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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 -
Finarte
Books, Autographs & Prints
June 24 & 25, 2025Finarte, June 24-25: ALIGHIERI, DANTE / LANDINO, CRISTOFORO. Comento di Christophoro Landino Fiorentino sopra la Comedia di Danthe Alighieri poeta fiorentino, 1481. €40,000 to €50,000.Finarte, June 24-25: ALIGHIERI, DANTE. La Commedia [Commento di Christophorus Landinus]. Aggiunta: Marsilius Ficinus, Ad Dantem gratulatio [in latino e Italiano], 1487. €40,000 to €60,000.Finarte, June 24-25: ALIGHIERI, DANTE. Il Convivio, 1490. €20,000 to €25,000.Finarte
Books, Autographs & Prints
June 24 & 25, 2025Finarte, June 24-25: BANDELLO, MATTEO. La prima [-quarta] parte de le nouelle del Bandello, 1554. €7,000 to €9,000.Finarte, June 24-25: LEGATURA – PLUTARCO. Le vies des hommes illustres, grecs et romaines translates, 1567. €10,000 to €12,000.Finarte, June 24-25: TOLOMEO, CLAUDIO. Ptolemeo La Geografia di Claudio Ptolemeo Alessandrino, Con alcuni comenti…, 1548. €4,000 to €6,000.Finarte
Books, Autographs & Prints
June 24 & 25, 2025Finarte, June 24-25: FESTE - COPPOLA, GIOVANNI CARLO. Le nozze degli Dei, favola [...] rappresentata in musica in Firenze…, 1637. €6,000 to €8,000.Finarte, June 24-25: SPINOZA, BARUCH. Opera posthuma, 1677. €8,000 to €12,000.Finarte, June 24-25: PUSHKIN, ALEXANDER. Borus Godunov, 1831. €30,000 to €50,000.Finarte
Books, Autographs & Prints
June 24 & 25, 2025Finarte, June 24-25: LIBRO D'ARTISTA - LECUIRE, PIERRE. Ballets-minute, 1954. €35,000 to €40,000.Finarte, June 24-25: LIBRO D'ARTISTA - MAJAKOVSKIJ, VLADIMIR / LISSITZKY, LAZAR MARKOVICH. Dlia Golosa, 1923. €7,000 to €10,000.Finarte, June 24-25: LIBRO D'ARTISTA - MATISSE, HENRI / MONTHERLANT, HENRY DE. Pasiphaé. Chant de Minos., 1944. €22,000 to €24,000. -
Bonhams, June 16-25: 15th-CENTURY TREATISE ON SYPHILIS. GRÜNPECK. 1496. $20,000 - $30,000Bonhams, June 16-25: THE NORMAN COPY OF BENIVIENI'S TREATISE ON PATHOLOGY. 1507. $12,000 - $18,000Bonhams, June 16-25: FRACASTORO. Syphilis sive Morbus Gallicus. 1530. $8,000 - $12,000Bonhams, June 16-25: THE FIRST PUBLISHED WORK ON SKIN DISEASES. MERCURIALIS. De morbis cutaneis... 1572. $10,000 - $15,000Bonhams, June 16-25: BIDLOO. Anatomia humani corporis... 1685. $6,000 - $9,000Bonhams, June 16-25: THE NORMAN COPY OF DOUGLASS'S EARLY AMERICAN WORK ON INNOCULATION AND SMALLPOX. 1722. $20,000 - $30,000Bonhams, June 16-25: LIND'S FIRST TREATISE ON SCURVY. 1753. $15,000 - $20,000Bonhams, June 16-25: RARE JENNER SIGNED CIRCULAR ON VACCINATION. 1821. $4,000 - $6,000Bonhams, June 16-25: MOST BEAUTIFUL OF MEDICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. BRIGHT. Reports of Medical Cases... 1827-1831. $10,000 - $15,000Bonhams, June 16-25: FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE PRESENTATION COPY TO HER MOTHER. 1860. $6,000 - $8,000Bonhams, June 16-25: LORENZO TRAVER'S MANUSCRIPT JOURNAL OF BURNSIDE'S NORTH CAROLINA EXPEDITION. TRAVER, Lorenzo. $2,000 - $3,000Bonhams, June 16-25: ONE OF THE EARLIEST PHOTOGRAPHIC BOOKS ON DERMATOLOGY. HARDY. Clinique Photographique... 1868. $3,000 - $5,000
Rare Book Monthly
Buday Books: 60+ Years Of Bookselling By One Owner
By Michael Stillman
In an era when so many booksellers have struggled, often unsuccessfully, to survive, we found one that has managed to weather many storms through numerous eras. Buday Books of rural Gilbertsville, in upstate New York, has been in business, under the same proprietorship, for over 60 years. Perhaps someone has been at it longer, but we have not met them. This story begins in 1947, the year Victor and Rita Buday were married. It has been running continuously ever since. We recently interviewed Mr. Buday to learn more about this remarkable survivor, and what advice they might have for struggling booksellers thinking of closing the doors after just a few years.
Rita ("Mrs. B") was a copy editor at the Saturday Review of Literature in New York in 1947. Victor ("Mr. B") worked for the printer which published the Review. Both were "book junkies," with interests in the sciences, classic literature, graphic arts, and metalworking. They were married that year, after which they moved to Long Island. Mrs. B began working for a daily newspaper, Mr. B for a printer. It was then that they began selling books, primarily deaccessioned college library books, by catalogue. However, and this is the major piece of advice they would offer newer booksellers, "we kept our day jobs." Those "day jobs" would change over the years, but the Budays never became totally dependent on selling books to make a living.
In 1962, they moved again, this time to rural Gilbertsville, population 502, "including the dog sleeping in the middle of Main Street when the sun shines." They operated their own printing and publishing business, continued to issue book catalogues, and periodically bought out nonfiction collections, to add to deaccessioned university library books from several noted upstate New York colleges.
In 1969, the Budays landed their largest printing customer. They used to run small ads in a long-gone trade publication for their printing business. One day, they received a call from an auction house in New York City asking to see some samples of their work. The following day, a large Buick pulled into their driveway. One of the passengers was Benjamin Swann, of Swann Galleries. Swann had opened his business in 1941 and was now looking for someone who could not only print his catalogues, but guarantee they were mailed on time. Working on tight deadlines, it was essential to an auction house that their catalogues reach their customers in time for them to participate in the sales. Mr. Swann agreed to meet the Budays' price, and pay overtime when necessary, but timely delivery of catalogues was "non-negotiable."
Mr. B then asked what assurance he had of being paid. One of the other gentlemen turned to him and asked whether he realized he had just insulted Mr. Swann. However, Benjamin Swann recognized it as a fair question, and assured the Budays that his word was good and that they would be paid as soon as the catalogues arrived. Both parties were good for their word, as the relationship went on for another 30 years, both during the tenure of Mr. Swann and his successor, George Lowry.
As Swann's business grew under Lowry's ownership, so did the Budays'. They would mail 35 to 40 catalogues per year, all under strict deadlines. This continued until 1998, when, as Mr. B puts it, "our bones creaked." After 50 years, they finally gave up their "day jobs," closing down the print shop and going into the bookselling business full time, though that might also be described as semi-retirement. They had put enough money away over the years to live, not in wealth in retirement, but in comfort. They converted the print shop into a book warehouse, stopped printing catalogues, and began listing books on the internet. AbeBooks was their major site, but after becoming disenchanted with them, closed their Abe shop. Instead, they continue to sell on several smaller sites: Biblio, Antiqbook, and Tom Folio, 61 years after opening for business.