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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 - November - 2007 Issue
90,000 Books sell at Auction: Sold!
By Bruce McKinney
On October 6th, at JMW Auctions in Kingston, New York, the 90,000 + book inventory of scholarly and out-of-print materials of the Zobel Book Service was hammered down to Experienced Books LLC of Colton, California for $1,000. The sale attracted wide attention. Thousands of viewers online clicked through to read about the sale, to view the specially prepared video and in one case, to bid. That bid was made as the clock was winding down toward unsold. The winning bid works out to about $0.01 per book.
In the run-up to the sale there was wide ranging discussion among dealers and on blogs about it. Most people seemed to hope for but not expect a positive outcome. Following the sale, a second wave of postings discussed the outcome.
ExperiencedBooks.com, is an aggressive online seller. As recently as October 15th they were listing 479,305 items on Abe and 81,378 on eBay. As of the October 30th the Abe material had increased to 480,479 items, the eBay listings to 82,806. On eBay, about 14,000 items were recently listed for $0.99 and a few for even less. On Abe, the vast majority of items are inexpensive although a few are priced above $1,000. Their website is www.experiencedbooks.com., their eBay store http://stores.ebay.com?Experienced-Books-LLC, and their Abe listings http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&vci=50611312&an=&tn=&kn=&isbn
The auction came at a time when the book business is in transition. Increasingly it is understood that perhaps half of all books available on the internet today may never sell due to a combination of over-supply and increasing listing fees. In some sense the winner's bid is a bet that the trend toward free listings continues to develop. For low price and slow selling material free listing services may prove to be crucial long term.
According to one professional in the mass low end redistribution field, the game is in flux as new players are entering and others washing out. This leaves established services to potentially play an increasing role as more books move through the stages of potential sale from probable to possible to unlikely. The less likely to sell material will increasingly be handled by entrepreneurs [triagistas] who are more marketer than bookman. Their role will be essential and free listing services potentially the difference between success and failure.