• Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG BEADED JUDICIAL COLLAR. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A COMPLETE RUN OF VISIONAIRE MAGAZINE THROUGH 2010. $6,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: LAW REVIEW OFFPRINT SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: META REBNER'S WORKING SCRIPT OF THE LOVED ONE. $1,500 - $2,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A KATHY GROVE PORTRAIT OF CYNDI LAUPER FOR THE FEBRUARY 1989 DETAILS COVER. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A PLASTIC COAT BY MILLIE DAVID FEATURED IN SOHO NEWS STYLE SECTION, FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANNIE FLANDERS. $500 - $700
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG JEWELRY BOX. $600 - $900
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A SET OF JONI MITCHELL LYRICS FOR "IF I HAD A HEART." $2,000 - $3,000
  • 19th Century Shop
    Catalogue 198 just published
    19th Century Shop. Darwin and Wallace, first printing of the first paper on natural selection
    19th Century Shop. Shakespeare’s Poems, first collected edition
    19th Century Shop. Walt Whitman portrait inscribed with a Leaves of Grass poem
    19th Century Shop. Major Elizabeth Barrett Browning manuscript notebook
    19th Century Shop. Spock's Baby Book, original MS
    19th Century Shop. Cellarius, Harmonia Macrocosmica, the great celestial atlas
  • Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HARRISON, Benjamin. Document signed (“Benj Harrison”) as governor of Virginia, certifying the service of Daniel Cumbo, a Black Revolutionary soldier. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HIGHLY IMPORTANT MORMON ARCHIVE. ALLEY, George. Archive of 23 Autograph Letters Signed by Mormon Convert George Alley to His Brother Joseph Alley. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [AVIATION]. [ARMSTRONG, Neil A.] Aviation Hall of Fame Gold Medal MS64 NGC, Awarded to Neil Armstrong in 1979. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: NEWLY DISCOVERED FIRST PRINTING OF "WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE... " FROM THE ONLY NEWSPAPER ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL PROCESSION. $4,000 to $8,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: A VERY RARE ACCOUNT OF BLACKBEARD’S DEATH AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PIRATE ITEMS EXTANT. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [VIETNAM WAR]. The original pen used by Secretary of State William P. Rogers to sign the Vietnam Peace Agreement, Paris, 27 January 1973. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: SONS OF LIBERTY FOUNDER COLONEL BARRÉ ANNOTATED TITLE-PAGE, “WHICH OUGHT TO ROUSE UP BRITISH ATTENTION”. $4,000 to $6,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: [Shakespeare (William)]. [Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies], second folio edition, [by Tho.Cotes, for Robert Allot], [1632]. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Bible, Czech Biblia Bohemica, first complete Bible printed in the Czech vernacular, Prague, August 1488. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Shabthai Tzvi.- Collection of four printed and illustrated broadsides detailing the appearance, rise and fall of the false messiah, Shabthai Tzvi, Augsburg, 1666-67. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Leaf from the Beauvais Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [Northern France (perhaps Beauvais or Amiens)], [fourteenth century (c.1310)]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Aubrey (John). [Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme], manuscript in English, Latin and Greek, [c. 1693]. £30,000 to £50,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Poems on Various Occasions, first edition, Harriet Maltby's copy, Newark, Printed by S. & J. Ridge, 1807. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression with dust-jacket, 1937 [but 1938]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Blake (William).- Thornton (Robert John). The Pastorals of Virgil, 2 vol., engraved plates by William Blake, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: America.- Mount (William J.) & Thomas Page. The English Pilot…, [bound with] The Fourth Book, describing The West Indies Navigation from Hudson's-Bay to the River Amazones, 1721. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Oldfield (Henry Ambrose), Rajman Singh Chitrakar & others. An album of 160 photographs and 13 original artworks, (1833-1919), [c. 1850s-1880s]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.

Rare Book Monthly

Articles - November - 2016 Issue

Barry Ruderman: ABAA, lost without his maps

Barry was born in Rialto, California, April 23, 1962.  He attended Eisenhower High School (1980), the University of California, Riverside (BS in Economics, 1984) and the University of San Diego School of Law (Juris Doctorate, 1987).

From age 8-13, he ran track and cross-country.  Thereafter, he played soccer for his high school and at UC Riverside, leaving him with a continuing passion for national and international play.  Even today when others are asleep he can sometimes still be found cheering European competitions in the middle of the night.

He practiced Commercial Insolvency Law from 1987 to 2003 including a year as law clerk for a Judge in the Southern District of California (1987-88).  Then, beginning as an associate he rose to become a partner at Weeks Rathbone Robertson & Johnson, (1990-1997), then becoming managing partner [1997-2003].  Thereafter he became in-house counsel for a financial services company from 2003-2007.

Today he lives in La Jolla, California, with his wife Kathy.  They have 3 daughters (Montana, Sophomore at USC; Liberty, Freshman at Seattle University and Simona, 8th Grade) and 3 stepsons (David, Sophomore at Belmont University, Jordan, 11th grade and Isaac, 9th grade).  “The 6 children are definitely a great source of pride and watching them leave has been challenging.”

His interest in maps were re-kindled in his last year of law school, when in researching a law review article on the law of the sea, he reviewed Supreme Court briefs utilizing 17th and 18th Century Sea charts as source information for boundary disputes for the waters between states.

 

He would buy his first antique map in 1990 and track his interest in maps back to cross country-driving trips with family in the late 1960s to mid 1970s.  His fascination with the book, The Phantom Toll Booth, where Milo's map became symbolic of the prospects for using a map in the quest for knowledge and adventure, was an early talisman of what would become his collecting passion.


His first antique map, or, as W. C. Field’s might have described it, “the fatal glass of beer,” was purchased on a ski trip to Taos, New Mexico in February 1990 when he made a buy from George Robinson.  By mid-1991, he had accumulated probably 30-40 maps and decided it would be fun to try to sell at local antique shows and book fairs.

In 1995, he exhibited at his first real map fair, in connection with the International Map Collector's Society's annual meeting in San Francisco.  In mid-1996, at the suggestion of a friend he launched RareMaps.com, one of the first on-line websites exclusively dedicated to antique maps.

“I was very fortunate, in that in an era of static websites and nascent e-commerce concepts, my website designer insisted upon using a database and a dynamic script which allowed pages to be built on the fly, then still a relatively new concept.  I was also fortunate that my mother had insisted that I learn to type -- so my 70 word per minute high school typing skills, plus being home at night with young children during the rest of the 1990s, gave me lots of time to add maps to the website.”

By 1999, the business had outgrown the family garage-office and he established an open shop on Prospect Street in La Jolla.  “My first real employee was my mother-in-law -- a good sport!  At that point, I was still practicing law 40 (60?) hours a week. Since that time, the business has grown to 6 full time staff, including Alex Clausen, former head of Swann Galleries Map & Atlas Department, and Katie Parker, PhD., who is now actively launching our next venture, where we hope to promote the publication of well illustrated on-line articles about antique maps and the history of cartography."

 

And, as to the future, his and the map field’s, he provided this essay:

 

My business was started as a hobby.  In the early 1990s, I had a vision that I would retire and become a (gentleman?) map seller after I finished practicing law.  As the business grew in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it was always a hobby first for me, even after we started adding employees and it became clear that RareMaps.com was on a path to becoming a real business.

When I finally started working for myself in 2008 (I was employee number 4), I never really changed my outlook.  I try to surround myself with people I like and who enjoy what they do--20 years as a lawyer and corporate counsel taught me the importance of surrounding myself with happy, loyal people.  To this day, I like to think that I'm still a hobbyist.  While my hobby has, for many years, been an all consuming passion, I still feel that its not real work--just a pure labor of love.

From the start, I've built RareMaps.com in the model of my style of collecting.  I loved reading and researching my collection, so I made it a point to try to provide meaningful descriptions and context to the material I sold.  To this day, the vast majority of all the research and written descriptions are my work, typically done after dinner, in earlier years surrounded by children doing their homework.  Its always been a great source of pride that I typically satiate my interest in researching and writing without regard to value or intended pricing--as long as I was enjoying myself, the process was its own reward, regardless of whether we priced an object at $250 or $250,000.  Over 20 years, we've created over 50,000 descriptions.  This commitment to research and writing is certainly a significant factor in the success of RareMaps.com, as we would soon learn that both collectors and web search engines love real content and large images.

From my years as a lawyer, I tried to bring a client oriented approach to selling maps.  A sale was nice, but creating long-term relationships was far more interesting.  Having started as a collector who valued (craved?) time talking to and corresponding with dealers, I understood how much I valued talking with and learning from dealers, many of whom were generous with their time and prioritized good advice over instant sales.  This is true of both private clients and institutional clients.  I take great pride in directing collectors to material offered by other dealers when appropriate.  Professional service and integrity pay far greater dividends over time than any single sale.

Just as important, I enjoy sharing information and learning from my clientele.  While not every collector will become an expert, many collectors develop, over time, a greater appreciation and knowledge of their collecting areas than the dealers who serve them.  The opportunity to grow with and learn from my clientele is just one of the many intangible benefits of being a part of the map trade.  Having spent 25 years as a passionate map enthusiast, many of my best friends are the dealers, collectors and scholars who I've come to know over the years, both professionally and socially.

In one case, my relationship with David Rumsey has led to a partnership with the Rumsey Library at Stanford University, to which we donate all of our digital images (over 50,000 and counting) and where starting in 2017, we will sponsor a multi-day Symposium and Speaker Series devoted to utilizing antique maps in multi-disciplinary studies in the digital age.

My vision for the business is to maintain our role as one of the primary antique maps sources for collectors and institutions, and increase our role as dealers in atlases and important travel books. Over the past 5 years, we have become very active selling atlases and books with maps, although we've done so quietly, primarily working with our existing client base.  Over the next year, we anticipate more actively offering atlases and books through our website and open shop in La Jolla.

Over the long term, I hope to continue to enjoy what I do and marshal a business which will outlive me. Whether its through promoting my younger employees to management roles or otherwise, the business has grown to a point where it shows the prospects of continuity and survival beyond my lifetime.

At the same time, it’s important that the charitable aspects of the business continue to expand. I'm hopeful that the Stanford Symposium and Speaker Series and on-line publishing will expand into other projects.  I am an advocate for digital philanthropy--helping collectors identify institutions who would benefit from acquiring high resolution digital images of the collector's collection, and thereby allowing the collector to insure the long term existence and continuity of their collections in a means accessible to the entire world and even allowing the for the collector to contribute their thoughts and scholarship as part of the corpus of the collection.  As an admirer of the great collectors of the past, this last part offers a chance for modern collectors to perpetuate their unique visions and stories as an integral part of their collections, preserving not just the collections but the personal aspects of their collecting interests, insights and observations for future generations.

We are also working on a collaboration to create a scholar exchange program and I'm hopeful that we can create a scholarship program around the on-line publishing business.  I would also like to increasingly partner with institutions to help with major restoration projects, trying to utilize our broad client base to raise awareness of the need not only to fund acquisitions, but also to conserve and preserve existing treasures.  Our first such project, helping the National Library of Australia fund the restoration of one of its prize sea atlases, was completed in 2016.

 

Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps

7463 Girard Avenue

La Jolla, California 92037

(858) 551-8500

orders@raremaps.com

Website:  www.raremaps.com

 

Here are links to his site:

 

http://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/47771

 

http://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/46579o

 

http://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/47771

 

http://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/40648

Rare Book Monthly

  • Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Alken (Henry). Sporting Notions, first edition, T.McLean, 1832-33. £800 to £1,200.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Bardi (Lorenzo). Nuova Raccolta delle piu interessanti Vedute della Citta di Firenze…, Florence, Lorenzo Bardi, [c.1840]. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Crawfurd (John). Journal of an Embassy from the Governor-General of India to the Court of Ava..., first edition, 1829. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Dawe (George, engraver). The Life of a Nobleman, first edition, Geo. Henderson, [c.1825]. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: [Doyle (John)], "H.B.". Political Sketches &c., 10 vol. including The Descriptive Key to H.B., Thomas McLean, [1829-51]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Eben (Adolphus Christian Frederick, Baron von) and Nicolaus Heideloff. Modèles de l'Uniforme Militaire Adopté dans l'Armée Royale de Suède, Rudolph Ackerman, 1808. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Geissler (J.G.G.) and Friedrich Hempel. Mahlerische Darstellungen der Sitten, Gebrauche und Lustbarkeiten bey den Russischen, Tartarischen…, 4 parts in 1, Leipzig and Paris, [1804]. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Hunt (Charles). Portraits of Winning Horses...of the Derby, Oaks, & St. Leger, from the Year 1842 to 1849…, Rock Brothers & Payne, 1849. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Kunike (Adolf Friedrich). Zwey hundert und sechzig Donau-Ansichten nach dem Laufe des Donaustromes…, Vienna, Leopold Grund, 1826. £3,000 to £5,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Lasinio (Carlo). [Matrimony], Florence, 1790. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Reinhardt (Joseph). A Collection of Swiss Costumes, in Miniature, second English edition, James Goodwin, [1828]. £800 to £1,200.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Wengen (Gottfried Durst von). Die Öffentliche Maskerade Bamberg am Fastnachts-Montage 1833…, Bamberg, [1833]. £2,000 to £3,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD

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