Rare Book Monthly

Articles - September - 2013 Issue

AE at Eleven Years

The past ten years have seen the already endlessly described transition from traditional bibliography, book selling and book collecting from the last days of the way Grandpa did it to the advent of how future generations will.  It is a subject that is a kaleidoscope of angles seen from the perspective of institutions, dealers, collectors and increasingly consignors.  The only element that remains constant is the material.  All else, be it importance, relevance or price are as fragile as smoke, present, clear and then gone – often to be replaced by fragile evidence pointing up or down.  These days the field that thousands who labor in and around appreciate and often love, has become a helter-skelter of uncertainty as books are ferried to sellers who are asked to discern and dispose, often for people shocked and disbelieving to learn that what was once thought valuable has become hard to sell.  The material has not changed but the market has.

 

Look back two generations to a time when many fewer books were offered to many more buyers.  The field was alive and the competition palpable.  Bookshops received material and rationed it among buyers.  An institution could become anxious and expectant about what the mail would bring.  Bookseller’s catalogues were prized and they sent first or by quicker mail to steady acquirers who understood the need to look immediately and commit quickly because to move slowly often meant that wanted items had already disappeared.

 

The field was a challenge and many of the smartest people of the age took up the struggle to invent and create unique collecting approaches to engage their imaginations for an entire lifetime, they so afflicted among the luckiest people on the planet.  Certainly more tried than succeeded, the ratio of success perhaps 1 in 500.  Books and their printed brethren – maps, manuscripts and ephemera were plentiful but the subjects never easily understood.  For perspective, collections and collectors relied upon dealers, people who as a class, dismissed life’s simple challenges to wrestle with the possibilities and probabilities that, ever changing, define what a collection can be in the context of an acquirer’s circumstances.  We applaud when a juggler can balance three items.  The best dealers, collectors and librarians routinely balance a hundred.  Such collecting is obscure but has always attracted exceptional intellects.

 

Carry forward this extraordinary history into the evolving present and we find the rules changing.  The fledgling now, with nothing more than curiosity and a credit card, can see deeply into what’s for sale and what has sold at auction and have a perspective that few if anyone could have had just a generation ago.  We now know so much more.

 

But the powers that have made it possible to understand a book’s history do not begin and end with all the forms of collectible paper.  They extend to every form of collectible, all things from cut glass to fine paintings, to stamps, baseball cards and comic books to name a few and today’s rising generations are drawn in many other directions even as the possibilities for collecting paper have never been better.  The truth is the opportunities have never been better for probably a thousand fields and the stunning transparency we now experience makes all of them interesting.  A hundred years ago books enjoyed a unique place in our culture.  Today the printed word shares the stage with many others.

 

The currency of book collecting is perspective and people are so busy and harried there is a tendency to be ‘in the moment.’  Some books can argue for a place in collecting in the here and now but most are associated with the continuum of events, through national histories, perhaps the works of or entire career of a particular writer or artist.  Some collect not all of a war but today just a part, its naval battles or financial underpinnings.   Others collect the fashion of an age.  All can do this with the precision of a surgeon’s sharp knife. 

 

There really have not been many limits but what limits there were are simply gone.  All things today are possible and for books this makes the sequence of traditional steps that for most rare book collectors was a precondition to serious collecting difficult to duplicate for the next generation of collectors.  But we are trying.  No one can replace the grizzled geezers who could spin a tale, chair back and feet up, regaling green sprouts with visions of adventure, discoveries and yes, riches.  Today these outposts in the hinterlands are mostly gone.  The excitement and thrill of what they spoke of is as alive and certain today but the stages fewer for these Svengalis to perform. 

 

A few days ago a long time free member called to say that after years of following the site he was signing up as a paid member.  “I’m ready,” signing up as an Octavo for a year.  “I understand that I have to understand value.”  He’ll do well.

 

 And so will the field in time.  But there will be disappointments and uncertainties.  If the field of rare and important paper was once as smooth and comforting as the amber grain at harvest it is that no more.  The values and opportunities have never been better but there is open disagreement between buyers and sellers about value and both sides need to know both sides of the story as it evolves.

 

Dickens wrote in a Tale of Two Cities “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”  I agree, but only with the first part of the sentence.  You see, I’m a buyer and will be, I hope, for a long time.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HARRISON, Benjamin. Document signed (“Benj Harrison”) as governor of Virginia, certifying the service of Daniel Cumbo, a Black Revolutionary soldier. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HIGHLY IMPORTANT MORMON ARCHIVE. ALLEY, George. Archive of 23 Autograph Letters Signed by Mormon Convert George Alley to His Brother Joseph Alley. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [AVIATION]. [ARMSTRONG, Neil A.] Aviation Hall of Fame Gold Medal MS64 NGC, Awarded to Neil Armstrong in 1979. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: NEWLY DISCOVERED FIRST PRINTING OF "WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE... " FROM THE ONLY NEWSPAPER ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL PROCESSION. $4,000 to $8,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: A VERY RARE ACCOUNT OF BLACKBEARD’S DEATH AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PIRATE ITEMS EXTANT. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [VIETNAM WAR]. The original pen used by Secretary of State William P. Rogers to sign the Vietnam Peace Agreement, Paris, 27 January 1973. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: SONS OF LIBERTY FOUNDER COLONEL BARRÉ ANNOTATED TITLE-PAGE, “WHICH OUGHT TO ROUSE UP BRITISH ATTENTION”. $4,000 to $6,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: [Shakespeare (William)]. [Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies], second folio edition, [by Tho.Cotes, for Robert Allot], [1632]. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Bible, Czech Biblia Bohemica, first complete Bible printed in the Czech vernacular, Prague, August 1488. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Shabthai Tzvi.- Collection of four printed and illustrated broadsides detailing the appearance, rise and fall of the false messiah, Shabthai Tzvi, Augsburg, 1666-67. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Leaf from the Beauvais Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [Northern France (perhaps Beauvais or Amiens)], [fourteenth century (c.1310)]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Aubrey (John). [Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme], manuscript in English, Latin and Greek, [c. 1693]. £30,000 to £50,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Poems on Various Occasions, first edition, Harriet Maltby's copy, Newark, Printed by S. & J. Ridge, 1807. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression with dust-jacket, 1937 [but 1938]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Blake (William).- Thornton (Robert John). The Pastorals of Virgil, 2 vol., engraved plates by William Blake, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: America.- Mount (William J.) & Thomas Page. The English Pilot…, [bound with] The Fourth Book, describing The West Indies Navigation from Hudson's-Bay to the River Amazones, 1721. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Oldfield (Henry Ambrose), Rajman Singh Chitrakar & others. An album of 160 photographs and 13 original artworks, (1833-1919), [c. 1850s-1880s]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD
  • Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG BEADED JUDICIAL COLLAR. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A COMPLETE RUN OF VISIONAIRE MAGAZINE THROUGH 2010. $6,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: LAW REVIEW OFFPRINT SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: META REBNER'S WORKING SCRIPT OF THE LOVED ONE. $1,500 - $2,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A KATHY GROVE PORTRAIT OF CYNDI LAUPER FOR THE FEBRUARY 1989 DETAILS COVER. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A PLASTIC COAT BY MILLIE DAVID FEATURED IN SOHO NEWS STYLE SECTION, FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANNIE FLANDERS. $500 - $700
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG JEWELRY BOX. $600 - $900
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A SET OF JONI MITCHELL LYRICS FOR "IF I HAD A HEART." $2,000 - $3,000
  • 19th Century Shop
    Catalogue 198 just published
    19th Century Shop. Darwin and Wallace, first printing of the first paper on natural selection
    19th Century Shop. Shakespeare’s Poems, first collected edition
    19th Century Shop. Walt Whitman portrait inscribed with a Leaves of Grass poem
    19th Century Shop. Major Elizabeth Barrett Browning manuscript notebook
    19th Century Shop. Spock's Baby Book, original MS
    19th Century Shop. Cellarius, Harmonia Macrocosmica, the great celestial atlas

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