A first edition, first issue of Isaac Newton’s second major book on physical science proved the standout lot in the Cheffins’ January Library Sale when selling for £30,000.
Published in 1704, ‘Opticks: or, a Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light’ is considered one of the great works of science in history and this edition (Lot 172) was in good condition for its age.
Newton’s name did not appear on first edition of the book and the volume includes two treatises on calculus at the end of the work.
A rare first edition of King James Bible dated 1611 (Lot 93) from Melbourn Parish Church in Cambridgeshire attracted a lot of interest in the sale, including from North America where collecting antique bibles is particularly prevalent. A bid of £28,000 from the room was enough to secure this rare bible which, understandably given its age, needed some restoration.
A first complete edition in English of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra’s most famous work sold for £16,000.
Translated into English by Thomas Shelton and printed for London publisher Edward Blount, the book (Lot 127) contains two volumes bound into one: ‘The History of Don Quichote. The First Parte’ – and ‘The Second Part of the History of… Don Quixote’. The first part is a second edition while the second part is a first edition.
A 50-year commemorative edition of a book that Charles Dickens edited and rewrote early on in his literary career sold for £5,500.
Dickens was commissioned to rewrite ‘Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi’ – who was the most popular English entertainer of the Regency era - by Richard Bentley, publisher of the magazine Bentley’s Miscellany who had secured the copyright for the book from Grimaldi’s estate.
The complete version is two volumes in four books and comes specially illustrated with fine watercolour drawings, portraits and prints, all bound into the corresponding parts of the 1933 edition text, all mounted. The books (Lot 279) are bound in full morocco gilt and was formerly in the collection of Sir Harold Wernher at Luton Hoo estate.
Winston Churchill’s book ‘My African Journey’, published in 1908 (Lot 306), and inscribed by the author ‘from Winston S. Churchill 1 Dec 1908’ realised £5,000.
The full results of the sale can be found the Fine Art section of the Cheffins website.