Books and Works on Paper

In 1585 English colonists Thomas Hariot and John White recorded their first impressions of life on Roanoke Island in present-day North Carolina.

Printing of abolitionist Douglass’ famous speech on a ‘rich inheritance’ not shared takes nearly $70,000

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions

The music memorabilia sale at Omega (28.8% buyer’s premium inc VAT) on November 29 included the handwritten lyrics to two tracks on David Bowie’s 1972 classic The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.

Fleetwood Mac are famous for the huge-selling Rumours album that propelled the band to superstardom but the original line-up and sound were very different.

The handstitched booklet titled Balls & My Partners, 1844-1845 was written by Adelaide Horatia Elizabeth Seymour (1825-77) as she enjoyed the life of a debutante.

Bidder in Massachusetts goes to £24,000 to secure an account of a 1764 trip along the eastern seaboard

Letters and books marking the deep relationship between author EM Forster and policeman Bob Buckingham and his family sold for £9000.

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions taking place via thesaleroom.com

Newly discovered papers show how renowned mathematician and his collaborator worked hand in hand

Few people can profess to know more about the 1910-12 Japanese Antarctic Expedition than the Arizona book dealer Chet Ross.

Held by the same private New England family since 1792, a copy of 'A Journal of Captain Cook’s Last Voyage to the Pacific Ocean' complete with its map came for sale at Bonhams Skinner (28/26/20% buyer’s premium).

Letter from German mathematician to English scholar takes £14,000 in Edinburgh saleroom

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions taking place via thesaleroom.com

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions

Top-selling lot in Halls’ (24% buyer’s premium) books and manuscripts sale on November 15 was a collection of 14 letters written by the Anglo-Irish novelist Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849) between 1818-31.

Among the many highlights of the Alan and Simone Hartman collection at Bonhams New York is a copy of the monumental catalogue of the famed Bishop collection of Chinese jades. The deluxe volume, once owned by the last tsar of Russia, carries expectations of $100,000-150,000 as part of the 114-lot dispersal on December 14.

The Christmas Rare Books & Collectors sale at Irish auction house Fonsie Mealy on December 12-13 includes No33 of only 150 copies in a limited special edition of Bog Poems by Seamus Heaney illustrated by Barrie Cooke (London, Rainbow Press, 1975).

Pictured here are two fine 19th century presentation copies that, unexpectedly, topped sales in South Cerney and Cambridge in October.