Lyon & Turnbull

Africa and the Source of the Nile - Selections from the Library of a Scottish Gentleman | Wed 25 February from 10am | Lots 1 to 30

The Library of General Sir James Alexander | Wed 25 February from 10am | Lots 31 to 62

Books & Manuscripts | Wed 25 February from 10am | Lots 63 to 255

large_dominic-square.jpg

medium_dominic-square.jpg

small_dominic-square.jpg

thumbnail_dominic-square.jpg

xlarge_dominic-square.jpg

large_Graham_Hogg_squarejpg.jpg

medium_Graham_Hogg_squarejpg.jpg

small_Graham_Hogg_squarejpg.jpg

thumbnail_Graham_Hogg_squarejpg.jpg

xlarge_Graham_Hogg_squarejpg.jpg

large_sophie-dixon-square.jpg

medium_sophie-dixon-square.jpg

small_sophie-dixon-square.jpg

thumbnail_sophie-dixon-square.jpg

xlarge_sophie-dixon-square.jpg

The Head that Wears a Crown: Documents of Royal Misfortune

Historical documents capture a moment in time, but that moment’s place in history may only become clear with the passage of centuries. With hindsight we see events differently from how they would have appeared to its participants.

The Library of a Victorian Adventurer: Sir James Edward Alexander (1803–1885)

Important manuscripts and artefacts from the renowned Victorian soldier-scholar who brought Cleopatra's Needle to London.  

Harry Potter First Editions: How to Identify Yours

Check whether your Harry Potter book is a first edition using the print line, publisher details and key issue points, with guidance from rare-book specialists.

Our first Books &amp; Manuscripts auction of 2026, which took place on Wednesday 25 February, attracted interest from around the world achieving a selling rate over 92% and a total of £600,000 (inclusive of premium). &nbsp;The auction featured a number of private collections including The Library of General Sir James Edward Alexander (1803-1885), containing his archive of sketchbooks documenting his travels in India, New Zealand and Canada, and his personal copies of his published travel accounts (lots 31 to 62). Later in life Alexander was the prime mover in the campaign to bring Cleopatra’s Needle to Britain, and his library was offered by Lyon &amp; Turnbull on behalf of Alexander’s direct descendants. The collection was 100% sold and quadrupled expectations to reach over £252,000. &nbsp;Another single-owner collection opened the sale,&nbsp;Africa and the Source of the Nile - Selections from the Library of a Scottish Gentleman, focusing on the European exploration of Egypt, the Sudan and Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in the 19th and early 20th centuries and including key works by Richard F. Burton, James Bruce and others (lots 1 to 30). A first edition of David Roberts’s masterpiece, Egypt and Nubia (1846-9), completes the Egyptian theme.The sale was also strong in private press material, modern first editions, children’s books, and important historical documents, with highlights including a first edition of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone selling for £77,060 as well as letters signed by the 15th-century monarch Edward IV (£11,430) and the privy council of the ill-fated Lady Jane Grey (£24,130)

Specialists' Selection

large_884-header-2.jpg

medium_884-header-2.jpg

small_884-header-2.jpg

thumbnail_884-header-2.jpg

xlarge_884-header-2.jpg

ft. The Library of General Sir James Edward Alexander

small_MicrosoftTeams-image-removebg-preview.png

thumbnail_MicrosoftTeams-image-removebg-preview.png

Logo with add text

Lyon & Turnbull | Online Auction Specialists  

large_Placeholder-for-Blog.jpg

medium_Placeholder-for-Blog.jpg

small_Placeholder-for-Blog.jpg

thumbnail_Placeholder-for-Blog.jpg

xlarge_Placeholder-for-Blog.jpg

Placeholder-for-Blog.jpg

Collection of travel narratives, 19th & early 20th century

Four 17th & 18th century works 

Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile

Narrative of a Journey through Abyssinia in 1862-3

A Visit to Abyssinia

The Nile Basin

Zanzibar

Incidents of a Journey through Darfoor

My Wanderings in the Soudan

Slave-Catching in the Indian Ocean

Dhow Chasing in Zanzibar Waters & on the Eastern Coast of Africa

Journal of Herbert Edward Pretyman

Sea Nile, the Desert, & Nigritia

Narrative of a Passage from Bombay to England

Narrative of Voyages to explore the Shores of Africa, Arabia, & Madagascar

Collection of 19th & 20th century works, including a manuscript

Collection of works, 19th-20th century

Collection of 19th & 20th century works

Collection of travel accounts, 19th & 20th century

Collection of military handbooks & accounts of the Great War & the King's African Rifles

Collection of accounts of travel & soldiering in the Sudan, 19th & 20th century

Collection of 19th century works

Official histories, handbooks, local imprints, late 19th century

Collection of accounts of African big game hunting & natural history, 19th-20th century

The Story of the Cape to Cairo Railway & River Route from 1887 to 1922

Collection of central & cross-African travel narratives, 19th-20th century

Four 18th & 19th century works

Collection of original accounts, 19th-20th century

Collection of their accounts of African travel

Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El-Medinah & Meccah

Eighteen Views taken at and near Rangoon

Letters written in a Mahratta Camp during the Year 1809

Travels from India to England

Four illuminated petitions addressed to Ottoman commanders including Muhammad Ali Pasha

Album of miniature paintings showing Indian castes, trades and costume

Shigurf Namah i Velaet, or Excellent Intelligence concerning Europe

Album of sketches from travels in Burma, India, Persia, Africa, Canada and Britain, 1820s-40s

Illustrated manuscript journal of a voyage to Russia during the Russo-Turkish War, 1829

Illuminated manuscript petition in Arabic addressed to Sa'id bin Sultan (1795-1856), Imam of Muscat

Sketchbooks of his travels in Canada, 1840s-50s

Sketchbook of travels in Canada, including watercolours of Indigenous peoples

Sketchbooks of travels in Canada and the United States, 1845-55

Alexander's own copies of his published accounts of travel in the Americas

The Ethiopian Glee Book

Albums of watercolours & sketches by Eveline M. Alexander (1821-1906), including Indigenous peoples

Sketchbooks of travels in Canada, Morocco and Gibraltar, 1867-8

Collection of sketchbooks attributed to Colonel Edward Mayne Alexander (1840-1916)

Manuscript journals of military service in Canada, the Crimea, and New Zealand, 1850s-70s

Sketchbook of Crimean War service, 1854-6

Sketchbooks of Ireland, 1857-9

Sketchbook of New Zealand and the Maori during the First Taranaki War, 1860-1

Sketchbook of New Zealand during the First Taranaki War, 1860-2

Manuscript journals of two sea voyages, Ireland to New Zealand, 1860, and Australia to England, 1862

Sketchbooks of travel and military service, 1860s

Group of sketchbooks, 1870s-1880s

Military and personal notebooks and documents

Alexander's own copies of his travel accounts and other works

General Sir James Edward Alexander's personal record of the creation of the Peninsular War Medal

Collection of books from his library

Collection of works, 17th & 19th century

Album of 19th-century cartes-de-visite

A Genealogical Tree of the Potent & Independent Sovereigns, Lords of the Isles

Travels in Asia Minor

Egypt & Nubia

Official photographs of Churchill's meeting with Ibn Saud and other leaders in Egypt, February 1945

My Early Life

Collection of press photographs, c.1955-60

Large collection of photographs, 1950s-60s

Group of press & official photographs, 1960s

Large collection of photographs, 1940s-60s

A Collection 

Journeys in Persia & Kurdistan

Délégation en Perse

[Mission scientifique au Mexique et dans l'Amérique centrale: ouvrage publiée par ordre du ministre de l'instruction]

'Désastres de Paris, 1871'

A collection

Collection of deluxe editions

Large collection of mainly American travel & history, 19th-early 20th century

Narrative, of a Five Years' Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam

Document signed as governor of South Carolina, 1807

An Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, 25th March 1807

Volume of two pamphlets on the slave trade

[Typee]

A General Collection of the Best & Most Interesting Voyages & Travels in all Parts of the World

Collection of plates from The Campaign in India, 1857-8

Collection of plates from Picturesque Scenery in the Kingdom of Mysore

Tippoo Sultaun: a Tale of the Mysore War

Photograph album compiled by a British Royal Artillery officer, 1875-8

The Sikhs

Photograph album of Sikh soldiers in the British Indian Army, c.1905-10

Narrative of the Campaign of the Army of the Indus, in Sind & Kaubool, in 1838-9

Books & Manuscripts

ft. The Library of General Sir James Edward Alexander | 884