35 original poems penned by William Topaz McGonagall, aka The World's Worst Poet, will go on sale at Lyon and Turnbull auctions in Edinburgh on 16th May.

McGonagall was born in Edinburgh of Irish parents and gave up his job as a handloom weaver in Dundee to become a poet. Others did not value his lyricism as much as he did himself and he died penniless in 1902.

His bad rhymes and remarkable self-regard earned him his notorious reputation, as Scottish poet Hugh MacDiarmid comments, “William McGonagall wasn’t a bad poet; still less a good bad poet. He was not a poet at all…”

Whilst the clunky banality of his verse may not have touched hearts in the way he would have liked, it has inspired a plethora of parody, like this rhyme by Kathy and Ross Petras, co-editors of the book Very Bad Poetry; “with all due respect to the poor McGonagall, one is forced to agree; the man transgresses so many rules of rhyme, meter, taste, style, it’s a wonder he wasn’t shot for crimes against poetry.”

Nevertheless, he finally seems to be garnering the interest that he was always so certain he deserved and he has gathered quite a cult following. His present day fans include JK Rowling, who named Harry Potter’s teacher Professor McGonagall.

The poems, sold by an unnamed private collector, will go under the hammer in one lot, include 15 originals not held by the National Library of Scotland and have an impressive estimate of £4,500 - £6,500.

A set of John Gould's books of bird illustrations sold for £1,252,500 at Christie's in London yesterday. The 40 volumes were largely first editions and included his celebrated The Birds of Australia.

 Now regarded as classics in their field, Gould compiled his series of books of bird illustrations on his extensive travels around the world.

An accomplished artist, Gould was also curator and taxidermist to the Zoological Society museum in London in 1827.

Look out for a poster of some of his beautiful illustrations coming up in the June/July issue of Rare Book Review. 

 

 

Book collectors are a diverse bunch and the most unexpected of people can turn out to be covert bibliophiles. No such secrecy for 27 year old entrepreneur and 'The Apprentice' contestant Raef Bijayou, who openly admits his love of antiquarian book collecting on the TV series' website.

Well known for his public schoolboy image, it could seem that Raef conforms to the book collector stereotype more closely than his fellow competitors on the BBC programme. Rare recently covered the collection of controversial publishing magnate Felix Dennis, whose name has also been buzzing through the news lately, and in the past has reported on the libraries of Dame Edna's alter ego, Barry Humphries, as well as supermodel Sophie Dahl...Who knows what other unexpected public figures could be harbouring a secret passion for collecting books?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/apprentice/candidate/id/3/type/contestant.html

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, a little-known novel by about a day in the life of an English governess in the '30s, has swept the US box offices with its new film adaptation.

The novel was popular in the 1940s, but has gone on to sell far more copies after being republished by Persephone Books, which specialises in forgotten women's literature from the inter-war years.

In the month since the release of the film in America, 12,000 copies have been sold, while British sales have topped 24,000, a remarkable feat for a book in this niche market.

Oscar-winning American actress Frances McDormand takes the role of Miss Guinevere Pettigrew, who finds herself jobless and friendless in London before her life takes an unexpected turn. 

The film is due in British cinemas this August and has delighted critics and audiences in the United States. 'Miss Pettigrew is a swell adaptation of Winifred Watson's 1938 novel, which was risqué for its time but just right for ours,' enthused the critic on the San Francisco Chronicle. 'Frothy and exuberantly entertaining - in part because of the sexual innuendos - it's the best romantic comedy so far this year.'

For more information visit http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2276516,00.html

In its spring sale, Bubb Kuyper Auctions will offer a wide collection of antiquarian and modern books and prints. 

Among the approximately 120 lots of posters an outstanding and colourful group of French art nouveau posters is on offer, featuring posters by i.a. E. Causé, J. Chéret, H.J. Detouche, E. Grasset, J.A. Grün, A. Levy, P.H. Lobel, G. Meunier, H. Privat-Livemont and A. Willette.

The manuscript section is strong with a fine collection (36 lots) of autographs by GiacomoPuccini and members of his family and circle of friends and collaborators, an interesting early scribal manuscript of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro and signatures and/ or autographs by i.a. Sir Edmund Hillary, Robert Dudley and various members of the House of Orange.

The section of old and rare books includes the famous atlas of Rotterdam by J. de Vou and Romeyn de Hooghe (est. 25.000-35.000 euro), Fournier's invaluable Manuel Typographique and a splendidly bound large paper set of 10 volumes of numismatic works by G. Van Loon (originally part of the Isaac Meulman library). 

The modern literature section presents a large collection of printed and manuscript and autograph material relating to Edward Heron-Allen and Ye Sette of Odd Volumes: approx. 85 items, mostly in very fine morocco bindings and including his autograph manuscripts of Codicillus Chiromantiae – Part I and Codicillus Chiromantiae – Appendix A and proofs of these works (estimate 4.000-6.000 euro).

Other important subjects are a large library on dance and ballet, a fine comic books collection with many related figurines, a nice section of Japanese prints (approx. 80 lots, incl. a fine album of 48 prints and polyptychs by i.a. Kuniyoshi and Kunisada), and an extensive collection of picture postcards.

 

See http://www.bubbkuyper.com/ for more details