Rare Book Monthly

Articles - October - 2023 Issue

The Future of the Past

- by Bruce E. McKinney

Numbers tell the story

Collectible paper has been prospering in the auction rooms for many years.  Over the prior 15 years it has been a given that the annual numbers would slowly increase.  When Covid hit no one knew what would happen and it turned out in 2020 that the book auctions would became the beneficiary of the stay-at-home health policies that reduced or eliminated shows and closed shops.

 

The question would be whether the upsurge in lots, prices, and traffic would hold and today we know.  The surge has held and our month to month records for the past 4 years suggest that old paper at auction will be maintaining, into 2024, the billion dollar pace we first saw in 2021.

 

Here are some charts to think about.

 

Year Month Events Total Lots Lots Sold
2023 1 168 41,969 35,764
2023 2 189 45,318 37,697
2023 3 228 59,741 48,673
2023 4 204 49,723 40,038
2023 5 219 64,325 48,431
2023 6 228 58,775 44,758
2023 7 186 50,091 41,070
2023 8 151 33,377 27,002
  Total 1573 403,319 323,433
         
  2 0 2 2
Year Month Events Total Lots Lots Sold
2022 1 169 41065 34,970
2022 2 176 46829 39,596
2022 3 209 50250 40,806
2022 4 206 52659 43,429
2022 5 230 70657 51,394
2022 6 217 58069 46,732
2022 7 184 50157 40,965
2022 8 134 29170 25,839
  Total 1525 398,856 323,731
         
  2 0 2 1
Year Month Events Total Lots Lot Sold
2021 1 146 36432 32,469
2021 2 152 40993 35,469
2021 3 188 47389 39.426
2021 4 186 48225 38,681
2021 5 186 63921 51,371
2021 6 239 64246 52,446
2021 7 179 52741 39,558
2021 8 142 37459 33,682
  Total 1418 391,406 283,715
         
  2 0 2 0
Year Month Events Total Lots Lots Sold
2020 1 128 34180 29,956
2020 2 126 35289 28,095
2020 3 143 39760 33,536
2020 4 126 34465 29,883
2020 5 140 46153 38,062
2020 6 190 52496 42,475
2020 7 163 45589 35,784
2020 8 120 27823 24,034
  Total 1136 315,755 261,825

Rare Book Monthly

  • Gonnelli
    Auction 51
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 14st 2024
    Gonnelli: Leonard Bramer, The descent from the cross, 1634. Starting price 3200€
    Gonnelli: Gustav Hjalmar de Morner Karel, Rome’s Carnival, 1820. Starting price 1000€
    Gonnelli: Various Authors, Mater Dolorosa, 1700. Starting price 200€
    Gonnelli: Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Carcere Oscura, 1790. Starting price 180€
    Gonnelli: Jan Brueghel, Marine fauna view, 1620 ca. Starting price 28000€
    Gonnelli: Ippolito Scarsella, Mary and Christ with Sant Rocco and Arch-Angel Michele,1615. Starting price 8000€
    Gonnelli: Hans Sebald Beham, Adam and Eve, 1543. Starting price 600€
    Gonnelli: Francesco Burani, Baccanale, 1630. Starting Price 280€
    Gonnelli: Giuseppe Maria Mitelli, Plance from Ventiquattr’ore, 1675. Starting price 800€
    Gonnelli: Giuseppe Angeli, Livorno’s Plan, 1793. Starting price 240€
    Gonnelli: XIV Century Artist, Capital “N” letter, 1350 ca. Starting price 340€
  • 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
  • Australian Book Auctions
    Books, Maps, Modern Literature
    May 14 (US) / May 15 (Australia)
    Australian Book Auctions, May 14/15: ORWELL, George. ANIMAL FARM. London, Secker & Warburg, 1945. $8,000 to $12,000 AUD.
    Australian Book Auctions, May 14/15: MILNE, A.A. THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER With decorations by Ernest H. Shepard. London, Methuen, 1928. Deluxe limited edition. $3,000 to $4,000 AUD.
    Australian Book Auctions, May 14/15: TWAIN, Mark. THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN, (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade). New York, 1885. $1,000 to $1,500 AUD.
    Australian Book Auctions
    Books, Maps, Modern Literature
    May 14 (US) / May 15 (Australia)
    Australian Book Auctions, May 14/15: RAND, Ayn. ATLAS SHRUGGED. Random House, New York, 1957. First edition. $800 to $1,200 AUD.
    Australian Book Auctions, May 14/15: [BAUM, L. Frank]. PICTURES FROM THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ By W.W. Denslow… Chicago, [1903]. $400 to $800 AUD.
    Australian Book Auctions, May 14/15: HELLER, Joseph. CATCH-22. London, Jonathan Cape, 1962. $400 to $600 AUD.
  • Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Isaac Newton on chemistry and matter, and alchemy, Autograph Manuscript, "A Key to Snyders," 3 pp, after 1674. $100,000 - $150,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Exceptionally rare first printing of Plato's Timaeus. Florence, 1484. $50,000 - $80,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: On the Philosophy of Self-Interest: Adam Smith's copy of Helvetius's De l'homme, Paris, 1773. $40,000 - $60,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: "Magical Calendar of Tycho Brahe" - very rare hermetic broadside. Engraved by Merian for De Bry. c.1618. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Author's presentation issue of Einstein's proof of Relativity, "Erklärung der Perihelbewegung des Merkur aus der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie." 1915. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: First Latin edition of Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed. Paris, 1520. $20,000 - $30,000.
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: De Broglie manuscript on the nature of matter in quantum physics, 3 pp, 1954. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Tesla autograph letter signed on electricty and electromagnetic theory. 1894. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Heinrich Hertz scientific manuscript on his mentor Hermann Von Helmholtz, 1891. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: The greatest illustrated work in Alchemy: Micheal Maier's Atalanta Fugiens. Oppenheim, 1618. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Illustrated Alchemical manuscript, a Mysterium Magnum of the Rosicurcians, 18th-century. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Rare Largest Paper Presentation Copy of Newton's Principia, London, 1726. The third and most influential edition. $60,000 - $90,000

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