• Swann, Nov. 14: Stephen Sondheim, autograph musical quotation signed and inscribed, 4 bars from “Send in the Clowns,” 1986.
    Swann, Nov. 14: George Washington, autograph letter signed to Robert Morris, preparing for attack on Philadelphia, 1777.
    Swann, Nov. 14: Autograph album containing over 250 signatures by members of 29th U.S. Congress, 1845.
    Swann, Nov. 14: Charles “The Bold,” letter signed to Duke of Milan written during Burgundian Wars, 1475.
    Swann, Nov. 14: Deng Xiaoping, TIME magazine “Man of the Year” issue signed and dated, 1979.
    Swann, Nov. 14: Theodor Herzl, autograph letter signed to prospective tutor of his children, 1902.
    Swann, Nov. 14: Bourienne’s Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte extra illustrated including 1798 letter signed by Napoleon after Battle of the Nile, 1836.
    Swann, Nov. 14: George Minot, autograph manuscript signed, diary kept during European trip to claim Nobel Prize, 1934.
    Swann, Nov. 14: Thomas Jefferson, autograph letter signed, introducing George Washington’s personal secretary Tobias Lear, 1793.
    Swann, Nov. 14: Winston Churchill, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, signed in second volume, first edition, 1956-58.
    Swann, Nov. 14: John Steinbeck, late typescript drafts of 5 chapters from his posthumously published tales of King Arthur, 1959.
    Swann, Nov. 14: H.G. Wells, group of 14 of his books signed to his mistress Rebecca West or the son they had together, 1910s-40s.
  • Bonhams, Nov. 2-12: AUDUBON, JOHN JAMES. Red-Shouldered Hawk. London: R. Havell, Jr., 1829. $2,000 - $3,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 2-12: STEWART, WILLIAM DRUMMOND, SIR. Altowan; or, Incidents of Life and Adventure in the Rocky Mountain... New York, 1846. PRESENTATION COPY. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Nov. 2-12: WILLUGHBY & RAY, JOHN. The Ornithology of Francis Willughby in three books... London, Martyn, 1678. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Nov. 2-12: SUSAN B. ANTHONY. Autograph Quotation Signed, on equal rights "for men and women," Rochester, 1898. $1,000 - $1,500
    Bonhams, Nov. 2-12: FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN. Autograph Letter Signed integrally to Le Comte de Milly arranging a meeting with M. Broignard, Passy, 1778. $10,000 - $15,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 2-12: FRANKLIN, JEFFERSON, & ADAMS. Mansucript Signed by all three architects of the American ideal, requesting a Treaty of Amity and Commerce. $750,000 - $1,000,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 2-12: LINCOLN, ABRAHAM. Endorsement Signed, a pardon for a Confederate soldier, February 6, 1865. $4,000 - $6,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 2-12: NAPOLEON FORMALLY RATIFIES THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. Document Signed ("James Monroe," "Robt. R. Livingston" and "Barbé-Marbois"). $100,000 - $200,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 2-12: JAMES MONROE ON THE DIFFICULTIES OF JAY'S TREATY. Autograph Letter Signed to Thomas Pinckney, Paris, January 17, 1795. $15,000 - $25,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 2-12: GIDEON WELLES FIRST HAND ACCOUNT OF FORT PICKENS AND FORT SUMTER ON THE EVE OF CIVIL WAR. Autograph Manuscript, 44 pp, c.1870. $4,000 - $6,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 2-12: SIGNED BY BORGES. Labyrinths: Selected Stories & Other Writings. 1962. First book publication in English. $4,000 - $6,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 2-12: LORENZO DOW TURNER'S COPY. LOCKE, ALAIN. The New Negro: an Interpretation. 1925. $1,000 - $1,500
  • Forum Auctions
    A Visual and Historical Voyage into the Ottoman World:
    The Library of a Gentleman
    14th November
    Forum, Nov. 14: Preziosi (Amedeo). Stamboul: Recollections of Eastern Life, first edition, Paris, Lemercier, 1858. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, Nov. 14: Mayr (Heinrich von). Malerische Ansichten aus dem Orient. Vues Pittoresques de l'Orient, first edition in the original 10 parts, Munich, Paris & Leipzig, [1839-40]. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, Nov. 14: Lewis (John Frederick). Illustrations of Constantinople, made during a Residence in that City &c. in the Years 1835-6, first edition, [1838]. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, Nov. 14: Dodwell (Edward). Views in Greece, first edition, ordinary format, Rodwell and Martin, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum, Nov. 14: Cassas (Louis François). [Voyage Pittoresque de la Syrie, de la Phoenicie, de la Palæstube et de la Basse-Égypte], 3 vol., first edition, [Paris], [1799]. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    A Visual and Historical Voyage into the Ottoman World:
    The Library of a Gentleman
    14th November
    Forum, Nov. 14: La Chappelle (Georges). Recueil de Divers Portraits des Principales Dames de la Porte du Grand Turc, first edition, Paris, 1648. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum, Nov. 14: Fossati (Gaspard). Aya Sophia Constantinople as recently restored by order of H.M. the Sultan Abdul Medjid, first edition, ordinary format, 1852. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, Nov. 14: Pertusier (Charles). Promenades Pittoresques dans Constantinople et sur les Rives du Bosphore, 4 vol., inc Atlas, first edition, Paris, H. Nicolle, 1815-17. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, Nov. 14: Brindesi (Jean). Souvenirs de Constantinople, first edition, [Paris], [1855-60]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, Nov. 14: Le Bruyn (Cornelius). Voyage au Levant, first French edition, Delft, Henri de Kroonevelt, 1700. £3,000 to £4,000.

Rare Book Monthly

Articles - May - 2021 Issue

“OK Boomer” - Or what I learned from the Pandemic

Second Moderna Shot on Feb. 8, 2021 meant an end might be in sight for the Covid pandemic.

Second Moderna Shot on Feb. 8, 2021 meant an end might be in sight for the Covid pandemic.

It’s been a long year.

 

Hawaii went into lockdown in March of 2020 and is just now emerging to some semblance of pre-pandemic life. About the world of books there’s not much to tell, but if you’re thinking of a tropical vacation or pricey real estate the Aloha state is insane right now.

 

Tourism, which stopped dead in its tracks last March, is back bigtime. It didn’t inch up, it returned like the Sack of Rome. On the ground here it’s as if Coney Island and Atlantic City both emptied out simultaneously as a multitude of travelers booked cheap seats to the islands or flew in on their own private jet. The health crisis may not be truly over, but it is clear that the country has decided that this thing has gone on long enough and now they want to party.

 

Though I got both my shots at the beginning of 2021, I am dubious, to say the least, about the influx. So before we are overwhelmed with some variant strain of the virus brought in by the barbarian hordes, I thought I’d devote some space to what I’ve learned from spending twelve months and counting mostly in isolation.

 

I don’t know how much of this will be directly book related, but it might prompt you to make a few notes on your own pandemic experiences before the sharp memories fade and you are swept away by the tides of re-entry to a world that is similar, but not the same, as the one we so hurriedly exited last year.

 

I guess I qualify as elderly. I will be 78 this month, which means I’m old enough to remember when Jeff Bezos and Dick Weatherford were mentioned in the same breath. Weatherford who died recently was the founder of Interloc, one of the early tech innovations which made the internet accessible to book dealers. Jeff Bezos founded Amazon, which began with books, but became the juggernaut that in the end destroyed the book trade as we knew it and replaced it with what?

 

You’ll have to answer that question for yourself, just to say a year in the house by myself gave me plenty of time to ponder.

 

So what did I learn?

 

I learned you can find out anything from Youtube. I learned that even though I put a few bucks into the stock market last May it would have been even better if I’d started investing in March. And media hound that I am, I learned the best source of unfiltered information is Reddit. I became a serious Reddit lurker and addict.

 

Reddit: they don’t call it the front page of the internet for nothing. One of the highest traffic sites in the world, it consists of a main page and hundreds of linked pages related to specific subjects, known as sub-Reddits. Many have whimsical names like r/FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) to r/WCGW (What Could Go Wrong?). Viewers, known as Redditors, can join the groups they find of interest; as items are posted they may vote them up or down and can also add their own comments, which in turn can also be voted up or down. The whole thing is orchestrated by a vast crew of volunteer mods (moderators). The demographic skews to 18-35 young men who like anime and video games, but there are also more sober topics like commercial real estate and investing.

 

I found when Covid first hit last spring that the news coming through was either not reliable or it was not timely. The subReddit that first caught my interest was r/Coronavirus which had a membership of about 200,000 when I joined and quickly became the go-to place for information coming in from all over the world as the virus spread. As the world struggled to figure out what was happening and what the personal risk was going to be, r/Coronavirus grew rapidly to more than 2 million members.

 

What was useful about the Reddit info was it was international in scope, it was personal in tone and it was also aggregated in a way that the regular news was not. The comments also had an eyewitness quality. Those who followed this sub soon concluded this was not going to be a short term emergency, but a long haul and for the elderly and those with high risk health conditions the situation would require immediate and likely sustained precautions.

 

I started reading Reddit for the virus, then I got interested in news related to the stock market and how this younger crowd was using their stimulus money to pump a list of favored stocks, some of them, like GameStop (GME), seemed pretty strange.

 

My own biggest buzz on Reddit came when I was among the first to notice that the Amazon union election in Bessemer, Alabama was a topic of considerable interest. What started out as a heated local discussion at breakfast between those who thought the union was the obvious right choice and others who just as convincingly predicted that the workers would vote it down (as they indeed did) made me think the subject was of general interest. Early in the day I posted a link to a network news story on Reddit. It soon had a thousand upvotes, by lunch it passed 10,000. By the end of the 24 hour news cycle the total was more than 50,000 plus thousands of comments, again split right down the middle. For hitting the front page I got the digital equivalent of a key to the executive lavatory in the form of karma points.

 

With plenty of time on my hands on the tech front I learned how to use Google Docs (well sort of) - and dipped a toe into digital audio too. Like the rest of the world I navigated Zoom and other remote audio/video conferences only to conclude it was often dull, although sometimes unintentionally funny.

 

Truthfully, my own computer skills are not very good, but they were good enough to get me an early appointment for the vaccine. Getting an appointment at the national vaccine portal aka VAMS (Vaccine Administration Management System) was one of the most stressful experiences of my adult life. I had eight  tabs open on the desktop when I finally got to the end of the registration and printed out the QR code that came with a time and place to get the first shot. No wonder the seniors were slow to get in line. Each person needed a working and distinct email address (no sharing) and a smartphone that would accept text messages with code verifications. Yikes.

 

Yes, I made it to the QR code, only to discover my phone did not have a code reader. Yes, I was in the first batch of elders lining up on the first day. We got our first Moderna shots in the parking lot of the local college. All things considered it went pretty smoothly.

 

The next day those in their 80s, who absolutely could not navigate the VAMS site, decided enmasse their best option was to “Just show up.” The parking lot turned into a Mr. Magoo cartoon as more than 700 people, most of them aged 75+, converged. Those who got in line early got the shot, the rest missed out.

 

Like a lot of other small businesses Covid shut me down. By summer I’d mostly stopped selling books. As the only employee of my own small company structured as an S corp, I eventually qualified for unemployment benefits.

 

If the national vaccine portal was difficult, the state unemployment site was a nightmare. It just crashed and crashed. That was due in part to the fact that it was not technically set up to handle the volume and they only had a skeleton crew to answer the phones. Even today thousands in Hawaii are stranded in a bureaucratic no-man’s land. I was among the lucky ones, after the initial difficulty my benefits came through and all of the stimulus checks arrived promptly.

 

For me the worst part was the isolation. Living alone, cooking alone, eating alone I was constantly worried that each sneeze or cough was the onset of the dreaded virus. It got old really fast. My garden kept me sane. The roses I got for Christmas bloomed in April. The poinsettias didn’t get the message that they were supposed to go off for the holidays and instead were glorious in March. The times that felt the most normal were the times I spent with a hose in my hand.

 

There were some remarkable national events that took place while we were all self-isolating.

 

On May 25, 2020 the whole world saw the video of George Floyd’s death beneath the knee of a white police officer. As I write this the jury has returned a verdict of guilty on all three counts.

 

On Jan. 5, 2021 I stayed up all night to follow the election returns from Georgia in the heated races for their two US Senate seats. The outcome would determine which party would control the Senate majority. I had a modest bet that both seats would go Blue, and that turned out to be the case.

 

I was still watching my computer screen the next morning, when what I thought was going to be a purely perfunctory certification of Biden’s victory turned into an armed siege of the nation’s Capitol, complete with real guns and real dead people. Out here in Hawaii it was totally unexpected, a mind blowing experience to watch it as a live feed in real time.

 

To end on a lighter note, if it had not been for the pandemic, I would never have had the time or patience to learn how to wax my car. I tried Turtle Wax, and was blown away by the results. Just like the Karate Kid, “Wax on Wax Off,” produced spectacular results. Consider this an unsolicited testimonial for their product - I like the super hard shell paste wax in the smaller size.

 

And finally, I learned Hawaii is wonderful with all the visitors gone. I wish that part could have lasted forever.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Doyle
    Stage & Screen
    November 14 & 15
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: A studio-sanctioned Darth Vader Touring Costume from The Empire Strikes Back. $50,000 to $100,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: An original Al Hirschfeld's illustration of the cast of On Golden Pond. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: The largest trove of personal Grace Kelly letters to come to market. $60,000 to $80,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: An Important Archive of Musical Manuscripts of Truman Capote and Harold Arlen's House of Flowers. $40,000 to $60,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: The archive of an original Merrily We Roll Along Broadway cast member. $5,000 to $10,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: Jerry Herman's Yamaha Model C7 Ebonized Grand Piano. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: A large group of Jerry Herman musical posters. $300 to $500.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: Group of awards presented to Jerry Herman. $300 to $400.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: Six pages of original art for "The MAD Game of Basebrawl," a complete story published in MAD #167, pages 31-36, June 1974. $3,000 to $4,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: A MAD book made for Al Jaffee, containing original art and writings from many MAD contributors. 2011. $1,200 to $1,800.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: A Jaffee-themed MAD Fold-In - "What honor should the creator of the MAD Fold-Ins be given?" $800 to $1,200.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: MAD Fold-In - "What developing news story has many Americans totally transfixed?" $800 to $1,200.
  • Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. 11,135 USD
    Sotheby’s: Edgar Allan Poe. The Raven and Other Poems, 1845. 33,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Leo Tolstoy, Clara Bow. War and Peace, 1886. 22,500 USD
    Sotheby’s: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1902. 7,500 USD
    Sotheby’s: F. Scott Fitzgerald. This Side of Paradise, The Great Gatsby, and Others, 1920-1941. 24,180 USD
  • Freeman’s | Hindman
    Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana
    November 14
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: LEROUX, Gaston. The Phantom of the Opera. FIRST AM. ED, FIRST ISSUE IN THE VERY RARE DUST JACKET. 1911. $6,000 – 8,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: GOULD, John. A Monograph of the Trochilidae...Humming-Birds. L., [1849-] 1861. $60,000 – 80,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: A COMPLETE RUN of Limited Editions Club publications, v.p. [mostly New York], 1929-2010. $50,000 – 60,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: ORWELL, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. Lon., 1949. FIRST EDITION IN A VERY FINE DUST JACKET. $6,000 – 8,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: GOULD. A Monograph of the Ramphastidae...Toucans. L., [1852-] 54. SECOND ED. $35,000 – 45,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: The Federalist. NY, 1788. FIRST EDITION, THICK PAPER COPY. $60,000 – 80,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: SELBY. Plates to Selby’s Illustrations of British Ornithology. Edin., [1833-] 34. $20,000 – 30,000.
  • Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    APRES DE MANNEVILLETTE
    Le Neptune Oriental
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    CASSAS
    Eaux fortes de la Sicile et quelques vues d’Espagne
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    CASSINI DE THURY
    Carte générale et particulière de la France.
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    JOUY; GARNERAY
    Vues des côtes de France dans l'Océan et dans la Méditerranée
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    LA PÉROUSE
    Voyage autour du monde
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    LE GENTIL DE LA GALAISIERE
    Voyage dans les Mers de l’Inde
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    LICENT
    Hoang Ho, Pai Ho, Loan Ho, Leao Ho. Itinéraires suivis dans le bassin du golfe du Pei Tcheuly
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    FRENCH SCHOOL FROM THE 19th CENTURY
    Panorama d’Athènes
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    PEETERS
    Description des principales villes, havres et isles du golfe de Venise
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    PÉRON; FREYCINET
    Voyage de découverte aux terres australes
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    STACKELBERG
    La Grèce : vues pittoresques et topographiques.
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    VALENTINER
    Atlas des Sonnensystems.
  • Forum Auctions
    Online Sale:
    The Detective Fiction Collection of John Cooper
    Ending 7th November, 2024
    Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). The Thirteen Problems, first edition, The Crime Club, 1932. £15,000 to £20,000.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Dumb Witness, first edition, 1937. £3,000 to £4,000.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Cards on the Table, first edition, The Crime Club, 1936. £2,000 to £3,000.
    Forum, Nov. 7: [Carr (John Dickson)], "Carter Dickson" and John Rhode. Drop to his Death, first edition, Heinemann, [1939]. £600 to £800.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Berkeley (Anthony). Jumping Jenny, first edition, Hodder and Stoughton, 1933. £800 to £1,200.
    Forum Auctions
    Online Sale:
    The Detective Fiction Collection of John Cooper
    Ending 7th November, 2024
    Forum, Nov. 7: Marsh (Ngaio). Overture to Death, first edition, The Crime Club, 1939. £600 to £800.
    Forum, Nov. 7: [Day-Lewis (Cecil)] "Nicholas Blake". The Beast Must Die, first edition, 1938. £750 to £1,000.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Brand (Christianna). Green for Danger, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, John Lane the Bodley Head, 1945. £600 to £800.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Murder is Easy, first edition, signed by the author, 1939. £3,000 to £4,000.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Sayers (Dorothy L.) Lord Peter Views the Body, first edition, Gollancz, 1928. £6,000 to £8,000.
  • Desa Unicum, Nov. 13: Chronograph Wristwatches. Precious memories of the 20th Century / Cronografi da Polso. Preziose Memorie del XX Secolo, 2013. €3,000 to €5,000. Starting Bid: €10.
    Desa Unicum, Nov. 13: Lanthemann, Joseph. Modigliani 1884-1920. A Catalogue Raisonné, Barcelona, 1970. €320 to €380. Starting Bid: €10.
    Desa Unicum, Nov. 13: Warhol, Andy. The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (from A to B and back again), New York, 1975. Signed by the author. €500 to €600. Starting Bid: €10.
    Desa Unicum, Nov. 13: Vitali, Lamberto. Morandi: Catalogo Generale. I & II, Mediolan, 1983. €1,100 to €1,300. Starting Bid: €10.
    Desa Unicum, Nov. 13: Goldstein, Ann. Christopher Wool, Los Angeles, 1998. €320 to €380. Starting Bid: €10.
    Desa Unicum, Nov. 13: Celant, Germano. Piero Manzoni, 1989. €320 to €360. Starting Bid: €10.
    Desa Unicum, Nov. 13: Ernst, Max. Oeuvre-Katalog. Das Graphische Werk, Cologne, 1975. €420 to €480. Starting Bid: €10.

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