The sketchbooks of Sir James Edward Alexander, a 19th century Scottish explorer born in Stirling in 1803, are going under the hammer at Lyon and Turnbull this week with an expected price of £50,000. The collection offers a rare glimpse into a life that reads like an adventure novel, from Burma and South Africa to the Crimea and New Zealand.
Sir James is best known for his role in preserving one of Cleopatra’s Needles, the 3,500 year old Egyptian obelisk that now stands on London’s Victoria Embankment, which he helped bring to the capital in 1877. But his sketchbooks reveal a man whose curiosity extended far beyond that single achievement. He produced detailed and colourful sketches of the people he encountered across the world during his military and exploratory career.
Dominic Somerville-Brown, Lyon and Turnbull’s specialist in books, maps, and manuscripts, said: “Sir James Edward Alexander left behind a rare record of places all over the world. Not only was he an adventurer, he was a compulsive sketcher, taking his sketchbook everywhere he went. His fantastic drawings capture a unique time in history.”
The collection is being sold on behalf of a direct descendant and includes personal copies of his travel accounts alongside narratives from other authors of the period. Wednesday’s auction also features a first edition of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, valued between £30,000 and £50,000, and an archive of letters from the Kray twins.
Scotland has produced more than its share of explorers, soldiers, and adventurers, but Sir James Alexander is one of those figures whose name has faded despite a career that would fill several lifetimes. His sketchbooks are the kind of historical document that belongs in a museum. Whether they end up in one or in a private collection will be decided on Wednesday.