Most Expensive Sales from April to June 2020

This list features Roland Deschain's epic quest, Tom Sawyer and his fence, a mathematician, a mercenary in the New World, a queen consort of France, 007, Isaac Newton explaining gravity, and a physician. We also give our regards to Broadway.


The Dark Tower I-X by Stephen King, £17,100



Donald M. Grant is a fantasy and science fiction small press, well known for its Stephen King editions. Grant's Dark Tower series is divided into nine "Parts," and three parts (four, five, and seven) contain two volumes (two hardcover books in one slipcase), so there's a total of 12 books. Published between 1982 and 2012, these are first edition first printings, each part is signed by King and the book's illustrator. All share the same number (#199). All are beautifully illustrated with full-page color plates, and have dust jackets and slipcases. The Dark Tower series tells the story of Roland Deschain, Mid-World's last gunslinger, who is traveling across a post-apocalyptic landscape, searching for the Dark Tower. Inspired in equal parts by Robert Browning's poem, 'Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came,' Lord of the Rings and spaghetti Westerns, many readers think The Dark Tower is King's magnum opus.


The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain, £14,250



First edition, first printing from 1876, published by the American Publishing Company, in Hartford, Connecticut. The inner hinge has been repaired. This famous novel flopped at first and is usually overshadowed by its sequel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. However, Tom Sawyer went on to become a bestseller and its fence painting scene is fondly remembered by any reader who has been saddled with a dull chore.


The whetstone of witte, whiche is the seconde parte of Arithmetike: containyng thextraction of rootes: the cossike practise, with the rule of equation: and the woorkes of surde nombers by Robert Recorde, £12,165

In short, one of the earliest books on algebra and the first book to use the equals sign. This is a first edition from 1557. Bound in 18th century calf on marbled boards, edges speckled, rebacked with raised bands. Eight missing leaves and two missing tables are replaced by facsimiles


An Historical Account of the Expedition against the Ohio Indians, by William Smith, £12,030

An account of Colonel Henry Bouquet's expedition into Ohio where he won the release of hostages and negotiated an end to attacks on British colonists. Bouquet was a Swiss mercenary who rose to prominence working for the British during the French and Indian War, and Pontiac's War. Bouquet died of a fever in 1765, and Smith wrote the book from Bouquet's notes and journals. This is a 1765 first edition, printed in London. This copy belonged to Peter Muhlenberg, an American soldier and politician who fought in the American War of Independence and worked alongside Benjamin Franklin.


A Pictorial Description of Broadway, £11,400



Published by the Mail & Express Company in 1899. This book features a series of beautiful chromolithographs displaying the main thoroughfare of Broadway "from Steamship Row and Bowling Green to 59th Street". The Mail & Express Company was the publisher of the Evening Mail, a New York daily newspaper. This is an important block-by-block record of what Broadway looked like at the turn of the 20th century.


Heures D'Anne De Bretagne, £9,050

This translates as the Hours of Anne of Brittany. A facsimile edition of one of the most famous and beautiful book of hours ever created, this edition was published by Moleiro in 2012 in a limited edition of 987 copies. The original text is Latin and this edition has English commentary too. A book of hours contains texts, prayers and psalms, and they were commonplace during the Middle Ages. The original edition is in the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Anne (1477-1514) was Duchess of Brittany from 1488 until her death, and queen consort of France from 1491 to 1498 and from 1499 to her death. She is the only woman to have been queen consort of France twice. A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king. Anne married Charles VIII who died. She then married Charles' cousin, Louis XII, following an agreement to annex Brittany.


Persuasion, by Jane Austen, £8,140

First American edition, one of 1,250 copies printed by Carey & Lea in 1832. Persuasion was the last novel completed by Austen. It was first published in 1817, six months after her death.


A Treatise of the System of the World, by Isaac Newton, £8,140



First edition in English of Newton's third part of Principia. This near fine copy, published in 1728, belonged to George Baillie (1664-1738), a Scottish politician and Member of Parliament. Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica is simply known as the Principia. It states Newton's laws of motion, including the laws of gravity, and is the basis for classical mathematics.


Casino Royale, by Ian Fleming, £8,135



It feels like this 1953 novel appears on every most expensive sales list that we publish. A first edition, first printing in fine condition, published by Jonathan Cape, with a near fine dust jacket. Casino Royale was the first James Bond novel and became an instant bestseller.


Anatomia uteri humani gravidi tabulis illustrate, by William Hunter, £7,935



This translates as The Anatomy of the Human Gravid Uterus Exhibited in Figures. Published by the Baskerville Press, it's the first edition of a pioneering bilingual (Latin and English) anatomical atlas of obstetrics and gynecology published in 1774. It is illustrated with 34 mostly life-sized anatomical plates of pregnant women, which offered a ground-breaking amount of detail for this era. Hunter (1718-1783) was a royal physician and professor of anatomy at the Society of Naval Surgeons.

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Early Welsh settlers in Patagonia

On 27th July 1865, over 150 settlers from Wales arrived on The Mimosa, at Puerto Madryn in Southern Argentina, with the intention of establishing Y Wladfa (the Welsh Colony in Patagonia).

The notion of a Welsh colony in South America was proposed by Professor Michael D. Jones, a non-conformist preacher based in Bala, who had spent several years in the United States, where Welsh settlers had adapted to the new lifestyle very quickly. He advocated establishing a Welsh speaking colony, far from the influence of the English Language, in Patagonia. The destination was chosen for its isolation and the Argentines' offer of 100 square miles of land along the Chubut River.

The Mimosa sailed from Liverpool in May 1865 and after approximately eight weeks arrived at Puerto Madryn. Unfortunately, the settlers found that Patagonia was not the fertile land they had been promised. They had been led to believe that it was similar to the fertile lowlands of Wales. In fact, it was a windswept pampas, with no water, very little source of food and no woodlands to provide building materials or shelter. Some of the settlers’ first homes were simply dug out from the soft rock of the cliffs in the bay.

At first, the colony looked as if it were doomed to failure. The settlers had to walk forty miles across the desert, pushing in wheelbarrows their meagre belongings and food, finally managing to reach the proposed site for the colony in the Chubut valley. It was here in 1865, where the river Camwy cuts through the desert from the nearby Andes, that the permanent settlement of Rawson was established. The settlers on The Mimosa included miners, carpenters, brick makers, cobblers and tailors, but very few farmers. This proved to be a serious disadvantage, as the terrain was dry and dusty and it was difficult to grow crops. Life for the settlers was made even more difficult by arguments over land ownership, bad harvests and floods. In addition, there was no direct route to the ocean to import necessities. Without the help of the Tehuelche Indians, who at first had been suspicious and unfriendly, the settlement may not have survived the early food shortages.

Simple irrigation of the Chubut River was successful, and over the next several years, new settlers arrived from both Wales and Pennsylvania. By the end of 1874, the settlement had a population of 270, with a patchwork of farms beginning to emerge. In 1875, the Welsh settlers were granted official title to the land by the Argentine Government, and this encouraged many more people to join the colony, with more than 500 arriving from Wales. There were further migrations from Wales between 1880-87, and 1904-12. The settlers had seemingly achieved their utopia with Welsh speaking chapels, schools and local government.

These now productive and fertile lands soon attracted settlers of other nationalities to Chubut, eroding its Welsh identity. By 1915, the population of Chubut numbered 20,000, with approximately half of these being from nationalities other than Welsh. Over the years, use of the Welsh language declined, and after 1914, there was little contact between Wales and Chubut. Change began to occur, however, when large numbers of Welsh people visited Patagonia in 1965 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the colony. There has recently been a co-ordinated attempt by the Argentine government and the National Assembly of Wales to promote and maintain Patagonia's Welsh heritage and identity. Teachers are being sent there to assist in keeping the language alive, eisteddfodau are being held, chapels are being supported and bara brith is being served in Welsh teahouses. In 2006, sporting links were established when Wales played Argentina in a rugby international at Puerto Madryn.

Pandora

The Whimsical Wordsmith

"What Pandora did not know was that, when she shut the lid of the jar so hastily, she for ever imprisoned inside one last daughter of Nyx. One last little creature was left behind to beat its wings hopelessly in the jar for ever. Its name was ELPIS, Hope."

Stephen Fry, The Greek Myths Retold

Listen to the legend here:

https://youtu.be/WgiX5Las3KE

Books

The Whimsical Wordsmith

"You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown ups, then you write it for children."

Madeleine L'Engle

Artwork: Child Reading, Jessie Willcox Smith

Myth-busting Monday: “Dogs descended from wolves”.

Schooling 4 Dogs

Myth-busting Monday: “Dogs descended from wolves”.

This is a misstatement. Dogs and wolves share a common ancestor, just like we share a common ancestor with chimps. That doesn’t mean we descended from modern day chimps, just like it doesn’t mean that dogs descended from modern day wolves. Clearly, we cannot use chimp behaviour as a means to understand human behaviour. So why would we use wolf behaviour as a means to study dog behaviour?

Wolves and domestic dogs do have very similar DNA to the extent that they can breed and produce viable offspring. However, dogs can also breed with coyotes, jackals and dingos. That doesn’t mean that their behaviour is the same, nor does it mean that our canine companions are ‘tame wolves’.

Domestic dogs did not evolve because humans reared primitive wolf cubs and selected for tamer and tamer wolves, this is a romanticised idea. Dogs very likely domesticated themselves. Wolves as we know them did not exist yet by the time that early domestic dogs began to appear. Primitive dogs had already split from the primitive wolflike ancestor and dogs and wolves were evolving on different paths. Primitive dogs became progressively more tame by associating more closely with human settlements, with the more bold and least aggressive dogs more able to gain access to human resources. The grey wolf we know today is just as modern as our domestic dogs, and they have both diverged from their common, primitive ancestor.

Modern wolves have become specialised cooperative predators and live very different lives to modern dogs, who evolved to become generalised scavengers and to display all the physiological features of domestication syndrome. There are huge differences between dogs and wolves beyond just genetics. Even wolf cubs that have been hand-reared by humans are dramatically different to domestic dogs of the same age.

Wolves are much more adept at problem-solving than domestic dogs and tend to be persistent in their tasks, whereas dogs are more likely to give up and defer to humans for help. Even hand-reared wolves will not look at humans for help. Domestic dogs are also better at following human gestures and attention cues than hand-reared wolves. Wolves also have a much shorter critical period for socialisation than dogs do and are not capable of forming strong attachments with humans or other species such as cats, like dogs can. Even at a few weeks old, hand-reared and extensively-socialised wolf cubs will show aggression and fear to humans, unlike dog puppies with the same rearing environment. Furthermore, even hand-reared wolf cubs will not engage in eye contact with humans, something that domestic dogs offer naturally.

The study on captive wolves that provoked the ‘dominance myth’ and still haunts dog behaviour to this day was never designed to be a way of interpreting natural wolf behaviour, never mind domestic dog behaviour. The wolves studied were in a highly stressful captive environment with no freedom to disperse, causing huge social conflict. The behaviour observed in the study does not even replicate wild wolf behaviour, never mind that of our domestic dogs. David Mech, the scientist behind this study, has talked openly about how wrongly his studies have been interpreted: https://youtu.be/tNtFgdwTsbU

More reading:
'Integrating social ecology in explanations of wolf–dog behavioral differences' – Marshall-Pescini et al

'A Simple Reason for a Big Difference: Wolves Do Not Look Back at Humans, but Dogs Do' – Mikloski et al

'Species-Specific Differences and Similarities in the Behavior of Hand-Raised Dog and Wolf Pups in Social Situations with Humans' – Gacsi et al.

A short history of the potato

The History of Wales

A short history of the potato, including its introduction to Wales;

The potato is now regarded as an essential component of the diet, providing starch, vitamin C, potassium as well as being an excellent source of fibre. But that has not always been the case; at first, they were treated with suspicion and considered to be of little nutritional value.

The potato is thought to have been first cultivated in the area between the south of Peru and the northeast of Bolivia over three thousand years ago, though scientists believe they may have grown wild in the region as long as 13,000 years ago.

1532 - The Spanish conquistadors first encountered the potato when they noted that the Incas had learned to preserve the potato for storage by dehydrating and mashing potatoes into a substance called chuñu which could be stored for up to 10 years. As well as using the potato for food, the Incas also thought that they made childbirth easier and also used it to treat injuries.

1570 - The potato arrived in Spain, although they were regarded with suspicion, unfit for human consumption and used only as animal fodder.

1589 (28th July) - Sir Walter Raleigh is reputed to have been the first to bring the potato to Ireland and planted them at his Irish estate at Youghal, near Cork. However in Ireland and the UK many Protestants would not plant potatoes, as they had no mention in the Bible and Catholics would only grow them if their seed potatoes were sprinkled with holy water and planted on a GoodFriday.

1776 - It was reported that potato cultivation was widespread at Milford Haven. Up until this date, the British diet had consisted primarily of dairy produce, bread and meat. Vegetables were seldom consumed, being regarded as worthless and even harmful.

1801 – 1851 - England and Wales experienced an unprecedented population explosion, due to the Industrial Revolution, their combined population doubling to almost 18 million. High yielding, easily prepared potato crops were the obvious solution to resulting increase in demand for food, which also helped mitigate the effects of such diseases as measles, dysentery, scurvy and tuberculosis. The higher birth rates and lower mortality rates that potatoes encouraged led to a tremendous population increase.

1801- 1809 - In the USA, potatoes did not become widely accepted until they received an aristocratic seal of approval from Thomas Jefferson, the Welsh speaking President, who served them to guests at the White House.

1845 - The Irish Potato Famine. The most dramatic example of the potato's potential to alter population patterns occurred in Ireland. By 1800, potatoes were the staple crop, and the population doubled by 1841. There was no introduction of industry or change in farming methods, simply the cultivation of the high-yielding potato. By the early 1840s, nearly half of the Irish population had become dependent on the potato. When the crop was blighted, many thousands starved.

1922 - The growing of Pembrokeshire Earlies on a field scale began.

1945 - After the Second World War, consequential market and political pressures resulted in an increase in the acreage of potatoes being grown in Pembrokeshire, the majority being sold to markets in the large population centres of South Wales and the Midlands.

1950's - 1970's – There was an increase in the growing of the early potato sector, with Pembrokeshire farmers selling the majority of early potatoes to markets in the Midlands and North of England to meet growing consumer demand.

1980's - Thirty Pembrokeshire growers came together to form a Potato Marketing Group which ensured that only potatoes of sufficient quality were supplied to the market.

1995 - A potato processing plant was built in Pembrokeshire to grade and prepare potatoes for the mass market.

The Pembrokeshire potato is a brand that is in strong demand; it is regarded as a quality product with a distinctive taste that is used by many top chefs and appears as a named ingredient on their menus.

Pembrokeshire Earlies is the name given to immature potatoes of the solanum tuberosum species of the Solanaceae family. They are small in size because the potatoes are young when harvested. The potato is round or oval in shape with a soft skin and distinctive strong nutty flavour. It has a creamy texture and is a bright white colour. The first crop in May is sold with the soil still on in order to protect the soft skin of the potatoes. As the season progresses the skin hardens sufficiently to allow washing. Pembrokeshire Earlies are harvested from the beginning of May until the end of July, after which they are called main crop potatoes. There are particular skills associated with growing Pembrokeshire Earlies, with stones being left in the soil to aid warming. Hand picking is necessary to minimise damage during the first two weeks of the harvest when the potatoes are very soft. As the season progresses, the potatoes harden sufficiently to allow careful machine harvesting.

It is the short growing time and the mild climate of Pembrokeshire generated by the North Atlantic Drift of The Gulf Stream, which helps keep the western coast of Great Britain a couple of degrees warmer than the eastern side. This minimises the risk of frosts damaging the emerged crop, enabling Pembrokeshire Earlies to be grown and harvested earlier than in most areas in the UK.

The History of Wales

The Window tax was abolished in England and Wales on 24th July 1851.

'Daylight robbery'

The Window Tax was first introduced in 1696, during the reign of William III, when Britain was burdened with expenses from The Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the costs of re-coinage necessitated by the miserable 'state' of existing coins, which had been reduced by clipping small portions of the high-grade silver coins. It was levied at two shilling on properties with up to ten windows, rising to four shillings for houses with between ten and twenty windows. It was extremely unpopular and to avoid paying the tax some houses from the period can be seen to have windows bricked-up.

The term 'daylight robbery' is thought to have originated from the window tax as it was described by some as a 'tax on light'.

Nature

Flint Castle

The History of Wales

Construction of Flint Castle was started on July 25th 1277

1277 - Edward I of England began an invasion of Gwynedd by marching his forces up the Welsh side of the Dee estuary and establishing a base at Flint. As part of the resulting Treaty of Aberconwy, Perfeddwlad came under English control and Edward began the construction of Flint Castle. Edward chose to build a castle at Flint because it was strategically positioned on the Dee estuary for easy access by sea, it was only a day’s march from Chester and to defend a low tide crossing point of the Dee to the Wirral.

1282 - Llywelyn ap Gruffudd's brother, Dafydd, attacked the castles of Hawarden, Flint and Rhuddlan. As a consequence of his actions, Edward I of England invaded Gwynedd which resulted in the subjugation of Wales.

1284 - At the Statute of Rhuddlan, Tegeingl became the lordship of Englefield and Flint Castle became one of Edward's 'Iron Ring' of fortresses defending his hold over North Wales. The county of Flintshire was created with Flint as the county town. Edward I granted Flint its first town charter (the first in Wales) and created it a Free Borough with the Constable of the Castle, Reginald de Grey made first Mayor of the new Borough.

1294 - Flint Castle and town were attacked and burned during the revolt of Madog ap Llywelyn against the rule of Edward I.

1399 - King Richard II surrendered at Flint Castle before his subsequent deposition and death.

1400 - After being proclaimed as Prince of Wales, Owain Glyndwr and his followers proceeded to sack the English controlled towns of Denbigh, Rhuddlan, Flint, Hawarden, Holt, Oswestry and Welshpool.

1647 - During the English Civil War, Flint Castle was captured by the Parliamentarians after a three-month siege. The castle was then slighted to prevent its reuse in the conflict.