From iconic poetry to political pamphlets: Rare books, manuscripts, and photographs
This quarter's most valuable sales showcase extraordinary diversity across collecting categories. Highlights include T.S. Eliot's inscribed The Waste Land, Shackleton's deluxe Antarctic expedition account, and Thomas Paine's revolutionary Common Sense marking America's 250th anniversary.
The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot - £26,000
This exceptional presentation copy of The Waste Land is inscribed by T.S. Eliot to John Walker in May 1927, from the second printing of one thousand copies (number 213). It features the distinctive "mount in" misprint on page 41.
Bound in original black flexible cloth with gilt lettering and housed in a custom half morocco slipcase, this signed first edition captures Eliot's powerful meditation on post-World War I disillusionment. The work that revolutionized twentieth-century poetry.
Sold by Raptis Rare Books
This is a remarkable example, The Waste Land is such a defining work of the 20th century, it fundamentally reshaped modern poetry and it is a true rarity inscribed by Eliot.
The Heart of the Antarctic by Ernest H. Shackleton - £25,000
Number 280 of 300 copies, this deluxe set documents Shackleton's legendary 1907-09 Nimrod expedition, which came within 100 miles of the South Pole. Signed by the shore party including Aeneas Mackintosh, the volumes chronicle three historic achievements: the first journey to the south magnetic pole, the ascent of Mount Erebus, and Shackleton's record-breaking southern trek.
Bound in original vellum with gilt twin penguin devices and featuring George Marston's hand-colored plates and original etchings, this set exemplifies Antarctic exploration literature at its finest.
Sold by Peter Harrington
Photographs of the Cottingley Fairies taken by Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright - £21,000
This complete collection comprises all five photographs from history's most famous photographic hoax. Created by cousins Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright between 1917 and 1920, these images fooled Arthur Conan Doyle and sparked international controversy.
The vintage sepia prints are mounted on original embossed brown card and housed in crown-embossed wallets with tissue guards. In larger format than most examples at auction, this near-fine set remained undiscovered as a hoax until 1983, when the cousins finally revealed their paper cut-out fairies secured with hat pins.
Sold by Burnside Rare Books
One of the greatest, most heart-warming photographic hoaxes of all time, where two young girls set out with a camera to prove the existence of fairies. The photographs they produced garnered a huge amount of publicity and a great controversy ensued among scientists and writers, enthusiastically debating if they were real or not. Most notably, Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of arch-logician character Sherlock Holmes, was publicly duped by the two cousins, aged 9 and 16. These were such a joy to see in person and are among my favorite items I've ever handled.
The Mineral Conchology of Great Britain by James Sowerby - £16,000
All 611 hand-colored plates plus four duplicates make this first edition of Sowerby's landmark paleontological work exceptional. The complete six-volume set contains 615 plates total, including twenty-four folding examples.
Published between 1812 and 1829, this complete six-volume set represents a cornerstone of British paleontology, documenting fossilized shells preserved in the earth's strata. Finely bound in later burgundy red calf gilt extra over silken green cloth boards with marbled fore-edges, the work remains in fine condition throughout.
Sold by Halewood and Sons
Common Sense by Thomas Paine - £13,800
Published in 1776, the pivotal year of American independence (now marking its 250th anniversary during the U.S. Semiquincentennial), this J. Almon London edition of Paine's revolutionary pamphlet made the first public appeal for an American Republic.
Complete with additions that increased the work by over one-third, including the appendix and address to the Quakers, it attacked King George as a "hardened, sullen-tempered Pharaoh." Bound in modern quarter brown calf over marbled boards with gilt-lettered spine, this very good copy shows minor foxing consistent with age.
Sold by Heritage Book Shop
Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking by William James - £13,400
This first edition, first printing of James's definitive work on pragmatism is inscribed by the philosopher to Francis S. Peabody (1859-1922), founder of Peabody Coal, on May 29, 1907—shortly after publication.
The inscription reads "with affectionate regards of W. J." Bound in publisher's brown cloth over beige cloth spine with title label, this collection of James's lectures became the key text of American pragmatism. Signed copies are incredibly scarce, making this presentation copy to a prominent businessman particularly significant.
Sold by Burnside Rare Books
An intellectual titan, William James was one of the leading thinkers of the late 19th century and is considered among the most influential philosophers of all time. His lectures established the philosophical school known as pragmatism, and this book, which collects these lectures, became the its key text. Signed copies are incredibly scarce.
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill - £11,200
This rare first edition of Hill's classic bestseller—which has sold over 100 million copies—is boldly signed by Napoleon Hill on the front free endpaper.
Published in 1937 during the Great Depression and inspired by Andrew Carnegie, this personal development landmark remains BusinessWeek's sixth best-selling paperback business book seventy years after publication. Near fine in a very good dust jacket with the rare prospectus laid in.
Sold by Raptis Rare Books
Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist by Albert Einstein, edited by Paul Arthur Schilpp - £11,000
This signed limited edition of Einstein's singular autobiography is one of 760 numbered copies signed "Albert Einstein '49"—number 225.
Edited by Paul Arthur Schilpp with frontispiece portrait by Yousuf Karsh, this volume from "The Library of Living Philosophers" series presents Einstein's thinking on science: the failure of classical mechanics, the rise of the electromagnetic field, relativity theory, and quantum mechanics.
Bound in original brown cloth with top edge gilt and housed in the original slipcase, this fine copy represents the work of Time magazine's "Person of the Century."
Sold by Raptis Rare Books
The Tragedy of Richard the Third by William Shakespeare - £10,400
This Second Folio extraction of Shakespeare's Richard III comprises pages 173-204, opening with the famous "Now is the Winter of our Discontent" soliloquy.
The text features two-column layout with woodcut initial, head and tailpiece, and wide margins. Bound in modern quarter calf with marbled boards and gilt spine title, this very good copy shows light staining and minor edge wear.
The Folio text differs significantly from the Quarto, providing valuable historical context for contemporary readers studying Shakespeare's second-longest play.
Sold by Burnside Rare Books
Shakespeare's classic tragedy, and his second longest play. The Folio and the Quarto texts of it differ and are often combined in modern publications; scholars have surmised that the Quarto was reconstructed from various actors' memories, inaccurate but useful as it provides historical context for contemporary readers.
Autograph Letter to Roberto Sotolongo by Ernest Hemingway - £10,000
This unpublished autograph letter signed by Hemingway reveals the true ending of his black-maned lion hunt—the central theme of his unfinished safari manuscript published posthumously as True at First Light (1999).
Written in Spanish and English from his Salengai River camp, Hemingway recounts slapping a giraffe, tracking lions with the Masai, and his friend Mayito's successful hunt.
The letter also addresses a rare family reconciliation attempt. Complete with original airmail envelope bearing Ugandan stamps and Nairobi postmark.
Sold by Librairie Le Feu Follet
https://www.abebooks.co.uk/books/rarebooks/most-expensive-sales-january-february-march-2026
