"In doing this I'm finding there's a clear distinction between history and nostalgia. Older collectors think about history, younger collectors feel nostalgia. The online audience is younger and their nostalgia translates into comics, videos, reel to reels, and images that were new 35 years ago. Collectible it turns out is what stimulates memory and pleasure. A book collector may think of the Civil War, the new collector the memorabilia of Martin Luther King."
"For my shows to succeed I focus on maintaining a clear view of both the exhibitor and the attendee. I can see them both. My job is to get them into the same room. If can keep them both in sight Flamingo will prosper."
Another show organizer, Myron West, speaking on behalf of the Rocky Mountain Map Society, recently suspended the Rocky Mountain Antique Map Fair that had been scheduled for September 18th and 19th. This would have been the 9th annual. Its focus was more toward the traditional collector. Without a transition to the new collector, such events will struggle. This fair and others may suffer for a while.
I asked Dan Weinberg of the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop for his view. "The current market is tough. We peaked ahead of the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth [1809]. The run up was brisk and exciting, the downturn in the economy disappointing. In the past few years, we have focused both on building an online presence and on creating opportunities for collectors to visit our shop in Chicago. The most innovative step we have taken is to create 'Virtual Book Signings.' In this presentation anyone online can join our in-shop author presentation and request a personally inscribed copy of the author's book. It works and it's gratifying to be extending the bookshop-author-collector experience in a new direction."
As to the business generally, "while I'm personally pessimistic about the future of run-of-the-mill material I continue to see strong interest for the best examples. The great pieces are of course difficult to buy while the lesser material is ever harder to sell. This means we constantly have to refresh the inventory. Collectors won't continue to visit online or in the shop if the material is unchanging."
"So the future is a challenge and I'm reminded of someone whose words I know well, that this is not the first time times have been tough. Abraham Lincoln, in a speech given in 1859 in Milwaukee to the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society, in speaking of the then unsettled times said, 'This too shall pass.' I believe this applies today and I work everyday to make it so."
I also spoke to Bill Ewald of Sacramento. Bill is a show man. The alchemy of material, price, event and place all somehow fit neatly into his personal DNA. When you ask him about shows his voice rises a bit, the tone inflects. "I do shows. You know that. This year I'm doing fewer, last year 10, this year six." I'll probably start to list online. I'm determined to build a new clientele. I have great material but in the downturn not enough people are looking at it."
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 156: Cornelis de Jode, Americae pars Borealis, double-page engraved map of North America, Antwerp, 1593.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 206: John and Alexander Walker, Map of the United States, London and Liverpool, 1827.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 223: Abraham Ortelius, Typus Orbis Terrarum, hand-colored double-page engraved world map, Antwerp, 1575.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 233: Aaron Arrowsmith, Chart of the World, oversize engraved map on 8 sheets, London, 1790 (circa 1800).
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 239: Fielding Lucas, A General Atlas, 81 engraved maps and diagrams, Baltimore, 1823.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 240: Anthony Finley, A New American Atlas, 15 maps engraved by james hamilton young on 14 double-page sheets, Philadelphia, 1826.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 263: John Bachmann, Panorama of the Seat of War, portfolio of 4 double-page chromolithographed panoramic maps, New York, 1861.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 265: Sebastian Münster, Cosmographei, Basel: Sebastian Henricpetri, 1558.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 271: Abraham Ortelius, Epitome Theatri Orteliani, Antwerp: Johann Baptist Vrients, 1601.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 283: Joris van Spilbergen, Speculum Orientalis Occidentalisque Indiae, Leiden: Nicolaus van Geelkercken for Jodocus Hondius, 1619.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 285: Levinus Hulsius, Achtzehender Theil der Newen Welt, 14 engraved folding maps, Frankfurt: Johann Frederick Weiss, 1623.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 341: John James Audubon, Carolina Parrot, Plate 26, London, 1827.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue, inscribed by the author pre-publication. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Autograph sketchleaf including a probable draft for the E flat Piano Quartet, K.493, 1786. £150,000 to £200,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000.
![<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 11:</b> Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] <i>Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society,</i> Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/00d5fd41-2542-4a80-b119-4886d4b9925f.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 11:</b> Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] <i>Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society,</i> Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.")
