Books

Book auctions have been the beating heart of our company since day one when Dominic Winter Book Auctions started trading on 1st September 1988. Ever since, we have continued to hold almost monthly sales that also encompass maps, decorative prints, autographs, manuscripts and ephemera. As the company and cataloguing team has grown so has the expertise within each area to the point where collections are sorted, valued and catalogued by a team of eight in-house specialists.

We take pride in the full range of printed and manuscript material, ranging from the medieval illuminated manuscript to the machine-printed Harry Potter first edition and everything in between. Highlight collections in recent years have included the 1000-lot antiquarian library of the Birmingham Medical Institute (£900,000) and the 150-lot library of the author Richard Adams (£250,000). The Adams library featured a complete set of Jane Austen first editions in matching Rivière bindings which fetched £78,000.

One of our highest book auction prices achieved to date is £108,000, for a beautifully hand-coloured copy of John Speed's atlas, The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain (1676). Other notable prices include £67,000 for a first edition of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species (1859), one of several copies of this famous work we have handled in recent years, £66,000 for a copy of Henry Cook's rare Recollections of a Tour in the Ionian Islands, Greece, and Constantinople (1853), £45,000 for Percival Willughby's own manuscript account of his Observations in Midwifery (1672), and £55,000 for a dust-jacketed copy of a first edition of George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London (1933).

Book collecting tastes and prices are forever changing, but our dedicated book-valuing team which handles over 500 lots and many thousands of books each month, is in a prime position to give the best professional advice about latest book prices and trends. Whether you have a single volume, a major library or a miscellaneous collection of hardbacks and paperbacks do call us for auction guidance and information.

Click here to get an online valuation.

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