Dreweatts Bloomsbury offers Western Manuscripts & Miniatures on July 8th
- by Bruce E. McKinney
Dr. Timothy Bolton, late of Sotheby’s and now head of Western Manuscripts & Miniatures at Dreweatts Bloomsbury is conducting his first sale since joining the firm. It is an auspicious beginning. The sale illustrates the history, writing and illuminating of books. Such material has always been extremely rare.
Such a specific and narrow category has always appealed to great collectors.
Bloomsbury’s news release explains the sale:
LONDON, Dover Street – With Dr. Timothy Bolton at the helm, the inaugural Western Manuscripts & Miniatures sale at Bloomsbury Auctions on Wednesday 8th July is a journey through the history of writing and illuminating books in exactly 100 lots. The auction, which spans four millennia and a vast swathe of human experience, will be held at Ely House, 37 Dover Street.
Dr Timothy Bolton, Head of Western Manuscripts & Miniatures said; “We want to bring the ownership of these beautiful and fascinating objects to new buyers as well as the traditional collectors. It is my belief that no private library can call itself complete without a medieval book on its shelves and no home fully furnished without at least one illuminated miniature on its walls.”
Dr Bolton has been a leading figure in the field of medieval manuscripts for nearly a decade and this, his first sale with Bloomsbury Auctions since leaving Sotheby’s, is filled with exceptional works from this specialist area, including a sixth-century fragment of the oldest surviving copy of St. Augustine's writings on the Gospel of John, and a riotously illuminated fourteenth-century prayerbook with boar-hunts, rabbits, dogs and even a kitten dressed as a scholar reading a book in its borders.
In addition, there is a fine cuneiform barrel, made around 1785 BC and listing the glorious achievements of King Sin-Iddinam of Larsak; a ninth-century witness to an otherwise lost Old Testament codex (with parts of Isaiah); an eleventh-century relic list from Merseburg Cathedral; a portable Gradual of the first half of the thirteenth century still in its contemporary binding over seven centuries after it was written; an extremely rare sixteenth-century polyphonic music fragment; and a German language astronomical-medical text with charming miniatures illustrating the zodiac and astronomy on every page.
The auction is accessible to buyers at all price points with both grand and opulent medieval books and miniatures, as well as numerous affordable examples of medieval cuttings and documents, including an entire section of medieval vernaculars (including French, Spanish, Low German, Middle English and Bohemian Czech) each available for a few hundred to a few thousand pounds.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Jerry Thomas. How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion, Containing Clear and Reliable Directions for Mixing All the Beverages Used in the United States…
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Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("Martinus Luther") to His Friend the Theologian Gerhard Wiskamp ("Gerardo Xantho Lampadario"). $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: An Exceptionally Fine Copy of Austenís Emma: A Novel in Three Volumes. $40,000 - $60,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Presentation Copy of Ernest Hemmingwayís A Farewell to Arms for Edward Titus of the Black Mankin Press. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript Signed Integrally for "The Songs of Pooh," by Alan Alexander. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript of "Three Fragments from Gˆtterd‰mmerung" by Richard Wagner. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Preliminary Artwork, for the First Edition of Snow Crash. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("T.R. Malthus") to Economist Nassau Senior on Wealth, Labor and Adam Smith. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Finely Bound by Michael Wilcox. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: First Edition of Lewis and Clark: Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Artwork for the First Edition of Neal Stephenson's Groundbreaking Novel Snow Crash. $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: A Complete Set Signed Deluxe Editions of King's The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("John Adams") to James Le Ray de Chaumont During the Crucial Years of the Revolutionary War. $8,000 - $12,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Francesco Colonna. Hypnerotomachie, Paris, 1546, Parisian calf by Wotton Binder C for Marcus Fugger. €200,000 to €300,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Nausea. De principiis dialectices Gorgias, and other works, Venice, 1523, morocco gilt for Cardinal Campeggio. €3,000 to €4,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Billon. Le fort inexpugnable de l'honneur, Paris, 1555, Parisian calf gilt for Peter Ernst, Graf von Mansfeld. €120,000 to €180,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Salinger, J.D. The Graham Family archive, including autographed letters, an inscribed Catcher, a rare studio photograph of the author, and more. $120,000 to $180,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of Sense and Sensibility, the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Massachusetts General Court. A powerful precursor to the Declaration of Independence: "every Act of Government … without the Consent of the People, is … Tyranny." $40,000 to $60,000.
![<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/8caddaea-4c1f-47a7-9455-62f53af36e3f.jpg "<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.")
![<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 16:</b> [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of <i>Sense and Sensibility,</i> the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/9a74d9ff-42dd-46a1-8bb2-b636c4cec796.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 16:</b> [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of <i>Sense and Sensibility,</i> the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.")
