Christie, Manson & Woods International Inc. (New York)

(27 cm), 299 (5) pp., illustrations (most in colour). 208 lots. Publisher’s pictorial wrappers. - Nakles was a collector “largely immune to condition, preferring to buy a lot of books, even if it meant buying bad copies of some, to a few good ones… Such books are still not in very short supply… hence estimates prudently low. But this was to reckon without the emergence of a new collector [Percy Nils Barnevik], bidding through Pickering and Chatto, who took the same line as Nakles with apparently greater means. Here was an opportunity to acquire a representative collection, which might otherwise take years to build up individually: best, then, to buy while the books were there… Kraus, the telephone and other bidders offered strong opposition, but it was clear whence the success of the sale had come” (from a saleroom report in The Book Collector, Autumn 2000, pp.405-406). Catalogue contains (pp.257-263) “Rubbings of binding tools” (nos. 1-92) and an index of binders and former owners. ¶ Unmarked copy.