Antique treasures come in many forms but the top lot of 2023 may surprise you because it was a prayer book, writes Charles Hanson
Chinese works of art, sports memorabilia, a Rolex watch and important militaria all make an appearance in the 25 highest-selling lots of the year. But books and works on paper are best sellers time after time. Hansons’ eight specialist Library sales together achieved £651,586. They’re led by the quietly brilliant Jim Spencer, a book devotee, academic and thoroughly nice guy.
He has single-handedly created one of the best book departments in the country, if not the world. It holds its own with the biggest and best, firms with whole teams behind their sales, lots of different specialists, photographers, admin, porters, all contributing to their book sales. Jim, meanwhile, describes himself as ‘a hermit rummaging through mountains of stock like a lone wolf’.
His rummaging pays off. He consistently finds rare tomes, first editions and works on paper which not only excite bidders but gain huge media attention. Take his Christmas Library Auction. It sparked global headlines thanks to a rare hard back first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, one of only 500 in the first Potter print run in 1997.
In typical Jim style, he headed off to Scotland to collect it in person, and even got into the cupboard under the stairs where the seller had stored it for years.
The book, bought for £10 and found in a bargain bin in the Scottish Highlands 26 years ago, sold for a total of £55,104 (hammer £42,000) to a private UK online buyer. Remarkably, it’s the 19th hard back 1997 first edition Jim’s uncovered.
He’s now a world-renowned Potter books expert. Other important Philosopher’s Stone finds this year included a 1997 uncorrected proof copy and a 2012 15th Anniversary competition prize, one of only 15 special editions signed by the author. Both hammered at £15,000.
Though the Potter phenomenon drives a commercially well known aspect of the Library sales, important religious, academic or literary tomes excel in equal measure. In fact Hansons’ top-selling lot of 2023 was an ancient Hebrew (Jewish) prayer book.
An 18th-century manuscript of Tikune Shabat (prayers and devotions for the Sabbath) sold for a hammer price of £57,000 to an international phone bidder. It had been guided at £5,000-£10,000. The total paid with buyer’s premium was £71,250.
The sellers, retired teachers Martin Wilson, 66, and his wife Susan, 77, watched live online as three phone bidders battled against the internet for the book. They were stunned by the outcome.
The book was discovered by Susan’s uncle, a Dutchman who lived in Amsterdam. When he passed away his wife, Susan’s aunt, gained the book, never realising its significance. She died last summer at the age of 98 and the book came to Susan. It had been in the family for around 50 years.
The Wilsons decided to consign a Harry Potter book and, as an afterthought, showed Jim the prayer book. He was bowled over. He reached out to the British Library to assess the decorated manuscript. A possible connection to prominent German rabbi Jacob Emden (1697-1776), who championed Orthodox Judaism, was uncovered. Similar examples exist in museums.
Jim recalls: “One man from London came to view it and his reaction made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. He just kept saying, ‘this is so important’. He was completely in awe.”
Another book to make waves was a scarce first edition press copy of Ulysses by James Joyce. The book, initially banned for obscenity, was given to British poet and magazine editor Arthur Symons (1865-1945) and contained a signed photo of Joyce.
It was among 2,000 first English editions published for The Egoist Press by John Rodker, Paris, 1922 and one of only six press copies. Due to its sexual content many books were destroyed. The US Post Office reportedly burned around 500 copies. Ulysses was banned in the US until 1934, and in the UK until 1936. It hammered at £17,000.
But works on paper go beyond books. Another find to make global headlines was a collection of early 1950s childhood sketches by King Charles. The star items were cute crayon and pencil sketches of ‘Mummy’ wearing a tiara and ‘Papa’ in a dinner suit – Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. Drawn by the King when he was only five or six, they hammered at £46,000. A total of £59,800 was paid with buyer’s premium.
The sketches were among items amassed between the 1950s-1970s by author, journalist and former royal correspondent Henry Ramsay Maule (1915-1981). He wrote, under a pseudonym, All The Queen’s Children, an authoritative book about Queen Elizabeth II’s offspring and enjoyed a long working friendship with members of the Royal Household.
In a digital age Jim has made books and works on paper big news again.
If you have an item suitable for the February Library Auction Jim would be delighted to hear from you: [email protected]
