BookFinder Issues List of the 100 Most Sought After Books
- by Michael Stillman
A glimpse at some humanoid creatures from Serafini's world.
By Michael Stillman
BookFinder.com has released its annual list of the most sought after books on their site. In the past, they have given us top 10 lists in several different categories. This year, they have combined all types to provide just one large list of the 100 most "out-of-print and in demand" books.
BookFinder is a meta-book listing search site. Rather than listing books itself, BookFinder searches the listings on numerous book-listing sites. They search over 150 million listings. It is a place to go in particular to locate a title that is hard to find as it searches so many places at once. To get on this list, there must be a great many people trying to find the book.
However, that does not mean the BookFinder list consists of the most popular titles or the most valuable. They are something in between. The most popular, more recent books don't make the list as they are not hard to locate. No one needs to search for them. The highly expensive, collectible books don't make the cut either as few people are looking for these. What we find are books that are both popular and difficult to locate. Generally, these are books whose publishers have not, for whatever reason, reprinted them in many years. This makes them hard to find. Many books will disappear from this list next year as their publishers will have enough sense to reissue them, and people will no longer have to continually search BookFinder to find a copy. Others are not reprinted for some specific reason, and they will reappear year after year.
At the bottom of the list, #100, is a book which, we shall see, is a perfect bookend for #1. It is the biography of a country music legend and remarkable person, Johnny Cash - Man in Black. #87 comes from Creighton Lee Calhoun (with a name like that, you know it must be about something southern) - Old Southern Apples. It's a guide to over 1,800 apple varieties from the American South (and I thought apples only grew in the north). IHOP must have been on to something when they built a restaurant chain around pancakes, for here at #79 is Pancakes A to Z by Marie Simmons. Ms. Simmons is author of other classics such as Muffins A to Z and Puddings A to Z.
#75 provides an interesting look back in time - The Ideal Communist City, by A.E. Gutnov and A. Baburov. Their ideal might not strike us quite that way, small, dull, look-alike apartments stacked on top of each other in high rises. Individuality was not big in the old Soviet Union. However, some of what they had to say is still worth study. They favored these high-rise communities over suburban sprawl as they could provide access to services and transportation efficiently to large numbers of people.
#57 is a book whose presence probably reflects our difficult economic times - Too Good to Be Threw : The Complete Operations Manual for Consignment Shops, by Kate Holmes. #41 is definitely not about senate candidate Christine O'Donnell - Little Witch, by Anna Elizabeth Bennett. Political events of a far more serious note are found in #27, The Torch is Passed: The Associated Press Story of The Death of a President. It is a contemporary account of the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the first few days thereafter.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 156: Cornelis de Jode, Americae pars Borealis, double-page engraved map of North America, Antwerp, 1593.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 206: John and Alexander Walker, Map of the United States, London and Liverpool, 1827.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 223: Abraham Ortelius, Typus Orbis Terrarum, hand-colored double-page engraved world map, Antwerp, 1575.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 233: Aaron Arrowsmith, Chart of the World, oversize engraved map on 8 sheets, London, 1790 (circa 1800).
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 239: Fielding Lucas, A General Atlas, 81 engraved maps and diagrams, Baltimore, 1823.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 240: Anthony Finley, A New American Atlas, 15 maps engraved by james hamilton young on 14 double-page sheets, Philadelphia, 1826.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 263: John Bachmann, Panorama of the Seat of War, portfolio of 4 double-page chromolithographed panoramic maps, New York, 1861.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 265: Sebastian Münster, Cosmographei, Basel: Sebastian Henricpetri, 1558.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 271: Abraham Ortelius, Epitome Theatri Orteliani, Antwerp: Johann Baptist Vrients, 1601.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 283: Joris van Spilbergen, Speculum Orientalis Occidentalisque Indiae, Leiden: Nicolaus van Geelkercken for Jodocus Hondius, 1619.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 285: Levinus Hulsius, Achtzehender Theil der Newen Welt, 14 engraved folding maps, Frankfurt: Johann Frederick Weiss, 1623.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 341: John James Audubon, Carolina Parrot, Plate 26, London, 1827.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue, inscribed by the author pre-publication. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Autograph sketchleaf including a probable draft for the E flat Piano Quartet, K.493, 1786. £150,000 to £200,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000.
Heritage Auctions Rare Books Signature Auction December 15, 2025
Heritage, Dec. 15: John Donne. Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death. London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
Heritage, Dec. 15: F. Scott Fitzgerald. Tender is the Night. A Romance.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Jerry Thomas. How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion, Containing Clear and Reliable Directions for Mixing All the Beverages Used in the United States…
![<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 11:</b> Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] <i>Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society,</i> Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/00d5fd41-2542-4a80-b119-4886d4b9925f.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 11:</b> Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] <i>Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society,</i> Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.")
![<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/8caddaea-4c1f-47a7-9455-62f53af36e3f.jpg "<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.")
