“World’s First Coffee Table Book” Discovered in Yard Sale Estimated to Fetch up to £50,000 at UK Auction

A rare copy of Life and Landscape on the Norfolk Broads (1886), by pioneering Victorian photographer Peter Henry Emerson, is set to fetch up to £50,000 at auction after being discovered wrapped in brown paper in the back of a closet in Maryland, USA, decades after it was purchased at a yard sale.

The deluxe edition, one of just 25 ever produced, contains 40 platinum prints capturing the fading rural life of 19th-century Norfolk and is widely regarded as a foundational work of photographic art. It will be offered at Roseberys London on 10 July with an estimate of £30,000–£50,000 ($40,000–$67,000).

The book was found during a house clearance by the child of a 98-year-old woman who had bought it “years ago” at a yard sale. It remained unopened and wrapped in brown paper in her wardrobe for decades.

“My parents were avid ‘yard salers’ and collectors of first editions,” said the seller, who wishes to remain anonymous. “We were cleaning out my mother’s home when we found the book buried in the back of her closet. We had no idea what it was until we unwrapped it.”

This rediscovered deluxe edition is bound in roan-backed vellum gilt with a cover design by artist Thomas Frederick Goodall. The 40 platinum prints, mounted on India paper, were produced using a high-cost process Emerson abandoned in later publications, making this first edition uniquely valuable. It is believed to be the only book Emerson printed using  platinum; he later switched to cheaper photogravure. A faint fingerprint on one print is likely Emerson’s own.

The photographer’s great-grandson, Stephen Hyde - who was inspired to become a photographer by Emerson - said the book represents his ancestor’s “love letter to Norfolk”:

“I sailed on the Norfolk Broads as a child, retracing my great-grandfather’s footsteps. He had a profound connection to nature, and that tenderness comes through in these photographs. I’d love to own this book myself, but it belongs in a museum.”

Emerson (1856–1936), born in Cuba and raised partly in America before settling in England, sought to document the people and landscapes of East Anglia with poetic realism. Life and Landscape on the Norfolk Broads, with its lyrical prose and pioneering photography, is widely considered the world’s first “coffee table book” and elevated photography to the status of fine art.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes when this came through as a routine valuation,” said Jack Wallis, Head of Sale and Fine & Decorative Art Specialist at Roseberys. “Complete deluxe copies almost never surface, especially not with such a compelling backstory. This book helped shift photography from the mechanical to the artistic - Emerson’s legacy lives on in everyone from Alfred Stieglitz to contemporary photographers.”

Emerson’s works are held in major institutional collections including the V&A, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the George Eastman Museum. Some of his original plates were donated to the Eastman Museum by family members, and Hyde believes this copy may have remained in the U.S. via Emerson’s brother, who stayed in America after the Civil War.

High res images available for editorial use here. Please credit Roseberys. 
For media enquiries please contact: aliciaglenn@roseberys.co.uk

Operating in London for more than 30 years, Roseberys Fine Art Auctioneers is a privately owned specialist fine art and antiques auction house and valuers, located in the heart of South London.

The team of world renowned experts and consultants offer both buyers and sellers a range of specialist art market services and a calendar of over 30 specialist auctions a year covering all areas of Asian Arts, Islamic & Indian Art, Jewellery & Watches, Old Master, 18th & 19th Century Art, Modern British & Contemporary British Art, Urban & Contemporary Prints & Multiples, 20th Century Art & Design, Impressionist, Modern, Post War & Contemporary Art and Decorative Arts, Fine & Decorative sales including Silver, Ceramics, Works of Art and Furniture.

In addition to hosting over 30 specialist auctions annually, Roseberys offers single-owner collection sales. Recent highlights include the Mary & Alan Hobart Collection (founders of Pyms Gallery), an Important Private Collection of Chinese Imperial Porcelain and The George Farrow Collection.