Nick Aretakis to run the Americana Department at the William Reese Company
- by Bruce E. McKinney
Nick Aretakis
A few days ago we learned that Nick Aretakis, long a crucial part of the Reese team, after a four year absence while he established his own rare book business in California, will return to head the Americana Department at the William Reese Company on November 1st. He is a superb choice.
The rare book business is equal parts erudition, chutzpah, and salesmanship and Nick brings the benefits of having learned from Bill, experienced first-hand the challenges of building a business, and for years been conversational with the principal institutions and collectors around the world.
Nick will be the right key in the Reese lock.
Here is the recent Reese Company announcement.
The William Reese Company
409 Temple Street
New Haven, Connecticut 06511
Dear Friends, Clients, and Colleagues:
Since the passing of our founder, Bill Reese, in June, the gestures of kindness and the outpouring of condolences from so many of you have been a considerable source of comfort and support for me, for Bill’s extended family and to those of us here at the William Reese Company. For this, we thank you.
We are particularly grateful to the several hundred attendees who joined us to celebrate Bill’s life on September 16th at the Beinecke Library at Yale. For those who were unable to attend, the entire service was recorded and is now available on YouTube. Simply enter “William Reese” in the Search field on the homepage of YouTube to find the link for “A Celebration of Life for William S. Reese.” The video, with sound, runs approximately one hour and forty-five minutes.
Now that we have passed from this most difficult summer to autumn, the staff at the William Reese Company has turned its full and focused attention to the continuation of our business. At present, we have catalogues either in the mail or at the print shop. We continue to assemble and distribute lists every other week. We continue to acquire material every day. The most exciting development, however, is the imminent return of Nick Aretakis to the William Reese Company.
Nick will be heading the Americana department here at the Reese Company beginning November 1. As many of you know, Nick was a vital member of the William Reese Company for almost fifteen years. Since July 2014, Nick has been living with his family in Manteca, California, buying and selling rare Americana under his own name. He has been tremendously successful on his own, but with Bill’s passing, both Nick and I felt that his return would be mutually beneficial, providing long-term stability for Nick, his family, and the William Reese Company.
Starting November 1, Nick will be a permanent member of the Reese Company, and will be in our booth at the Boston Book Fair, November 16-18. He will occasionally travel back and forth to California until the end of the school year, when he, his wife Maria, and his son John will make the permanent move back to Connecticut.
Nick is excited to begin this next chapter in his career at the Reese Company. Together with Joe Fay, Nick plans to continue the long-standing tradition of offering the finest in printed and manuscript Americana and travels and voyages to our valued clientele. Please join us in welcoming back to New Haven our friend and colleague, Nick Aretakis.
Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
Bonhams, Apr. 8: First report outside of the colonies of the American Revolution, from American accounts. Printed broadsheet, The London Evening-Post, May 30, 1775. $20,000 - $30,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Joyce, James. The earliest typescript pages from Finnegans Wake ever to appear at auction, annotated by Joyce, 1923. $30,000 - $50,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Joyce's Ulysses, 1923, one of only seven copies known, printed to replace copies destroyed in customs. $10,000 - $15,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: ATHANASIUS KIRCHER'S COPY, INSCRIBED. Saggi di naturali esperienze fatte nell' Accademia del Cimento, 1667. $2,000 - $3,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Bernoulli's Ars conjectandi, 1713. "... first significant book on probability theory." $15,000 - $25,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Aristotle's Politica. Oeconomica. 1469. The first printed work on political economy. $80,000 - $120,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: John Graunt's Natural and political observations...., 1662. The first printed work of epidemiology and demographics. $20,000 - $30,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: William Playfair's Commercial and Political Atlas, 1786. The first work to pictorially represent information in graphics. $15,000 - $25,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Anson's A Voyage Round the World, 1748. THE J.R. ABBEY-LORD WARDINGTON COPY, BOUND BY JOHN BRINDLEY. $8,000 - $12,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: La Perouse's Voyage de La Perouse autour du monde..., 1797. LARGE FINE COPY IN ORIGINAL BOARDS. $8,000 - $12,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Charles Schulz original 8-panel Peanuts Sunday comic strip, 1992, pen and ink over pencil, featuring Charlie Brown, Snoopy and Lucy as a psychiatrist. $20,000 - $30,000