Rare Book Hub is a paid self-appraisal service. Nevertheless, we frequently receive requests for free “advice” about what an owner should do with their old books. Over the years, from their random questions, I’ve noticed that most of the books mentioned are not found in our Transaction history.
Recently, I was reading a February 28th, 1870 issue of Harper’s Bazar [that’s their spelling] and ran across an advertisement offering new books and wondered how they have done since then. For goodness sake, it’s been 153 years. As RBH is providing 13 million auction results I assumed we must have most of them.
Yes and no!
Our database covers books, manuscripts, maps and ephemera that have made it into the auction rooms. I chose 17 of them right off the Harper & Brothers February 26, 1870 advertisement. They were all from their presses between 1868 to 1870 of which eight found their way into our Transactions+. The other 9 have never made it into the rooms we have covered.
We long have understood that auction houses have been fussy, but these results suggest that the preponderance of those books never achieved visability. They never had their moment in the sun.
While the auctions have said no thank you over the past 150 years, there are other options for selling and I visited Abebooks to see if these same titles and editions are available now.
Some are but the prices are decidedly low by auction standards. Rock bottom auction realizations start at $100 and what I found online are mostly offered for two digits while there is no saying how long those books have been waiting for new homes.
This analysis is leaving me a bit less optimistic about what I’ll say when folks ask for advice. Most old books are simply old and the market is not impressed.
Here are titles that I ran on Transactions+ and Abe. I used the titles and the date range 1868-1870.
1. Sketches of Creation
2. Under Foot. A Novel
3. The Andes and the Amazon
4. Hirell. A Novel
5. Tennyson’s Complete Poems
6. Adventures of Caleb Williams
7. Plautus’s Plays
8. Medora Leigh
9. Miss Mitford’s Life and Letters
10. Only Herself. A Novel
11. Pictorial Field-Book of the War of 1812
12. Haydn’s Dictionary of Dates
13. The Romance of Spanish History
14. My Enemy’s Daughter
15. Bound to John Company
16. Odes and Epodes of Horace
17. Wrecked in Port
Almost everyone keeps their books in the hope and expectation someone will want them. I hope this works out for them.
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…
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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.
![<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.")
![<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.")
