszoon Blaeu (c.1570-1638) of Amsterdam and his son, Joan (1596-1673), were the leading figures in the atlas and map publishing world in an age when that Dutch city was the centre of European cartographic achievement.
Pioneering socialist work leads Gloucestershire sale
24 April 2017No fewer than 840 lots were offered in the bumper April 5-6 sale held by Dominic Winter (19.5% buyer’s premium). The most successful of them, at a record £32,000, was a presentation copy of a pioneering work that has been described as “the first practical statement of socialist doctrine”, Robert Owen’s A New View of Society… of 1813-14.
DNA identified as major Californian sale attraction
24 April 2017A major attraction in a PBA Galleries (20/15% buyer’s premium) sale of April 6 was the Samuel Hessel ‘DNA’ collection of scientific papers, journals and books.
Best not to nibble at your Beatrix Potters
24 April 2017A Beatrix Potter collection running to 62 lots got a Forum Auctions (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) sale of March 30 up and running.
Sir Malcom Arnold collection auction out of tune
24 April 2017Offered by Keys (20% buyer’s premium) on April 6, the Sir Malcolm Arnold Collection proved to be a problematic one.
Keeping a watch on the witchfinders
24 April 2017Published in 1631 in Rinteln, a small town in Lower Saxony, Friederich Spee’s Cautio Criminalis, seu de Processibus Contra Sagas is a first edition in much later boards of a book that has been described as the first serious attack on witchcraft trials and their use of torture.
Tintin takes Chicago taxi ride to Paris auction
24 April 2017Tintin has had another good day out in Paris. In an Artcurial sale on April 8 a European collector paid €753,000 (£643,815), including premiums and taxes, to buy an ink drawing done by Hergé for the 1937 comic book Tintin in America.