A cottage industry of Newport Mansions has grown up around the ABAA Book Fair in New York over the past twenty years. The leading dealers, collectors and institutions come together in April for a celebration of the passion of book collecting. New York auctions, years ago, wholesalers to the trade, today occupy an in-between place as wholesaler-retailer and fill the New York auction calendar like confetti at New Years. Dealers, institutions and collectors, like the outcasts of Poker Flat, look to cash their chips at the appointed hour. It turns out books, maps, manuscripts and ephemera are temporary repositories of value that either disappear into institutions or are sold. Auctions and dealers recycle the goods, auctions a bit more decisively. For sellers it’s often a matter of taste and connection. If three generations of Pierpont-Smith’s have disposed at Sothebys, the fourth will prefer do so. If dealers are long associated with a collection they will probably handle its dispersal. Durable connection is paramount.
Through the economic downturn material has needed to be sold. Consignors prefer outright sale to the uncertainty of the rooms but if dealer offers are insufficient or only for high points the auctions loom as a powerful alternative. Hence a dozen auctions in April.
The month has 30 days and there are 12 sales in New York, a sale every 60 hours. Of course this is misleading because the first sale is on the 6th and the last on the 29th. In this 24-day period there are 12 sales in 24 days or one every 48 hours. Even for New York, the city that never sleeps, this is a breathtaking pace.
High Bids Win Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines and Machine Manuals December 24 to January 9
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Ellis Smith Prints unsigned. 20” by 16”.
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: United typothetae of America presidents. Pictures of 37 UTA presidents 46th annual convention United typothetae of America Cincinnati 1932.
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec signed Paper Impressionism Art Prints. MayMilton 9 1/2” by 13” Reine de Joie 9 1/2” by 13”.
High Bids Win Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines and Machine Manuals December 24 to January 9
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Aberle’ Ballet editions. 108th triumph, American season spring and summer 1944.
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Puss ‘n Boots. 1994 Charles Perrult All four are signed by Andreas Deja
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Specimen book of type faces. Job composition department, Philadelphia gazette publishing company .
High Bids Win Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines and Machine Manuals December 24 to January 9
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: An exhibit of printed books, Bridwell library.
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur Court By Mark Twain 1889.
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: 1963 Philadelphia Eagles official program.
High Bids Win Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines and Machine Manuals December 24 to January 9
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: 8 - Esquire the magazine for men 1954.
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: The American printer, July 1910.
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Leaves of grass 1855 by Walt Whitman.
Sotheby's Fine Books, Manuscripts & More Available for Immediate Purchase
Sotheby’s: William Shakespeare. The Poems and Sonnets of William Shakespeare, 1960. 7,210 USD
Sotheby’s: Charles Dickens. A Christmas Carol, First Edition, 1843. 17,500 USD
Sotheby’s: William Golding. Lord of the Flies, First Edition, 1954. 5,400 USD
Sotheby's Fine Books, Manuscripts & More Available for Immediate Purchase
Sotheby’s: Lewis Carroll. Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, Inscribed First Edition, 1872. 25,000 USD
Sotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien. The Hobbit, First Edition, 1937. 12,000 USD
Sotheby’s: John Milton. Paradise Lost, 1759. 5,400 USD
