More than 1000 books on education systems around the world, dating from the 1400s through to the mid 19th century, will be sold by Bonhams in London on 1 and 2 April 2008. Expected to fetch in excess of £250,000, the books are from the private library of John and Monica Lawson.

The collection contains the most extensive array of books on education to be offered for sale at auction and includes many rare titles. The library covers every facet of education, from its history, teaching methods and systems, to grammar, vocabulary and the languages of the world. There are even books giving educational advice including ones on how parents should bring up their children (Lot 564, estimate £4,000-6,000), or how to educate a prince (Lots 578, 579, and 609), in addition to children’s literature, Victorian games and puzzles.

Its main strength is that it spans over 400 years of British education with books on national schools, charities, religious education, traditional and radical systems, aspects of social history, poverty and politics, but there is also a grammar and vocabulary section. This part of the library features an important foreign language section, replete with rare tribal dialects, such as Moskito (Lot 868), Fernadian (Lot 893), Mpongwe (Lot 896), and Namaqua-Hottentot (Lot 897), while “The Vocabulary of the Peculiar Language Used by the Thugs… and of the Measures Which Have Been Adopted by the Supreme Government of India for its Suppression,” can be found at Lot 863, estimated at £200-400. The last part of the collection also includes exotic imprints from China and Africa to Australia and the South Sea Islands.

www.bonhams.com

Posted: 03|5|08 at 4:08 pm. Filed under: UK News.