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 ...
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...
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 ...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Swann, June 12: Lot 3: Thomas McKenney and James Hall, History of the Indian Tribes of North America, 1848-1854. Estimate $3,000 to $4,000.
Swann, June 12: Lot 8: Invoice to the Town of Boston for advertising pre-revolutionary content in the Boston Post Boy, manuscript document, Boston, July 1768. Estimate $5,000 to $7,500.
Swann, June 12: Lot 13: Clairac and Nicola, L'Ingenieur de Campagne; or, Field
Swann, June 12: Lot 81: Journals of Major Robert Rogers . . . of the Several Excursions he Made . . . upon the Continent of North America, London, 1765. Estimate $4,000 to $6,000.
Swann, June 12: Lot 99: Photograph albums and papers from the family of W.G. Fargo, photo albums containing 442 photographs, 1865-88. Estimate $3,000 to $4,000.
Swann, June 12: Lot 112: Isaac Leeser, Discourses on the Jewish Religion, 10 volumes, Philadelphia: Sherman & Co., 1866-1868. Estimate $6,000 to $9,000.
Swann, June 12: Lot 176: Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Boston, 1845. Estimate $4,000 to $6,000.
Swann, June 12: Lot 190: Thomas Hariot, Admiranda narratio fida tamen, de commodis et incolarum ritibus Virginiae, 1590. Estimate $25,000 to $35,000.
Swann, June 12: Lot 200: Correspondence of a regimental cavalry commander in Wyoming and Utah, July 1865 to February 1866. Estimate $4,000 to $6,000.
Swann, June 12: Lot 226: Maturino Gilberti, Vocabulario en lengua de Mechuacan / Aqui comienca el vocabulario en la lengua Castellana y Mechuacana, 1559. Estimate $8,000 to $12,000.
Sotheby's Bibliothèque Jacques Dauchez - Autour de Dubuffet
5-19 June
Sotheby’s, June 5-19: Bissière, Roger. Cantique à notre frère soleil de saint François. 1954. 1,000 - 1,500 EUR
Sotheby’s, June 5-19: Céline, Louis-Ferdinand. La vie & l’œuvre de Philippe Ignace Semmelweis. 1924. Rare édition originale, avec envoi. Joint : La Quinine en thérapeutique, 1925. 4,000 - 6,000 EUR
Sotheby’s, June 5-19: Céline, Louis-Ferdinand. Mort à crédit. 1936. Édition originale. Bel exemplaire sur Hollande. 2,500 - 3,500 EUR
Sotheby's Bibliothèque Jacques Dauchez - Autour de Dubuffet
5-19 June
Sotheby’s, June 5-19: Chillida, Eduardo ─ Emil Cioran. Face aux instants. 1985. Un des 100 exemplaires sur Arches. Eau-forte signée. 600 - 800 EUR
Sotheby’s, June 5-19: Dubuffet, Jean. Ler dla canpane. L’Art Brut, 1948. Édition originale. 3,000 - 5,000 EUR
Sotheby’s, June 5-19: Dubuffet, Jean. L'Herne Jean Dubuffet. 1973. Un des 100 exemplaires du tirage de luxe avec une sérigraphie originale en couleurs. 1,000 - 1,500 EUR
Gros & Delettrez Livres & Manuscrits Arméniens Jeudi 12 juin 2025 Paris, Francis
Gros & Delettrez, June 12: BIBLE, Venise 1733, reliure arménienne
Gros & Delettrez, June 12: CHARAKNOTS, manuscrit XVIIe-XVIIIe siècle