Rare Book Monthly

Articles - July - 2015 Issue

Opportunities for One Lot Collectors

Collecting can take years but in a few cases just a few minutes.  Those who treasure the hunt need not read further for if you want a day by day, month by month accumulation of objects purchased at auction, on eBay, online on the listing sites and/or even at the occasional garage sale to build into, over a decade or more, a monument to your intelligence and determination what I am about to tell you may not go down easy.

 

At Addison & Sarova of Macon, Georgia on July 25th they will dispose of some very large lots from the collections of Robert Easton who, who while American, seems to have measured his collection in pounds [the 16 ounce ones].  I say collections because some of his lots amount to lifetime accumulations of narrow sectors of the printed word.  So you can, with one win, both start and complete a collection but you will have to be open-minded about what you collect.

 

Here are two lots to consider.

 

Lot number 260.  This is a shelf lot of more than 2,000 plays.  Here is how it is described:


A very large collection of plays printed between the mid and late 1800s. All are pamphlets in wrappers with condition ranging from Poor to Very Good. Most are VG and intact while some have loose wraps. Due to the ephemeral nature, not many survive in their original state. There are repeats of various plays throughout the collection. Most were published by Samuel French (London and New York.) A sampling of the titles: The Sea of Ice; Or Thirst for Gold **** Po-ca-hon-tas, or The Gentle Savage **** Black-Eyed Susan **** Mazeppa; Or, The Wild Horse of Tartary **** Sardanapalus. King of Assyria **** All's Fair in Love **** The French Spy: Or, The Siege of Constantina **** Hiram Hireout.  And a large quantity of others, similar in subject. None collated, sold as-is with all faults.  Condition for shelf-lot items stated in general terms. Total of approx. 2,000 or more items, retail value in excess of $5,000, weight 190 lbs. From the Library of Robert Easton.

 

For this lot to work you have to be open to collecting 19th century plays, apparently in English.  If you are open to a Samuel French concentration your ship is coming in.  The lot is estimated at $400-$600 but plan to go higher.  For a thousand dollars you can both start and complete this collection.  This is cheap.

 

The other lot, in the past few hours now withdrawn, was for maniacs with ambition.  It’s lot number 265.  It was fittingly the final lot because it contained everything not otherwise catalogued or removed and was called the Mother of all Shelf Lots and was described this way:

 

This is the final lot of this sale, featuring approximately 100,000 books remaining in the Robert Easton estate. The books are located at the Easton estate in North Hollywood, CA. Preview will be available by appointment two weeks prior to the sale (Call 478-787-BOOK to make an appointment.) NOTE: THIS LOT IS PICK-UP ONLY AND LOCATED AT THE EASTON RESIDENCE.  Load-out is the responsibility of the winning bidder.  All books must be removed from the premises no later than 4 weeks after the auction. For more information please visit our site [see below], click on the Robert Easton collection link to find the Mother of all Shelf-Lots!

 

But now this lot 265 has disappeared, the sellers, gulled by the blandishments of buyers who convinced them to let them pick the fresh berries while leaving the unwanted balance to an unsuspecting public who would have bid on July 25th.  In the mean time Addison and Sarova have now cut all ties to the lot.  They had left appealing material in the lot to ensure it would sell.  Now it’s a fool’s purchase.

 

The circumstances of this auction fall into two possible scenarios.  The more common one is that the heirs see money in the real estate and have been encouraged by their broker to think of time as money.  That is smart.  The other is the “who is going to notice a few missing items” theory.  That is dumb.  The answer is that the auctioneer will and their reputation for honesty is more important than any book they will ever sell.

 

The material in lot 265 was always going to be a tough to handle.  The era of big lots full of gems is mostly behind us. 

 

Half dozen years ago I helped an acquaintance dispose of her inventory of a 100,000-item lot of 20th century school texts.  We created a video and sent the material to auction in Kingston, New York.  With a few seconds to go an on-line bidder bid $1,000.  He won and was immediately sorry.  A week later he paid the grand on condition he had no further responsibility.  That lot was later sold twice more on Craig’s list within a few minutes of posting, the first for $3,250 and the second for $2,000.  Loved ones of the $3,250 buyer stepped in to negotiate an orderly withdrawal.  “Keep the money and also keep the books.”  That buyer resisted his family’s entreaties and took with him 3,000 or 4,000 items for his trouble.  The now 96,000 item lot was again resold with a similar result: immediate buyer’s remorse.  Finally the seller conceived something even more original.  She offered her house with more than 90,000 books.  The house had been on the market for years.  Soon after it sold.

 

Big lots are complicated.  There is romance in them but often not much else.

 

The other lots do not have this problem.  Addison & Sarova know what they are doing.  All that I suggest is that you do too.  The Mother of all Shelf lots was estimated $20,000 to $30,000.  How could you have gone wrong?  Let us count the ways.

 

A link to Addison & Sarova

 

A link to the complete auction

Rare Book Monthly

  • Freeman’s | HindmanWestern Manuscripts and MiniaturesJuly 8, 2025 Freeman’s | HindmanWestern Manuscripts and MiniaturesJuly 8, 2025
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    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.
  • Forum AuctionsFine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper  17th July 2025 Forum AuctionsFine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper  17th July 2025
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    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.
  • Sotheby’sBooks, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to ModernNow through July 10, 2025 Sotheby’sBooks, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to ModernNow through July 10, 2025
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    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.
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    Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!
  • DOYLERare Books, Autographs & MapsJuly 23, 2025 DOYLERare Books, Autographs & MapsJuly 23, 2025
    DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
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    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

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