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Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly! -
Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 567. One of the Earliest & Most Desirable Printed Maps of Arabia - by Holle/Germanus (1482) Est. $55,000 - $65,000Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 681. Zatta's Complete Atlas with 218 Maps in Full Contemporary Color (1779) Est. $27,500 - $35,000Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 347. MacDonald Gill's Landmark "Wonderground Map" of London (1914) Est. $1,800 - $2,100Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 1. Fries' "Modern" World Map with Portraits of Five Kings (1525) Est. $4,000 - $4,750Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 539. Ortelius' Superb, Decorative Map of Cyprus in Full Contemporary Color (1573) Est. $1,100 - $1,400Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 51. Mercator's Foundation Map for the Americas in Full Contemporary Color (1630) Est. $3,250 - $4,000Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 667. Manuscript Bible Leaf with Image of Mary and Baby Jesus (1450) Est. $1,900 - $2,200Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 226. "A Powerful Example of Color Used to Make a Point" (1895) Est. $400 - $600Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 290. One of the Most Decorative Early Maps of South America - from Linschoten's "Itinerario" (1596) Est. $7,000 - $8,500Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 62. Coronelli's Influential Map of North America with the Island of California (1688) Est. $10,000 - $12,000Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 589. The First European-Printed Map of China - by Ortelius (1584) Est. $4,000 - $5,000
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Forum Auctions
A Sixth Selection of 16th and 17th Century English Books from the Fox Pointe Manor Library
19th June 2025Forum, June 19: Euclid. The Elements of Geometrie, first edition in English of the first complete translation, [1570]. £20,000 to £30,000.Forum, June 19: Nicolay (Nicolas de). The Navigations, peregrinations and voyages, made into Turkie, first edition in English, 1585. £10,000 to £15,000.Forum, June 19: Shakespeare source book.- Montemayor (Jorge de). Diana of George of Montemayor, first edition in English, 1598. £6,000 to £8,000.Forum, June 19: Livius (Titus). The Romane Historie, first edition in English, translated by Philemon Holland, Adam Islip, 1600. £6,000 to £8,000.Forum Auctions
A Sixth Selection of 16th and 17th Century English Books from the Fox Pointe Manor Library
19th June 2025Forum, June 19: Robert Molesworth's copy.- Montaigne (Michel de). The Essayes Or Morall, Politike and Millitarie Discourses, first edition in English, 1603. £10,000 to £15,000.Forum, June 19: Shakespeare (William). The Tempest [&] The Two Gentlemen of Verona, from the Second Folio, [Printed by Thomas Cotes], 1632. £4,000 to £6,000.Forum, June 19: Boyle (Robert). Medicina Hydrostatica: or, Hydrostaticks Applyed to the Materia Medica, first edition, for Samuel Smith, 1690. £2,500 to £3,500.Forum, June 19: Locke (John). An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding in Four Books, first edition, second issue, 1690. £8,00 to £12,000. -
Sotheby’s
New York Book Week
12-26 JuneSotheby’s, June 25: Theocritus. Theocriti Eclogae triginta, Venice, Aldo Manuzio, February 1495/1496. 220,000 - 280,000 USDSotheby’s, June 26: Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby, 1925. 40,000 - 60,000 USDSotheby’s, June 26: Blake, William. Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Printed ca. 1381-1832. 400,000 - 600,000 USDSotheby’s, June 26: Lincoln, Abraham. Thirteenth Amendment, signed by Abraham Lincoln. 8,000,000 - 12,000,000 USDSotheby’s, June 26: Galieli, Galileo. First Edition of the Foundation of Modern Astronomy, 1610. 300,000 - 400,000 USD
Rare Book Monthly
Articles - February - 2006 Issue
Adding Value to Books by Creating a Collection
By Renée Magriel Roberts
In today's super-competitive, Internet-dominated marketplace, we have seen the value of good, used books, and even some more common rare books decline, as customers now have the option of comparison-shopping with dealers all over the world. This is not new to the marketplace; computer dealers quickly discovered that once generic machines were available, they could not continue to get the higher margins that once attracted people to name brands. Some went out of business and others quickly made adjustments, creating a total gestalt, a value-added package, that included not only the machine, but software, support and training.
Selling books is not entirely dissimilar from the technology marketplace. Bookselling responds extremely well to value-added efforts and especially to product knowledge. The research and knowledge behind an author, an illustrator, a work, or particular subject areas, for example, adds value to each and every listing. We have seen on many occasions that books we have listed have sold, despite lower-priced, comparable books being available, because of the quality of the listing.
With this in mind, we have also worked at developing book collections. Collections are worth far more than the sum of the values of the individual books because they represent additional time, knowledge, opportunity, aesthetics, and value that a buyer may not wish to simulate. They are rare by design, because as a collection, they are unique.
I learned a little about collecting from my father-in-law, Paul Magriel, a legendary art collector, who collected boxing ephemera, American drawings, art nouveau, American still lifes, and Renaissance bronzes, among many other groups of works. He had an impeccable eye and would send his collections to museums all over the country on exhibit, sell each one, and then start over again to build a new collection.
We became interested in one particular work, Benjamin Franklin's autobiography or memoir, a few years ago when we acquired an inexpensive early American reprint and tried to figure out exactly how it stood with respect to a "first edition". It became clear almost immediately that there were problems with even defining a first edition of this work. The earliest book in print (Paris: Buissson, 1791) was a French translation of a pirated, poorly copied version of Part I only of the four parts and the outline that now are thought to represent the extent of the work. There was a Swedish translation of the French (1792) as well as a German translation. The first appearance in English was a translation from the French, again of Part I only, and with little relationship to the original ms. The second appearance in English was a different translation from the French, again of Part I only. In 1818 the first three parts were published from the ms., but were edited, in some places for style, in others for substance. And in 1868, when John Bigelow for the first time published all four parts and the outline, from the original ms., he edited the work as well.