O ur July sale offers a wide range of highlights from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The sale includes fine first editions – from presentation copies by Dickens, and stories by Gogol, to a signed set of John le Carre’s Karla trilogy additionally signed by a leading figure in East German intelligence who was an inspiration for the character of Karla. There are literary manuscripts by Thackeray, Scott, and Mary Shelley, and an important series of letters by Hermann Hesse to Stefan Zweig, as well as groups of letters by TS Eliot, Henry James, Bernard Shaw, and others. We are also privileged to offer a recently identified portrait of George Eliot.
Historical highlights include an exceptionally rare copy of the 1859 Rules of Football issued by Sheffield Football Club – the earliest printed rules of the world’s first football club as well as letters by Admiral Nelson, Winston Churchill, T.E. Lawrence, Nelson Mandela, and Sigmund Freud.
Children’s books include first edition Harry Potters, a rare paper cut design by Hans Christian Andersen, a family collection of Richmal Crompton’s Just William books, and a wonderful drawing of Noddy by Hawmsen Van Der Beek.
The sale is also notable for a its offerings in history of art, from illustrations by Bonnard and Picasso through to important and revealing letters by John Ruskin.
A unique collection of letters spanning the entire second half of the nineteenth century, providing a fascinating insight into the everyday life of this Victorian polymath. Fervent essays decrying the rapid industrialisation that characterised the age, letters offering advice on improving one’s draughtsmanship, an intimate note mentioning his ‘pet’ Rose La Touche, as well as poetry, letters from John Everett Millais, drawings and an arresting signed photographic portrait truly demonstrate the unendingly multifaceted nature of this man; undoubtedly one of the most important and influential figures in Victorian Britain.
Two works by Picasso, Prévost’s Historie de Manon, as well as a sumptuously bound and rare edition of Ambroise Vollard’s Sainte Monique, bound in white crushed morocco with burgundy, gilt and suede form part of the exceptional art historical works available in the sale. Le siège de Jérusalem was one of Picasso’s earliest book illustrations, this copy bound in wonderful red and navy morocco by Semet & Plumelle. Mark Francis and Jay Jopling’s impressive project involving 50 of the most important artists of active at the millennium is offered, with autographs including Tracey Emin, Grayson Perry, Gilbert + George and Anish Kapoor.
