Elsewhere we’re learning that Ken Karmiole is slowing down and downsizing. Here you’re finding confirmation that old books have many lives and Ken’s inventory has now moved 400 miles joining Mark Funke’s. After 7 years in the trade and 10 days in his new office in Mill Valley, California Mark now 44, is expanding to make room for Ken Karmiole’s entire inventory.
To date Mark specializes in German material, informing me that since starting in the trade he has traveled to Europe no less than twice every year covering a wide circuit of antiquarian shops, auction houses, and European institutional customers. He acquires eclectic material for lavish thematic lists with modern topics such as East Germany or German Fascism.
In the book world, one must zig and zag to run a successful business. Here is how Mark describes the why and how of that transaction:
Our tagline on www.funkebooks.com is that the story of modern history exists because of paper. To date, our offerings focused on 19th and 20th century European history with a specialty in German material. Ken’s stock of mostly pre-1800 scholarly books dovetails with our inventory to provide a broad offering of historically important material.
The first book fair I attended was the 1999 California ABAA show – my father had invited my girlfriend (now wife) and I to meet up in San Francisco and browse books. Ken exhibited at that fair and that is how I first became aware of him. As I started attending more fairs and my interest in the trade grew, Ken was a fixture.
Ken’s reputation is self-evident in the responses I received after the announcement went out that we purchased his entire stock. I received emails and phone calls from no less than 35 dealers and customers. Ken was described as “one of the greatest bookmen” and I was told that I’m attempting to “carry an Olympian torch”. The praise for Ken has been overwhelming.
All I can say in response is that I will do my utmost to give his books their proper due.
We are surprised to hear Mark’s inventory will not be on Abebooks, Biblio, or Ebay. We understand his reluctance to pay 12%-15% total transaction fees on every sale. Yet currently almost all ABAA dealers believe the customer traffic from third-party marketplaces is worth the cost. Mark, however, is intent on building direct customer relationships. An attitude reminiscent of good times gone by. We don’t doubt Mark will have more fun running his business this way but may need to ponder whether the approach is sustainable. We at Rare Book Hub, as a small business with direct customer relationships, certainly wish him luck in these efforts. The future belongs to they who have fresh ideas!
Here is how Mark summarizes his approach:
Looking ahead, our books will only be available directly from us at fairs, through lists, on our own website, in our catalogues, and in a new category I now call: the Fresh Sheet. For it we are placing new inventory on www.funkebooks.com in regular batches of 16-20 items. The Fresh Sheet is reasonably priced, intended for serendipity and scouting. Our goal:
As well, we have a new office in downtown Mill Valley (just north of San Francisco) and welcome visitors by appointment. There you will find thousands of uncatalogued high-quality scholarly books that are literally not available anywhere else. Come visit, and let’s make scouting fun again!
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’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, 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.