By Michael Stillman
Book prices at auction rose sharply in 2007 following a couple years of very slow growth. The median price rose almost 15% last year, from $423 to $486. This follows a rise of less than 1% the year before. Volatility in exchange rates, as well a rebound in European markets that had been soft the prior two years, played a major role in the sharp increase. The average increase of 6% per year over the past three years may give a better picture of trends in the book market than does one sharply higher year following two flat ones.
These prices are based on U.S. curre...
By Bruce McKinney
The February issue of the AE Comet, a catalogue of material selected from our members' online inventories, this month focuses on Washington, Lincoln and the Presidents. It's a...
By Michael Stillman
Another case involving "lost" public documents is playing out in a Virginia court, the type of case we both hate to see and expect to see more of in the days ahead. It pits...
By Bruce McKinney
Recently I purchased on eBay a copy of Ruttenber's History of Orange County [New York], the 1875 edition, for $70 plus shipping. Ruttenber was an exceptional man, a printer, wr...
By Michael Stillman
It is not often that I get to write a heartwarming story for a book site. It is even less often that I get to write a heartwarming one concerning eBay. Here is such a story...
By Bruce McKinney
Over the weekend of February 9th and 10th the San Francisco Antiquarian Book, Print Paper Fair opens a two day stand at the San Francisco Concourse. Two hundred and two firms ...
By Michael Stillman
A woman from Lewiston, Maine, has pleaded not guilty to a most unusual charge of book theft. JoAn Karkos took a book from her local library and refused to return it (unlike ...
By Bruce McKinney
The third issue of The Bookseller's Comet will appear in the March issue of AE Monthly. It will include printed material and objects offered by members pertaining to Literar...
By Michael Stillman
Leave it to the French to employ reverse psychology to bring visitors back to the library. An exhibition is currently open at the French National Library entitled Hell at t...
Eleven recently issued bookseller catalogues are reviewed in Section Two this month. Travel is the subject of the latest from Gert Jan Bestebreurtje Rare Books. Aleph-Bet has a new collection of ch...