If I am unknown to you, I thought it might be helpful to tell you something about myself. After training as a historian at London University, I worked as a teacher, researching at the same time for a higher degree on the subject of the role of sheriff in sixteenth-century England. I then worked under my old professor, S. T. Bindoff, writing biographies of sixteenth-century Members of Parliament. I was subsequently employed by Ted Hofmann and Arthur Freeman for two years.

I went to Sotheby's initially to catalogue one of the sales of manuscripts from the collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps. I became Head of the Post-Medieval Manuscript Department and later also Head of the Department of Printed Books. Additionally I was Marketing Director for Sotheby's London and UK; Director of Communications; and Company Strategist.

Since leaving Sotheby's, I have run my own business as a dealer, valuer and agent. I have been involved in the sale by private treaty of the Papers of Sir Winston Churchill, of Ted Hughes, John Osborne, Edna O'Brien, John Linnell, Siegfried Sassoon, John Wyndham, Tom Paulin, Julian Barnes, Alan Sillitoe and a number of series of letters by Ted Hughes.

I have also acted as adviser and expert witness to the lawyers representing the family of former President Richard Nixon, and as expert adviser to the Zapruder family in the valuation of the Zapruder film of Kennedy's assassination.

I have issued seven catalogues, the last being The Artist as a Portrait which was exhibited at The Fine Art Society in New Bond Street. Of the third catalogue the Book Collector commented: 'Any Roy Davids autograph catalogue is memorable, but his latest was specifically so for its non-autograph material.' Of the fourth catalogue the Book Collector wrote the following generous review:

'...Roy Davids, in his fourth catalogue, listed 156 items...There is autograph material and autograph material; some is just that, others are those magical documents that open a new window on writer or recipient. Davids has a wonderful knack of finding the latter. The straight stuff includes notably revealing long letters by Verdi, Wagner, Debussy, Elgar, Mendelssohn, Ravel and Borodin, and another, equally so, by Gounod and Turgenev, writing jointly to Pauline Viardot - a wonderful piece, this. Burns is found in high spirits, as also Carrington to Maynard Keynes (equally evocative of both), a draft speech by Robespierre and another by the 20-year-old Charles II, Ireton's order for the confinement of his father, two equally critical letters of Napoleon, one written by Trotsky in the immediate aftermath of his break with Lenin, and a moving apologia, written from the Tower by the famous Earl of Southampton. Among historically important documents are the original 1622 contract for the Scotch settlement of Canada, the business archive of Sydney Cockerell in his role (surely not 'unknown') as a bookseller, an important Haydn autograph, 'Monk' Lewis's commonplace book, noting 'An Irish Bookseller' advertises that 'He has a great quantity of scarce books on sale', a Rousseau essay, Caitlin on Dylan, Sassoon's photograph album, and the bible of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, their annotated Writers' and Artists' Yearbook for 1957...No Davids catalogue would be complete without other cimelia, Tom Sayers's silver cigar-case, two little things uniting Elizabeth and Robert Browning, Burton and Speke's gold medal, two silver Charles I badges, a silver Hudson's Bay Company presentation box, another given by his 'workpeople' to William Morris on his 50th birthday, and, most enchanting, a silver-gilt King's Messenger's badge of George III. All this, plus some important portraits, including a haunted late oil of Michael Tippett, are an indication of the wealth and variety of Davids's offerings. What cannot be shown here is his other wealth, the resources of learning and scholarship that have gone into the description of all the diverse things that have caught his discriminating eye...'

The Good Web Guide UK describes this site (saving my blushes) in the following terms (partly thanks to Ewan Wilson who built it):

'Roy Davids Ltd GWG Star Rating * * * * * Country of Origin UK. Roy Davids, former head of manuscripts at Sotheby's, has run his own business since 1994. His website tops our list because, as well as the items he is selling, he provides good information about the whole field of autograph collecting. SPECIAL FEATURES The link titled Articles is particularly well worth exploring. One of these, The Sacred Duty to Get it Right, is a profile of Roy Davids himself, while most of the other articles are by him, being either contributions to journals, the text of talks or, in several instances towards the end of the list, poems. Anyone new to the autograph collecting world should certainly start here. For purchase of manuscript items, this is certainly a most interesting source, though be warned that many of the documents for sale are in the three and four-figure category. Indeed, at the time of writing, a letter with the massively bold signature of Queen Elizabeth I was for sale at a cost of £22,000 + VAT. The quality of the collection is impressive. The left-hand column index divides it under categories such as Art, Literature, Music and Science, which makes searching very easy. On its more-or-less-vellum background, this is an elegant, tidy website by a true expert, someone you feel it would be interesting to meet.'

I carry a fair amount of general stock with pieces priced up to about £500. The core of the business, however, is made up of items, generally valued at above £500, with memorable content and distinguished provenance. In manuscripts, I deal in material relating to virtually all areas of human endeavour, including music, the main criterion for choosing material being that the item is of real interest. Believing that collectors deserve and want to know as much as possible about the items they purchase I provide full descriptions of the material, of its condition, importance and context.

On the same bases of selection and with the same full descriptions I also offer books (largely ones with annotation), good portraits and busts of writers, composers and famous historical personalities, preferably taken from the life and in any medium, as well as artefacts and works of art associated with them (silver, medals, photographs, presentation and armorial boxes etc). See NATURE AND AIMS of Roy Davids Ltd.

I welcome new clients and am most interested to learn of their collecting areas. Please let me know what you are looking for and I shall endeavour to quote relevant material to you directly.

I am always looking to purchase interesting manuscripts, portraits, artefacts and works of art and should be pleased to make offers on suitable material. If you would like to receive notice of new items going on the site, please contact me.

Roy Davids 2006