Rare Book Monthly

Articles - June - 2019 Issue

June 26: The Library & Picture Collection of the late Martin Woolf Orskey at Dominic Winter Auctioneers

Editor’s note: On June 26, 2019, Dominic Winter Auctioneers will be auctioning the Library & Picture Collection of the late Martin Woolf Orskey. The sale features 440 lots arranged in chronological order, beginning with a 15thcentury Books of Hours. Orskey was well known world-wide in the book trade. He made frequent trips to the United States, where he was taken under the wing of the legendary American bookseller and antiques dealer Timothy Trace. In New York he delivered books to the Astors, where, he remarked, ‘even the bellboy carried a machine gun.’ The sale’s catalog can be viewed online here. The following is an introduction to the sale prepared by Nathan Winter, Director and Specialist of Libraries & Collections, Fine Art, Old Master & Modern Prints, Continental Books & Music at Dominic Winter Auctioneers.

 

We are delighted to present the library and picture collection of the late Martin Woolf Orskey. A significant figure in the British book trade for over sixty years, he was renowned for his uncanny ability to discover rare books and otherwise unnoticed treasures. Born the only son of Polish Jewish émigrés who moved to England during the First World War, Martin narrowly escaped death at the outbreak of the next war in 1939, when the evacuation ship on which he had been due to travel was torpedoed resulting in the loss of all children on board. Martin had stayed behind at his father’s request to look after his mother, who had broken her arm. He was subsequently interned as an enemy alien in a prisoner-of-war camp on the Isle of Man, but released when it was realised that many wartime internees had as much reason to dislike the Nazi regime as any. After a curtailed national service, and seemingly lacking any obvious academic potential, he tried a variety of jobs without success in the years immediately after the war, including hairdressing and acting. 

 

Following a stint on stage as a spear carrier, the actor Bill Owen (of Last of the Summer Wine fame) advised ‘quit while you’re ahead’. He did, however, purchase six large folio architecture books for £4 at Sotheby’s, selling five of them at a profit. The sixth volume (James Gibb’s Book of Architecture) was abandoned at Leicester Square Station because it was so heavy! This led to similar forays, where he would buy an old volume at one shop and sell it at a profit in another down the road. In 1949, on the recommendation of George McLeish, the affable bookseller at 22 Little Russell Street, Martin applied for the post of book cataloguer at Hodgson’s Auction Rooms in Chancery Lane. He got the job and stayed for fifteen years. As O. F. Snelling the auctioneer at Hodgson’s (and later Sotheby’s) recalled, Martin ‘was completely unmethodical, undependable, hopelessly inaccurate, and inefficient, but … for all his shortcomings, the Hodgsons recognised his value in cataloguing and lotting the books’. According to fellow bookman Peter Brewer, ‘Martin was in his element and there could not have been a finer apprenticeship … they were old-fashioned employers … paternalistic but also indulgent, so Martin was able to make his own decisions. He quickly learnt who were the leading players and who bought what’.  

 

As time went on, Martin’s book-hunting activities increased, as did his knowledge, confidence and contacts. Recognising a need for affordable copies of rare and out-of-print books, he formed the Holland Press with Paul Dinnage, one of the earliest reprint publishers. In 1954 their first publication was a reprint of Vicaire’s Bibliographie Gastronomique. Eventually he left Hodgson’s to set up on his own, initially in a very small shop next to Ciancimino’s antique shop on the King’s Road, then later on the Fulham Road. Drawn by the ‘thrill of the chase’ Martin travelled ever further to purchase libraries or collections: to country houses in Scotland and to the Garrison Library in Gibraltar with Ben Weinreb. 

 

Martin’s book collection reflects his eclectic interests and eye for distinctive and unusual rarities in the fields of science, alchemy, medicine, economics, education, gastronomy, Americana, natural history, English literature, and typography. Notable items include a 15th century Book of Hours, Thomas Milles’ Custumers Alphabet (1608) with the author’s autograph annotations, Pallavicino’s satire on the Jesuits, The Whores Rhetorick of 1683, Patrick Campbell’s Travels in North America (1793), George Edwards’ beautifully hand-coloured Natural History of Uncommon Birds (1743-51), and a rare gingerbread mould in the shape of a hornbook. Martin had a sense of fun and a fondness for the peculiar, so it is no surprise to find a copy of the anonymous 1722 satire The Benefit of Farting Explain’d (usually attributed to Jonathan Swift) among the many 17th- and 18th- century English literary rarities. The pictures and prints collected by Martin and his wife Josie also display a fine eye for quality, and include English naïve paintings and dog portraits, Indian miniatures and Company School botanical studies, watercolours of domestic architecture, a set of five unrecorded Restorationera allegorical prints of the senses, and the rare satire by Sutton Nicholls on the new phenomenon of book auctions The Compleat Auctioneer (circa 1700). 

 

O. F. Snelling called Martin ‘Prince of all the book runners’, adding ‘I know of less than a dozen booksellers who have turned over rarer and more valuable items’. He was a familiar face here at Dominic Winter Auctioneers and he was one of our first 100 clients. He expressed a wish many years ago that his library should be dispersed here, so that others might experience the thrill and enjoyment of buying, owning and collecting, as he had. 

Rare Book Monthly

  • Forum AuctionsFine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper  17th July 2025 Forum AuctionsFine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper  17th July 2025
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.
  • Sotheby’sBooks, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to ModernNow through July 10, 2025 Sotheby’sBooks, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to ModernNow through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.
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  • DOYLERare Books, Autographs & MapsJuly 23, 2025 DOYLERare Books, Autographs & MapsJuly 23, 2025
    DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE, July 23: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
    DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
    DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
    DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
    DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
  • Freeman’s | HindmanWestern Manuscripts and MiniaturesJuly 8, 2025 Freeman’s | HindmanWestern Manuscripts and MiniaturesJuly 8, 2025
    Freeman’s | Hindman
    Western Manuscripts and Miniatures
    July 8, 2025
    Freeman’s | Hindman
    Western Manuscripts and Miniatures
    July 8, 2025
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.

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