Held on October 13 in Cambridge by Cheffins (24.5% buyer’s premium) was a ‘Library’ auction that produced a great many surprises and far, far higher than suggested bids – a great many of them made to secure multiples, or what used once to be termed job lots.
One such, offering 32 chapbooks and pamphlets, along with a few other ‘Penny Library’ paperbacks, was sold at £6000, for example.
Still in the original paper wrappers was something very different, a boxing rarity.
An illustrated chapbook, it presented a History of the Great Fight between Spring and Langan for the Championship of England that took place in June 1824. The contestants fought for a purse of 1000 Guineas; the successful online bidder secured their prize at £1900.
