Books & Works on Paper, to include the Boxing Collection of Brian and Debbie Watkins
Catalogue: Download PDF catalogue
Lots: 347
Chiswick Auctions’ Books and Works on Paper sale, on August the 24th, will include the boxing collection of Brian and Debbie Watkins. A lifetime’s passion, it features several exceptionally rare titles previously unrecorded at auction or in public libraries.
Amongst the highlights are a first edition of Jewish boxer Daniel Mendoza’s memoirs, published in 1808 and estimated at £4,000 - 6,000. Although the text is thought to have been written around 1806, when Mendoza spent time in debtor’s prison, some libraries have even called the edition’s existence into question.
Another lot representative of the rarity of the collection is a catalogue of the property auction which followed bare-knuckle boxer Tom Sayers’ death in 1865. His funeral was attended by 10,000 people and descended into a riot, described by The Daily News as “disgraceful”. The copy, estimated at £1,000-1,500, is annotated with the prices achieved, including for Sayers’ loyal mastiff dog “Lion”. Sayers’ tomb, crowned with a statue of Lion, is a landmark of Highgate Cemetery.
Aside from boxing, the sale includes a rare purple variation uncorrected proof copy of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, at £3,000 - 4,000. The purple wrappers indicate an earlier state than the more common version in green and only fifty are thought to have been printed. Also offered is a first edition of pioneering Scottish photographer John Thomson’s Illustrations of China and Its People, 1873 (£3,000 - 4,000).
Lot 199 - Carroll. Alice in Wonderland. The Vaudeville Edition, 1899
Sold for £425
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 203 - Dulac Shakespeare Tempest and other illustrated books
Sold for £500
Includes Buyer's Premium
![Lot 208 - [La Mothe, (Marie Catherine, Countess d'Aulnoy)] The Celebrated Fairy Tales of Mother Bunch, 1817](https://chiswick.blob.core.windows.net/stock/207851-0-small.jpg?v=63827282860260)
![Lot 209 - Milne. [Christopher Robin Books] Fiftieth Anniversary Editions, 5 copies. 1974-1978](https://chiswick.blob.core.windows.net/stock/202790-0-small.jpg?v=63826146012967)
Lot 209 - Milne. [Christopher Robin Books] Fiftieth Anniversary Editions, 5 copies. 1974-1978
Sold for £2,750
Includes Buyer's Premium
![Lot 210 - Nielsen. East of the Sun and West of the Moon, Ltd ed. [1914]](https://chiswick.blob.core.windows.net/stock/204950-0-small.jpg?v=63826150622800)
Lot 210 - Nielsen. East of the Sun and West of the Moon, Ltd ed. [1914]
Sold for £2,750
Includes Buyer's Premium
![Lot 211 - [Rackham]: Savory. Auld Acquaintance.. 1907](https://chiswick.blob.core.windows.net/stock/205084-1-small.jpg?v=63826150763990)
Lot 215 - Zaehnsdorf. The Art of Bookbinding, fine bindings (2)
Sold for £375
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 222 - Chagall. Bible & Drawing for the Bible, Inscribed by Chagall, 1956 & 1960
Sold for £4,250
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 227 - Kurth (ed.) The Complete Woodcuts of Albrecht Durer, 1/500. 1927
Sold for £212
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 240 - Iceland. Archive of Fishing for salmon Langa Lodge-Iceland 1873 – 1923
Sold for £1,250
Includes Buyer's Premium
![Lot 242 - Golf. Darwin. Green Memories. [1928]](https://chiswick.blob.core.windows.net/stock/205900-0-small.jpg?v=63827192212567)
![Lot 244 - ‘An Operator’ [Jon Bee], The Fancy](https://chiswick.blob.core.windows.net/stock/206947-1-small.jpg?v=63826137881893)
![Lot 245 - [Dowling (V.G., editor)] Fistiana, or The Oracle of the Ring…](https://chiswick.blob.core.windows.net/stock/206006-3-small.jpg?v=63825874271020)
Lot 245 - [Dowling (V.G., editor)] Fistiana, or The Oracle of the Ring…
Sold for £1,125
Includes Buyer's Premium
![Lot 246 - [Egan, Pierce, imitation of] Real Life in London](https://chiswick.blob.core.windows.net/stock/205262-0-small.jpg?v=63825872937080)
![Lot 249 - ‘Peter Corcoran’ [Reynolds (John Hamilton)] The Fancy: A Selection from the Poetical Remains of the Late Peter Corcoran…](https://chiswick.blob.core.windows.net/stock/206075-1-small.jpg?v=63825875219423)
![Lot 252 - A Celebrated Pugilist [Henry Lemoine?], The Art and Practice of English Boxing; or the Scientific Mode of Defence…](https://chiswick.blob.core.windows.net/stock/205294-1-small.jpg?v=63825873112563)
Lot 253 - A Celebrated Pugilist, A Treatise on the Art & Practice of Self-Defence
Sold for £688
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 254 - A Celebrated Pugilist, A Treatise on the Art & Practice of Self-Defence
Sold for £875
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 255 - A Treatise on Boxing. Including a complete set of lessons on the art of self-defence.
Sold for £1,000
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 256 - An authentic history of the prize ring and championships of England
Sold for £450
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 258 - Beach (Rex) The Jeffries-Johnson Fight, Presentation Copy inscribed to William Muldoon
Sold for £625
Includes Buyer's Premium
![Lot 260 - Boxing & Christianity.- [Unrecorded Pamphlet] Austin (John Valentine, Rev.) A Letter to Benjamin Caunt, of Hucknall Torkard, on Prize Fighting](https://chiswick.blob.core.windows.net/stock/206030-2-small.jpg?v=63825874316150)
![Lot 261 - Boxing & Christianity.- [Unrecorded Pamphlet] Morris (J., publisher) To the Amateurs of Pugilism](https://chiswick.blob.core.windows.net/stock/206037-0-small.jpg?v=63825874340607)
Lot 265 - Boxing bibliography and letters.- Neville Weston (G.)
Sold for £5,625
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 267 - Boxing flipbooks.- Jack Dempsey vs Georges Carpentier
Sold for £188
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 268 - Boxing manuals.- ‘The Editor of “Boxing”’, The American Style and How It Is Learnt
Sold for £238
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 269 - Boxing manuals.- Donnelly (Ned) Self-Defence; or, The Art of Boxing
Sold for £212
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 279 - Boxing.- Health & Strength Magazine’s ‘Life’ series
Sold for £1,125
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 283 - Cruikshank (Isaac Robert) Going to a Fight. The Sporting World in All its Variety of Style
Sold for £812
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 286 - Egan (Pierce) Every Gentleman’s Manual. A Lecture on the Art of Self-Defence
Sold for £475
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 287 - Egan (Pierce) The Bristol Victor!! and the Gas-Light Hero!!!
Sold for £2,375
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 288 - Fewtrell (Thomas) Boxing Reviewed; or, the Science of Manual Defence
Sold for £4,250
Includes Buyer's Premium