As to whether this happens the biggest single factor may be how baby boomer dealers respond as their book selling careers wind down. There are thousands of them. Dealers tend to hold prices until the final years and then sell en mass to other dealers for some combination of money down and a share in the proceeds over time. But if there are fewer future dealers as appears likely, such deals on good terms may become difficult to obtain. Dealers tend to shun selling at auction but should they change their view the pressure on prices could be extreme.
No doubt the best material will hold up and even prosper. The middle market is less certain. The key may be the ability of buyers and sellers to find each other more efficiently. For myself selling "The American Experience" at Bonhams made 2010 an extraordinary year. I learned a lot and lived through it. I also now know that the ideal auction consignor of unreserved material is dead because to get through it you can't feel too much.
As to what this means to me as a collector I continue to acquire material. I am both careful and aggressive. The volume of complex, interesting and often unknown material flowing into the rooms, appearing in dealer offers, showing up on listing sites and on eBay - is stunning. The selection of material has never been better. As to what such things are worth and whether they are appropriate for my collection of the Hudson River Valley I now gauge against their history and rarity, buy or make offers. It's a different world and for book collectors who are prudent, the best possible.
Gros & Delettrez, June 12: LETTRE ENCYCLIQUE, manuscrit XIXe siècle
Gros & Delettrez, June 12: NOUVEAU TESTAMENT, Amsterdam 1668, reliure arménienne
Rose City Book & Paper Fair June 14-15, 2025 1000 NE Multnomah, Portland ROSECITYBOOKFAIR.COM
Swann, June 12: Lot 3: Thomas McKenney and James Hall, History of the Indian Tribes of North America, 1848-1854. Estimate $3,000 to $4,000.
Swann, June 12: Lot 8: Invoice to the Town of Boston for advertising pre-revolutionary content in the Boston Post Boy, manuscript document, Boston, July 1768. Estimate $5,000 to $7,500.
Swann, June 12: Lot 13: Clairac and Nicola, L'Ingenieur de Campagne; or, Field
Swann, June 12: Lot 81: Journals of Major Robert Rogers . . . of the Several Excursions he Made . . . upon the Continent of North America, London, 1765. Estimate $4,000 to $6,000.
Swann, June 12: Lot 99: Photograph albums and papers from the family of W.G. Fargo, photo albums containing 442 photographs, 1865-88. Estimate $3,000 to $4,000.
Swann, June 12: Lot 112: Isaac Leeser, Discourses on the Jewish Religion, 10 volumes, Philadelphia: Sherman & Co., 1866-1868. Estimate $6,000 to $9,000.
Swann, June 12: Lot 176: Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Boston, 1845. Estimate $4,000 to $6,000.
Swann, June 12: Lot 190: Thomas Hariot, Admiranda narratio fida tamen, de commodis et incolarum ritibus Virginiae, 1590. Estimate $25,000 to $35,000.
Swann, June 12: Lot 200: Correspondence of a regimental cavalry commander in Wyoming and Utah, July 1865 to February 1866. Estimate $4,000 to $6,000.
Swann, June 12: Lot 226: Maturino Gilberti, Vocabulario en lengua de Mechuacan / Aqui comienca el vocabulario en la lengua Castellana y Mechuacana, 1559. Estimate $8,000 to $12,000.
Sotheby's Bibliothèque Jacques Dauchez - Autour de Dubuffet
5-19 June
Sotheby’s, June 5-19: Bissière, Roger. Cantique à notre frère soleil de saint François. 1954. 1,000 - 1,500 EUR
Sotheby’s, June 5-19: Céline, Louis-Ferdinand. La vie & l’œuvre de Philippe Ignace Semmelweis. 1924. Rare édition originale, avec envoi. Joint : La Quinine en thérapeutique, 1925. 4,000 - 6,000 EUR
Sotheby’s, June 5-19: Céline, Louis-Ferdinand. Mort à crédit. 1936. Édition originale. Bel exemplaire sur Hollande. 2,500 - 3,500 EUR
Sotheby's Bibliothèque Jacques Dauchez - Autour de Dubuffet
5-19 June
Sotheby’s, June 5-19: Chillida, Eduardo ─ Emil Cioran. Face aux instants. 1985. Un des 100 exemplaires sur Arches. Eau-forte signée. 600 - 800 EUR
Sotheby’s, June 5-19: Dubuffet, Jean. Ler dla canpane. L’Art Brut, 1948. Édition originale. 3,000 - 5,000 EUR
Sotheby’s, June 5-19: Dubuffet, Jean. L'Herne Jean Dubuffet. 1973. Un des 100 exemplaires du tirage de luxe avec une sérigraphie originale en couleurs. 1,000 - 1,500 EUR
