RARE BOOKS SOLD AT AUCTION

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31866, 19 December 1968, Page 1

RARE BOOKS SOLD AT AUCTION

All of the 850 lots of rare and valuable books offered at a public auction yesterday were sold, the top price being $l9O, paid for a five-volume set of John White’s “Ancient History of the Maori.”

A lot of interest was displayed in the auction, buyers coming from as far away as Dunedin and Auckland, and postal bids being received from throughout. New Zealand and Australia. Throughout the sale, which included works in the New Zealand, Australia, Pacific, travel, exploration, classics, and art sections, the greatest demand was for early New Zealand works. This demand was reflected in the Second highest price, $lOO, which was accepted for a rare work, “Canterbury Papers: Information concerning The Principles, Objects and Plans and Proceedings of the Founder of the Settlement of Canterbury." The work, dated 1850, contained the papers one to 10, with a map, bound in the one volume.

Sir Henry Brett’s “White Wings, 50 Years of Sail in the New Zealand Trade 18501900,” sold for $42, and a copy of Andrew Kippi’s “The Life of Captain James Cook” (1788) fetched $25 after an opening bid of $2O.

A 1949 edition of “Old Christchurch” by J. C. Andersen sold for $l4, and the complete edition of “The Early Canterbury Runs," by L. G. D. Acland, went for $lB. The auctioneer was Mr R. G. Bell, for R. G. Bell and Company.