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Catalogue of valuable printed books and fine bindings from the celebrated collection : the property of Major J.R. Abbey. Parts I-XI (catalogues for auctions conducted by Sotheby & Co., London, 21 June 1965-19 June 1989)
London, Sotheby & Co. / Sotheby Parke Bernet & Co. / Sotheby’s, 1965-1989
Eleven volumes (25-29 cm), 38 colour and 394 black & white plates (in Parts I-X), in the publisher’s bindings. - A well-documented library, formed at the major sales of the 1930s (Rosebery, Mensing, Schiff, Bishop, etc.) and the Dyson Perrins sales of 1946-1947. “The collection of Continental bindings, though comprehensive and with many striking examples, was not up to the highest French standards, but that of English bindings was the finest ever formed” (A.R.A. Hobson, “Major Abbey’s Bindings in the Saleroom” in The Times Literary Supplement, 20 January 1966, p.52). A.R.A. Hobson and A.N.L. Munby, “John Roland Abbey” in The Book Collector, volume 10 (1961), pp.40-48; and Munby’s memoir in The Book Collector, volume 19 (1970), pp.70-72, 75. ¶ Lists of prices and buyers’ names mostly in photocopy. Well-preserved set.
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- Subjects
- Auction sale catalogues - Books - 1965
- Auction sale catalogues - Books - 1965-1989
- Auction sale catalogues - Books - 1966
- Auction sale catalogues - Books - 1967
- Auction sale catalogues - Books - 1970
- Auction sale catalogues - Books - 1974
- Auction sale catalogues - Books - 1975
- Auction sale catalogues - Books - 1978
- Auction sale catalogues - Books - 1989
- Book illustration - Auction sale catalogues
- Bookbinding - Collections, UK - Abbey (John Roland), 1894-1969
- Bookbindings - Auction sale catalogues
- Illumination of books and manuscripts - Auction sale catalogues
- Illumination of books and manuscripts - Collections, UK - Abbey (John Roland), 1894-1969
- Livres d'artistes - Collections, UK - Abbey (John Roland), 1894-1969
- Authors/Creators
- Sotheby & Co. (London)
- Owners
- Abbey, John Roland, 1894-1969
- Hornby, Charles Harry St. John, 1867-1946
- Auction date
- 19650621
- 19661114
- 19670619
- 19671106
- 19700602
- 19701019
- 19701201
- 19740604
- 19750325
- 19780620
- 19890619
This collection contains
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Sotheby & Co. (London)
Catalogue of valuable printed books and fine bindings from the celebrated collection : the property of Major J.R. Abbey [Part 1] (catalogue for an auction conducted by Sotheby & Co., London, 21-23 June 1965)
London, Sotheby & Co., 1965(25.5 cm), xi (1), 279 (1) pp., 3 colour plates (pls.[A]-C, opposite pp.iii, 76, 177), 70 leaves of plates (pls.1-83; pls.10/11, 18/19, 26/27, 28/29, 36/37, 45/46, 48/49, 56/57, 59/60, 63/64, 65/66, 68/69, 76/77, 79/80 on single leaves), text illustrations. Lots 1-694. Errata slip (re: plate 5; Lot 646). Publisher’s printed boards. - This three-day sale brought in some £157,172, a record at the time for a single sale of printed books, excluding manuscripts. “So far the picture is of steady recovery from the abyss of the Depression” (A.R.A. Hobson, “Major Abbey’s Bindings in the Saleroom” in The Times Literary Supplement, 20 January 1966, p.52). ¶ List of prices and buyers’ names in photocopy. Occasional pencil annotations; otherwise a fine copy.- Subjects
- Auction sale catalogues - Books - 1965
- Authors/Creators
- Sotheby & Co. (London)
- Owners
- Abbey, John Roland, 1894-1969
- Auction date
- 19650621
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Sotheby & Co. (London)
Catalogue of the celebrated library : the property of Major J.R. Abbey : Part II. Comprising : the valuable and extensive collection of books on bookbinding, printing, book-illustration, bibliography, paper and watermarks, illuminated manuscripts, book-collecting and libraries; heraldry; and runs of learned journals : the extensive collection of private library catalogues : a long run of Roxburghe Club books, including many printed on vellum : a collection of the Rev. T.F. Dibdin’s works… : letters of Dibdin to George Lewis and of Leopold Delisle to Sir Sydney Cockerell : a collection of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century pamphlets on libraries : bindings by Sybil Pye, Sarah Prideaux, Douglas Cockerell, Sydney M. Cockerell and Bryan Maggs; and Katharine Adams’s collection of photographs and designs of her own bindings 1898-c. 1935 : Owen Jones’s illuminated drawings for The history of Joseph and his brethren : a series of presentation copies of T.J. Wise’s bibliographies (catalogue for an auction conducted by Sotheby & Co., London, 14-16 November 1966)
London, Sotheby & Co., 1966(25.5 cm), (2) 133 (1) pp., 4 leaves of plates (pls.84-87, inserted after pp.2, 40, 100, 124). Lots 695-1590. Publisher’s printed boards. ¶ List of prices and buyers’ names in photocopy. Fine, unmarked copy.- Subjects
- Auction sale catalogues - Books - 1966
- Authors/Creators
- Sotheby & Co. (London)
- Owners
- Abbey, John Roland, 1894-1969
- Auction date
- 19661114
-
Sotheby & Co. (London)
Catalogue of the celebrated library : the property of Major J.R. Abbey : Part III (catalogue for an auction conducted by Sotheby & Co., London, 19-21 June 1967)
London, Sotheby & Co., 1967(25.5 cm), (8) 233 (13) pp., 7 colour plates (pls.[D]-J), 39 leaves of plates (pls.88-139; pls.88/89, 92/93, 97/98, 102/103, 111/112, 116/117, 120/121, 127/128, 135/136, 137/138; colour plate F backed by 105 and colour plate I by 132; plate 107 folding), illustrations. Lots 1591-2243. Publisher’s printed boards. ¶ List of prices and buyers’ names in photocopy. Fine, unmarked copy.- Subjects
- Auction sale catalogues - Books - 1967
- Authors/Creators
- Sotheby & Co. (London)
- Owners
- Abbey, John Roland, 1894-1969
- Auction date
- 19670619
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Sotheby & Co. (London)
Catalogue of the celebrated library : the property of Major J.R. Abbey : the fourth and final portion : comprising books from the Bremer, Cranach, Doves, Essex House, Golden Cockerel, Kelmscott and Vale presses, and a complete set of Gregynog Press books bound by the Press bindery : bindings by T.J. Cobden-Sanderson, Douglas Cockerell, the Doves Press bindery, Sibyl Pye, Charles McLeish, Maclehose of Glasgow, Sidney Cockerell and Roger Powell, and designed by Charles Ricketts : a unique Antwerp calendar of 1527 : bibliography; colour-plate books; an extensive collection of Lovat Fraser’s illustrations; and Sir Richard Colt Hoare’s copy of his Modern Wiltshire extra-illustrated with Buckler’s water-colour views (catalogue for an auction conducted by Sotheby & Co., London, 6 November 1967)
London, Sotheby & Co., 1967(25.5 cm), (4) 52 (4) pp., 8 leaves of plates (pls.140-147). Lots 2244-2532. Printed list of prices and buyers’ names. Publisher’s printed boards. ¶ Fine, unmarked copy.- Subjects
- Auction sale catalogues - Books - 1967
- Authors/Creators
- Sotheby & Co. (London)
- Owners
- Abbey, John Roland, 1894-1969
- Auction date
- 19671106
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Sotheby & Co. (London)
Catalogue of highly important modern French illustrated books and bindings : forming part V of the celebrated library of the late Major J.R. Abbey : (sold by order of the executors) (catalogue for an auction conducted by Sotheby & Co., London, 2 June 1970)
London, Sotheby & Co., 1970(25.5 cm), 179 (1) pp., 6 colour plates (pls.K-P), plates (pls.148-209; some folding; some backed by text; colour pl.K backed by 151; pls.153, 198 passed over, 204 repeated, a folding plate for lot 2625 outside numeration). Lots 2533-2632. Publisher’s printed wrappers. ¶ Book block loosening in wrappers. List of prices and buyers’ names in photocopy.- Subjects
- Auction sale catalogues - Books - 1970
- Book illustration - Auction sale catalogues
- Livres d'artistes - Collections, UK - Abbey (John Roland), 1894-1969
- Authors/Creators
- Sotheby & Co. (London)
- Owners
- Abbey, John Roland, 1894-1969
- Auction date
- 19700602
-
Sotheby & Co. (London)
Catalogue of the celebrated library : the property of Major J.R. Abbey : sold by order of the executors : the sixth portion : including: large paper copies of Ackermann's Oxford, Cambridge, and Public Schools, and Pyne's Royal Residences; Repton's Observations and Fragments, and the Red Book for Newton Park, Somerset; Ackermann's Microcosm of London, Havell's Series of Picturesque views of Noblemen’s and Gentleman's Seats; and other colour plate books : the well-known and extensive collection of modern English bindings, including examples by T.J. Cobden-Sanderson, Katharine Adams, Sybil Pye, Roger Powell, Sydney Cockerell, Edgar Mansfield, Ivor Robinson, Philip Smith and others : books from the Ashendene, Bremer, Cranach, Doves, Kelmscott, and other presses : bibliography, including numerous publications of the Roxburghe Club (catalogue for an auction conducted by Sotheby & Co., London, 19 October 1970)
London, Sotheby & Co., 1970(24.5 cm), 51 (1) pp., 1 colour plate (lot 2848), 5 leaves of plates (pls.210-216; pls.210/211, 215/216 on single leaves). Lots 2635-2861. Publisher’s printed wrappers. ¶ List of prices and buyers’ names in photocopy. Fine, unmarked copy.- Subjects
- Auction sale catalogues - Books - 1970
- Livres d'artistes - Collections, UK - Abbey (John Roland), 1894-1969
- Authors/Creators
- Sotheby & Co. (London)
- Owners
- Abbey, John Roland, 1894-1969
- Auction date
- 19701019
-
Sotheby & Co. (London)
Catalogue of valuable printed books and fine bindings from the celebrated collection; the property of Major J.R. Abbey : The seventh portion : forty-three manuscripts of the 9th to the 20th century (catalogue for an auction conducted by Sotheby & Co., London, 1 December 1970)
London, Sotheby & Co. / Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., 1970(29 cm), 97 (3) pp., colour frontispiece (lot 2868), 1 colour plate (lot 2875), 55 p. of plates (pls.1-55), Lots numbered 2862-2904. Publisher’s printed boards. ¶ Fine, unmarked copy. Printed List of prices realised and buyers’ names in photocopy. -
Sotheby & Co. (London)
Catalogue of valuable printed books and fine bindings from the celebrated collection; the property of Major J.R. Abbey. The eighth portion : Hornby manuscripts, pt. 1, thirty-four manuscripts of the 11th to the 15th century (catalogue for an auction conducted by Sotheby & Co., London, 4 June 1974)
London, Sotheby & Co. / Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc., 1974(29 cm), 111 (1) pp., colour frontispiece (lot 2906), 6 colour plates (pls.A-F), 50 p. of plates (pls.1-50). Lots numbered 2905-2938. Printed list of prices and buyers’ names. Publisher’s printed boards. - Abbey had purchased the collection en bloc after Hornby’s death, and had disposed of some inferior manuscripts in Sotheby’s on 17-19 February 1947. ¶ Fine, unmarked copy.- Subjects
- Auction sale catalogues - Books - 1974
- Authors/Creators
- Sotheby & Co. (London)
- Owners
- Abbey, John Roland, 1894-1969
- Hornby, Charles Harry St. John, 1867-1946
- Auction date
- 19740604
-
Sotheby & Co. (London)
Catalogue of valuable printed books and fine bindings from the celebrated collection; the property of Major J.R. Abbey. The ninth portion : Hornby manuscripts, pt. 2, thirty-four manuscripts of the 9th to the 16th century (catalogue for an auction conducted by Sotheby & Co., London, 25 March 1975)
London, Sotheby Parke Bernet & Co., 1975(29 cm), 96 (2) pp., colour frontispiece, 4 colour plates (pls.A-D), 41 p. of plates (pls.1-41). Lots numbered 2939-2972. Errata sheet loosely inserted. List of prices realised and buyers’ names loosely inserted. Publisher’s printed boards. - The title-page incorrectly calls for “49 plates, including 5 in colour”; this copy is complete with 46 plates. ¶ Photocopy of typescript “Estimates for the sale of the Abbey Library - Ninth Portion” loosely inserted. Unmarked copy.- Subjects
- Auction sale catalogues - Books - 1975
- Illumination of books and manuscripts - Collections, UK - Abbey (John Roland), 1894-1969
- Authors/Creators
- Sotheby & Co. (London)
- Owners
- Abbey, John Roland, 1894-1969
- Hornby, Charles Harry St. John, 1867-1946
- Auction date
- 19750325
-
Sotheby & Co. (London)
Catalogue of valuable printed books and fine bindings from the celebrated collection; the property of Major J.R. Abbey. The tenth portion: Thirty-four manuscripts of the 11th to the 19th century (catalogue for an auction conducted by Sotheby & Co., London, 20 June 1978)
London, Sotheby Parke Bernet & Co., 1978(29 cm), 81 (3) pp., colour frontispiece, 2 colour plates (pls.A-B), 32 p. of plates (pls.1-32). Lots numbered 2973-3006. Printed estimates sheet. List of estimates loosely inserted. List of prices realised and buyers’ names loosely inserted. Publisher’s printed boards. ¶ Second copy of Price list loosely inserted (annotated with names of dealers using saleroom pseudonyms).- Subjects
- Auction sale catalogues - Books - 1978
- Illumination of books and manuscripts - Collections, UK - Abbey (John Roland), 1894-1969
- Authors/Creators
- Sotheby & Co. (London)
- Owners
- Abbey, John Roland, 1894-1969
- Auction date
- 19780620
-
Sotheby & Co. (London)
Catalogue of valuable printed books and fine bindings from the celebrated collection; the property of Major J.R. Abbey. The eleventh and final portion … Forty-four manuscripts from c. 1100 to 1762, sold by order of the Trustees of the J.R. Abbey Will Trust (catalogue for an auction conducted by Sotheby & Co., London, 19 June 1989)
London, Sotheby's, 1989(29 cm), 207 (13) pp., colour frontispiece, text illustrations (most in colour). Lots numbered 3007-3050. Printed price list loosely inserted. Publisher’s printed boards, colour illustration laid to upper cover. - The Clarence Hours, commissioned by Margaret (Holland), widowed duchess of Clarence (d. 1439), the “last major English royal manuscript in private hands”, more than doubled its estimate at £286,000, selling to Sam Fogg (re-offered in Fogg Catalogue, 12, 1989, item 14). The 44 manuscripts realised a total of £5.9 million. A “Concordance of numbers of Abbey manuscripts” is appended. ¶ Annotated copy, priced in ink.- Subjects
- Auction sale catalogues - Books - 1989
- Illumination of books and manuscripts - Collections, UK - Abbey (John Roland), 1894-1969
- Authors/Creators
- Sotheby & Co. (London)
- Owners
- Abbey, John Roland, 1894-1969
- Auction date
- 19890619
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