Features

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.

This shako worn by an officer of the 26th Regiment of Bengal Native (Light) Infantry is a reminder of tragic times in India.

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.

Red jackets and white helmets looked lovely on the parade ground but in the modern world of warfare developing at the end of the 19th century they also made fine targets for accurate long-range rifles.

This felt bicorne hat is of a type worn by all ranks of the British heavy cavalry and most light cavalry officers until replaced in 1812 by crested helmets and shakos.

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'.

The history of Satsuma wares, among the most recognised and profitable export products of the Meiji period, is interwoven with the opening up of Japan after centuries of isolation.

Every year Asian Art in London presents two awards for the most outstanding work of art: one for an item offered by a dealer, the other for a work offered by an auction house. The awards are co-sponsored by Antiques Trade Gazette and Apollo magazine.

For 22 years Asian Art in London has promoted the wide range of specialist auctions, dealer exhibitions, symposia and lectures held in the capital and further afield across 10 autumnal days. Together they spotlight the UK as a repository and a centre of expertise for the finest Asian art.

Dismissed a generation ago as decorative export wares, Qing and later silver is today the focus of lively academic and commercial attention.

A selection of UK and international auction highs and milestones from the past year.

A wealth of objects shelter under the great ‘Asian art’ umbrella – together representing five millennia of artistic endeavour across one quarter of the globe. Here we preview a series of Asian art objects available for sale at galleries and auctions over the next month, and each from a different moment in time or geography. From the cult of Monju to the beginning of a new Japanese imperial era – all tell a compelling tale.

A feast of English and Continental ceramics will be laid on in the Big Apple next week to tempt enthusiasts for classic 18th and 19th century pottery and porcelain from two of the major factories of western Europe.

Market freshness, provenance and attractive estimates were the features that held sway to ensure a high selling rate for a single-owner collection of British delftwares offered at Woolley & Wallis (25/12% buyer’s premium).

In the latest of our occasional series of collector interviews, we talk to Graham Bowers, who buys items associated with Napoleon Bonaparte and describes himself as being “under the Corsican wizard’s spell”.

Interest in glyphic art, which reached its collecting apogee during the Grand Tour collecting, is resurgent once more.