Our October 19th sale featured over 700 lots, with our usual mix of eclectic material ranging from maps and ephemera, to Australiana and juvenile titles. The auction room was a hive of activity, with a record number of online bidders also actively taking part.
The clearance rate was slightly down from our previous sale, with approximately 80% of lots being sold on the day and a further 10% trading in the week that followed. The key areas of interest were exploration, maps, Australian ephemera and rare first editions. Antiquarian books sold strongly, however ‘Books on books’ proved to be less desirable than past auctions.
Select highlights included a near complete set of Oz magazines achieving $2,600 (IBP), a Norman Lindsay pen drawing selling for $2,600 (IBP), a copy of Across Australia reaching $900 (IBP), a first edition Man From Snowy River went under the hammer for $3,600 (IBP) and a Henry Lawson First Edition going for $3,000 (IBP).
The popularity of rare and collectible printed material is on the rise, but as has always been the case, condition is extremely important. A poor copy of a particular rare book will often pass in at less than half the value achieved of the same title in good condition. This is particularly the case with Australian exploration. Also of note is the broadening of our market reach. In this auction we had approximately 20% of items heading overseas to countries ranging from the US and China, to England, Israel, Japan and France. Domestically, Sydney proved the strongest market, closely followed by Melbourne and regional NSW.