Sale:
BK05 (30 Mar 2011)
Auction Lot:
0334
Estimate: £40,000-£50,000
Realised: £130,000
A Catalogue of the different Specimens of Cloth Collected in the Three Voyages of
Captain Cook to the Southern Hemisphere.
Sale:
MA12 (15 Jun 2011)
Auction Lot:
0140
Estimate: £1,200-£1,500
Realised: £1,700
A Chilean 12 bolt copper and brass diving helmet.
Sale:
FS10 (20 Apr 2011)
Auction Lot:
0600
Estimate: £2,000-£3,000
Realised: £6,200
A 17th century oak refectory table, the four plank cleated top on massive baluster
supports.
Important Items Featured in the March 2011 Book Sale
The next Book Sale being offered by Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood will be held
at our
Honiton sale rooms
on 30th March 2011. The sale has a number of rare and interesting items.
Captain Cook Rarity
A rare and highly desirable printed catalogue, contemporary with the voyages of
Captain Cook, of the different specimens of cloth collected in the three voyages
of Captain Cook to the Southern Hemisphere. Estimate: £40,000-£60,000.
The highpoint of the 30th March 2011 book sale will be a rare and highly
desirable item contemporary with the voyages of Captain Cook: it is a printed catalogue
of the different specimens of cloth collected in the three voyages of Captain Cook
to the Southern Hemisphere.
Published in 1787, just 8 years after the violent death of Cook, it contains 39
actual specimens of cloth. It is a particularly choice copy still in its contemporary
half sheep binding with marbled boards. We believe this is the first copy still
in its contemporary binding to have been offered for sale in many years.
Its rarity is reflected in an estimate of £40,000-60,000.
For more information and background to Captain Cook and his three famous voyages,
please read:-
Captain James Cook (1728-1779)
Early Printings
The 30th March 2001 book sale will include a number of valuable early classical
works published in the sixteenth century. One of the more important of these works
with an estimate of £2,000-3,000 is EURIPIDIS Tragoediae Septendecim, in
two volumes, published in Venice in 1503. This editio princeps is the first complete
edition of Euripides: it contains all 18 tragedies although only 17 are mentioned
on the title page. There is an earlier edition of Euripides printed by Lascaris
but it only consists of 4 plays.
Euripides (c 480BC-406BC) with Sophocles and Aeschylus was one of the three great
tragedians of classical Athens. Only eighteen of Euripides' plays have survived
complete, but this is more than the total that have survived by his two fellow tragedians
put together. Euripides is known for having made a major contribution to the restructuring
of the Athenian tragedy. He portrayed strong female characters, and intelligent
slaves, also satirising many of the heroes of Greek mythology. His plays seem modern
by comparison with those of his contemporary playwrights, focusing on the emotions
and motives of his characters in a way previously unknown to Greek audiences.
Silver Binding
Silver bindings or those made of precious metals have always been unusual and early
examples are rare. Wonderful examples survive from the mediaeval period mainly on
priceless religious books and manuscripts, held either in major institutions or
still in the religious houses that originally commissioned them. Rarely are they
offered for sale.
During the Tudor period onwards they became less rare and in the following two centuries
most of these bindings were produced in Holland and Germany. The engravings were
often inspired by the works of the masters and the quality of the work especially
of the Dutch engravers was of a superb standard. Later examples are more usually
heavily embossed and without makers' marks. The subjects chosen were almost exclusively
religious, with the quality of the binding often greatly exceeding the importance
of the book it covered.
The eighteenth century example offered here, probably Armenian in origin, is full
of religious symbolism: on one cover it depicts Christ cradling a sceptre and orb
surrounded by the Twelve Apostles, on the other the Virgin Mother is seated with
the Christ Child contained within a central cartouche, four scholars being depicted
in each corner. It is a pierced silver and silver gilt binding with a green silk
background; the spine which is defective is made of up of interlinked flowers. The
binding has an unusual hinged page edge extension which is engraved with four lines
of text, with a silver pin fastener. The book itself is an Armenian book of Holy
Gospels. It has an estimate of £2,000-3,000.
Thomas Hardy Collection of First Editions
Amongst a private collection of the novels of Thomas Hardy, a first edition
published in three volumes of The Return of the Native calls for special
attention. His sixth novel (1878), it touches on themes controversial and disconcerting
enough to make it difficult for the author to find a publisher. Its heroine is full
of human frailties, and in its open expression of extra-marital relationships, it
was seen as somewhat scandalous. But it is a great tragedy and ultimately one of
Hardy's most successful pieces of writing with enduring themes that make this still
a very modern novel, and one of his most popular. Bids in excess of £3,000 to £5,000
are expected for this work.
James Bond First Editions
Of note are a small collection of the first editions by Ian Fleming; what makes
them of particular interest is the freshness of the condition for they appear to
have been un-read, being fine copies in the all important original dust wrappers.
Outstanding amongst them is Dr No, with an estimate of £500-700.
- Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood
- Dowell Street, Honiton, Devon
- Salerooms
- Rare Books
- Captain James Cook (1728-1779)
- Euripides
- Rare Books from the Tudor Period
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