The Rare Book Review announces its awards for 2007.
By Michael Stillman
Rare Book Review, the magazine of the rare and antiquarian book trade, recently announced the winners of their inaugural Rare Book Review Awards. Winners were selected by a panel of experts, industry leaders, visitors at the ABA Chelsea Book Fair, and readers of the magazine. If you see a slight tilt toward British entrants, that's because the Review is headquartered in London, and the Chelsea book fair was, after all, held in Chelsea (but not Chelsea, Massachusetts). Indeed, when categories are described as "favourites," you can be confident that there is something of a British bent here, so Americans who did not win should not feel slighted. Nevertheless, you will see many names from the former colonies here too, and they surely are "favorites" as well. So let's take a look at who won the first Rare Book Review Awards.
Favourite Online Booktrading Service of the Year.
You know this one is going to stir controversy. There probably isn't anyone who could win peaceably in this field, so contentious has the subject become among booksellers. As the award givers noted, the winner had to survive a strike by the ABA against increased fees. Nevertheless, when the votes were tallied, the award went to AbeBooks. As the Rare Book Review editors noted, "...for sheer accessibility, accuracy and breadth of content our readers cannot fault it." AbeBooks CEO Hannes Blum commented, "This is a tremendous honor. Thanks to all the readers who voted for us." Special mention was also given to Biblion, Antiqbook, and the Americana Exchange.
The Book World's Highlight of the Year.
This honor went to the Macclesfield Sale at Sotheby's. Actually, this sale from the library of the Earls of Macclesfield has been going on for several years. An item from this sale, a previously unknown illuminated 14th century manuscript psalter, topped The AE 500 as the most expensive book/document at auction in 2004 when it sold for over $4 million. Part 9 of the sale at Sotheby's London in March 2007 took in almost $8 million more, running the total to some $40 million. Runner up was the strange sale of the Bishop of Truro's library, grabbed up in a private sale by a dealer for less money than he sold some of the individual pieces in it. Also highly noted was the Frank Streeter sale at Christie's New York, which took in over $16 million, the Hattesley sale at Bonham's Oxford, the private sale of Dennistoun's Collection of Financial Work by Bernard Shapero, and the ADAA sale. Also noted was the opening of Bloomsbury Auctions' office in New York, and the closing of the venerable Heritage Book Shop in Los Angeles.
High Bids Win, Dec. 4 – 19: Lot 212. Kelsey Letterpress
High Bids Win, Dec. 4 – 19: Wood & Metal Type. Many fonts and faces.
High Bids Win, Dec. 4 – 19: Print Shop Miscellany including type, tools, and equipment.
Sotheby's Fine Books, Manuscripts & More Available for Immediate Purchase
Sotheby’s: William Shakespeare. The Poems and Sonnets of William Shakespeare, 1960. 7,210 USD
Sotheby’s: Charles Dickens. A Christmas Carol, First Edition, 1843. 17,500 USD
Sotheby’s: William Golding. Lord of the Flies, First Edition, 1954. 5,400 USD
Sotheby's Fine Books, Manuscripts & More Available for Immediate Purchase
Sotheby’s: Lewis Carroll. Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, Inscribed First Edition, 1872. 25,000 USD
Sotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien. The Hobbit, First Edition, 1937. 12,000 USD
Sotheby’s: John Milton. Paradise Lost, 1759. 5,400 USD
Bonhams, Dec. 18: A Very Fine Composite Atlas Magnificently Illuminated and Heightened with Gold in a Fine Contemporary Hand Throughout. $300,000 - $500,000
Bonhams, Dec. 18: Saint-Exupéry's Revised Ending for Wind, Sand and Stars. $40,000 - $60,000
Bonhams, Dec. 18: Edith Wharton's Gold Medal from the National Institute of Arts and Letters, 1924. $20,000 - $30,000
Bonhams, Dec. 18: Salinger on the Glass Family and on Detachment. $10,000 - $15,000
Bonhams, Dec. 18: Fanny Burney's Groundbreaking First Novel. Evelina, Or a Young Lady's Entrance into the World. $10,000 - $15,000
Bonhams, Dec. 18: Kafka's Earliest Extant Piece of Writing. Autograph Note Signed ("Franz Kafka"). $10,000 - $15,000
Bonhams, Dec. 18: Wagner Signed "Ride of the Valkries." $6,000 - $9,000
Bonhams, Dec. 18: Dickens on the Death of Little Nell. $5,000 - $8,000
Bonhams, Dec. 18: Sylvia Plath's Copy of Joy of Cooking. $4,000 - $6,000
Bonhams, Dec. 18: Walt Whitman and Friends: Whitman to James Russell Lowell. $8,000 - $12,000
Bonhams, Dec. 18: Walt Whitman and Friends: The Genesis of his Lincoln Lectures. $6,000 - $9,000
