Rare Book Monthly Articles - December - 2007 Issue

What we can learn about value from history

What we can learn about value from history

By Bruce McKinney In the spring of 1944 the New York Historical Society consigned to Parke-Bernet 236 lots described as Rare Americana [Unstamped Duplicates]. The name, notwithstanding, not everything was rare. We know this by having recently conducted an item by item comparison of material offered in this auction to listings available on Abe. Why Abe? Their holdings are enormous and their advanced search effective for efficiently unearthing appropriate matches. On their site this is a practical study. As to whether "rare" was simply a convenient term for the auction promoters o...

Microsoft's Book Search Reflects Pitched Battle With Google

Microsoft's Book Search Reflects Pitched Battle With Google

By Michael Stillman There is a huge battle for internet dominance going on behind the scenes, and while this is not generally a subject for an antiquarian book site, it is showing up even in o...

A Look at Bookselling with Anirvan Chatterjee of BookFinder.com

A Look at Bookselling with Anirvan Chatterjee of BookFinder.com

By Michael Stillman We recently interviewed Anirvan Chatterjee, founder of the leading meta-search site for books, BookFinder.com. Chatterjee is one of the true veterans of the online bookselli...

The AE Bookseller's Comet:  Holidays Ideas on Paper

The AE Bookseller's Comet: Holidays Ideas on Paper

By Bruce McKinney The magic of the printed word is on display this holiday season in the personal selections of a group of our Books for Sale listing members. These are their ideas of w...

Connecting with the Mind's Eye: Adventures in the Audio World

Connecting with the Mind's Eye: Adventures in the Audio World

By Renée Magriel Roberts A couple of weeks ago I was invited to participate in a morning call-in radio program on our local National Public Radio station, WCAI, along with Lucy Loomis, Director...

<i>In The News</i>:  A Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence, and Elvis Museum For Sale

<i>In The News</i>: A Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence, and Elvis Museum For Sale

By Michael Stillman Auction sales for two of the most important documents in the history of human liberty top this month's stories In The News. A date has now been set for what auctioneer Soth...

An Exceptional Auction December 3rd

An Exceptional Auction December 3rd

By Bruce McKinney On December 3rd, in New York, Christie's pays homage to the changing logic of the books, manuscripts and ephemera auction field with a two part sale that seeks to and succeeds...

<i>Exploring the Early Americas</i> on Exhibit at the Library of Congress

<i>Exploring the Early Americas</i> on Exhibit at the Library of Congress

By Michael Stillman An absolutely spectacular exhibition for those interested in printed and written Americana will be opening at the Library of Congress this month. If you will be in Washingto...

AbeBooks' Charity Auction Includes Signed Harry Potter

AbeBooks' Charity Auction Includes Signed Harry Potter

By Michael Stillman Abebooks will be holding its third charity auction from December 6-11. This is a great opportunity to get a bid in on a wonderful gift, while aiding some worthy causes at t...

Sixteen New Catalogues Reviewed in Section Two

Sixteen New Catalogues Reviewed in Section Two

Sixteen new catalogues are reviewed in Section Two for December. Restoration Books presents some of the best books from the library of aviation pioneer William Boeing. The Arader Galleries offer so...

Rare Book Monthly

  • Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Pietro Aquila, Psyche and Proserpina,1690. Starting price 140€
    Gonnelli: Jacques Gamelin, Memento homo quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris, 1779. Starting price 300€
    Gonnelli: Giorgio Ghisi, The final Judgement, 1680. Starting price 480€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli Goya y Lucientes Francisco, Los Proverbios.1877. Starting price 1000 €
    Gonnelli: Domenico Peruzzini, Long bearded old man, 1660. Starting price 2200€
    Gonnelli: Enea Vico, Leda and the Swan,1542. Starting price 140€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Andrea Del Sarto [school of], San Giovanni Battista, 1570. Starting price 25000€
    Gonnelli: Carlo Maratta, Virgin Mary and Jesus, 1660. Starting Price 1200€
    Gonnelli: Louis Brion de La Tour, Sphére de Copernic Sphere de Ptolemée / Le Systême de Ptolemée. Le Systême de Ticho-Brahe…, 1766. Starting price 180€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Marc’Antonio Dal Re, Ville di Delizia o Siano Palaggi Camparecci nello Stato di Milano Divise in Sei Tomi Con espressevi le Piante…, Tomo Primo, 1726. Starting price 7000€
    Gonnelli: Katsushika Hokusai, Bird on a branch, 1843. Starting price 100€
  • Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Th. McKenney & J. Hall, History of the Indian tribes of North America, 1836-1844. Est: €50,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Biblia latina vulgata, manuscript on thin parchment, around 1250. Est: €70,000
    Ketterer, May 26: M. Beckmann, Fanferlieschen Schönefüßchen, 1924. Est: €10,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: A. Ortelius, Theatrum orbis terrarum, 1574. Est: €50,000
    Ketterer, May 26: M. S. Merian, Eurcarum ortus, alimentum et paradoxa metamorphosis, 1717-18. Est: €6,000
    Ketterer, May 26: PAN, 9 volumes, 1895-1900. Est: €12,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Breviarium Romanum, Latin manuscript, 1474. Est: €15,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Quran manuscript from the Saadian period, Maghreb, 16th century. Est: €10,000
    Ketterer, May 26: E. Hemingway, The old man and the sea, 1952. First edition in first issue jacket. Presentation copy. Est: €3,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Flavius Vegetius Renatus, De re militari libri quatuor, 1553. Est: €3,000
    Ketterer, May 26: K. Marx, Das Kapital, 1867. Est: €30,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Brassaï, Transmutations, 1967. Est: €6,000
  • Leland Little, May 21: Signed Artist Proof of the Monumental G.O.A.T.: A Tribute to Muhammad Ali.
    Leland Little, May 21: Assorted Rare Publications Related to H.P. Lovecraft, Including The Recluse Signed by Vincent Starrett.
    Leland Little, May 21: Two Issues of The Vagrant, Including the First Appearance of H.P. Lovecraft's "Dagon" in Number Eleven.
    Leland Little, May 21: Rare First Printing of Anne of Green Gables, With ALS from the Author.
    Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, In First Issue Jacket.
    Leland Little, May 21: The Limited Paumanok Edition of The Complete Writings of Walt Whitman.
    Leland Little, May 21: Beautifully Bound Limited Flaubert Edition of The Works of Guy de Maupassant.
    Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Bonaparte's Celebrated American Ornithology, With Spectacular Hand-Colored Plates.
    Leland Little, May 21: A Rare Complete Set of Jardine's The Naturalist's Library, With Hand-Colored Plates.
    Leland Little, May 21: Invitation to the Lincoln-Johnson National Inaugural Ball, March 4th, 1865.
    Leland Little, May 21: A Scarce Inscribed First Edition of James Baldwin's Nobody Knows My Name.
    Leland Little, May 21: Picasso's Le Goût du Bonheur, Limited Edition.
  • Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR

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