Rare Book Monthly Articles - September - 2009 Issue

The Printed Word:  a shrinking footprint

The Printed Word: a shrinking footprint

Information, its processing, distribution, search and retrieval is passing through the eye of the needle, to paraphrase the New Testament, the old structures of information giving way to the new: books into databases into full text searches - accessible online by computer and phone. It turns out society's commitment is to information, not to form, and this is tough news for all things printed. The group, that prefers books to electronic data, is shrinking, the old forms ever less supported, the new forms gathering adherents, support, new applications and momentum, the implications for...

Rivals, Others Seek to Derail Google/Publishers Alliance

Rivals, Others Seek to Derail Google/Publishers Alliance

By Michael Stillman With time running out to file legal objections to the agreement between Google and publishers for the former to sell digitized copies of in-copyright books, the opposition ha...

AE:  A Perspective on Seven Years

AE: A Perspective on Seven Years

No good deed will go unpunished Seven years ago AE walked out onto the open sun lit field that is books. The day was 3 September 2002. I was a book collector beginning what I expected to be my...

What is the Americana Exchange?

What is the Americana Exchange?

By Michael Stillman What is the Americana Exchange? Most people really don't know a lot about this site, but it has many useful features, some of which you may be missing out on. It is intended ...

The Case for Collecting

The Case for Collecting

By Bruce McKinney Everyone collects something. It's a strong human instinct. Most such collections are random and casual, often the initially inadvertent accumulation of seashells or whatever....

Shakespearean Suspect Arrives at Court in His Carriage

Shakespearean Suspect Arrives at Court in His Carriage

By Michael Stillman Raymond Scott is no common thief. Whether he is a most uncommon one, time will tell, but the man accused of stealing a Shakespeare First Folio valued at several million dolla...

A  Cautionary Tale

A Cautionary Tale

By Bruce McKinney The IFPDA, the International Fine Print Dealers Association, a New York based international association of print dealers, issued a letter requesting its 165 members be vigilant...

What Freshmen Don't Know... and You Should Know

What Freshmen Don't Know... and You Should Know

By Michael Stillman Beloit College has issued its annual "Mindset List" of what freshmen entering college this year don't know or have not experienced, and it is both hilarious and frightening. ...

A Benefit for Collectors:  Eternal Life

A Benefit for Collectors: Eternal Life

By Bruce McKinney For those with a love of reading the value of a book is in its content. It's condition often hardly matters. In fact a well-worn copy passed down and around in some families ...

Some Advice for Booksellers, Russian Bookselling, Abe's Latest Top 10

Some Advice for Booksellers, Russian Bookselling, Abe's Latest Top 10

By Michael Stillman USA Today recently provided some advice for booksellers. USA Today is probably not where most booksellers look for business advice, and "Ask an Expert's" Steve Strauss may no...

Commentary:  On a Sunday Morning

Commentary: On a Sunday Morning

By Bruce McKinney Let the Silent Majority be Heard I have watched with fascination and regret as the America, to which I owe allegiance, has been exposed again as the captive of special inter...

Five New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

Five New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

Five new booksellers' catalogues have come across our desk in the waning days of summer. Jordan Antiquarian Books has produced a catalogue of Americana, including many items pertaining to recreatio...

Rare Book Monthly

  • High Bids Win
    Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines
    and Machine Manuals
    December 24 to January 9
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Ellis Smith Prints unsigned. 20” by 16”.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: United typothetae of America presidents. Pictures of 37 UTA presidents 46th annual convention United typothetae of America Cincinnati 1932.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec signed Paper Impressionism Art Prints. MayMilton 9 1/2” by 13” Reine de Joie 9 1/2” by 13”.
    High Bids Win
    Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines
    and Machine Manuals
    December 24 to January 9
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Aberle’ Ballet editions. 108th triumph, American season spring and summer 1944.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Puss ‘n Boots. 1994 Charles Perrult All four are signed by Andreas Deja
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Specimen book of type faces. Job composition department, Philadelphia gazette publishing company .
    High Bids Win
    Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines
    and Machine Manuals
    December 24 to January 9
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: An exhibit of printed books, Bridwell library.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur Court By Mark Twain 1889.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: 1963 Philadelphia Eagles official program.
    High Bids Win
    Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines
    and Machine Manuals
    December 24 to January 9
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: 8 - Esquire the magazine for men 1954.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: The American printer, July 1910.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Leaves of grass 1855 by Walt Whitman.
  • Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: William Shakespeare.
    The Poems and Sonnets of William Shakespeare, 1960. 7,210 USD
    Sotheby’s: Charles Dickens.
    A Christmas Carol, First Edition, 1843. 17,500 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Golding.
    Lord of the Flies, First Edition, 1954. 5,400 USD
    Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: Lewis Carroll.
    Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, Inscribed First Edition, 1872. 25,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien.
    The Hobbit, First Edition, 1937. 12,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: John Milton.
    Paradise Lost, 1759. 5,400 USD

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