Books and Manuscripts
Tom Lamb
International Head of Books and Manuscripts
Tom Lamb has been an auction book specialist for over 27 years. After a
Geography degree from Durham University, he worked for a short time
with The Ministry of Defence making military maps, but joined
Christies South Kensington in 1980 in the Book Department as a
map specialist. From 1983 he introduced the first themed Book sales to
CSK, the first on Travel Books and Maps. In 1987 he moved to Christies
King St. becoming a Director in 1989, Head of the London Book
Departments in 1995 and a Director of European Book
Departments in 2004.
From 1994 he pioneered a series of cross department sales for Christies
combining pictures, books, manuscripts and photographs.
Regular sale categories such as Exploration and Travel,
Visions of India, Cartography, Natural History followed, as well as
special anniversary sales on the Battle of Trafalgar (2005), Printing
in the Mind of Man (for the millennium), the first dedicated globe
sales, and specialist sales on Science and Technology. Tom has
organized over 20 Collection sales for Christies London,
including the Kissner sale, Klotz Collection, Perth Library,
Feltrinelli sales, Foyle collection (2000 £12million), The
Botfield sale from Longleat House (2002 £12million), Keynes,
VanderPoel and Conan Doyle sales in 2004, and the Duke of
Gloucester’s Sporting library in 2006. He is a world renowned
specialist in Maps, Travel, Naval History and Plate Books, and in the
map field alone the sales he organized still hold
many auction records, for a Portolan Atlas (1987
£660,000) for a Portolan Map (1988 £350,000), for a
single printed map (2005 £500,000), and for a Globe (1994
£1milllion). He brings to Bloomsbury a wealth of
experience and expertise.
Phone: (212) 719-1000
Richard Austin
Specialist – Books and Manuscripts
Richard Austin has over 10 years' experience appraising, cataloguing
and selling books and manuscripts from the 15th to the 20th centuries.
Beginning in the trade as an undergraduate while attending the
University of Texas at Austin for a double major in Film Studies and
English, he trained at one of the world's foremost Humanities research
libraries, the Harry Ransom Center, in their rare-book cataloguing
department. He later organized their most successful public sale of
duplicate material while continuing his studies and clerking for local
booksellers.
Upon graduation he moved into the auction world by becoming first a
cataloguer and eventually the specialist in books and manuscripts for
Butterfield and Butterfield in San Francisco. There he remained for
three years before accepting a position with Christie's New York as a
vice president and department head in Books and Manuscripts. Richard
has managed the sale of such diverse material as incunabula and modern
literature to Neal Armstrong's space suit and a pair of George
Washington's pistols.
Phone: (212) 719-1000
Stephen C. Massey
Senior International Consultant
Stephen Massey brings over 43 years of auction experience to the Bloomsbury team. He joined Christie's London in 1964 and started the specialised natural history book sales in 1966 that have continued there to date. His wide-ranging expertise developed in London as he prepared sale catalogues on a variety of subjects, including, among others, incunabula from Chatsworth; the extensive Fortescue Aldine Press Collection of Venetian books printed between 1495 and 1595; and the Scott Collection of Naval Architecture and Navigation. Such sales were also supported by regular appraisal work conducted in numerous private libraries including Anglesey Abbey, Chatsworth, Knowsley Hall, Shirburn Castle, Wardington Manor and Woburn Abbey.
In 1975 Stephen was moved to Christie's on Madison Avenue and he founded the Printed Books and Manuscripts Department of Christie's New York, Park Avenue and 59th Street which started USA sales in 1977. He has catalogued and sold two copies of The Gutenberg Bible; six copies of the first edition of Audubon The Birds of America; and three copies of the first printing of the Declaration of Independence. Notable consignments catalogued and sold by him include the libraries of Estelle Doheny; James Gilvarry; Arthur A. Houghton, Jr.; Marjorie Wiggin Prescott; John A. Saks; and Eric Sexton. In 1994, he sought out, secured for auction, catalogued and sold the Leonardo da Vinci Codex Leicester to Bill Gates for $30,802,500 still a world record auction price for manuscripts and books.
Since his independence from Christie's in 2001, Stephen has conducted appraisals for American Bible Society; Biltmore House; Carleton University; Detroit Public Library; Huntington Free Library; Lyndhurst; National Archives of Canada; New York Botanical Garden; and The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. Additionally, his services on a consultancy basis have been employed by a variety of private collectors and booksellers. Most recently he was a consultant to Sotheby's London for the notable series of sales from The Wardington Library in 2005 and 2006. He is also a senior international consultant for the London bookseller Peter Harrington. Since 1996, he has been a regular participant appraiser on the Antiques Roadshow produced by WGBH in Boston and broadcast nationwide on public television stations. Stephen is an international auctioneer.
Phone: (212) 719-1000
Peter Costanzo
Peter Costanzo began working as a Junior Specialist at Bloomsbury Auctions after graduating from the American Arts Masters Degree program at the Sotheby's Institute in 2007. For this degree, Peter wrote a master's dissertation on the American painter Eastman Johnson, focusing on his Civil War paintings A Ride for Liberty-The Fugitive Slaves and his unfinished masterpiece Sugaring Off. While at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, Peter wrote an art history thesis on the battlefield photography of Mathew Brady at Antietam and Gettysburg. At Bloomsbury Auctions, Peter is head of Bibliophile Sales, which aim to introduce new collectors to the auction room while expanding the range of auction services to our valued consignors and returning clients.
Phone: (212) 719-1000