Books & Works on Paper, to include the Boxing Collection of Brian and Debbie Watkins
Location: 1 Roslin Square (Sale)
Catalogue: Download PDF catalogue
Lots: 347
Chiswick Auctions’ Books and Works on Paper sale, on August the 24th, will include the boxing collection of Brian and Debbie Watkins. A lifetime’s passion, it features several exceptionally rare titles previously unrecorded at auction or in public libraries.
Amongst the highlights are a first edition of Jewish boxer Daniel Mendoza’s memoirs, published in 1808 and estimated at £4,000 - 6,000. Although the text is thought to have been written around 1806, when Mendoza spent time in debtor’s prison, some libraries have even called the edition’s existence into question.
Another lot representative of the rarity of the collection is a catalogue of the property auction which followed bare-knuckle boxer Tom Sayers’ death in 1865. His funeral was attended by 10,000 people and descended into a riot, described by The Daily News as “disgraceful”. The copy, estimated at £1,000-1,500, is annotated with the prices achieved, including for Sayers’ loyal mastiff dog “Lion”. Sayers’ tomb, crowned with a statue of Lion, is a landmark of Highgate Cemetery.
Aside from boxing, the sale includes a rare purple variation uncorrected proof copy of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, at £3,000 - 4,000. The purple wrappers indicate an earlier state than the more common version in green and only fifty are thought to have been printed. Also offered is a first edition of pioneering Scottish photographer John Thomson’s Illustrations of China and Its People, 1873 (£3,000 - 4,000).
Lot 10 - Lunelli (Italo) Pagine della Nostra Fede, signed and inscribed by Mussolini
Sold for £138
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 11 - Mann. Der Ewahlte Limited edition, no. 41 of 60 copies signed by the author, NY. 1951
Estimated at £2,000 - £3,000
![Lot 13 - [Psalterium]](https://chiswick.blob.core.windows.net/stock/202811-1-small.jpg?v=63827262675040)
Lot 17 - Darwin. The Descent of Man, first Yiddish ed. NY 1921
Sold for £500
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 19 - Haggadah. Home Service for the First Two Nights of Passover.. 1943
Estimated at £300 - £400
Lot 20 - Hebrew facsimile manuscript.- Rothschild Miscellany (The): 1/500 copies. 1989.
Sold for £1,062
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 21 - Hebrew facsimile manuscript.- The Kennicott Bible, 1985
Sold for £2,000
Includes Buyer's Premium
![Lot 24 - Judaica. Haggadah...The first reform Haggadah. [1842]](https://chiswick.blob.core.windows.net/stock/208027-0-small.jpg?v=63827279257720)
Lot 24 - Judaica. Haggadah...The first reform Haggadah. [1842]
Sold for £875
Includes Buyer's Premium
![Lot 26 - Judaica. Transactions of the Parisian Sanhedrim; [1807]](https://chiswick.blob.core.windows.net/stock/208021-0-small.jpg?v=63827279288237)
Lot 26 - Judaica. Transactions of the Parisian Sanhedrim; [1807]
Sold for £300
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 27 - Outram. De sacrifiis libri duo; Quarum Altero explicantur Omnia Judaeorum, 1677
Estimated at £200 - £300
![Lot 32 - Quakeriana: [Keach]. B.K. The Grand Impostor Discovered](https://chiswick.blob.core.windows.net/stock/206063-0-small.jpg?v=63827192112557)
![Lot 34 - [In Greek] Vetus Testamentum Graecum ex versione Septuaginta interpretum. 1653](https://chiswick.blob.core.windows.net/stock/203604-0-small.jpg?v=63827254030430)
Lot 34 - [In Greek] Vetus Testamentum Graecum ex versione Septuaginta interpretum. 1653
Estimated at £200 - £300
Lot 40 - Keynes (John Maynard) The General Theory of Employment Interest and Money
Sold for £600
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 43 - Mao. Quotations of Chairman Mao (Mao's "Little Red Book") Vest-pocket edition. 1968
Sold for £400
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 45 - Scottish Interest.-Royal Company of Scottish Archers
Sold for £188
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 46 - Churchill (Winston S.) Great Contemporaries, first ed. 1937
Sold for £400
Includes Buyer's Premium
