Preview: Collection of antiquarian books in Lichfield auction

Sale date Monday 13th July

AN impressive collection of antiquarian books is set to go under the hammer with Richard Winterton Auctioneers.

The single-owner collection is catalogued across 40 lots in the Antique & Home Sale on Monday, July 13.

Subjects include religion, medicine, psychology, Greek, Roman, Scottish and European history, natural history, and great works of literature.

Highlights include 11 titles by Charles Dickens, pictured top of page, all half bound in tan leather:

• First edition 'Bleak House' (1853) published by Bradbury and Evans

• First edition 'Martin Chuzzlewit' (1844) published by Chapman and Hall

• First edition 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood' (1870) published by Chapman and Hall

• First edition 'Our Mutual Friend' (1865) published in two volumes by Chapman and Hall of London

• First edition 'Dombey and Son' (1848) published by Bradbury and Evans

• First edition 'Nicholas Nickleby' (1839) published by Chapman and Hall

• 'Barnaby Rudge' (1871) published by Chapman and Hall

• 'David Copperfield' (1850) published by Bradbury and Evans

• 'The Posthumous Papers of The Pickwick Club' (1838) published by Champan and Hall

• 'Little Dorrit'.

There is an eighth edition of Lichfield's famous lexicographer Dr Samuel Johnson's 'A Dictionary of the English Language in Which the Words are deduced from their originals and illustrated in their different significations by examples from the best writers' in two volumes, printed for J. Johnson, C. Dilly, et al.

Also in the sale is an 1876 copy of Boswell's fabled 1791 biography of Dr Johnson, comprising 10 volumes condensed into five books; 'Footsteps of Dr Johnson (Scotland)' by George Birbeck Hill, published by Samson Low et al, of London (1890); and Sir John Hawkins' 'The Works of Samuel Johnson' (1787).

Other famous writers in the collection include William Shakespeare, Alexander Pope, John Milton, JRR Tolkein, Henry Fielding, John Bunyan, Sir Walter Scott, William Cowper and Samuel Pepys.

The catalogue will go live online a week before the sale via our Auction Dates page.

View in person at The Lichfield Auction Centre, Wood End Lane, Fradley Park, between 10am and 4pm on Friday, July 10.

For more information, to arrange a free valuation of all types of antiques and collectables, or to enquire about a home visit for large collections or house clearances, email office@richardwinterton.co.uk or call 01543 251081.