A set of 14 Inspector Morse novels, all inscribed by author Colin Dexter with warm messages to his secretary, Daphne Woodhouse, is coming up for auction in Shropshire next week.
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Valued at £1,000 to £1,500, the set is Lot 112 in Halls Fine Art’s books, coins and stamps auction at the Battlefield saleroom in Shrewsbury on Wednesday, July 24.
Dexter died in 2017 but the Inspector Morse TV series, starring John Thaw, is still popular and broadcast worldwide. Woodhouse (1931-2004) lived at Witney in Oxfordshire and was Dexter's secretary from about 1975-’90.
The novel ‘The Way Through the Woods’ is inscribed 'For my darling girl, Daphne - How I've missed you since I left OLE! Love and every best wish always. Colin Dexter.'
OLE refers to the University of Oxford Delegacy of Local Examinations where Dexter worked as senior assistant secretary from 1966, when he was forced to give up teaching due to deafness, until his retirement in 1988.
Halls Fine Art is hoping to build on the success of the company’s March books auction when a 1551 Matthew Bible - sometimes known as the ‘Bug’ Bible - sold for £6,500.
Next week’s auction includes a folio 1613 King James version of the Holy Bible by Robert Barker which has a pre-sale estimate of £3,000 - £5,000
Of particular local interest is a nearly seven feet long, colourful poster for Shrewsbury Flower Show in 1911. Valued at up to £200, the poster states that the ‘37th Great Floral Fete’ will be held on August 23 & 24, 1911 in the beautiful grounds of the Quarry, Shrewsbury.
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“Foremost among the attractions of this gigantic fete is the magnificent Flower Show, which is universally allowed to be the Grandest Display seen in Great Britain, and far exceeding in magnitude any other show,” it states.
Printed by James Upton, Cambridge Street, Birmingham, the poster has been laid down and is in very good condition, said Chris Moore, Halls Fine Art’s books specialist.
This year’s Shrewsbury Flower Show is being held on August 9 and 10.
Other interesting lots include an 1894 first edition of The ‘Peacock’ edition of Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’, illustrated by Hugh Thomson at up to £800 and a very large book of bird drawings by Edward Lear for John Gould published in 2012, collected and introduced by David Attenborough, which is expected to fetch up to £1,200.
The auction also features eight lots of books published by the Gwasg Gregynog Press at Tregynon, near Newtown, including ‘Cutting Images: A Selection of Linocuts by Kyffin Williams’, noted Welsh landscape and portrait artist, valued at up to £600.
The saleroom will be open to view the auction lots on Monday and Tuesday, July 22 and 23 from 10am to 4pm. Contact Halls Fine Art on Tel: 01743 450700 or email fineart@hallsgb.com for further information.
For more information, please contact Chris Moore, books specialist or Maryanne Lineker-Mobberley, associate director at Halls Fine Art, on 01743 450700 or Duncan Foulkes, public relations consultant, on 01686 650818.
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