Name: Auction: Modern literature & science-fiction Collection of works, 20th century
Brand: Lyon & Turnbull
Price: 300 GBP
Availability: InStock

Other Properties | Wed 25 February from 10am | Lots 63 to 255

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

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

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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.  

How to Know if You Have a First Edition Harry Potter Book

Since its quiet debut in 1997, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone has become one of the most sought-after modern first editions in the world of book collecting. 

Presenting our first Books &amp; Manuscripts auction of 2026, which will take place on Wednesday 25 February in our historic saleroom in Edinburgh and online. &nbsp;The auction will feature a number of private collections including The Library of General Sir James 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 is offered by Lyon &amp; Turnbull on behalf of Alexander’s direct descendants.Another single-owner collection will open 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theme.The sale is also strong in private press material, modern first editions, children’s books, and important historical documents, with highlights including a first edition of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, letters signed by the 15th-century monarch Edward IV and the privy council of the ill-fated Lady Jane Grey, and a collection of rare signed broadsides by the infamous Scottish poet William McGonagall.

Alan

Specialists' Selection

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ft. The Library of General Sir James Alexander

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Lyon & Turnbull | Online Auction Specialists  

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including: Arthur Symons, A Study of Oscar Wilde, 1930 (apparently one of 10 copies on Japanese vellum, signed by the author, from the total edition of 460 copies, 4to, original cloth, photogravure portrait frontispiece); Iain Banks, The Wasp Factory, 1984 (first edition, dust jacket); Brian Aldiss, Helliconia Winter, 1985 (first edition, signed by the author, dust jacket); Ursula Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea, 1973 (first UK edition, second impression, price-clipped dust jacket, gift inscription to front free endpaper); E. M. Forster, Alexandria, 1938 (second edition, original boards, folding map); D. H. Lawrence, Birds, Beasts and Flowers, 1923 (first edition, original quarter cloth); Agatha Christie, They Do It With Mirrors, 1952 (first edition, price-clipped dust jacket); and 46 others, mainly science-fiction in dust jackets (53)

Collection of works, 20th century

Modern literature & science-fiction

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Zero Rated

Modern literature & science-fiction

Collection of works, 20th century

Description