<i>In The News:</i> E-Books vs. Hardcovers, Thief Sentenced, Elvis Is...
Elvis' autopsy and embalming tools.
By Michael Stillman
In a stunning announcement, at least for those not expecting the transition from printed to electronic books to be quite this fast, Amazon.com announced that e-books are now outselling hardcovers on their website. The numbers were astonishing. Over the past three months, Amazon said that they sold 1.43 books for their Kindle electronic reader for every hard cover book they sold. For the past month (June), they sold 1.8 Kindle books for every hard cover. They stated that these figures cover all of their U.S. book sales, including books where only a hardcover edition is available.
In an upbeat quarterly report, Amazon also announced that they sold more than three times as many electronic books in the first half of 2010 as they did in the same period for 2009. Association of American Publishers' figures indicate such sales grew by 207%, a healthy rate, though not quite as fast as experienced by Amazon. According to Hachette, author James Patterson has sold 1.14 million e-books to date, and four other authors have reached over half a million sales.
William Jacques didn't get the news about electronic books being more popular than printed ones. Sometime between 2004 and 2007, he regularly visited the Royal Horticultural Society library in London, emerging with old-style books stuffed under his coat. They had not been properly checked out, nor were they ever returned. Something else Jacques had not learned was that crime does not pay. He had stolen some £1 million worth of books from major British libraries in the 1990s, and was sentenced to four years in prison. Once released, he quickly returned to his old ways. This time, he was convicted of stealing £40,000 worth, and was sentenced to another 3 1/2 years. We are not sure how long he will actually serve, since last time he was sentenced to four years in 2002, but was back out casing libraries by 2004. In his last go 'round, Jacques gained something of a celebrity status, earning the nickname the "Tome Raider." This time, the highly educated but not as-smart-as-he-thinks thief was treated more like a common crook.
An odd, if not downright macabre set of Elvis Presley "collectibles" has been removed from a Leslie Hindman's Fine Books and Manuscripts auction this month. We aren't quite sure how this got into a books and manuscripts auction in the first place, but originally announced among the lots were the autopsy and embalming tools used on Elvis' body the day he died. It included such things as forceps, comb, eyeliner, needle injector, and gloves. What Elvis fan wouldn't want these? There is also a toe tag, but it says "John Doe," as a fan stole the one with his name on it that evening. These tools were only used once, and kept by the mortician who prepared the body along with other related items. They were to be sold in two lots, with the combined estimates being $10,000 - $16,000.
However, these items have been removed from the auction, and not for the obvious reason that they don't have much to do with books or manuscripts. Instead, the mortician decided to "donate" the equipment to the Memphis funeral home which provided the services. There was evidently an ownership dispute, and it would seem that the mortician who saved the equipment never owned it. It belonged to his employer. Anyway, that is the stated excuse, but I think I know better. My theory, and this is further proof I am right, is that these embalming tools could not have been authentic because... Elvis is alive!
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: APRES DE MANNEVILLETTE Le Neptune Oriental
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: CASSAS Eaux fortes de la Sicile et quelques vues d’Espagne
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: CASSINI DE THURY Carte générale et particulière de la France.
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: JOUY; GARNERAY Vues des côtes de France dans l'Océan et dans la Méditerranée
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: LA PÉROUSE Voyage autour du monde
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: LE GENTIL DE LA GALAISIERE Voyage dans les Mers de l’Inde
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: LICENT Hoang Ho, Pai Ho, Loan Ho, Leao Ho. Itinéraires suivis dans le bassin du golfe du Pei Tcheuly
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: FRENCH SCHOOL FROM THE 19th CENTURY Panorama d’Athènes
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: PEETERS Description des principales villes, havres et isles du golfe de Venise
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: PÉRON; FREYCINET Voyage de découverte aux terres australes
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: STACKELBERG La Grèce : vues pittoresques et topographiques.
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: VALENTINER Atlas des Sonnensystems.
Forum Auctions Online Sale: The Detective Fiction Collection of John Cooper Ending 7th November, 2024
Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). The Thirteen Problems, first edition, The Crime Club, 1932. £15,000 to £20,000.
Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Dumb Witness, first edition, 1937. £3,000 to £4,000.
Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Cards on the Table, first edition, The Crime Club, 1936. £2,000 to £3,000.
Forum, Nov. 7: [Carr (John Dickson)], "Carter Dickson" and John Rhode. Drop to his Death, first edition, Heinemann, [1939]. £600 to £800.
Forum, Nov. 7: Berkeley (Anthony). Jumping Jenny, first edition, Hodder and Stoughton, 1933. £800 to £1,200.
Forum Auctions Online Sale: The Detective Fiction Collection of John Cooper Ending 7th November, 2024
Forum, Nov. 7: Marsh (Ngaio). Overture to Death, first edition, The Crime Club, 1939. £600 to £800.
Forum, Nov. 7: [Day-Lewis (Cecil)] "Nicholas Blake". The Beast Must Die, first edition, 1938. £750 to £1,000.
Forum, Nov. 7: Brand (Christianna). Green for Danger, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, John Lane the Bodley Head, 1945. £600 to £800.
Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Murder is Easy, first edition, signed by the author, 1939. £3,000 to £4,000.
Forum, Nov. 7: Sayers (Dorothy L.) Lord Peter Views the Body, first edition, Gollancz, 1928. £6,000 to £8,000.
RareBookBuyer.com We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide ABAA Dealer
RareBookBuyer.com Specialized in Purchasing Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
RareBookBuyer.com We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide ABAA Dealer
RareBookBuyer.com Specialized in Purchasing Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
RareBookBuyer.com We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide ABAA Dealer
RareBookBuyer.com Specialized in Purchasing Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
RareBookBuyer.com We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide ABAA Dealer
RareBookBuyer.com Specialized in Purchasing Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
RareBookBuyer.com We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide ABAA Dealer
Sotheby's Fine Books, Manuscripts & More Available for Immediate Purchase
Sotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. 11,135 USD
Sotheby’s: Edgar Allan Poe. The Raven and Other Poems, 1845. 33,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Leo Tolstoy, Clara Bow. War and Peace, 1886. 22,500 USD
Sotheby’s: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1902. 7,500 USD
Sotheby’s: F. Scott Fitzgerald. This Side of Paradise, The Great Gatsby, and Others, 1920-1941. 24,180 USD
Freeman’s | Hindman Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana November 14
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: LEROUX, Gaston. The Phantom of the Opera. FIRST AM. ED, FIRST ISSUE IN THE VERY RARE DUST JACKET. 1911. $6,000 – 8,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: GOULD, John. A Monograph of the Trochilidae...Humming-Birds. L., [1849-] 1861. $60,000 – 80,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: A COMPLETE RUN of Limited Editions Club publications, v.p. [mostly New York], 1929-2010. $50,000 – 60,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: ORWELL, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. Lon., 1949. FIRST EDITION IN A VERY FINE DUST JACKET. $6,000 – 8,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: GOULD. A Monograph of the Ramphastidae...Toucans. L., [1852-] 54. SECOND ED. $35,000 – 45,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14:The Federalist. NY, 1788. FIRST EDITION, THICK PAPER COPY. $60,000 – 80,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: SELBY. Plates to Selby’s Illustrations of British Ornithology. Edin., [1833-] 34. $20,000 – 30,000.