Our October 17th sale features our usual eclectic mix of material, ranging from history, mythology, Australiana, children’s books and art.
We will be selling the estate of the late Leigh Rayment. As a child Rayment dreamt of owning library and his passion for collecting lasted for well over forty years. His library echoes his interests in life; as a child he had a fascination in myths folklore and fairy tales and later in life he focused on British political history. It is a handsome collection with many fine bindings.
Also, in the sale are a large quantity of children’s books. There are some amusing and fabulous pop-up books and also some old favourites from Maurice Sendak, Arthur Rackham, and Enid Blyton. If you are a child from the eighties, you may remember the Dark Crystal movie. We have a scarce album produced to market the movie. It features the work of Brian Froud who was the conceptual designer and Jim Henson who was the producer and director of the movie. Brian Froud(b.1947) is an English fantasy illustrator dark whimsical style and is known for works in fairy tales and folklore. Henson (1936-1990) was a puppeteer and the creator of The Muppets, Fraggle Rock and Sesame Street.
In our collection of art and painting there are landscapes, marine and Aboriginal works from artists such as John Allcot and Billy Stockman. Perhaps the most curious item we have for sale is a little scrapbook album with several miniatures which appear to be original ink illustrations signed “WM Craig” This could be William Marshall Craig(c1765-c1834) who was a painter and miniaturist. He has exhibited at the Royal Academy and his work is held at the Victoria and Albert and the British Museum and he was notably appointed water colourist to Queen Charlotte and miniature painter to the Duke and Duchess of York.
Coming soon!
Australiana ceramics – an online only sale featuring pottery from Diana, Vande, Coronet, Sylvac, Marutomo, hand painted ceramics by Martin Boyd and work by Australian potter Grace Seccombe.
Crime fiction – More books from the collection of Leigh Rayment. Another online only sale with first editions by authors including John Rhode, Miles Burton, Herbert Adams, JM Walsh, John Ferguson, and Wyndham Martyn.
As always, ephemera was of particular interest. The extensive collection of swimming material in the catalogue all sold for healthy prices, with lots being purchased by private collectors, dealers and institutions. It’s great to see such wonderful material find good homes! Other ephemeral items included a myriad of bookplates, all of which sold, as well as scrapbooks and postcards.