Our most  expensive sales during November 2012 featured a book of paintings by Belgian artist  and botanist Pierre-Joseph Redouté, who was so famous for his watercolors of  roses, lilies and other flowers that he was dubbed the “The Raphael of  Flowers.”  A copy of his most famous publication Les Roses sold  for $28,000.

The British  royal family are never very far from the headlines and we saw a copy of The  History of the Royal Residences sell for over $10,000 last month. It was created by  writer and illustrator William Henry Pyne. This English artist became a major  name in art after exhibiting at the Royal Academy in 1790, and he was one of   the founders of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1804.  In that same year,  he published The Costume of Great Britain which included 60 paintings of both  professional and working class men and women in everyday British life.

In 1819,  Pyne published The History of Royal Residences. This rather large book (332mm  x 278mm) features lavish illustrations depicting the interior decorations and  furnishings of the various royal homes around Britain and was produced at  considerable expense to Pyne.  The book was a financial failure and Pyne  eventually ended up in the King’s Bench Prison for debtors. He died a poor man  in 1843.

See November’s most expensive sales on AbeBooks