Rare Book Monthly

Articles - November - 2003 Issue

Dealer Catalogues: Future Shock

The Rosenbach material was consistently exceptional.

The Rosenbach material was consistently exceptional.


By Bruce McKinney

The principal art form of dealer scholarship has been the book dealer’s catalogue and many of these catalogues are prized by the cognoscenti for their research and definitive explanations, not to mention their judgment of value expressed in dollars, pounds, francs and pesos. Such catalogues are time consuming labors and they are after all about converting copies to cash. So although they are, for many dealers, their lasting achievement in the field, they are also a luxury because the internet has made it possible to find buyers without the investment of time and money it takes to produce catalogues.

This is not to say, or to suggest, that libraries, collectors and of course other dealers are any less interested in reading dealer catalogues. It’s only that the economics less justify their creation. There may, from time to time, be revivals in catalogue production but it seems the genie is out of the bottle on this issue and the primary selling role of the printed catalogue in permanent decline.

It is the shifting economics of book selling that are undermining catalogue issuance rather than a decline in reader interest. This makes it appropriate to look for ways to reprise the strengths of traditional catalogues in formats and employing methodologies that infuse the catalogue concept with the abundant strengths of the internet. If we can’t go back, let’s look ahead.

The printed catalogue is, for those involved in and with the book trade, an almost sacred form but it has its limitations. Catalogue-size (number of pages and page size), binding, use of images in color and or black and white, colored inks and occasionally colored paper and print runs are part of the complex algebra of catalogue production. The value and quality of the material to be sold is of course the common denominator and the material must carry the prorated catalogue cost with no apparent struggle. One does not see H. P. Kraus quality presentations for $50 books for no reason.

If the future of traditional book dealer catalogues is uncertain the emerging prospects for electronic dealer catalogues are not. Such catalogues, only in their infancy, will emerge overtime as extraordinary documents with hundreds of images, extensive descriptions and links and footnotes to references in places as diverse as the Library of Congress, important past shows at the Grolier, and direct access to the ÆD to confirm importance, provenance, price and selling history. In short, the electronic catalogue will make it possible to deliver a complex array of information and images and to do so in an almost timeless fashion. For electronic catalogues have the capacity to reflect sales and to allow amendments when necessary. They will be searchable by keyword, author, title, place and date printed and virtually any other criteria a buyer may wish to use to vet material.

Rare Book Monthly

  • DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE, July 23: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
    DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
    DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
    DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
    DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
  • Freeman’s | Hindman
    Western Manuscripts and Miniatures
    July 8, 2025
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.
  • Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!

Article Search

Archived Articles