Antiquarian News - Bonhams offer works of fantasy and science fiction.

Bonhams’ fine book sale takes place on 13th November at the Montpelier Street galleries in Knightsbridge, London. 

Included in the sale are a clutch of works of fantasy and science fiction. Lot 233 (estimate £3,000-4,000) is an inscribed copy of Terry Pratchett’s first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic. 400 of the 500 copies in the first printing were sent to libraries, making similar fine copies rare. Pratchett said of the novel that it was “...my tribute to twenty-five years of fantasy reading.” An earlier contribution to the genre is on offer as Lot 240 (estimate £1,500-2,000): a first edition, second impression copy of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit or There and Back Again. This impression of the work saw the first appearance of four additional colour illustrations by Tolkien.

Lot 244, “the earliest known work of science fiction to be based on the idea of time travel”, is a first edition copy of H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine (estimate £800-1,200). Lot 238 is a first edition of Bram Stoker’s classic horror story Dracula estimate £2,000-3,000. This copy includes ‘The Shoulder of Shasta’ advertisement but lacks the publisher’s catalogue, making it a probable second impression copy of the book.

Also included in the sale is an extremely scare and unopened copy of Federico Garcia Lorca’s first book Impresiones y paisajes comprises Lot 227. The book was first published in 1918 at the expense of Lorca’s father. So few copies of the work were sold that Lorca gathered up all those he could find and burned them, making this a rare and remarkable survival. It is expected to sell for £6,000-8,000. Two items of World War I interest round out the sale as Lots 247 and 248. The former includes an original watercolour by the artist Lucien Jonas while the later is comprised of two cartoons by Albert Heim, one of which depicts a standing figure bearing more than a passing resemblance to a young Winston Churchill; it is entitled “Wie ich meinen Irlander fing!” (“How I caught my Irish man”). The two lots have estimates of £1,000-1,500 and £500-700 respectively.

An online catalogue of the sale can be found here:

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The Michael Winner Collection

The finest single-owner collection of original book illustrations ever to appear at auction will be presented at Sotheby's London on 12th December 2012. The unprecedented collection of over 100 ink and watercolour drawings, featuring illustrations by the finest artists and from the most loved books, comes from the private collection of the renowned film director Michael Winner. Alongside E.H. Shepard's first depiction of Winnie-the-Pooh with Christopher Robin (from Winnie-the-Pooh), the sale will include illustrations by Edmund Dulac, Kay Nielsen, Beatrix Potter, Arthur Rackham, William Heath Robinson and John Tenniel. In total, the sale will comprise over 150 lots of illustrations and books, and is estimated to realise in excess of £1 million.

Michael Winner remembered: "It was many years ago that I went into an old bookshop in the Charing Cross Road; there I saw two paintings by Arthur Rackham which I found utterly memorable. They had a quality which was unique. From then on I became a collector: I was hooked. I retained an interest that has followed me through my life, keeping the fascination with all things illustrated: works by Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, Kay Nielson, Mabel Lucie Attwell and many others. There were no aspects of my collection that I did not appreciate, whether it was the deep blue colours of Dulac or the childlike simplicity of Attwell. They all fascinated me, and above all were a great source of fun that always amused me."

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A Timely Warning

If you buy your rare and antiquarian books online be very vigilant. Sometimes a ‘rare’ find also turns out to be a fake.

A signed John Grisham volume would be a sought after item that might attract many collectors but it might be an unsigned first edition originally bought on Ebay. It would appear that a forger(s) has been at work forging the signatures of famous authors and reselling them on Ebay for much higher prices.

Genuine samples of authors signatures were applied to stampers so that mass produced fraudulent autographs might be produced. Book prices ranged from $50 to $1,000 each depending on the author and book.

So if you are buying rare items or memorabilia online, exercise caution. It is recommended that you should always use credit cards, not debit cards, for online purchases as credit cards offer dispute rights, making it easier to reverse a fraudulent charge. As always we recommend that you research the seller. Is the book being sold by a reputable antiquarian book seller?

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Penguins Gathering

The annual gathering of the Penguin Collectors' Society was held this year over the weekend of 19th to 21st October at the magnificent Gladstone Library in Hawarden. 50 delegates attended (one tenth of the membership) for a very sociable weekend. On the Friday evening we were given a guided talk on the library and a short lecture on the GOM Gladstone and how this library came to be founded in his honour and name. Gladstone collected 30,000 books in his life-time but read only 20,000 of them, most of which he annotated. How did he find time to be PM for so long? Gladstone's hobby by the way was tree-felling.

On the Saturday came the swap-meet, AGM and Annual Talk /Lecture. The Lecture was by John Hitchin on Penguin Marketing 1959-1990. This was lively and informative and a name-droppers delight. In his career at Penguin John had met everyone and I mean everyone on the cultural map. 

The AGM was brisk and brief and it was pleasing to note how many new faces were present. The swapping and buying and selling session was as ever amazing; a dozen or so stalls offering main series, crime rarities, King Penguins, Penguin ephemera, Puffin Picture Books (including some of the French ones), Buildings of England etc etc. 

Never have so many lists been seen in one place in the annals of book-collecting. One stall had not one but two copies of Biggles Flies again ... the scarcest of all Penguins and the one people usually 'kill' for.

Delgates attended from Bavaria and New Zealand to reflect the international nature of the membership. And all of this took place in the company of Tanya Schmoller (whom we call Penguin Number one ) our honorary president. Tanya, Hans Schmollers widow, a spry 92 was Allen Lane's right-hand person. This delegate (Jim Rayner) would like to thank James Mackay, the PCS trustee who meticulously masterminded the whole event. 

Any readers who would like to join the PCS or find out about its publications should go to the website.

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From Ibookcollector ©  -  published by Rivendale Press. 

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