Rare Book Monthly

Articles - August - 2012 Issue

The Newtown Book Fair has come and gone

An affair of the heart: the C. H. Booth Book Fair

To put together a library organized book fair is a cooperative affair that requires countless donors and dozens of volunteers striving for the benefit of their institution.  It requires intelligence, planning and always some luck.  When it succeeds it means more than money, it suggests inclusion and confirmation of community values.  For many years the Friends of the C. H. Booth Library in Newtown, Connecticut that I wrote about last month, has been holding a fair and learning to succeed in new ways.  This year has been no exception.  As the report that follows from Toni Earnshaw details, their fair again succeeded.  Their success is well earned for books are broadly seen as cash equivalents whose exchange rates, vis a vis the dollar, are declining.  But books have also always been something more, a medium of exchange for ideas that many people care deeply about.  That is certainly part of the reason so many people come out to help the Newtown Library succeed.  And succeed they did.

Bruce,

Now that we have had a few days to tally up some of the results of the book sale, it looks as if we had a good year. The boxes used to save a place in the ticket line started to appear an entire week before the sale…. a record according to long time volunteers.  337 tickets were sold by 9 a.m. on Saturday. That's about 40 more than usual.  Our sales have continued to increase over the last 4 years and this year is no exception.  We made about a bit more than we made last year which is especially good considering two dealers we have counted on in the past did not come to this year's sale.  It appears that the dwindling number of book dealers is being offset by the number of individuals purchasing. 1,299 adults bought tickets the first day of the sale (children get in free). Could it be that the reports of the death of books has been greatly exaggerated? Well, at least for this year at this sale.  When you consider the cost of buying e-readers for a family and the cost of e-books, a book sale's bargains can't be beat.  Another success story was John Renjillian's Select List of Specials offered in our Rare and Collectibles Room.  According to John we sold 70+% of his list, which he suspects "is a record".  CD, DVD and record sales were also a bright spot. 3,616 CD's and 1,645 DVD's sold out with over half of them selling at full price. 
 

It's always fun to see where customers come from.  We see cars with license plates from Massachusetts, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Florida.  More than one customer saw our road signs while touring New England and stopped in.  But it appears that most of our customers come from Connecticut, New York and New Jersey.  As I mentioned on the phone the Big Apple was represented when a cabbie drove his little yellow cab all the way from Brooklyn to buy books for a children's church reading program. It's buyers like that and the many teachers who come to buy books for the classroom  and the children who's faces light up at the seeming endless rows of books just for them that makes the future feel bright for books and readers and book fairs....at least for now.  And it gives the tired volunteers the impetus to do it all over again next year.

Thank you, as always, for your continued interest and support.

Toni Earnshaw

helenantonia@yahoo.com


Rare Book Monthly

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    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.
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    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.
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    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.
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    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.
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    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
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    Forum Mar. 28: Bible, Czech Biblia Bohemica, first complete Bible printed in the Czech vernacular, Prague, August 1488. £30,000 to £40,000.
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    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.
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    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.
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    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.
  • 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
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    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
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  • 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
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    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
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