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Purcell Auctioneers: Book Auction of c. 580 Lots to include Antiquarian Books incl. Books from Three Private Libraries, Rare - Signed - Limited Editions, Local Histories, Republican Interest Books, GAA etc
Auction Reports
| Auction Name | Book Auction of c. 580 Lots to include Antiquarian Books incl. Books from Three Private Libraries, Rare - Signed - Limited Editions, Local Histories, Republican Interest Books, GAA etc | Total Sales (GBP) | 48,543.75 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Auction Date | May 13, 2026 - May 13, 2026 | Low Estimate of Lots Sold (GBP) | 27,820.00 |
| Sale Number | #51326 | High Estimate of Lots Sold (GBP) | 45,541.00 |
| Total Lots | 556 | ||
| Sold Lots | 422.0 | Low Estimate of All Lots (GBP) | 36,940.00 |
| % of Lots Sold | 75.90% | High Estimate of All Lots (GBP) | 59,671.00 |
| Unsold Lots | 134 | Total Sales as a % of High Est. | 81.35% |
Top twenty-five by sale price
| Lot Number | Author Name | Book Title | Year Published | Estimate | Actual Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 209 | Poor Law Commissioner's Report 1847 |
1847 | GBP 600.00 - 900.00 | GBP 2,750.00 | |
| 497 | Sylvanus Morgan | Armilogia sive Ars chromocritica, the language of arms by the colours & metals |
N/A | GBP 200.00 - 300.00 | GBP 687.50 |
| 352 | Small autograph book with numerous signatures and personalised messages |
1934 | GBP 100.00 - 180.00 | GBP 600.00 | |
| 488 | James Dawson | Canal Extensions in Ireland recommended to the Imperial Legislature as the Best Means of Promoting The Agriculture- Draining the Bogs - and Employing the Poor of Ireland |
1819 | GBP 50.00 - 100.00 | GBP 550.00 |
| 106 | John Mathews | N Books, including: Drogheda Board of Guardians Election pamphlet |
1925 | GBP 60.00 - 120.00 | GBP 475.00 |
| 56 | Thomas Osborn Springfield | Handwritten diary for the year 1881 |
1881 | GBP 180.00 - 200.00 | GBP 450.00 |
| 168 | Wm Wenman Seward | Topographica Hibernica or The Topography of Ireland, ancient and modern, giving a complete view of the Civil and Ecclesiastical State of that Kingdom |
1795 | GBP 150.00 - 200.00 | GBP 450.00 |
| 499 | Victor Bouton | Nouveau Traite de Blason ou Science des Armoiries |
1863 | GBP 80.00 - 140.00 | GBP 450.00 |
| 350 | W H Lizars | New Road Map of Ireland with all the Lines of Railway, Canals &c c. 1842 |
c. 1842 | GBP 80.00 - 160.00 | GBP 425.00 |
| 425 | W B Yeats | The Wild Swans at Coole |
1919 | GBP 200.00 - 400.00 | GBP 412.50 |
| 430 | Seamus Heaney | The Riverbank Field |
2007 | GBP 350.00 - 450.00 | GBP 400.00 |
| 309 | Michael Hartnett | The Hag of Beare a Rendition of Old Irish |
1969 | GBP 60.00 - 120.00 | GBP 375.00 |
| 459 | John Keegan; J. Canon O'hanlon; D. J. O’Donoghue | Legends and Poems by John Keegan |
1907 | GBP 300.00 - 360.00 | GBP 375.00 |
| 416 | Jacob Poole; William Barnes | A Glossary With Some Pieces Of Verse Of The Old Dialect Of The English Colony In The Forth And Bargy County Of Wexford Ireland Formerly Collected By Jacob Poole |
1867 | GBP 300.00 - 400.00 | GBP 350.00 |
| 160 | Eamon De Valera | Bunreacht na hEireann. [constitution of Ireland] |
1937 | GBP 80.00 - 140.00 | GBP 325.00 |
| 271 | Bernard Scale | Map of County of Dublin |
1798 | GBP 50.00 - 80.00 | GBP 325.00 |
| 357 | John McGahern | The Pornographer |
1979 | GBP 200.00 - 300.00 | GBP 325.00 |
| 374 | John Broderick | The Fugitives |
1962 | GBP 40.00 - 80.00 | GBP 325.00 |
| 310 | Lands of Annabeg |
1826 | GBP 80.00 - 160.00 | GBP 312.50 | |
| 426 | William Butler Yeats | Selected Poems |
N/A | GBP 250.00 - 300.00 | GBP 312.50 |
| 77 | Allen and Townsend | Catalogue of contents of Shelton Abbey, Arklow, Co. Wicklow |
1950 | GBP 250.00 - 400.00 | GBP 300.00 |
| 237 | Thomas Lacy | Sights and Scenes of Our Fatherland |
1863 | GBP 50.00 - 80.00 | GBP 300.00 |
| 377 | Ernest Hemingway | THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA |
1952 | GBP 280.00 - 320.00 | GBP 300.00 |
| 464 | Joseph Mary Plunkett; H. Neville Roberts; Peter Fallon; Maurice Wilkins | The Circle and the Sword; sonnets sombre but serene; A Garland for Robert McGlynn; The Seeker |
1911; 1963; 1984; 1960 | GBP 50.00 - 80.00 | GBP 300.00 |
| 482 | Charles Darwin | The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs |
1874 | GBP 150.00 - 300.00 | GBP 300.00 |
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Sotheby’s
Shelf Life: Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper from the Library of Stanley J. Seeger and Christopher Cone
25 June – July 7Sotheby’s, July 7: Ludwig van Beethoven. Autograph sketches for the overture "Die Weihe des Hauses", op.124, [1822], UNPUBLISHED. £150,000 to £200,000.Sotheby’s, July 7: Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice, 1813, first edition, 3 volumes, contemporary half calf. £50,000 to £70,000.Sotheby’s, July 7: Walt Whitman. Leaves of Grass, Brooklyn, 1855, first edition, first issue, original green cloth, the Doheny copy. £50,000 to £70,000.Sotheby’s, July 7: Binding—Sangorski & Sutcliffe—Omar Khayyam. Rubaiyat, London, 1872, third edition, in a magnificent jewelled Peacock binding. £15,000 to £20,000.Sotheby’s, July 7: George Eliot. Middlemarch, Edinburgh and London, 1871, first edition in the original parts. £20,000 to £30,000. -
Forum Auctions
The Private Library:
Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
July 9, 2026Forum, July 9: Hassall (Joan) A large collection of over 300 original woodblocks of engravings for various books, v.d., with Hassall's engraver's glass water-globe (Qty) - Est. £10,000-15,000Forum, July 9: Eragny Press.- [Bradley (Katherine Harris) & Edith Emma Cooper], "Michael Field." Whym Chow, Flame of Love, one of only 27 copies, inscribed by Bradley, the rarest book from the press, 1914. - Est. £3,000-4,000Forum, July 9: [Moore (Thomas Sturge)] [Wood Engravings], 71 wood-engravings printed by David Chambers from the original blocks, the only set on Japanese Hosho paper, from an edition of 5 sets, [1970]. - Est. £3,000-4,000Forum Auctions
The Private Library:
Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
July 9, 2026Forum, July 9: La Fontaine (Jean de) Contes et Nouvelles en vers, 2 vol., engraved plates after Eisen, fine early 19th century blue morocco, gilt, by Bradel l'ainé, Amsterdam [Paris], 1762. - Est. £2,000-3,000Forum, July 9: Erotica.- Prostitution.- Pretty Women of Paris (The); Their Names and Addresses, Qualities and Faults..., [Paris], privately printed at the Press of the Prefecture de Police, 1883. - Est. £3,000-4,000Forum, July 9: Vale Press.- Ricketts (Charles) & Lucien Pissarro. De la Typographie et de l'Harmonie de la Page Imprimée…, [one of 216 copies], bound in dark blue morocco tooled in gilt, by Sarah T.Prideaux, 1898. - Est. £1,000-1,500Forum Auctions
The Private Library:
Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
July 9, 2026Forum, July 9: Martin (John) Illustrations of the Bible, complete set of 20 mezzotints, good impressions, rarely found in early states, [c.1831-1835]. - Est. £1,000-1,500Forum, July 9: Golden Cockerel Press.- Four Gospels of the Lord Jesus Christ (The), one of 500 copies, Mary Gill's copy, Waltham St. Lawrence, 1931 with a signed proof of engraving on japon numbered 10/10 (2) - Est. £5,000-7,000Forum, July 9: Boccaccio (Giovanni) The Decameron, 3 vol., vol.1 extra-illustrated by John Buckland Wright with c.150 erotic original drawings in pen & ink and pencil, 1886 [extra-illustrated c.1940]. - Est. £10,000-15,000Forum Auctions
The Private Library:
Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
July 9, 2026Forum, July 9: Cox (Morris) Collection of Gogmagog Press Books, 35 vol., rare complete collection of printed books issued by the press, limited editions, most signed by Cox, 1957-83. - Est. £10,000-15,000Forum, July 9: Wynkyn de Worde.- [Terentius Afer (Publius)] [Comedie...], [Paris, Josse Badius: sold in London by Wynkyn de Worde, & others], [15 July 1504]. - Est. £4,000-6,000Forum, July 9: Mosley (James) Ornamented Types. Twenty-Three Alphabets from the Foundry of Louis John Pouchée, 2 vol., one of 10 copies for presentation, from an edition of 210, 1992-93. - Est. £1,000-2,000 -
Forum Auctions
The 10th Anniversary Sale
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
July 16, 2026Forum, July 16: Inundation papyrus. P.Michael 4, the ‘Inundation papyrus’, a geographical account of the Nile near Canopus, in Greek, remains of two columns from a manuscript scroll on papyrus, Egypt, second century CE. £12,000-18,000Forum, July 16: Book of Hours, use of Sarum, manuscript on vellum, 6 full-page miniatures, with famous Middle English inscriptions, Southern Netherlands for the English market, [c.1430]. £30,000-50,000Forum, July 16: Qu'ran, Arabic manuscript on burnished, stencilled, and gold-flecked paper, 447ff., Sultanate Gujarat, Ahmadabad, [after 1411 but no later than 1442]. £15,000-20,000Forum Auctions
The 10th Anniversary Sale
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
July 16, 2026Forum, July 16: Turner (William). A New boke of the natures and properties of all wines that are commonly vsed here in England, rare first edition of the first English book on wine, By William Seres, 1568. £20,000-£30,000Forum, July 16: Spenser (Edmund). The Faerie Queene. first edition, Printed [by John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, 1590. £30,000-40,000Forum, July 16: Shakespeare (William). The Comedie of Errors, extracted from the first folio, Isaac Jaggard and Edward Blount, 1623. £15,000-20,000Forum Auctions
The 10th Anniversary Sale
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
July 16, 2026Forum, July 16: Fleming (Ian). Casino Royale, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1953. £40,000-60,000Forum, July 16: d'Agoty (Jacques-Fabien Gautier). Anatomie de la Tête, first edition, Paris, chez le Sieur Gautier, 1748. £10,000-15,000Forum, July 16: Martial Arts.- Lee (Bruce). 'Praying Mantis style' Kung Fu book, containing numerous annotations, diagrams and graphs in Bruce Lee's hand, c. 1960. £50,000-70,000Forum Auctions
The 10th Anniversary Sale
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
July 16, 2026Forum, July 16: Warre (Capt. Henry James). Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory, first edition, rare hand-coloured issue, 1848. £30,000-40,000Forum, July 16: Norie (John William). The Marine Atlas, or Seaman's Complete Pilot for all the principal places in the known world..., 1826. £30,000-50,000Forum, July 16: Mao Tse-tung.- Kim Il-sung.-[Note book for visitors from China to Korea], signed by Mao and Kim, [Beijing, 1954]. £10,000-15,000