Rare Book Monthly

Articles - September - 2011 Issue

Perspective on Nine Years

In the book business flexibility is required

In the book business flexibility is required

AE is celebrating its 9th birthday this September 3rd and it seems like only yesterday that we began.  Many of our original members are members still, a testament to their patience and our unending ambition to figure out how best to midwife the transition from collectible books as they were handled for much of the past five hundred years to how they will be handled going forward.  The past now looks to have been a sequence of incremental changes while the new world is emerging at the rate of a generation every year.  Change is now that fast.

For AE to exist and be part of this transition is exhilarating.  Many sites serving the field have come and gone. In the same period AE has increased services, added membership and, on average, 360,000 full text records to the Americana Exchange Database each year.   During the past year we have transitioned to a decidedly 21st century electronic approach with lightning fast databases, better searches, greater security and simpler, more intuitive, services.

It has not always been easy but it has always been satisfying.  Our purpose is to aid the field - its dealers, collectors and libraries - by developing new methodologies that exponentially increase research capabilities while shortening the distance between buyers and sellers.  The destruction of the old methodologies is inevitable, occuring in the natural conversion of most things to the web.  But by providing substantial, understandable and supported resources in forms that both reflect tradition and up-to-date technologies AE ensures that the next generation of buyers and sellers will have a familiar and logical way to participate in the field.

Involvement has been and continues to be an exceptional experience.  To those who have become members we say thank you.  To those who will join in the year ahead we say welcome.  To quote Pecos Bill, “Kinda makes it all worthwhile.”  You can do it if you want.  All you have to do is go out and become it!  

Well, we’re doing it and it just goes to show that folks with a lot of rings in their tree stumps can be vital and involved and still make history.  Youth has its advantages but experience, at least when it comes to books, manuscripts, maps and ephemera, is important and probably paramount.

Thank you for the privilege to serve the field. 

Bruce McKinney
AE 

Rare Book Monthly

  • Koller, Mar. 26: Wit, Frederick de. Atlas. Amsterdam, de Wit, [1680]. CHF 20,000 to 30,000
    Koller, Mar. 26: Merian, Maria Sibylla. Der Raupen wunderbare Verwandelung, und sonderbare Blumennahrung. Nürnberg, 1679; Frankfurt a. M. und Leipzig, 1683. CHF 20,000 to 30,000
    Koller, Mar. 26: GOETHE, JOHANN WOLFGANG VON. Faust. Ein Fragment. Von Goethe. Ächte Ausgabe. Leipzig, G. J. Göschen, 1790. CHF 7,000 to 10,000
    Koller, Mar. 26: Hieronymus. [Das hochwirdig leben der außerwoelten freünde gotes der heiligen altuaeter]. Augsburg, Johann Schönsperger d. Ä., 9. Juni 1497. CHF 40,000 to 60,000.
    Koller, Mar. 26: BIBLIA GERMANICA - Neunte deutsche Bibel. Nürnberg, A. Koberger, 17. Feb. 1483. CHF 40,000 to 60,000
    Koller, Mar. 26: HORAE B.M.V. - Stundenbuch. Lateinische Handschrift auf Pergament, Kalendarium französisch. Nordfrankreich (Rouen?). CHF 25,000 to 40,000
  • Gonnelli
    Auction 58
    Books, Autographs & Manuscripts
    March 11th-13th 2025
    Gonnelli: Manuscript and illuminated book of hours, mid-15th century.
    Gonnelli: Sumptuous Koran manuscript by Bukhara illuminators in the mid-nineteenth century.
    Gonnelli: Rowling J. K., Harry Potter e la Pietra Filosofale. Firenze: Adriano Salani, 1998.
    Gonnelli: Fontana Lucio, Dix eaux-fortes. Milano: Galerie Schwarz, 1962.
    Gonnelli: Valli Antonio, Il canto de gl'augelli. In Roma, Nicolò Mutij, 1601.
    Gonnelli: Moniglia Giovanni Andrea, Il Mondo Festeggiante. In Firenze: nella Stamperia di S.A.S., 1661.
    Gonnelli: Alighieri Dante, [Divine Comedy with commentary and Life of Dante by Cristoforo Landino]. Danthe alegieri fiorentino. Venezia, Capcasa, 1493.
    Gonnelli: Foresti, Novissime historiarum. Venezia, Rusconi, 1506.
    Gonnelli: Hieronymus (santo), Vita di sancti Padri vulgariter historiada. Venezia, Otino da Pavia, 1501.
    Gonnelli: Ghisi Andrea, Laberinto dato novamente in luce. In Venetia: per Euangelista Deuchino, 1616.
    Gonnelli: Gouvea Antonio (de), Innocentia victrix. [China, Canton], 1671.
    Gonnelli: Napier John, Rabdologiae, seu numerationis per virgulas libri duo. Edinburgi: Andreas Hart, 1617.
    Gonnelli: Ortelius Abraham, Theatrum orbis terrarum. Antverpiae: Aegid. Coppenium Diesth, xx Maii 1570.
  • Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    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

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