Books & Periodicals

Preparatory and other unused drawings relating to Roald Dahl classics come to auction

Two of only 11 leaves of the original, working manuscript of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species… known to remain in private hands were sold at auction in London last month.

Sold for £2500 in a Dominic Winter (20% buyer’s premium) sale of July 25 was an enormous archive of work produced in the 1950s and ‘60s by Leslie Starke (1905-74), a cartoonist once very popular in both the UK and US.

Illustrated with coloured engravings, The History of Sixteen Wonderful Old Women is a work of 1821 that is “thought to be the first printed book of Limericks”.

A selection of fine or unusual bindings seen at auction during the summer months will feature more prominently in a future issue, but shown here is a 1751 first of Thomas Gray’s An Elegy Wrote in a Country Church Yard in a striking later binding that was among lots offered at Chiswick Auctions (25/12% buyer’s premium) on July 12.

Sold at £620 in a July 2 sale held by Hansons (20% buyer’s premium) was a leather-bound promotional catalogue issued by the Walturdaw Cinema Supply Co of Birmingham.

Rare books and prints valued at millions of dollars remain at large in the international market in the wake of a US library theft.

One of the earlier big attractions of the new season will be the September 18-19 auction at Sotheby’s of the Erwin Tomash library on the history of computing.

The set of flicker books published c.1930 titled 'Drive and Mashie', 'Brassie and Iron' and 'Out the Rough and Putt', were once used as teaching aids for golfers.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from August 7-18, 2018.

June and July brought a rich crop of auctions in London, around the country and overseas. A few of those sales and stand-out results have already been reported on these and the ATG news pages, but many more hammer highlights were achieved.

Two albums of 19th century watercolours and drawings produced unexpected results in summer sales.

A dispute over the ownership of a score by Sir Edward Elgar involving the BBC and the former Conservative MP David Mellor could lead to the manuscript being given to the British Library.

Comprising some 3000 books ranging in date from 1473-1840, one of the finest collections of books on agriculture ever assembled was dispersed by Forum Auctions (30/24/14.4% buyer’s premium inc VAT) in a July 10-11 sale that totalled £1.6m.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from July 25-August 15, 2018.