<i>In The News:</i> Declining Newspapers, Digitizing Books, Abe's Top 10

- by Michael Stillman


AbeBooks generated their latest top 10 highest prices for the month, this time September. The prices are a bit lower than we usually see, which may, or may not, reflect tightening economic conditions.

10. Bible Verse with illustrations by Mark Chagall, Vol. 8 No. 33-34. Chagall's Bible illustrations with 16 color lithographs. $3,916.

9. Songs of Central Australia, an interesting title since not many people live in the Outback. One of 1,000 copies by T.G.H. Strehlow, published in 1971. $4,000.

8. Voyage d'Italie, de Dalmatie, de Grèce, et du Levant, fait en 1675 & 1676, by Jacob Spon and George Wheler. Three volumes published in 1678, of this journey to Greece and Asia Minor. $4,206.

7. Handbook of Theoretical and Computational Nanotechnology, a large set (10 volumes) about things very small. By Rieth Michael, published in 2006. $4,780.

5 (tie). Keraban-le-Tetu, an 1883 first illustrated edition inscribed by author Jules Verne in 1887. $5,000.

5 (tie). Lo Purgatorio di Dante Alighieri Fiorentino by Dante, one of 150 fine press copies of this 1904 edition by Nella Stamperia di Ashendene. $5,000.

4. Tibullus cum commentariis Cyllænii Veronensis by Tibullus, Catullus and Propertius. This is a 1500 collection of the works of these poets, obviously in Latin. $6,527.

3. The Catalogue of the George Eumorfopoulos Collection by R.L. Hobson, Laurence Binyon and W. Perceval Yettes. This is an 11-volume set pertaining to Asian pottery, porcelain, paintings, etc. $6,555.

2. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, a book 504 years newer than the Latin collection, but higher priced anyway as it is a first deluxe edition signed by J.K. Rowling at the Edinburgh Book Festival. $6,958.

1. Administration des Haras. Atlas statistique de la production des chevaux en France... a beautiful, illustrated 1850 work by Eugene Gayot concerning various breeds of horses in France. $7,000.