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 291 - Gorilla Fight. He awoke the next Morning and found Himself Famous!!
Sold for £112
Includes Buyer's Premium
![Lot 293 - Hodgson & Co. (Publisher) The Art of Boxing [and] The Modern Flash Dictionary](https://chiswick.blob.core.windows.net/stock/205285-2-small.jpg?v=63825873074123)
Lot 293 - Hodgson & Co. (Publisher) The Art of Boxing [and] The Modern Flash Dictionary
Sold for £938
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 294 - Jack Johnson vs James J. Jeffries, The Fight of the Century
Sold for £500
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 300 - Mendoza (Daniel) Memoirs of the Life of Daniel Mendoza
Sold for £2,375
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 301 - Mendoza (Daniel) Memoirs of the Life of Daniel Mendoza, first edition, 1808
Sold for £10,625
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 302 - Mercuriale (Girolamo) Hieronymi Mercurialis De arte gymnastica libri sex
Sold for £375
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 308 - Sammelband.- ‘A Pupil of the Late Tom Cribb’, The British Boxer
Sold for £475
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 309 - Smeeton (George, publisher) The Catechism of Boxing
Sold for £1,625
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 314 - § 'Snaffles' Sporting Anecdotes for the Twelve Months of the Year, 1928
Estimated at £400 - £600
Lot 317 - Baldung Grien (Hans) Madonna and Child on a Grassy Bench
Sold for £250
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 318 - § Berman (Eugene) Mackie, from The Threepenny Opera
Sold for £275
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 320 - Collection of Original Art Work. pen, ink & water drawings and cartoons.
Sold for £275
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 322 - Cruikshank (George) A Grand Manoeuvre! or, The Rogues march to the Island of Elba
Sold for £62
Includes Buyer's Premium
![Lot 334 - Helleu (Paul César).Croquis de Têtes d'une Jeune Femme [Sketches of a Young Lady's head]](https://chiswick.blob.core.windows.net/stock/203054-1-small.jpg?v=63827193358233)
Lot 334 - Helleu (Paul César).Croquis de Têtes d'une Jeune Femme [Sketches of a Young Lady's head]
Sold for £275
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 336 - May (Phil). Artist/Caricaturist. Collection of Cartoons.
Sold for £812
Includes Buyer's Premium
![Lot 338 - Nemteanu (Dan) A pair of costume designs for Igor Stravinsky’s Rucklarens väg [The Rake’s Progress]](https://chiswick.blob.core.windows.net/stock/203088-7-small.jpg?v=63826140408367)
Lot 341 - Specchi (Alessandro) Prospetto della Basilica Vaticana, architettura di Carlo Maderno…
Sold for £62
Includes Buyer's Premium
Lot 342 - Stubbs (George) & Woollett (William, engraver) Shooting, the set of four
Sold for £500
Includes Buyer's Premium
