A rare 411-year-old bible sold for £4,500 at a leading Shropshire fine art auction house last week.
The Great She Bible of 1613, a second folio edition of the King James Bible by royal printer Robert Barker, was one of the stars of Halls Fine Art’s successful books, coins and stamps auction in Shrewsbury.
The bible was consigned by a North Wales vendor and had been in the same family for several generations. It’s called ‘Great’ because of its size and ‘She’ to distinguish it from some copies of the 1611 edition which have the reading in Ruth 3 verse 15 – ‘…and he went into the citie’ instead of ‘..and she..’.
This auction bible also contained the remarkable error in Matthew 26 verse 36 where ‘Judas’ is used instead of ‘Jesus’, The verse read: ‘Then cometh Judas with them unto a place called Gethsemane’.
Another bible by Robert Barker, this time a much smaller example in poor condition and dated 1617, raced away from its pre-sale estimate of £30 to £50 to sell to an America bidder for £340.
A collection of 23 Wisden’s Cricketers’ Almanacks from 1890 to 1928 sold in four lots for a combined total of £1,680.
Other highlights included signed photographs of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945), the 32nd president of the United States and his wife Eleanor (1884-1962), which sold to a Canadian buyer for £700.
The photographs were presented to noted British violinist Margaret Harrison (1899-1995) during one of her tours of the United States with her sister Beatrice, a cellist.
Margaret was the youngest of four sisters, all talented and pioneering female musicians and leading figures in the British classical music scene during the first half of the 20th century.
The sisters’ circle of friends included famous composers, artists, writers politicians and even royalty, notably Princess Victoria, daughter of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandria.
The autographs of famous guitarist Jimmy Hendrix (1942-‘70) and his band sold for £380. Hendrix signed ‘Best of success Jimi Hendrix’ on a piece of paper pasted to the half title of Sharon Lawrence’s book ‘Jimi Hendrix: the Man, the Music, the Truth’ published in 2005.
The paper was also signed by Mitch Mitchell (1946-2008) drums, Noel Redding (1945-2003) bass and road manager Neville Chesters (1945-2023). In addition, the book itself was signed on the front free endpaper by Mitchell and Billy Cox, bassist and only surviving musician who played regularly with Hendrix.
Amongst a large collection of Shropshire books entered by multiple vendors, seven Kelly’s Post Office Directories of Shropshire from 1863 to 1900 sold for £400.
An interesting poster printed in 1838, offering a reward of 70 guineas for nine prisoners who had escaped from Perth Gaol in Scotland, sold for £260.
Chris Moore, Halls Fine Art’s books specialist, will be holding his next valuation day for books, autographs and manuscripts on Monday, December 2 at Halls’ Battlefield saleroom.
