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Brontë works hit saleroom heights

22 May 2023

Works by the three sisters including copies published under pseudonyms come to a Cambridge auction

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Austen’s pride in her work

22 May 2023

Two of Jane Austen’s works, both from the same Wyoming collector’s estate, were stand-out lots in a May 11 sale held in Chicago.

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Washington signature thrills in Philadelphia auction

22 May 2023

One of the more remarkable results of recent weeks came in a May 3 sale at Freeman’s (26/21/15% buyer’s premium) of Philadelphia.

The Codex Sassoon

Auction record for any book as Hebrew bible takes $38.1m at Sotheby’s

18 May 2023

Setting an auction record for any book, manuscript or item of Judaica, a work billed as the ‘earliest and most complete Hebrew bible’ in existence sold for $33.5m (£26.6m) at Sotheby’s New York.

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Colourful jacket of distinctive type boosts du Maurier Rebecca

15 May 2023

Four-figure first edition du Maurier book comes in the trademark Gollancz design without pictures

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Dickens brings expectations of up to $12,000

15 May 2023

Potter & Potter’s second books auction of the year includes Charles Dickens’ (1812-70) Great Expectations estimated at $8000-12,000.

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Reeled in at Doyle auction

08 May 2023

Edward Donovan’s 'The Natural History of British Fishes', a 19th century colour plate-illustrated British ichthyological work, featured in the Sporting & Travel Books sale held by Doyle (26/21/15% buyer’s premium) in New York earlier this year.

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Bloomsbury Book Fair springs forward

08 May 2023

A copy of Johann Kraft’s 'Pomona Austriaca' (Fruit Trees of Austria) featuring both the French and German texts as well as 100 hand-coloured plates is on offer at this spring’s Bloomsbury Book Fair Spring Event.

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Waugh, witch and Wheatley

08 May 2023

West Sussex sale highlights – including a work detailing author’s obsession with bricklaying as a hobby

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Bookplate boosts Sackville-West debut novel result

08 May 2023

The best-selling lot in a recent Carlisle auction was a 1919, Collins first of Heritage, the debut novel of Vita Sackville-West, who at that time was better known for her poetry.

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The polar market explored

08 May 2023

Now hugely popular, this collecting field actually took many years to get going

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Famed fables on offer

08 May 2023

An early 16th century illustrated edition Aesop was the highlight of an auction of books held by Giquello & Associes (25/20.5/17% buyer’s premium) in Paris on April 14.

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Chase over for first hunting book to be illustrated with photographs

08 May 2023

A library of works relating to hunting, horseriding and dogs assembled over a 40-year period by a hunting historian, the Comte d’Orglandes, went under the hammer on April 12 at Deloys (22% buyer’s premium inc tax) in Angers, part of the Ivoire group.

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All the ingredients of a useful guide

08 May 2023

François Pierre de la Varenne (1618-78) is the chef credited with bringing French cuisine into the modern era.

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‘It will be a great day for us to suspend this publication’

08 May 2023

The Negro Motorist Green Book, first produced in 1936, was the indispensable guide for African-American families travelling.

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No escaping Houdini’s research

08 May 2023

'A Magician Among the Spirits' by Harry Houdini conjured up one of the highest prices in the Potter & Potter (20% buyer’s premium) Houdini-related sale in Chicago on April 8 when it sold for $15,000 (£12,095).

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Big price for miniature work at Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr

08 May 2023

The first 90 or so lots in Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr’s (27.5/26/20/14.5% buyer’s premium) sale of Islamic and Indian Art held in Paris on April 6 were the property of a Royal collection.

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Spotlight on the Tomkinson collection

01 May 2023

This special edition of A Japanese Collection (1898) by Michael Tomkinson (1841-1921) is one of the first 25 copies printed on Indian paper and is signed and dedicated by the author to his daughter Dora.

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Surely you know Albert Smith?

17 April 2023

Forgotten today, a collection sold in Somerset remembers a multi-talented showman and author

Roman Missal prayer book

Rediscovered prayer book of ‘Charles II’s priest’ sells at Liverpool auction

10 April 2023

A prayer book once owned by a priest who helped Charles II hide after defeat at the Battle of Worcester, and later heard his death-bed confession, has sold at auction to a national heritage organisation.