Sophie Meadows
Senior Specialist | Books & Manuscripts
Sophie joined Christie’s in 2013 as specialist in medieval & Renaissance manuscripts, autograph letters, and archives. In 2025, after deciding that roughly 1,000 years of handwritten history wasn’t enough to contend with, her remit expanded to include printed books, becoming the only specialist internationally to work across all fields. Since 2019, she has been Head of Private Sales for the International Books and Manuscripts department, coordinating record-breaking years in London, Paris and New York and contributing to millions of pounds’ worth of private sales to individuals and institutions.
Sophie has had the pleasure of leading sales as diverse as the Metropolitan Opera Guild Collection of musical manuscripts and memorabilia (New York, 2017) and ‘Quentin Blake: A Retrospective’, an auction of works from Sir Quentin Blake’s personal collection sold to benefit charity (London, 2018), as well as working on the exceptional illuminated manuscripts from the collection of Elaine and Alexandre Rosenberg (New York, 2021). A recent favourite was ‘The Alphabet of Genius’ (London, 2023), a landmark sale of autographs which set new records in the field, from art (Saint-Exupéry) to science (Edmond Halley). In private sales, Sophie has sold works from a wide range of authors, reflecting her broad interests: from English literature (Keats) to science (Charles Darwin), with an emphasis on female authorship (Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Caroline Herschel).
Sophie has extensive experience in the valuation and sale of archives, both by private treaty sale and through the Acceptance in Lieu process: major sales have included the architectural archive of Sir Denys Lasdun (including original models for the National Theatre), the working archive of the much-loved children's author Shirley Hughes, and the family archives of the Barons Braybrooke, Earls of Dudley, and Marquesses of Londonderry.
Sophie has had the pleasure of leading sales as diverse as the Metropolitan Opera Guild Collection of musical manuscripts and memorabilia (New York, 2017) and ‘Quentin Blake: A Retrospective’, an auction of works from Sir Quentin Blake’s personal collection sold to benefit charity (London, 2018), as well as working on the exceptional illuminated manuscripts from the collection of Elaine and Alexandre Rosenberg (New York, 2021). A recent favourite was ‘The Alphabet of Genius’ (London, 2023), a landmark sale of autographs which set new records in the field, from art (Saint-Exupéry) to science (Edmond Halley). In private sales, Sophie has sold works from a wide range of authors, reflecting her broad interests: from English literature (Keats) to science (Charles Darwin), with an emphasis on female authorship (Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Caroline Herschel).
Sophie has extensive experience in the valuation and sale of archives, both by private treaty sale and through the Acceptance in Lieu process: major sales have included the architectural archive of Sir Denys Lasdun (including original models for the National Theatre), the working archive of the much-loved children's author Shirley Hughes, and the family archives of the Barons Braybrooke, Earls of Dudley, and Marquesses of Londonderry.
