Private Collections

Rarities from the Lawes Agricultural Library

Realised £2,200,000 over 2 auctions (2018)

Lawes Agricultural Trust's Library was assembled between the two wars in the 1920s and 1930s by Sir John Russell and held rare books relating to farming, livestock, landscape gardening and wine.

The provenance of many of the Rothamsted books held great significance – several books were previously owned by Richard Schwerdt, the great collector and bibliographer of works relating to Hunting and other rural pursuits; and others by André Simon, the equally revered collector and bibliographer of books on food and drink. Other highlights included the first published illustration of the tobacco plant, the first book devoted exclusively to potatoes, the first agricultural bibliography, the first gardening book for Scottish gardeners, the first bibliography on hunting and the first detailed description in English of wine-making in the Champagne region.

Over 3400 volumes were divided into 815 lots and the fully illustrated catalogue was arranged chronologically.

By order of the Trustees of Mr. A.K. Wolley Dod Residuary Trust

Realised £700,000 over 1 auction (2017)

The library, formed largely in the 19th century, was a wonderful and typical country house collection, focussing mainly on Natural history, Travel, Economics, Literature, Illustrated Books, handsomely bound sets and albums of prints.

The Dod family had been at Edge Hall, near Malpas in Cheshire since Hova Dot settled there in King Henry II’s time. Another ancestor, Sir Anthony Dod, was one of the heroes at Agincourt and was knighted by Henry V on the battlefield. 

A Gentleman's Library of Modern Literature

Realised £650,000 over 1 auction (2021)

This fantastic collection contained over 500 lots of rare signed modern literature, accumulated over several decades by a distinguised collector in the USA.

The owner chose Forum Auctions over a US auction house largely because of our acknowledged expertise on this specialist sector, aided by the ease with which we facilitated the transfer of the collection to London for sale. The decision paid off, with the collection selling at a 50% premium to the values previously advised by a local auctioneer.

Realised £940,000 over 1 auction (2020)

Founded in 1773, the Birmingham Assay Office is responsible for assaying (testing) and the hallmarking of precious metals, as required by the Hallmarking Act. This Library was rich in books from the 16th to 19th century on metallurgy, mining, design and ornament, but also covers chemistry, alchemy, numismatics, jewellery, horology and British topography.

Every book had a small circular ink library stamp, usually to the front free endpaper. The half- and quarter-leather library bindings are in many cases more attractive than a typical library binding - with a small blind-stamped decoration to the leather spine strip. Perhaps these were executed for the Assay Office by a local craftsman.

Realised £775,000 over 1 auction (2020)

Many of these splendid books came from the library of Matthew Holbeche Bloxam, who attended Rugby School from 1813 to 1821. He became an amateur historian, a genealogist, archaeologist, naturalist, antiquarian, art-collector, a noted architectural historian. He was clearly a man of huge intellectual curiosity, and of generosity, bequeathing a large part of his collection to Rugby School.

The subjects covered in the 300 titles listed in this catalogue covered an impressively wide range of interests – horsemanship, duelling and mountaineering; botany, horticulture and ornithology; sermons and proclamations; jurisprudence and military history; psalms and poetry and maps. 

The proceeds from the sale of this collection were used to extend the benefit of a Rugby education to more children.