Whether for want of subjects, or the increased presence of mood lighteners in the first waning days of summer, I have sometimes written about the comic book business as a parallel universe to rare and used bookselling. This month I’m at it again. Why? To answer the age old question: are comic books really more appealing than rare books? And the answer: a qualified yes.
Comics are deeply woven into the American fabric, although the thread employed was once quite fine. One could buy a comic for 5 or 10 cents and read and reread latest installments of the super heroes of the day. Or, if one had literary pretensions, it was an extra nickel for a Classic Comic Book of some famous literary work. The stores that sold comics tended toward the seedy, and the comics themselves might be a bit obscured to protect the sensibilities of the elderly and upright.
At home, comics fell into the category of things that, if left on a living room table, were thought to convey vice, if not depravity. “Keep those things in your room.” Compare this to books, that were thought to convey education and intelligence and, if neatly arranged on shelves, to testify to high family standards.
Well, times have changed.
These days, comics are embalmed at birth to ensure greasy fingers and unscrupulous copy-and-pasters do not ever touch pristine examples. The last people to have any physical contact with the new comic are the companies that grade them, and the fee is about $25.00 to place them in their plastic mausoleums. Thereafter the comic becomes part of the commoditized, world and your comic not much more or much different than a share of pink sheet stock on the Vancouver stock exchange.
Not so long ago most daily newspapers printed stock quotes but today not so much. Now we turn on the television or use a smartphone to connect for up-to-the-minute quotes and breaking news. For comics, there are various marketplaces, but the best way still is simply to visit a comics shop because you can hear first-hand what is hot and what is not, and often be offered rarities from the collector-owner’s hidden reserve.
Certainly some collectors also need to attend the comics shows to feel fulfilled, and it is entirely normal to dress as your favorite character. There are some who view this as over-the-top, but these are the same people who stopped trick-or-treating when high school rolled around.
Whether wearing street clothes or whatever, who's at these shows has also changed. Not so long ago movie stars went to Europe or Montana in the summer. These days they show up at comics shows to promote their increasingly comic-book based movies that once were on Hollywood’s Olympus, but now are on the front lines of the movie theatre versus home theatre and straight-to-streaming wars that undermine the price and value of star power.
From all this I gather that when the next Gutenberg Bible comes up at auction, it will be slabbed, the plaster edges melted into a seamless clear box filled with inert gas that lets you see the front and back covers and spine but not experience first-hand the two volumes. For that you’ll have to buy the two volumes and break the seals.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("Martinus Luther") to His Friend the Theologian Gerhard Wiskamp ("Gerardo Xantho Lampadario"). $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: An Exceptionally Fine Copy of Austenís Emma: A Novel in Three Volumes. $40,000 - $60,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Presentation Copy of Ernest Hemmingwayís A Farewell to Arms for Edward Titus of the Black Mankin Press. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript Signed Integrally for "The Songs of Pooh," by Alan Alexander. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript of "Three Fragments from Gˆtterd‰mmerung" by Richard Wagner. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Preliminary Artwork, for the First Edition of Snow Crash. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("T.R. Malthus") to Economist Nassau Senior on Wealth, Labor and Adam Smith. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Finely Bound by Michael Wilcox. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: First Edition of Lewis and Clark: Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Artwork for the First Edition of Neal Stephenson's Groundbreaking Novel Snow Crash. $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: A Complete Set Signed Deluxe Editions of King's The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("John Adams") to James Le Ray de Chaumont During the Crucial Years of the Revolutionary War. $8,000 - $12,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Francesco Colonna. Hypnerotomachie, Paris, 1546, Parisian calf by Wotton Binder C for Marcus Fugger. €200,000 to €300,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Nausea. De principiis dialectices Gorgias, and other works, Venice, 1523, morocco gilt for Cardinal Campeggio. €3,000 to €4,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Billon. Le fort inexpugnable de l'honneur, Paris, 1555, Parisian calf gilt for Peter Ernst, Graf von Mansfeld. €120,000 to €180,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Salinger, J.D. The Graham Family archive, including autographed letters, an inscribed Catcher, a rare studio photograph of the author, and more. $120,000 to $180,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of Sense and Sensibility, the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Massachusetts General Court. A powerful precursor to the Declaration of Independence: "every Act of Government … without the Consent of the People, is … Tyranny." $40,000 to $60,000.
Heritage Auctions Rare Books Signature Auction December 15, 2025
Heritage, Dec. 15: John Donne. Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death. London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
Heritage, Dec. 15: F. Scott Fitzgerald. Tender is the Night. A Romance.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Jerry Thomas. How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion, Containing Clear and Reliable Directions for Mixing All the Beverages Used in the United States…
![<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 16:</b> [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of <i>Sense and Sensibility,</i> the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/9a74d9ff-42dd-46a1-8bb2-b636c4cec796.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 16:</b> [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of <i>Sense and Sensibility,</i> the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.")
![<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/8caddaea-4c1f-47a7-9455-62f53af36e3f.jpg "<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.")
