Rare Book Monthly Articles - September - 2005 Issue

What Is happening At Abebooks?

What Is happening At Abebooks?

By Michael Stillman Consternation, confusion, controversy and downright anger are swirling around the largest old and used bookselling site in the world today, Abebooks.com. All of the major bookselling sites have strained relations with their sellers at one time or another, but Abe has been pilloried by the trade of late in ways not seen before. The explanation is that the venerable bookselling site has undergone some major changes recently. Changes almost inevitably lead to disgruntled users. Some don't like any change; others have legitimate beefs. On top of this, the implementation ...

Abe:  A Walk on the Wild Side

Abe: A Walk on the Wild Side

By Bruce McKinney Abebooks, like most businesses that have done well enough to actually change scale, is looking to swim with the big fish. What they have created in the book business is n...

Can Google Redirect Your Customers to Another's Website?

Can Google Redirect Your Customers to Another's Website?

By Michael Stillman It is every bookseller's worst nightmare. You post a book for sale, on a bookselling website, or maybe even your own site. However, somewhere along the way, some insidious ...

The International Bookseller's Directory:  An important free dealer tool

The International Bookseller's Directory: An important free dealer tool

By Bruce McKinney All the talk on the internet is about how powerful it is but the underlying reality has been kind of unpleasant. Yes you can increasingly become listed on the net and even de...

Pacific Book Auction - A good place to do business

Pacific Book Auction - A good place to do business

By Karen Wright Last month I attended my first Pacific Book Auction sale. I have bought from them online several times, making bids and either being elated that I won my prize book or deflat...

Package Insurance: Managing Shipping Risk in the Bookselling Business

Package Insurance: Managing Shipping Risk in the Bookselling Business

by Renee Magriel Roberts I've never been overly fond of the insurance business. Insurance is an ethereal, intangible commodity that frequently appears more connected to a state of mind than a r...

Small Victories Make Collecting a Pleasure

Small Victories Make Collecting a Pleasure

By Bruce McKinney Building a focused collection is always a matter of discipline and luck. It helps to know what you are looking for but it's impossible to know all the material that logically...

Map Dealer Charged With Cutting Maps From Library Books

Map Dealer Charged With Cutting Maps From Library Books

By Michael Stillman A new and even more disturbing case than usual of slicing and dicing of volumes from library rare book rooms came to light recently with the arrest of E. Forbes Smiley, a lo...

1912 by James Chace

1912 by James Chace

A review by Bruce McKinney The subtitle describes this book succinctly: 1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft Debbs - the Election that Changed the Country. What? You weren't aware that this elect...

Rare Book Monthly

  • DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE, July 23: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
    DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
    DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
    DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
    DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
  • Freeman’s | Hindman
    Western Manuscripts and Miniatures
    July 8, 2025
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.
  • Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!

Article Search

Archived Articles