Collectables

An inscription reading “For Mrs Oliver, from Beatrix Potter – with kind regards & best wishes for Christmas 1901” was a welcome bonus on a copy of the first, privately printed edition of The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

Two 1859 firsts of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species…, neither in what could be called good condition, made very strong prices in recent weeks. This is a book nowadays so desirable that such shortcomings can be overlooked.

A hairwork bracelet offered at auction was inscribed to a gold mount: From the Mane of the Charger Copenhagen which carried the Duke of Wellington 18 successive hours on the 18th June 1815, The Battle of Waterloo.

Once described as “one of the rarest dog books printed in the English language”, a copy of Cynographia Britannica: Consisting of Coloured Engravings of Various Breeds of Dogs existing in Great Britain sold at $14,000 (£10,525) at Christie’s New York (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) on June 14.

An early 17th century work on …the Whole Practise of Artillery made a record sum in sale held by Tennants (20% buyer’s premium) of Leyburn.

Sold for $32,000 (£24,060) at Christie’s New York (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) on June 14 was an Edison Universal Stock Ticker.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from July 9-19.

A Lesser George sash badge of The Most Noble Order of the Garter was the stand-out lot in a dedicated auction of honours that once belonged to the last Duke of Cambridge to have held that title before Prince William in the present day.

An archive relating to three Suffragette sisters has been bought at a Hansons auction by a well-known dealer in memorabilia.

The antiquarian book trade is lobbying for changes to the proposed EU law designed to crack down on imports of cultural goods ‘more than 250 years old’.

Pitched at £100-150, a small North American Native woven pouch attracted interest from London, Continental and US specialists at Tennants’ (23% buyer’s premium) Militaria & Ethnographica offering at Leyburn.

Fabrizio Govi of Libreria antiquaria Alverto Govi (Italy) and Govi Rare Books (New York) was elected vice-president of ILAB this year.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from July 3-12, 2018.

Some 240 lots in a recent two-day book sale in Norfolk came from the library of local authors and collectors David and Patricia Cory, with science fiction, fantasy, ghost stories and crime fiction very much in evidence.

Dating from 1944, the ink, watercolour and gouache artwork shown belowwas made by Russell H Tandy to illustrate the cover of The Secret in the Old Attic, the 21st of Carolyn Keene’s ‘Nancy Drew’ mysteries.