Books and Works on Paper

From November 26-28 Christie’s Paris will disperse part of the family library of the Comtesse Martine de Béhague (1869-1939) and Hubert de Ganay (1888-1974).

Pictured below is one of the 26 views, after Coke Smyth, that form a first edition copy of John Frederick Lewis’ 'Illustrations of Constantinople, Made During a Residence in that City &c., in the Years 1835-6'.

This newly discovered ledger, dated August 18, 1660, to March 16, 1661, was kept in person by Edward Backwell while acting as paymaster to both the Excise and the House of Commons. It carries an estimate of £20,000-40,000 at Bonhams’ Fine Books and Manuscripts sale in Knightsbridge on December 4.

With the title and 26 plates tipped onto brown paper leaves, a large ‘library edition’ copy of William Nicholson’s famous Alphabet, published by Heinemann in 1898, is estimated at $800-1200 in a November 7 sale at PBA Galleries of San Francisco.

Venerable London rare book dealership Bernard Quaritch, established in 1847, has recently moved from Mayfair to Holborn. Here ATG talks to two members of the firm, Andrea Mazzocchi and Donovan Rees, about its new location and some wider trends in the book trade

Coming up for sale at Swann Galleries in New York on December 10 is an original, initialled ink and wash drawing by EH Shepard for a lesser-known work by Kenneth Grahame, Bertie’s Escapade, that was published by Lippincott in the US in 1949.

A sale of Modern First Editions at Bloomsbury Auctions on November 14 includes this ‘near mint’ 1950 copy of Graham Greene’s 'The Third Man and The Fallen Idol'.

Diaries, journals and letters kept by Lady Anne Cullum (1807-95) of Hardwick House, near Bury St Edmunds, sold for a total of around £8000 in a recent East Anglian auction.

‘Grolieresque’ cover on 1527 edition of key Italian Renaissance work boosts auction value.

Three pieces of original artwork were the big money spinners in a Comic Book Auctions (20% buyer’s premium) timed online sale on thesaleroom.com which closed on September 1.

Offered at a recent sale at Mullock’s in Ludlow were three early-19th century games pitched at £150-200 apiece but sold at much higher sums.

Our regular listing of British and Irish book auctions.

A first portion of the library of the late Eric Gerald Stanley, a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University, featured in a recent auction at Mallams.

Graham Greene was a star turn when a second portion of the famed ‘Mystery Fiction’ collections and stock of Otto Penzler, proprietor of Manhattan’s ‘Mysterious Bookshop’, came to auction in New York on September 5.

Two early handmade Valentines from the Judith Howard collection of mourning jewellery, greeting cards andand other ephemera drew demand at Hansons latest sale at Bishton Hall, Staffordshire.

A small but very successful section of a recent London sale offered a group of just eight lots related to the British Arctic Expedition of 1875-76.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from October 15-25, 2019.

One exceptional and very successful lot in a recent Yorkshire sale focused on penal reforms on the far side of the world.

Several records were broken when all 442 lots in the Glynn & Suzanne Crain science-fiction collection sold in a US auction on August 13-14.

Our regular listing of British and Irish book auctions.