Early English Books in Boston: a July Event at Skinner
Boston, MA - Skinner, Inc. is hosting a live auction of Early English Books: A Single Owner Sale on July 20 in Boston. Interested bidders are invited to preview items and meet with specialists in person on July 18, 19, and 20 or anytime online.
Skinner’s specially scheduled July book auction features a single-owner collection from California that includes high spots of English literature, culture, religion, and history from before 1700. Early English books have been prized by book collectors since the 19th century, and this important collection, formed over decades of careful selection from the best dealers and auction houses worldwide represents a unique opportunity to acquire early books that are rarely available for sale.
A Shakespeare Fourth Folio from 1685 is a highlight of the sale, along with first edition works by Erasmus, Thomas More, Francis Bacon, John Milton, John Donne, Thomas Hobbes, Robert Boyle, Galileo, and others. Topics most don’t associate with the period are also represented; including works on hunting, falconry, cider-making, child-rearing, swimming, surveying, money exchange, and practical mathematics.
Bidders will find works related to the upheaval among the British monarchy from this period, including King Henry VIII’s re-writing of religious doctrine, and other material from the Reformation, works related to Queen Elizabeth during the turbulent time after Henry VIII’s death, and others concerned with the execution of Charles I.
The collector, a retired physician accumulated a number of early books of folk and herbal remedies that give insight to English medical practice dating back to the mid 1500’s.
Andrea Mays, author of The Millionaire and the Bard, will also be on hand at Skinner’s Boston gallery on the evening of July 19th to give a talk about Henry Folger’s obsession with collecting the works of Shakespeare and anything else he could obtain with an Elizabethan connection. The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. is his permanent monument.
Skinner Boston is honored to have the opportunity to share this collection with its clients in New England this summer, and to celebrate culture and history with this selection of rare and important books.
Previews and Bidding
Previews for the Early English Books: A Single Owner Sale auction will be in our Boston, MA gallery on Wednesday, July 18 from 12PM to 5PM, Thursday, July 19, from 12PM to 7PM and Friday, July 20, from 9AM to 12PM. Free and open to the public, department director, Devon Eastland will be available to answer questions about the material and participating at auction. The fully illustrated print catalog may be purchased Skinner website or by phone order at 508-970-3234.
About Skinner
Skinner attracts top consignments and commands record-breaking prices in the international auction marketplace. With renowned expertise and extraordinary service, Skinner is the place for buyers, sellers and the passionately curious. Skinner appraisers are familiar faces on PBS’s 15-time Emmy Award-nominated ANTIQUES ROADSHOW. Visit us in Boston, Marlborough, New York or Miami, or online at https://www.skinnerinc.com.
