Rare Book Monthly

Articles - September - 2009 Issue

What is the Americana Exchange?

AE's auction search find 38 Revolutionary War-era items for sale at auction now.

AE's auction search find 38 Revolutionary War-era items for sale at auction now.


By Michael Stillman

What is the Americana Exchange? Most people really don't know a lot about this site, but it has many useful features, some of which you may be missing out on. It is intended to provide many benefits for book collectors, sellers, librarians, auctioneers, researchers, and just about anyone else with an interest or need for information about antiquarian and rare books. What we find is many of our readers are familiar with a few of the site's features, but not most. So here is a quick review, and we hope you will find something new and interesting in the process.

First, a quick note about what it is not - a site about Americana. It started as a site about American books, but it took us about ten minutes to realize that our readers wanted information on all kinds of books, not just one field. However, once you choose a name and web address, it's hard to change, but you can call us "AE" for short.

Our services divide into two types, free and subscription. Most are free and very useful, but some are more expensive to provide, and without any paid services, it would be difficult to offer any, paid or free. Of course, we hope the free services will entice you to try the subscriber ones. However, there is no such requirement, and we don't check up to see if you have subscribed. So go ahead and use the free services all you want without subscribing. You don't have to feel guilty (but you may).

Free Services

Auction Search. AE offers the only comprehensive book auction searches anywhere. By "auction search" we don't mean a search of auctions, but a search of all of the individual book and ephemera listings at upcoming auctions. The auction search enables you to conduct keyword searches of listings from the over 150 worldwide auction houses we track. There is nothing else like it anywhere. The number of listings searched usually runs from a few thousand to 20,000, depending on the time of year. Click here to try a search.

Auction Calendar. This is a calendar of upcoming auction dates, subjects and places, along with complete listings as soon as available. It also displays recently completed auctions (past 60 days) with results. Click here for this month's calendar. Arrows for previous and next month's listings can be found on the top corners of the calendar.

Rare Book Monthly

  • High Bids Win
    Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines
    and Machine Manuals
    December 24 to January 9
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Ellis Smith Prints unsigned. 20” by 16”.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: United typothetae of America presidents. Pictures of 37 UTA presidents 46th annual convention United typothetae of America Cincinnati 1932.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec signed Paper Impressionism Art Prints. MayMilton 9 1/2” by 13” Reine de Joie 9 1/2” by 13”.
    High Bids Win
    Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines
    and Machine Manuals
    December 24 to January 9
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Aberle’ Ballet editions. 108th triumph, American season spring and summer 1944.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Puss ‘n Boots. 1994 Charles Perrult All four are signed by Andreas Deja
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Specimen book of type faces. Job composition department, Philadelphia gazette publishing company .
    High Bids Win
    Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines
    and Machine Manuals
    December 24 to January 9
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: An exhibit of printed books, Bridwell library.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur Court By Mark Twain 1889.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: 1963 Philadelphia Eagles official program.
    High Bids Win
    Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines
    and Machine Manuals
    December 24 to January 9
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: 8 - Esquire the magazine for men 1954.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: The American printer, July 1910.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Leaves of grass 1855 by Walt Whitman.
  • 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

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