The May Issue of the Comet Announced: Pamphlets, Broadsides and Ephemera
- by Bruce E. McKinney
The May Comet: A focused way to buy and sell
By Bruce McKinney
The subject of the May issue of the Comet will be Pamphlets, Broadsides and Ephemera. It is one of the great breakthrough collecting areas in the internet era. This type of material has typically received less attention from bibliographers because of its insubstantial nature and lack of accessible information. For many years shows have been the primary venue for its purchase as such material has typically required visual examination. To the knowing buyer tell-tale indications often make all the difference.
The internet is increasingly transforming the market for items that rely on visual contact. Hence, searches of the complete texts of broadsides and ephemera often include what poker players call the "tell," the seemingly unimportant information that attracts a buyer or buyers for whom such information places the item in their collecting/purchasing context. This was all but impossible before and today becomes increasingly easy and widely understood.
The May issue of the Comet presents challenges to both buyers and sellers. For the seller it is the struggle to place material in a context that resides half way between conjucture and fact. For the collector it is often the deconstruction of the story. It's not easy for either but is rewarding for both.
Per usual all premium services members are eligible to list up to seven items in the Comet. There are no commissions. Images are always important, for ephemera essential. We will email all eligible members on April 15th and close the catalogue on April 29th. Links to upload are provided on Member Control Panels via "Contribute Material to the Next Issue of the Comet."
Bonhams, Apr. 8: First report outside of the colonies of the American Revolution, from American accounts. Printed broadsheet, The London Evening-Post, May 30, 1775. $20,000 - $30,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Joyce, James. The earliest typescript pages from Finnegans Wake ever to appear at auction, annotated by Joyce, 1923. $30,000 - $50,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Joyce's Ulysses, 1923, one of only seven copies known, printed to replace copies destroyed in customs. $10,000 - $15,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: ATHANASIUS KIRCHER'S COPY, INSCRIBED. Saggi di naturali esperienze fatte nell' Accademia del Cimento, 1667. $2,000 - $3,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Bernoulli's Ars conjectandi, 1713. "... first significant book on probability theory." $15,000 - $25,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Aristotle's Politica. Oeconomica. 1469. The first printed work on political economy. $80,000 - $120,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: John Graunt's Natural and political observations...., 1662. The first printed work of epidemiology and demographics. $20,000 - $30,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: William Playfair's Commercial and Political Atlas, 1786. The first work to pictorially represent information in graphics. $15,000 - $25,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Anson's A Voyage Round the World, 1748. THE J.R. ABBEY-LORD WARDINGTON COPY, BOUND BY JOHN BRINDLEY. $8,000 - $12,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: La Perouse's Voyage de La Perouse autour du monde..., 1797. LARGE FINE COPY IN ORIGINAL BOARDS. $8,000 - $12,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Charles Schulz original 8-panel Peanuts Sunday comic strip, 1992, pen and ink over pencil, featuring Charlie Brown, Snoopy and Lucy as a psychiatrist. $20,000 - $30,000
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
