Rare Book Monthly Articles - May - 2003 Issue

Analysis: Is the Internet Making the Book Fair Obsolete?

Analysis: Is the Internet Making the Book Fair Obsolete?

Or Is It Just Bad Weather, Military Karma And Economic Uncertainty? By Abby Tallmer At first glance, the answer to this question might be “of course not.” There are still book fairs and plenty of them, national and international, big and small. But let’s look further into what has actually happened at the book fairs attended by members of the AE staff over the past few months, most recently the New York Antiquarian Book Fair which I attended this past weekend. As seasoned book people will know, the New York Book Fair is traditionally one of the largest and most successful vehicles, i...

Shakers, Maine, and Everything Else A Visit with DeWolfe and Wood

Shakers, Maine, and Everything Else A Visit with DeWolfe and Wood

By Michael Stillman There are books everywhere. If the image of an old bookshop is shelf upon shelf of books, books in boxes, books in piles, room after room of books, then this is the quintesse...

Capturing Valuable Information:  The Key to Reselling

Capturing Valuable Information: The Key to Reselling

All these options begin by simply entering your books into your personal database. That is your first step. From there the world opens up to you. Now join me in a tour of the Collector’s Data...

The Collaborative Project Part II Using Databases and the New “Wants List” Software

The Collaborative Project Part II Using Databases and the New “Wants List” Software

By Michael Stillman Knowledge is power. That observation is as true today as it was when Sir Francis Bacon wrote it over four centuries ago. However, what there is to know has increased at least...

Westerly Women in America: A Journey Through the AE Database

Westerly Women in America: A Journey Through the AE Database

By Julie Carleton Introduction: For my part of the TCP project, I chose to collect Women’s Western Travel Narratives. I had an interest in this subject for several reasons. For one, this i...

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

By Bruce McKinney As a long term collector of Hudson River Valley material I have learned not to have my heart set on any particular acquisition. Buying on the net in particular is an uncertai...

Oregon Trail</i> Part II Finding Gems Along the Trail

Oregon Trail</i> Part II Finding Gems Along the Trail

Now that we’ve discovered this title, we do a specific “Primary Search” and come up with 28 records just for Palmer. With these, we learn a lot about Joel Palmer and his book. Particularly helpful ...

An Addict Is Born:   AE Database Dabbler To Immersed Wants List Junkie In Less Than 10 Easy Steps

An Addict Is Born: AE Database Dabbler To Immersed Wants List Junkie In Less Than 10 Easy Steps

The work that took me more than a week under the old “cut and paste” system (and was nearly impossible for me to read and manage) has now been accomplished more fully using the “Wants List” technol...

Dealers of South Americana:  An Interview with Alfredo & Gustavo Breitfeld

Dealers of South Americana: An Interview with Alfredo & Gustavo Breitfeld

When we started the interview Alfredo was at the counter dealing with a potential client, so his son Gustavo sat next to me on the bench and started chatting. (Even though they both protested thro...

Rare Book Monthly

  • 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.
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  • 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.

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