john james audubon

Brooks Brothers Expands Home Decor Collection

Filed under: Decor

Last fall Brooks Brothers launched their home collection starting with sheets and pillows. Now the line has expanded to include tabletop and lampshades. The lampshades are constructed of fabrics used to make Brooks Brothers clothing including pinstripe wool, cotton oxford cloth and silk tie fabric. The chandelier shades start at $88.

Th brand's tabletop selections run the gamut from chopsticks and other lacquerware and Japanese porcelain to china decorated with John James Audubon's bird paintings. The limited edition dessert plates, signed and numbered on the bottom, are limited to 250 and cost $328 for a set of four. The line is part of a parternship with the National Audubon Society that also includes a crystal decanter and glasses engraved with renderings of selections from Birds of America.

The brand is also dipping its toes into the art world, selling a series of four lithographs reproduced from Paul Brown's original drawings of sporting scenes. They feature copper engraving lithography, and area a limited edition of 150. Each lithograph includes a certificate of authenticity and the Brooks Brothers Golden Fleece chop mark. The pieces are framed in dark mahogany and sell for $500 each.

[via Home Accents Today]

Tags: brooks brothers, home decor, john james audubon

World's Most Expensive Book Sells For $11.5 Million

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Books

One of the most monumental printed books ever produced, John James Audubon's Birds of America, sold at Sotheby's London this week for £7,321,250 ($11,542,683) setting a new world record for any printed book ever sold at auction. There are only around 100 copies of this book which contains 435 hand-colored prints and is more than three feet tall. A different copy sold for $8.8 million in 2000.

Four collectors bid on the phones and in the room, driving the price above the estimates of $6.3 million to $9.5 million. The book was purchased by London dealer Michael Tollemache, who was bidding in the room and who described the work after the sale as "priceless." The Audubon was part of the sale of Magnificent Books, Manuscripts and Drawings from the Collection of Frederick, 2nd Lord Hesketh that brought in a total of £14,971,950 ($23,604,776 ) sailing over the high estimate of approximately $18.6 million and setting a record as the highest price ever achieved for a single-session sale of Books and Manuscripts ever held in London.

The sale also featured a first folio of Shakespeare's plays dating back to 1623, one of the most important books in English Literature. It sold for £1,497,250, right around the high estimate of £1.5 million and was purchased by Stephan Loewentheil. Forty letters relating to the imprisonment of Mary, Queen of Scots, including four letters signed by Queen Elizabeth I, sold for £349,250 ($550,628) (estimated at £150,000-200,000), a record for a group of Elizabethan manuscripts at auction.

Tags: audubon, birds of america, john james audubon, most expensive, sothebys, worlds most expensive, worlds most expensive book

Rare Book Could Set A Record For Most Expensive Book, Again

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art, Books

Deep-pocketed bibliophiles will have the chance to bid for the world's most expensive book this December. There are only around 100 copies of John James Audubon's massive "Birds of America." The book, which contains 435 hand-colored prints and is more than three feet tall, last sold for $8.8 million in 2000. Sotheby's estimates that the book of four volumes could reach 6 million pounds ($9.25 million) when it is auctioned off at Sotheby's London on December 7, 2010. The sale will also feature a first folio of Shakespeare's plays dating back to 1623 which could bring in at least one million pounds ($1.54 million). These two amazing books come from the same collection, the estate of the 2nd Baron Hesketh, an aristocratic book collector who died way back in 1955.

Tags: audubon, john james audubon, most expensive, rare books, shakespeare, worlds most expensive