One item is a conveyance by which James Christie, son of that other firm’s founder, acquired (with others) a coach house and stables in Mason’s Yard, St. James’s, in 1808.
The lot sold for £900.
Books were equally insignificant in the £2.4m sale of the diverse collection of works of art formed by the distinguished art critic and curator David Sylvester, held at Sotheby’s on February 26 but, above right, a copy of Stubbs’ Anatomy of the Horse, an oblong folio collection of 24 etched plates on wove paper, made £6500.
The work carried a first edition date of 1766, but though the text found in the various issues of this scientifically and artistically important work was probably printed at that time, the plates appear to have been printed on demand as copies were required for sale, and examples with plates watermarked for dates between 1798 and 1827 are recorded. There was no reference to watermarks in the catalogue entry for the Sylvester copy, but to put it vaguely in context, Christie’s sold what was described as an early issue for £18,000 in 1999, and in November 2000, got £11,000 for a copy with plates watermarked for 1815 that had once belonged to the artist Frederic, Lord Leighton.
Buyer’s premium: 20/15/10 per cent
Paper Props & Stubbs’ Anatomy of the Horse
Above right: the ‘Library’ portion of the Ken Paul Collection, a three-day sale of ‘antique’ film props that raised £1.5m at Sotheby’s last month was not large and was dispersed in eight job lots, but someone will doubtless have fun sorting through this collection of several hundred deeds, wills, leases, probates, transfers etc., mostly on vellum and largely 19th century, but including a few made-up props.
