Henry Sotheran Ltd

Henry Sotheran Ltd One of the longest established antiquarian booksellers in the world. The great American collector of Shakespeare, H.C.

Founded in York in 1761, established in London in 1815, Henry Sotheran Limited has a long and distinguished history. For over 200 years we have been offering unsurpassed opportunities to collectors and enthusiasts, from the purchase of the libraries of Laurence Sterne in 1768, and Charles Dickens in 1870; the complete stock and copyright of the ornithologist and publisher John Gould; to the succes

sful bid in 1980 for the final draft manuscript of Gilbert White's Natural History of Selbourne, bought on behalf of the Gilbert White Museum. Folger, acquired much of his collection, including the Halliwell-Phillipps library, through Sotheran's, and we were agents in the purchase of the world-famous Althorp Library from Earl Spencer for the John Rylands Library in 1892. Throughout our history we have prided ourselves on the quality and condition of our books, and our friendly service. Our premises on Charing Cross Road and Cecil Court are spacious and elegantly appointed, and we welcome regular clients and passers-by alike to wander in and browse our stock in a relaxing and convivial atmosphere.

⌛️ 'Face this world. Learn its ways, watch it, be careful of too hasty guesses at its meaning. In the end you will find ...
13/08/2026

⌛️ 'Face this world. Learn its ways, watch it, be careful of too hasty guesses at its meaning. In the end you will find clues to it all.' ⏳️

Pioneering science fiction author H.G. Wells died on this day in 1946.

🌀 Wells is best known for his genre-defining novella, The Time Machine, which is often credited with popularising time travel as a science fiction trope, and he is largely considered the 'father of science fiction'. His writing is not only known for its contributions to the genre of science fiction, but also for its social and political commentary and satirical criticism of contemporary society.

1. The Time Machine. London: William Heinemann. 1895.
2. The First Men in the Moon. London: George Newnes Limited. 1901.

💭 'The imagination is not a state: it is the human existence itself'.🌸 Visionary poet, painter, and printmaker William B...
12/08/2026

💭 'The imagination is not a state: it is the human existence itself'.

🌸 Visionary poet, painter, and printmaker William Blake (1757-1827) passed away 199 years ago today.

📖 Blake's work and life were shrouded in Christian religious ideas and a mysticism that was often inaccessible to his contemporaries. Much of his work, in poetry as well as painting and printmaking, was not lauded during his lifetime but found acclaim following his death. Today Blake's work is remembered for his passionate and deeply personal perspective.

1. Oberon and Titania. Plate #7 from The Song of Los (1975)
2. The Clod & the Pebble. Plate #32 from Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1955)
3. When the morning Stars sang together… Plate #14 from Illustrations of the Book of Job (1987)
4. The Song of Los (Title Page). (1975)

Browse works by William Blake here: https://sotherans.co.uk/collections/william-blake

😎 RIP Johannes de Sacrobosco (1195–1256), you would have loved eclipse glasses ... 🌍️ These woodcut illustrations of ec...
12/08/2026

😎 RIP Johannes de Sacrobosco (1195–1256), you would have loved eclipse glasses ...

🌍️ These woodcut illustrations of eclipses come from Sacrobosco's De Sphaera, a fundamental astronomical text written around 1230. It was instrumental in establishing that the Earth is round, and Sacrobosco used eclipses to prove it: during lunar eclipses, the Earth casts a curved shadow onto the face of the Moon, which would be impossible if the Earth were flat.

🌞 By 1562, when this rare edition was published in Paris, De Sphaera had become a core text for students of astronomy, with commentary and revisions by the humanist Élie Vinet, as well as several shorter works added in.

🪶Our copy features several Latin annotations by an early reader who likely used this copy in their studies, including one on Valeriani’s Compendium in sphaeram, flagging up ‘stupid opinions’ regarding ancient practices of shouting and banging cymbals when faced with a lunar eclipse.

🕶️ Centuries later, we are still fascinated by eclipses, and Sacrobosco's work is still relevant when we look to the skies for today's (but not directly, we hope!).

📕 SACROBOSCO, Johannes de; Elie VINET. Sphaera Ioannis de Sacro Bosco, emendata. Paris: Guillaume Cavellat. 1562.

https://sotherans.co.uk/products/sacrobosco-johannes-de-elie-vinet-sphaera-ioannis-de-sacro-bosco-emendata?_pos=1&_sid=97284c991&_ss=r

📖 Happy Book Lovers Day! Our love of books has been going strong since our founding in 1761.
09/08/2026

📖 Happy Book Lovers Day! Our love of books has been going strong since our founding in 1761.

'Human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.' - Ernest Hemingway 'A cat’s rage...
08/08/2026

'Human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.' - Ernest Hemingway

'A cat’s rage is beautiful, burning with pure cat flame, all its hair standing up and crackling blue sparks, eyes blazing and sputtering.'
― William S. Burroughs, The Cat Inside

😺 Loving cats and loving books often go hand in hand. Happy !📖

🦉 We think these owl prints are a real hoot ... happy International Owl Awareness Day!1. JOUVE, Paul. Owl. Original wood...
04/08/2026

🦉 We think these owl prints are a real hoot ... happy International Owl Awareness Day!

1. JOUVE, Paul. Owl. Original wood engraving for Colette's Paradis Terrestres, Lausanne, Gonin & Cie (1932).
2. HART, William Matthew. Hawk-Owl. Original lithograph with later hand-colouring for Gould's 'Birds of New Guinea and the adjacent Papuan Islands' (1875-88).
3. HART, William Matthew. Salvadori's Hawk-Owl. Original lithograph with later hand-colouring for Gould's 'Birds of New Guinea and the adjacent Papuan Islands' (1875-88).

🍸️ ‘If everyone knew even a little about the absorbing subject of absorbing alcohol there would be even less Prohibition...
31/07/2026

🍸️ ‘If everyone knew even a little about the absorbing subject of absorbing alcohol there would be even less Prohibition in the United States of America than there is now.’

🕰️ On this day in 1923, the British government banned the sale of alcohol to under-18s. Seven years later, the United States introduced Prohibition, banning the production, import, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages.

🍹 The author of the iconic Savoy Cocktail Book, Harry Craddock, left America and instead joined the American Bar at London's Savoy Hotel, becoming one of the most famous bartenders of the 1920s and 1930s.

📚️ CRADDOCK, Harry; Gilbert RUMBOLD (illustrator). The Savoy Cocktail Book. London: Constable & Company. 1930.

https://buff.ly/wnKVbfm

🪡 Happy World Embroidery Day! This 1798 German almanack has been handsomely bound in an embroidered binding bearing the ...
30/07/2026

🪡 Happy World Embroidery Day! This 1798 German almanack has been handsomely bound in an embroidered binding bearing the crowned cypher of King George III, who was also Elector of Hanover and Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

📆 The almanack features a calendar, followed by a register of thousands of members of the Royal Electoral Ministry (featuring an orchestra, three librarians, a copper-engraver, and a bookbinder) and of local administration throughout Lower Saxony, including an index of physicians; also listed are university professors,cloisters and monasteries detailing the names of dozens of nuns, and an index of nobles and their lands.

🎂 The almanack also includes the names and birth dates of George III, Queen Charlotte, and their children, as well as those of several influential noble families throughout Germany, also noting the religious denomination of each family.

📕 [ALMANACK.] Königl. Groß-Brittannischer und Churfürstl. Braunschweig-Lüneburgscher Staats-Kalender auf das Jahr 1798. Lauenburg: [Eberhard Friedrich Justus Heinrich Berenberg]. 1798.

https://buff.ly/TL4sJvU

🐑 Details from our latest ba-a-a-tch of New Acquisitions, now available to browse on our website! 📚️ Discover books from...
27/07/2026

🐑 Details from our latest ba-a-a-tch of New Acquisitions, now available to browse on our website!

📚️ Discover books from the sixteenth century to the twentieth, hand-picked and newly catalogued by our booksellers. Among them you will find photographs of sheepskin slippers photographed by Lee Miller's assistant; annotated astronomy and a friendship-destroying Italian grammar; a pocket-sized Hebrew Bible and a prayerbook in fourteen languages; poems on weddings and devastating floods, and an analogue precursor to generative poetry; as well as presentation copies from the likes of Cyril Connolly, Alan Paton, Robert van Gulik, and Marie Stopes.

1. BARNARD, Mary; Roland HAUPT and Maurice AMBLER (photographers). The Sheepskin Book. [c. 1949–51.]
2. MANTEL, Hilary [The Wolf Hall Trilogy:] Wolf Hall; The Mirror & the Light; Bring Up the Bodies. 2009–2020.
3. DARLING, Charles, 1st Baron Darling; Austin Osman SPARE (illustrator). On the Oxford Circuit and Other Verses. 1909.
4. [HEBREW BIBLE.] יהושע ושופטים [Joshua and Judges.] 5377 (i.e. 1616 or 1617).
5. SACROBOSCO, Johannes de; Elie VINET. Sphaera Ioannis de Sacro Bosco, emendata. 1562.

⚽️ It may not be coming home, but it'll be a game worth watching!1. ANON. The Beautiful Game. Original wood type poster...
19/07/2026

⚽️ It may not be coming home, but it'll be a game worth watching!

1. ANON. The Beautiful Game. Original wood type poster printed on Somerset England watermarked wove paper. (c. Late 20th Century)
2. ANON. Football advertisement. Original colour lithograph. (c. 1950)

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