Rare Book Monthly

Articles - November - 2015 Issue

The Boston Book Fairs: November 13-15

Over the weekend of November 13-15 the Annual Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair returns to America’s cradle of democracy.  The venue is the Hines Convention Center.  Nearby Marvin Getman’s Boston Book, Print and Ephemera Show will set up at the Back Bay Events Center to host 63 dealers on Saturday the 14th.  The ABAA fair will include more than 100 dealers.  Outside of New York on the east coast the Boston fair is a big deal and has been for years.

The ABAA fair is both is both a traditional selling event and a call to arms for would-be collectors, dealers and institutions.  They come to trade but also to raise hope and interest in collecting the printed word and images.  Rare books are an extraordinary field confronting aging demographics and changing tastes and neither dealers nor collectors will “go gentle into that good night.”  So they will be back in beantown to renew their commitments and encourage newbies into the extraordinarily interesting world they long ago embraced.

The ABAA fair does a very good job providing opportunities for the interested to hear discussions on subjects relating to their field.  The collecting of old and rare material is and has long been the convergence of the esthetic and scholarly and book fairs strive to attract both audiences.  Serious collectors are often that special species of mankind that sees collectible print through both lenses.    With that perspective a collector develops ambition.  The ABAA works hard to illuminate these two views that is both obvious to the serious and initially obscure to the neophyte.

There are two book fairs in the same city over the same weekend because there are two separate communities that seek the same customers at different stages in their collecting lives.  The Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America is the storied, long dominant association of many of the best-known and long established dealers.  The Satellite Fair, as it is colloquially called, offers the world of non-ABAA dealers the opportunity to exhibit and sell in a nearby venue.  The non-ABAA community is probably 7 or 8 times the size of the ABAA’s 450 members.  Both do well.  The ABAA dominates the sales and the non-ABAA dealers the growth.  Both are essential as the market shifts from a reliance on rare books to manuscripts, maps and printed-paper.  The Getman fair is less expensive for exhibitors, making it possible to offer the less costly material that increasingly looms large as the emerging class of intensive narrow collecting takes hold.  Institutions and collectors today grasp the scale of choices and are being transformed.

The ABAA fair dominates the important and exotic material that the premiere collectors pursue while the next generation of important collectors may be a few blocks away at the Satellite Fair sorting through the eclectic debris of future ABAA dealers who have spent months parsing possibilities looking for material they casually invested in that can, with glitter and splash, become incandescent sparks that pay bills and illuminate the path to at least the next show.  Bookselling is at its most basic level the sale of dreams that collectors come to buy.  At their best book fairs are intellectually complex, their public encounters evidence of what is for most collectors, mostly a private affair.

So at both fairs expect the rare and exceptional, both behind the counters and in front.  Knowledge, wealth and commitment will for a few hours make Boston the place to be.  It turns out book fairs are about hope.  So go there and be hopeful.

ABAA Events

Antiques Roadshow: 20 Seasons of Book Appraisals!

Saturday, November 14, 12:30pm

Executive Producer Marsha Bemko gives a behind-the-scenes look at PBS’s most-watched ongoing series, and reveals stories of rare books discovered—those that made it on camera and those that didn’t.

 

Typewriter Rodeo

Saturday, November 14, 2:00-5:00pm

The Typewriter Rodeo poets will be on hand to write an original poem for you on any topic you choose on their eclectic collection of vintage typewriters.

 

DISCOVERY: Starting Your Own Collection

Saturday, November 14, 2:30pm

Panel Discussion - A rare opportunity to ask the experts the best way to start your own collection. Afterwards, shop the Fair and visit our “Discovery” exhibitors for items $100 and under to help you begin your collection.

 

Political Americana: Ticknor Society Roundtable

Saturday, November 14, 4:00pm

This 14th annual collectors’ roundtable will focus on Political Americana: trends in collecting, how to shop for your collection, and you’ll also see two personal collections from top collectors! 

 

The Invention of the Modern Dictionary

Sunday, November 15, 12:30pm

Peter Sokolowski, Editor at Large, Merriam-Webster - Commonly referred to as the Unabridged, and edited during the turmoil of the American Civil War, the 1864 edition was the first comprehensive revision of Noah Webster’s famous dictionary. Learn more about the real history of this traditional American brand.

 

FREE Expert Appraisals!

Sunday, November 15, 1:00 - 3:00pm

Bring your books & ephemera to get expert free appraisals. You might find you have a valuable treasure!

 

Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair

Hynes Convention Center
900 Boyleston Street
Boston, Massachusetts

www.mccahome.com

Hours

Friday 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Saturday Noon to 7:00 pm
Sunday Noon to 5:00 pm

 

Boston Book Print and Ephemera Show

Back Bay Convention Center
180 Berkeley St. [at Stuart St.]
Boston, Massachusetts

http://www.antiqueandbookshows.com/

Saturday  8:00 am to 4:00 pm

Rare Book Monthly

  • DOYLERare Books, Autographs & MapsJuly 23, 2025 DOYLERare Books, Autographs & MapsJuly 23, 2025
    DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    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
  • Freeman’s | HindmanWestern Manuscripts and MiniaturesJuly 8, 2025 Freeman’s | HindmanWestern Manuscripts and MiniaturesJuly 8, 2025
    Freeman’s | Hindman
    Western Manuscripts and Miniatures
    July 8, 2025
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    Western Manuscripts and Miniatures
    July 8, 2025
    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
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    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
    Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    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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