Telegrams: "VESPUCCI, LONDON." Telephone: Regent 3810. Chas. J. Sawyer, Ltd. Grafton House 12 & 13, Grafton Street, New Bond Street Now Ready. 2 vols, demy 8vo, cloth, £2 2s. net. ENGLISH BOOKS 1475-1900 A SIGNPOST TO COLLECTING BY CHAS. J. SAWYER and F. J. HARVEY DARTON. With many Illustrations. These volumes survey the written word from the inception of printing, and are designed to cover the whole ground of English Book Collecting. They show the evolution of prices through the centuries, and make special mention of the chief points of valuable books. A RECORD OF THE PRICES AT WHICH BOOKS HAVE BEEN SOLD AT AUCTION, FROM OCTOBER, 1926, TO AUGUST, 1927, An Annual List of all ENGRAVINGS AND ETCHINGS Sold by Auction in London, Glasgow and ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED THROUGHOUT. Vol. IX. (1926-27). £2 28.; Postage 9d. Extract from THE CONNOISSEUR, December, 1926:— "To the ordinary layman a priced sale catalogue of engravings is of small use, for it generally gives him little information concerning the quality or condition of the prints it records, and he is left wondering why it is that one impression of a plate should fetch £500, while another apparently exactly similar impression should fall to a bid of £10. Here it is that the Print Prices Current comes in, for its editors, not content with repeating the particulars given in the catalogues, have added to them elucidatory details concerning all the puzzling items recorded. Thus the reader learns that the £500 item was a very fine impression with untrimmed margin, while its cheaper companion was both damaged and cut to the platemark. Such information doubles the value of the compilation, and makes it of far greater utility than a set of priced catalogues. It is hardly necessary to say that in other respects also Print Prices Current, which has now reached its seventh volume, maintains the high standard set in former years. It is perhaps the best arranged publication of its kind for quick reference, while the information it contains is characterised by clarity, conciseness, and accuracy, various misdescriptions contained in the original catalogues being corrected. "Not only are the sales in the leading London auction rooms recorded, but also those held in Edinburgh and Glasgow, an extension of scope which enables the collector or dealer to compare Metropolitan fashions and prices with those of the Provinces." F. L. & E. L. WILDER, 10, Forest Rise, LONDON, E.17 Dunning Grant 1-27-39 37229 INTRODUCTION. THE 1926-7 sale season, as recorded in the present volume of BOOK-PRICES CURRENT, includes the final portion of the famous Britwell Court Library. This Library has taken eighteen years to disperse, the first section being offered in 1910. The proceeds of sale on March 28th to April 7th, £26,234 11S. 6d., bring up the grand total sold under the hammer to close on £600,000. The consistent increase in the prices paid by Americans for rare books, autographs, etc., both here and in the U.S.A., is one of the features of the last season's sales. In addition to the Britwell Sale mentioned above, the following important properties were also sold during the year: The magnificent collection of Illuminations on vellum, the property of the late Lt. Col. Sir George Holford, K.C.V.O., which realized £10, 181; a fine collection of the writings by Oliver Goldsmith, sold by Messrs. Sotheby & Co. on November 8th, 1926; two selections from the Library at Rise Park, Hull, the property of Captain A. Bethell, that sold respectively for £2,242 5s. 6d. and £1,223 18s. 6d. ; and a clear-up sale of books omitted from the Britwell Sales and other important books and documents, the amount realized being £14,230 6s. 6d. Of the individual items the more notable are: the beautiful Tenth Century MSS. known as The Anhalt Gospels sold by Messrs. Sotheby & Co. on May 31st, 1927, and secured by Mr. G. Wells for £9,000; the fortunate discovery of another copy of The Book for Boys and Girls, which Messrs. Maggs Bros. secured for £2,100; two good copies of the Kilmarnock Burns, fetching £750 and £780; two copies of Gray's Elegy-one secured by Messrs. Quaritch & Co. for £830, and the other by Mr. Spencer for £950. Messrs. Quaritch also secured a fine copy of W. Painter's The Palace of Pleasure, 1566, sold by Messrs. Sotheby & Co. on June 27th. The first and second, third and fourth Shakespeare Folios, in the same sale, were secured by Mr. G. Wells for £6,000. The only known copy of Orme's Collection of British Field Sports in parts, sold at Messrs. Sotheby's on July 14th, went to Dr. Rosenbach for £2,600. The Autograph MSS. of Sir P. Sidney's Defence of his Uncle the Earl of Leicester, brought £1,520, and was was secured by Messrs. Quaritch & Co. Sales in the U.S.A. by The Anderson Galleries and The American Art Association claim more attention each year. Some famous Libraries were sold, and many valuable items changed hands at good prices. Of special importance are the books selected from the Library of R. L. Stevenson at Vailima, sold by the Anderson Gallery on October 4th, 1926; the Sporting Library of the late W. C. Noyes, sold by the American Art Association, realizing $39,589.50; Major W. Van R. Whitall's Library of Modern Authors; the Fitzgerald collection of Omar Khayyam, fetching $21,133.50; the Richard Curle Conrad Collection, sold on April 28th, for $38,511.50; and the fine Collection of 16th and 17th Century French books, sold by the Anderson Galleries on March 17th, 1927, the sale realizing $8,539. A good season with prices well maintained. June, 1928. F. P. |