He recorded purchases in a privately printed collection of letters, Your Books, My Son, and of his copy of Ratdolt"s famous 1482 printing of Euclid's Elementa he wrote, "Mr Maggs bought this copy at Sotheby's... one day for £40. After the sale I went round to their place and bought it for £60 - a considerable but by no means exorbitant profit."
Last week, that washed copy in a later, Venetian style binding by Zaehnsdorf, sold for £62,000 (plus 19.5% buyers' premium).
Your Books, My Son – £730,000
SIR Harry Newton (1871-1951), whose library provided some of the finest things in a £730,000 book sale held by Duke’s of Dorchester on March 8, was an adherent of the old ‘Cabinet’ school of collecting – buying key works of literature and science.