The Virtual Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair: September 11th -14th
- by Bruce E. McKinney
It seems only a year ago that book fairs were in-person experiences. Ah, for the old days. Covid-19 changed the stakes and the rare book field has had to actually answer the question; you want your money or your life. And the answers are: they want both - their lives and interesting printed material.
The solution has quickly become the electronic book fair.
Marvin Getman, the show promoter, now month by month, is developing this selling approach into an art form.
For this month’s iteration Marvin is presenting his Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair in the fully electronic form he has been developing. As is now standard, until it’s considered safe, book fairs are electronic until sometime in 2021 when and if dealers and collectors venture out of their homes to meet in person. For now electronic affairs seem to be satisfying both sides of the market.
As well, now here are some changes and new features as well as an additional day with some fresh inventory to reward the attentive:
Up until now, Mr. Getman had been limiting his monthly fairs to 150 dealers, with a growing waiting list, demand was so high for the Brooklyn Fair that he decided to raise the limit to 200+. That means that with a limit of 15 items each, there will be 3,000 items to browse.
“With so many items to browse I made the decision recently to add a fourth day and to make things exciting for the last day, dealers will be loading 3 fresh items into their booths for a total of 600 fresh items. The show will now end on Monday September 14th at 6:00 pm EDT.”
Dealers represent The United States, Canada, Great Britain, France, and Australia. Getman’s Virtual Book Fair is truly becoming an international affair. His platform will soon be used by shows across the U.S. for RareBooksLA, The Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar benefit Book Fair, The Fox Valley Antiques Show in Chicago, The Rocky Mountain Book and Paper Fair, and The Amsterdam International Antiquarian Book Fair.
The Brooklyn Book Fair will open at noon EDT on Friday September 11th and continue around the clock through Monday September 14th at 6:00 pm EST.
Admission to the show and webinars are free with registration. Link here.
The webinars are:
Special Guest: Michael Horse, aka Deputy Hawk, from the cult television series “Twin Peaks.”
Michael Horse will appear live at the Brooklyn Antiquarian Book and Paper Fair to give a seminar on American Indian ledger art and alternate worlds in his artwork. A small exhibition of his art and jewelry will be on display as well at the fair as well.
Horse is of Yaqui, Mescalero Apache, Zuni, European, and Hispanic descent. His mother trained him in the flat style of painting promoted by Dorothy Dunn at the Santa Fe Indian School known as ledger art. (She was also a potter and a kachina carver.) As a young man, Horse studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts (also in Santa Fe) with painter Fritz Scholder, sculptor Allen Houser, and potter-turned-jewelry-maker Charles Loloma. He eventually built a successful career of his own as a sculptor and jewelry-maker, working the fairs, markets, and Native American arts festivals, and has also built an impressive catalog of ledger art that includes an alternate history of America and a symbol-heavy map used in “Twin Peaks: The Return” (2017).
Exclusive Exhibition:
“Appeal to the Great Spirit: Designing the Beach Boys”
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.
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 | Hindman Western Manuscripts and Miniatures July 8, 2025
Freeman’s | Hindman 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 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.