Ephemera covers many unique areas of collecting - FBI Wanted Poster from Patterson Smith.
Ephemera is endlessly fascinating to Diane De Blois of aGatherin’ located in West Sand Lake, NY (ABAA), who is also a founding member of the Ephemera Society of America and editor of its journal. She notes that this category of collectible is more time consuming than books because “we seldom get the same thing twice. It takes time to catalog, describe and price. These items are often fragile and need more specialized care and handling.”
Asked about areas of growing interest she names rare and scarce posters, trade cards, and notes chromoliths are still climbing in value. Of course there’s still interest in the standbys like California, the Gold Rush and the Civil War, adding “there’s another postcard revival brewing.” Personally she finds letters from ordinary people with details of everyday life fascinating.
“Today we’re seeing younger people. It used to be that most of the interest came from those over 50. Now more collectors are in their 30s and 40s. Younger people are often drawn to some aspect of their own life or childhood. There’s increased interest in the ephemera of the American road, early camping, national parks, trailers, tourist brochures.
As might be expected she’s keen on the benefits of the Ephemera Society of America, calling it an umbrella organization with a strong on-line presence including a sprawling web site, augmented with Facebook and Twitter.
For an annual fee of $50 members receive a full color journal three times a year, twelve email newsletters, and a useful physical directory of members and what they collect. Members also get early entrance to the Society’s annual show and conference held each March in Greenwich, Conn.
The ESA site is certainly one of the more interesting and diverse in the world of collectibles. It includes links to members and their web sites (see the end of this piece for links and details), also articles, blogs, exhibits, and quite a bit of bibliography. Among the more unusual features are a mentoring program and the Philip Jones Fellowship for travel and study related to ephemera, which is now accepting applications for 2012.
“ESA membership fluctuates but it’s presently around 750,” says Dr. Arthur H. Groten, the organization’s president. Groten has been a collector 60 years (“I started when I was 8”). His personal interests include stamps, postal history, books and now ephemera. “I collect things that I like and find visually appealing.” He observes that more museums, schools and institutions are getting interested in ephemera. For example on a recent visit to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland “90% of what I saw on display was ephemera.”
As far as trends go Groten thinks collecting areas like Disney and Coca Cola seem to have reached their peak, but other things, especially mid-20th century nostalgia in all of its incarnations, World’s Fairs, trade cards are growing in interest. He sees a resurgence of interest in pull tabs and moveables, be they popular contemporary pop up books like the work of Robert Sabuda or antique advertising pieces with multi-dimensional parts.
“It’s a field that is welcoming to younger collectors. The internet has made it more accessible, to be able to see and find things that otherwise don’t show up. Often they are things that are found in the street from the rock and roll band posters of the 60s to a recent serious collection of handbills and flyers found in NYC directly after 9/11.
“People find the Ephemera Society of America on the internet or by word of mouth,” he continues. “We’re a good place for people looking for the next step: they’ve found something that fascinates them and now they’re ready to get organized and do the research and study. Ephemera is significant history; it’s the story of you and me. It’s the story of every day life.”
Gonnelli Auction 59 Antique prints, paintings and maps May 20th 2025
Gonnelli Auction 59 Antique prints, paintings and maps May 20th 2025
Gonnelli: Pietro Aquila, Psyche and Proserpina,1690. Starting price 140€
Gonnelli: Jacques Gamelin, Memento homo quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris, 1779. Starting price 300€
Gonnelli: Giorgio Ghisi, The final Judgement, 1680. Starting price 480€
Gonnelli Auction 59 Antique prints, paintings and maps May 20th 2025
Gonnelli Goya y Lucientes Francisco, Los Proverbios.1877. Starting price 1000 €
Gonnelli: Domenico Peruzzini, Long bearded old man, 1660. Starting price 2200€
Gonnelli: Enea Vico, Leda and the Swan,1542. Starting price 140€
Gonnelli Auction 59 Antique prints, paintings and maps May 20th 2025
Gonnelli: Andrea Del Sarto [school of], San Giovanni Battista, 1570. Starting price 25000€
Gonnelli: Carlo Maratta, Virgin Mary and Jesus, 1660. Starting Price 1200€
Gonnelli: Louis Brion de La Tour, Sphére de Copernic Sphere de Ptolemée / Le Systême de Ptolemée. Le Systême de Ticho-Brahe…, 1766. Starting price 180€
Gonnelli Auction 59 Antique prints, paintings and maps May 20th 2025
Gonnelli: Marc’Antonio Dal Re, Ville di Delizia o Siano Palaggi Camparecci nello Stato di Milano Divise in Sei Tomi Con espressevi le Piante…, Tomo Primo, 1726. Starting price 7000€
Gonnelli: Katsushika Hokusai, Bird on a branch, 1843. Starting price 100€
Ketterer Rare Books Auction May 26th
Ketterer Rare Books Auction May 26th
Ketterer, May 26: Th. McKenney & J. Hall, History of the Indian tribes of North America, 1836-1844. Est: €50,000
Ketterer, May 26:Biblia latina vulgata, manuscript on thin parchment, around 1250. Est: €70,000
Ketterer, May 26: M. Beckmann, Fanferlieschen Schönefüßchen, 1924. Est: €10,000
Ketterer Rare Books Auction May 26th
Ketterer, May 26: A. Ortelius, Theatrum orbis terrarum, 1574. Est: €50,000
Ketterer, May 26: M. S. Merian, Eurcarum ortus, alimentum et paradoxa metamorphosis, 1717-18. Est: €6,000
Ketterer, May 26:PAN, 9 volumes, 1895-1900. Est: €12,000
Ketterer Rare Books Auction May 26th
Ketterer, May 26: Breviarium Romanum, Latin manuscript, 1474. Est: €15,000
Ketterer, May 26: Quran manuscript from the Saadian period, Maghreb, 16th century. Est: €10,000
Ketterer, May 26: E. Hemingway, The old man and the sea, 1952. First edition in first issue jacket. Presentation copy. Est: €3,000
Ketterer Rare Books Auction May 26th
Ketterer, May 26: Flavius Vegetius Renatus, De re militari libri quatuor, 1553. Est: €3,000
Ketterer, May 26: K. Marx, Das Kapital, 1867. Est: €30,000
Ketterer, May 26: Brassaï, Transmutations, 1967. Est: €6,000
Leland Little, May 21: Signed Artist Proof of the Monumental G.O.A.T.: A Tribute to Muhammad Ali.
Leland Little, May 21: Assorted Rare Publications Related to H.P. Lovecraft, Including The Recluse Signed by Vincent Starrett.
Leland Little, May 21: Two Issues of The Vagrant, Including the First Appearance of H.P. Lovecraft's "Dagon" in Number Eleven.
Leland Little, May 21: Rare First Printing of Anne of Green Gables, With ALS from the Author.
Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, In First Issue Jacket.
Leland Little, May 21: The Limited Paumanok Edition of The Complete Writings of Walt Whitman.
Leland Little, May 21: Beautifully Bound Limited Flaubert Edition of The Works of Guy de Maupassant.
Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Bonaparte's Celebrated American Ornithology, With Spectacular Hand-Colored Plates.
Leland Little, May 21: A Rare Complete Set of Jardine's The Naturalist's Library, With Hand-Colored Plates.
Leland Little, May 21: Invitation to the Lincoln-Johnson National Inaugural Ball, March 4th, 1865.
Leland Little, May 21: A Scarce Inscribed First Edition of James Baldwin's Nobody Knows My Name.
Leland Little, May 21: Picasso's Le Goût du Bonheur, Limited Edition.
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
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