We have for years provided estimates of current value based on indexed valuation. In October we'll add probability of reappearance calculations. Our valuation estimates have proven useful. Adding reappearance calculations will frame bidding, negotiation and buying decisions in the years to come. This new service will be marked 'beta' for the its first year.
We are also adding free 'tracking' and a separate database of these expressions of interest. If an auction house or seller then posts a matching item at auction we will immediately email notice to each tracking account and include full details and a link to the seller. For those posting their interests a free AE account is required. Each member's list will be editable at anytime. Consider that if a rare item, identified by many as of interest, is posted. The chemistry should be very positive.
For AE's premium members the expressions of interest database will become an integral part of selecting and valuing material. Today 30% of all lots offered at auction fail to attract a satisfactory bid. If houses can see what is desired they will avoid the unwanted and pursue the desired. So too for dealers deciding both what to post and how to price. As soon as uploaded to Books for Sale emails will be sent. The dealer will not know who is looking but they will know that xx number of interested parties were informed. In time I believe both buyers and sellers will rely on this process. AE does not charge commission on sales.
As always change will be disruptive. Our continuing goal is to provide services that look at what's possible rather than what traditions dictate. We are mindful of what people expect but also seek to knit together elements and scale in innovative ways and today compete on the basis of imaginative approach. We are, in the final analysis, simply the sum of our ideas. The next generation of collector will have many alternatives. We who love books, manuscripts and ephemera are prepared to fight for a place at the table and this fall we'll warrant a careful hearing on the steps we take. Ultimately the decisions of collectors, institutions, dealers and auction houses to participate will determine the speed with which these ideas take hold. I ask for your support. We are, all of us in the field, fighting for the same outcome, the success of an extraordinary field.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Jerry Thomas. How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion, Containing Clear and Reliable Directions for Mixing All the Beverages Used in the United States…
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Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("Martinus Luther") to His Friend the Theologian Gerhard Wiskamp ("Gerardo Xantho Lampadario"). $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: An Exceptionally Fine Copy of Austenís Emma: A Novel in Three Volumes. $40,000 - $60,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Presentation Copy of Ernest Hemmingwayís A Farewell to Arms for Edward Titus of the Black Mankin Press. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript Signed Integrally for "The Songs of Pooh," by Alan Alexander. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript of "Three Fragments from Gˆtterd‰mmerung" by Richard Wagner. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Preliminary Artwork, for the First Edition of Snow Crash. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("T.R. Malthus") to Economist Nassau Senior on Wealth, Labor and Adam Smith. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Finely Bound by Michael Wilcox. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: First Edition of Lewis and Clark: Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Artwork for the First Edition of Neal Stephenson's Groundbreaking Novel Snow Crash. $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: A Complete Set Signed Deluxe Editions of King's The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("John Adams") to James Le Ray de Chaumont During the Crucial Years of the Revolutionary War. $8,000 - $12,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
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>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/8caddaea-4c1f-47a7-9455-62f53af36e3f.jpg "<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.")
