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Sotheby's
Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
Available for Immediate PurchaseSotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. 11,135 USDSotheby’s: Edgar Allan Poe. The Raven and Other Poems, 1845. 33,000 USDSotheby’s: Leo Tolstoy, Clara Bow. War and Peace, 1886. 22,500 USDSotheby’s: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1902. 7,500 USDSotheby’s: F. Scott Fitzgerald. This Side of Paradise, The Great Gatsby, and Others, 1920-1941. 24,180 USD -
Doyle, Dec. 5: Minas Avetisian (1928-1975). Rest, 1973. $8,000 to $12,000.Doyle, Dec. 5: Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington (1876-1973). Yawning Tiger, conceived 1917. $3,000 to $5,000.Doyle, Dec. 5: Robert M. Kulicke (1924-2007). Full-Blown Red and White Roses in a Glass Vase, 1982. $3,000 to $5,000.Doyle, Dec. 5: Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). L’ATELIER DE CANNES (Bloch 794; Mourlot 279). The cover for Ces Peintres Nos Amis, vol. II. $1,000 to $1,500.Doyle, Dec. 5: LeRoy Neiman (1921-2012). THE BEACH AT CANNES, 1979. $1,200 to $1,800.Doyle, Dec. 5: Richard Avendon, the suite of eleven signed portraits from the Avedon/Paris portfolio. $150,000 to $250,000.Doyle, Dec. 5: Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989). Flowers in Vase, 1985. $20,000 to $30,000.Doyle, Dec. 5: Edward Weston (1886-1958). Nude, 1936. $20,000 to $30,000.Doyle, Dec. 5: Edward Weston (1886-1958). Juniper, High Sierra, 1937.Doyle, Dec. 5: Steven J. Levn (b. 1964). Plumage II, 2011. $6,000 to $8,000.Doyle, Dec. 5: Steven Meisel (b. 1954). Madonna, Miami, (from Sex), 1992. $6,000 to $9,000. -
Gonnelli:
Auction 55
Antique prints, paintings and maps
November 26st 2024Gonnelli: Stefano Della Bella, 23 animal plances,1641. Starting price 480€Gonnelli: Stefano Della Bella, Boar Hunt, 1654. Starting price 180€Gonnelli: Crispijn Van de Passe, The seven Arts, 1637. Starting price 600€Gonnelli: Giuseppe Maria Mitelli, La Maschera è cagion di molti mali, 1688. Starting price 320€Gonnelli: Biribissor’s game, 1804-15. Starting price 2800€Gonnelli: Nicolas II de Larmessin, Habitats,1700. Starting price 320€Gonnelli: Miniature “O”, 1400. Starting price 1800€Gonnelli: Jan Van der Straet, Hunt scenes, 1596. Starting Price 140€Gonnelli: Massimino Baseggio, Costantinople, 1787. Starting price 480€Gonnelli: Kawanabe Kyosai, Erotic scene lighten up by a candle, 1860. Starting price 380€Gonnelli: Duck shaped dropper, 1670. Starting price 800€ -
Doyle, Dec. 6: An extensive archive of Raymond Chandler’s unpublished drafts of fantasy stories. $60,000 to $80,000.Doyle, Dec. 6: RAND, AYN. Single page from Ayn Rand’s handwritten first draft of her influential final novel Atlas Shrugged. $30,000 to $50,000.Doyle, Dec. 6: Ernest Hemingway’s first book with interesting provenance. Three Stories & Ten Poems. $20,000 to $30,000.Doyle, Dec. 6: Hemingway’s second book, one of 170 copies. In Our Time. $15,000 to $25,000.Doyle, Dec. 6: A finely colored example of Visscher’s double hemisphere world map, with a figured border. $12,000 to $18,000.Doyle, Dec. 6: Raymond Chandler’s Olivetti Studio 44 Typewriter. $10,000 to $20,000.Doyle, Dec. 6: Antonio Ordóñez's “Suit of Lights” owned by Ernest Hemingway. $10,000 to $20,000.Doyle, Dec. 6: A remarkable Truman archive featuring an inscribed beam from the White House construction. $8,000 to $12,000.Doyle, Dec. 6: The fourth edition of Audubon’s The Birds of America. $8,000 to $12,000.Doyle, Dec. 6: The original typed manuscript for Chandler’s only opera. The Princess and the Pedlar: An Entirely Original Comic Opera. $8,000 to $12,000.Doyle, Dec. 6: A splendidly illustrated treatise on ancient Peru and its Incan civilization. $7,000 to $10,000.Doyle, Dec. 6: A superb copy of Claude Lorrain’s Liber Veritatis from Longleat House. $5,000 to $8,000.
Rare Book Monthly
Articles - September - 2010 Issue
Bookstore For Sale: Barnes & Noble
Barnes and Noble's stock was not doing well this year prior to their
By Michael Stillman
Barnes and Noble, America's largest bricks and mortar bookseller, made two potentially important announcements this past month. The word "potential" must be used with any moves the company makes at this point, as the viability of any large chain of bookstores in this digital age is not beyond question. Barnes and Noble has been waging an uphill battle for years against online retailer Amazon.com, and its competitor has regularly gotten the better of B&N for a long time.
Last month, the company announced, in effect, that it was putting itself up for sale. In a news release, the company announced its "Board of Directors intends to evaluate strategic alternatives, including a possible sale of the company, in order to increase stockholder value." The Board hired Wall Street firm Lazard to serve as their financial advisor. It stated that the decision was made because the Board believes its stock is "now significantly undervalued." A contrary point of view was expressed by James B. Stewart in the Wall Street Journal. He commented, "in my experience, most companies sell when they believe their shares are expensive." Stewart added the ultimate cut by stating that putting itself up for sale amounted to "rendering it the corporate equivalent of the remaindered books it sells at a discount."
Of course, the market is the ultimate arbiter of value. In other words, the stock is correctly priced until such time as the company can show its prospects deserve a higher value, or events show it deserves a lower one. Until then, the trend would indicate, if anything, that the stock price is in the midst of a long decline.
The Board issued the following statement in support of its new strategy: "As the world's largest bookseller, Barnes & Noble has an iconic brand and unique competitive advantages we believe will position the company to succeed over time in a rapidly changing market. The Board is confident in Barnes & Noble's strategy and fully supportive of the senior management team, which is delivering explosive growth in our fast-developing digital business. The Board has concluded that a review of strategic alternatives is the appropriate next step to take full advantage of our compelling digital opportunities and to create value for shareholders, customers, and employees."
Let's take a look at that statement, perhaps a bit more objectively than the enthusiastic Board can. Certainly the company has "unique competitive advantages." It has the largest number of bricks and mortar stores in the U.S. However, that advantage is also its albatross. Those stores bring all kinds of costs with them Amazon does not have to face. It is very hard to be price competitive with all of that overhead, as so many other chains learned when internet competition appeared. People still go to their local stores to browse and learn, but then buy the item for the lowest price they can find online. Barnes and Noble still needs to find a way to leverage that local presence into local dollars, and that remains an enormous challenge.
Compounding this issue is the rising popularity of electronic readers. The advantage of instant gratification that Barnes and Noble enjoys with physical books disappears with digital books. Electronic books' share of the market is increasing rapidly, and physical books may become nothing more than a niche market in the years ahead. This is definitely not to Barnes and Noble's advantage.
Next, the Board speaks of Barnes and Noble's "explosive growth" in the digital business. Of course, any sales when you start from zero can be described as "explosive," certainly on a percentage basis. None of this accounts for the fact that Amazon saw this market first and is way out ahead, both in terms of sales of electronic readers and digital books. Meanwhile, others such as Apple are also ahead of B&N when it comes to electronic readers, and Google and others plan to provide even more stiff competition for the selling of digital books. Old technology Barnes and Noble has a lot of catching up to do, and it remains to be seen whether its one asset/albatross, local presence and a well-known brand name, can somehow make up the difference.
![<b>ALDE, Dec. 11:</b> CASSERIUS (JULIUS) [GIULIO CASSERIO]. <i>De vocis auditusq. organis historia anatomica singulari fide methodo ac industria concinnata tractatis duobus explicate,</i> Ferrara, 1600-1601. €4,000 to €5,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/b719f220-50aa-4855-9a72-293cad312283.jpg "<b>ALDE, Dec. 11:</b> CASSERIUS (JULIUS) [GIULIO CASSERIO]. <i>De vocis auditusq. organis historia anatomica singulari fide methodo ac industria concinnata tractatis duobus explicate,</i> Ferrara, 1600-1601. €4,000 to €5,000.")
