Rare Book Monthly Articles - July - 2022 Issue

Winning when you collect

Collections, random or life-long pursuits are often given away or forgotten because there aren’t many alternatives for selling them for meaningful amounts of money.  This is easy to be misunderstand when you look on the internet.  Everything has a price and therefore there must be a buyer.  After all, you have been buying that way so there must be others equally interested.  Sometimes yes, sometimes no.    In fact, listing sites are a kind of a mirage suggesting liquidity.  Certainly sellers are willing to part with their prizes for the prices they offer but no listing sites have had the ...

Some Words of Advice on Collecting NFTs from Bill Gates

Rare books and paper have long navigated the fine line between collectibles and investments. Usually, collectors exhibit some of each, collecting things because they like them but also hoping to co...

Required Reading: Booked by Fate by Phillip Pirages, a Bookdealer

Mr. Phillip Pirages has written a book about his on-going career as a dealer in collectible paper.    I have observed that bookdealers live two distinct lives.  Among dealers they share their exper...

“My God what have we done.” The Log Book Account of the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima on Sale at Heritage Auctions

The world changed on August 6, 1945. History can be divided into two eras, the one before August 6, and the one after. In the one after, we have all lived under the fear of instant annihilation unk...

Deshoulières 1691: a not so casual little book

A copy of the 1691 edition of Mme Deshoulières’ works made me realize that an old book is never as insignificant as it may seem. Especially when a crowned dolphin is swimming on its tail!     A...

Sotheby’s to Offer Precursor and Direct Influence on the Bill of Rights

New York, 30 June 2022 - To commemorate the anniversary of America’s Independence on July 4, 1776, Sotheby’s announces a copy of Virginia’s Official Ratification of the United States Constitution a...

Valuable and Important Books and Manuscripts from the Library of Edward R. Leahy coming to auction in October

Christie’s New York is pleased to announce the auction on 6 October of 2022 of Valuable and Important Books and Manuscripts from the Library of Edward R. Leahy. Mr Leahy’s collection comprises the ...

Macon Brothers Learns and Succeeds

In a typical month several hundred auctions that include significant numbers of books, manuscripts, maps, and ephemera, are completed.  Auctions are an old game relying on centuries old customs as ...

Tsundoku – A New (but Old) Trend in Book Collecting

The book world has been overcome by a condition (and a newly discovered term) known as tsundoku. The term has been around since the 19th century but has only recently come into vogue. Not surprisin...

Ephraim George Squier’s 1876 Priced Auction: Not all auctions are equal

  When we work with older auctions at Rare Book Hub we try to understand them.  Old auctions, in any event, are useful to provide incremental data whether the sale is significant or not, but somet...

Four Big July Book Fairs in the MidWest - St. Paul, St. Louis, Detroit & Chicago Celebrate Books

 July 8-9 (Friday Saturday) Minnesota Antiquarian Book Fair.  Schoenecker Arena, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN.  This fair caters to both experienced and beginning collectors. It hosts...

Melbourne Rare Book Fair 2022 Returns July 7-9!

After a two year break due to the pandemic and strict border closures in Australia, the Australian New Zealand Antiquarian Booksellers Association (ANZAAB) is excited to announce the return of the...

Do Books Have a Place Going Forward, Not Just Looking Back?

It was a minor skirmish in a far away place in the debate between physical books and electronic resources in the library. It's unlikely you heard about it or ever will again. Nonetheless, it's illu...

Fireproof copy of The Handmaid’s Tale sells at Sotheby’s for £103,000

NEW YORK — Margaret Atwood years ago imagined apocalyptic disaster, Dystopian government and an author faking her own death. But until recently she spared herself the nightmare of trying to burn on...

Salem “Witch” Has Her Conviction Overturned

It was one of the greatest, and best known miscarriages of justice in American history. Twenty supposed witches were executed in Salem, Massachusetts, after a hysteria and kangaroo court trials in ...

Six New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

For July, we review six new booksellers catalogues. Amanda Hall Rare Books has a catalogue of works on various subjects. Voewood Rare Books also covers many subjects with rare books and manuscripts...

Rare Book Monthly

  • 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
  • Leland Little, Apr. 26: First Edition of Piccolomini's De La Sfera del Mondo (The Sphere of the World), 1540.
    Leland Little, Apr. 26: First Edition of Vellutello's Commentary on Petrarch, With Map, 1525.
    Leland Little, Apr. 26: Finely Bound Definitive, Illustrated Edition of I Promessi Sposi, 1840.
    Leland Little, Apr. 26: Rare First Edition of John Milton's Latin Correspondence, 1674.
    Leland Little, Apr. 26: Giolito's Edition of Boccaccio's The Decamerone, with Bedford Binding, 1542.
    Leland Little, Apr. 26: First Edition of the First Biography of Marie of the Incarnation, with Rare Portrait, 1677.
    Leland Little, Apr. 26: First Aldine Edition of Volume One of Cicero's Orationes, 1540.
    Leland Little, Apr. 26: First Edition of Bonanni's Illustrated Costume Catalogue, with Complete Plates, 1711.
    Leland Little, Apr. 26: An Important Incunable, the First Italian Edition of Josephus's De Bello Judaico, 1480.
    Leland Little, Apr. 26: First Edition of Jacques Philippe d'Orville's Illustrated Book of the Ruins of Sicily, 1764.
    Leland Little, Apr. 26: An Incunable from 1487, The Contemplative Life, with Early Manuscript.
    Leland Little, Apr. 26: Ignatius of Loyola's Exercitia Spiritualia, 1563.
  • Jeschke Jadi
    Auction 151
    Saturday, April 27, 2024
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 546. Christoph Jacob Trew. Plantae selectae, 1750-1773.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 70. Thomas Murner. Die Narren beschwerung. 1558.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 621. Michael Bernhard Valentini. Museum Museorum, 1714.
    Jeschke Jadi
    Auction 151
    Saturday, April 27, 2024
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 545. Sander Reichenbachia. Orchids illustrated and described, 1888-1894.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 1018. Marinetti, Boccioni, Pratella Futurism - Comprehensive collection of 35 Futurist manifestos, some of them exceptionally rare. 1909-1933.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 634. August Johann Rösel von Rosenhof. 3 Original Drawings, around 1740.
    Jeschke Jadi
    Auction 151
    Saturday, April 27, 2024
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 671. Jacob / Picasso. Chronique des Temps, 1956.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 1260. Mary Webb. Sarn. 1948. Lucie Weill Art Deco Binding.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 508. Felix Bonfils. 108 large-format photographs of Syria and Palestine.
    Jeschke Jadi
    Auction 151
    Saturday, April 27, 2024
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 967. Dante Aligheri and Salvador Dali. Divina Commedia, 1963.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 1316. Tolouse-Lautrec. Dessinateur. Duhayon binding, 1948.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 1303. Regards sur Paris. Braque, Picasso, Masson, 1962.
  • Doyle, May 1: Thomas Jefferson expresses fears of "a war of extermination" in Saint-Dominigue. $40,000 to $60,000.
    Doyle, May 1: An exceptional presentation copy of Fitzgerald's last book, in the first issue dust jacket. $25,000 to $35,000.
    Doyle, May 1: The rare first signed edition of Dorian Gray. $15,000 to $25,000.
    Doyle, May 1: The Prayer Book of Jehan Bernachier. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Doyle, May 1: Van Dyck's Icones Principum Virorum Doctorum. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Doyle, May 1: The magnificent Cranach Hamlet in the deluxe binding by Dõrfner. $7,000 to $10,000.
    Doyle, May 1: A remarkable unpublished manuscript of a voyage to South America in 1759-1764. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Doyle, May 1: Bouchette's monumental and rare wall map of Lower Canada. $12,000 to $18,000.
    Doyle, May 1: An rare original 1837 abolitionist woodblock. $8,000 to $12,000.
    Doyle, May 1: An important manuscript breviary in Middle Dutch. $15,000 to $25,000.
    Doyle, May 1: An extraordinary Old Testament manuscript, circa 1250. $20,000 to $30,000.

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